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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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COLUMN: IU's special teams and offense fail test at No. 4 Penn State

Sophomore punter Haydon Whitehead punts the ball in the second quarter against Georgia Southern last Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. IU's loss to No. 4 Penn State on Saturday was due in large part to errors made by the IU special teams unit. 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. --- Right from the opening kickoff, Penn State punched IU in the mouth. 

Penn State’s junior tailback and Heisman frontrunner Saquon Barkley took the kickoff right through the heart of IU's kickoff coverage unit and into the end zone for an easy touchdown. In one play, Barkley showed exactly why Penn State was superior to IU Saturday. 

No. 4 Penn State beat IU 45-14 in dominant fashion, but it was IU’s own mistakes that cost the Hoosiers an opportunity to seriously compete against the Nittany Lions. 


A road game at Penn State is likely going to be the biggest test on IU’s schedule and two out of the three units for IU flunked the exam. The defense did what it could to keep the game within reach, while the special teams and offense couldn’t get out of their own way.

The Hoosier defense was the only unit that looked like it belonged on the field with a College Football Playoff contender Saturday afternoon. 

The major statistics don’t show the glaring difference between the teams that the scoreboard reveals. IU outrushed Penn State by 138 yards and the Nittany Lions only had one more first down than the Hoosiers, but the special teams killed the Hoosiers. 

Coming into Saturday, IU had the seventh-best special teams unit in the country, per Football Study Hall. In comparison, Penn State had the 86th-ranked unit. Yet, those numbers looked like they should have been flipped with the Hoosiers making three backbreaking mistakes. 

Barkley opened the game with a kickoff touchdown, IU’s junior punt returner J-Shun Harris II fumbled a punt in the first quarter that Penn State recovered for a touchdown and later in the first quarter, IU ran into the punter, proving costly as it allowed Penn State’s drive to continue for another touchdown. 

“When you have a team like this, you cannot give them those opportunities and we did,” IU Coach Tom Allen said. “It really, really hurts because we had so many guys that cared so much, but it’s a good lesson in life. You can care all you want, but you better execute.”

Penn State had significantly more talent than IU, but it also executed better. 

Essentially, IU’s special teams gave up 21 points. That’s dreadful against any opponent, much less against Penn State where the only way to upset the Nittany Lions is by bringing a nearly perfect effort. 

“It was just really disappointing overall,” senior safety Chase Dutra said. “We had a bad day on special teams. We didn’t execute our job all-around any of our special teams, I think.”

As bad as IU’s special teams were Saturday, IU's defense held Penn State in check for the rest of the first half and most of the third quarter. After Penn State scored with under a minute left in the first quarter, IU’s defense didn’t give up a single point for nearly 25 minutes. 


The Hoosiers held Barkley to 56 yards. The most telling statistic was his longest rush was only eight yards as he wasn’t able to break one of his magical open-field runs as IU’s defense bottled up one of the most explosive players in college football. 

It didn’t matter. 

That defensive effort is good enough to win most football games, yet the offense was completely unable to capitalize. 

With the chance to get the game within reach in the third quarter, IU’s offense looked incapable of even picking up consecutive first downs. In the third quarter, IU had four drives. IU turned the ball over on two of those and on the other two, combined for only 33 yards.

The offense was stagnant for most of the game, while compounding the problem by having two fumbles and one interception.

It was a rude awakening for IU’s offense and special teams. In games against Virginia and Georgia Southern, both units looked solid, but those appear to be mirages in games against Ohio State and Penn State. 

In two weeks against Michigan, we’ll learn if that’s a blip or a trend that will haunt IU against its marquee foes all season.

aphussey@indiana.edu

@thehussnetwork

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