Halftime Thoughts: Indiana 13, Penn State 7
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Assistant Editor
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — On a rainy day at Memorial Stadium, neither offense has clicked consistently. Penn State has botched two field goal attempts and passed up a chance for a short one on its first drive. Mitch Ewald connected from 24 and 27 yards out on Indiana’s final series of the half to give the Hoosiers the edge.
The Hoosiers might not have a better chance to finally knock off Penn State for the first time than the way this game has gone so far. Indiana has played a clean game — no turnovers and just one penalty, while capitalizing on Nittany Lion mistakes. Nate Sudfeld is doing well at quarterback, with no sign of Tre Roberson.
Indiana’s defense has put together a strong performance, with a missed tackle by Michael Hunter allowing Allen Robinson to take what should have been a short gain for 46 yards and Penn State’s only score. Robinson has six catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. But Penn State has punted three times and turned it over on downs.
A few short points of analysis:
1. Coming off an eight-catch, 136-yard night against Missouri, Cody Latimer rescued a moribund offense by getting open often and making tough catches even when covered decently. Latimer made a leaping grab with safety Malcolm Willis in his face to assist Indiana’s second touchdown drive and made a nimble catch, getting one foot in bounds, for 33 yards along the sideline on the first. Latimer has six catches for 106 yards.
2. Linebacker T.J. Simmons’ coverage of Robinson on the Lions’ opening drive – which forced an incompletion on fourth-and-4 – showed why the coaching staff is so comfortable with him in the middle of the defense. The way he broke with Robinson on a slippery field was impressive. Tim Bennett is playing a strong game in the secondary.
3. To maintain a 10-7 lead, Indiana’s special teams blocked a 42-yard field goal try by Sam Ficken — twice. The first didn’t count because Penn State coach Bill O’Brien had called for a timeout just before the snap. Then Ralphael Green and Bobby Richardson got their hands up and blocked it again. Official scorers credited Green for the block, thought it was difficult to tell which hands in the area deflected the ball. At any rate, Indiana has made hay by outplaying Penn State on special teams.
4. Penn State’s usual holder, Ryan Keiser, has an ankle injury, so punter Alex Butterworth filled in. On his first hold, he let the wet football skid through his hands, preventing Penn State from trying a 24-yard field goal with no score in the first quarter. Nobody notices holders or long snappers until they mess up, but what happened today just goes to show how important their jobs are. Penn State had scored on its first 15 trips to the red zone this season before that miscue. Only four other teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision entered the day perfect in the red zone.
5. The Hoosiers continue to show that their pass rush is improved, picking up two sacks in the half. Richardson, Alex Todd, Marcus Oliver and David Cooper were each credited with half a sack. Indiana had 26 sacks last season and now has 12 in 4 1/2 games. The push on the line is consistently better. Lions quarterback Christian Hackenberg on several occasions has been forced out of the pocket and was penalized for intentional grounding.
The Hoosiers get the ball to start the second half.
Follow Chris Goff on Twitter: chrisgoff_ISL.
