All things must come to an end I guess, but this was ridiculous. Frankly, I'm as confused as all of you. Penn State had never lost to Indiana in 16 prior meetings. The offense put up record numbers and the defense played admirably for large stretches. But, mistakes at all the wrong times doomed Penn State late in the 3rd quarter as the Nittany Lions got humbled on the road against a clearly improved Indiana team. Final score 44-24 Hoosiers.
In a loss, many times it's asked, did one team lose it, or did the other team win it? Today was definitely both. Indiana's offense was as good as advertised. QB Nate Sudfeld went 23/38 for 321 yds and 2 TDs, backup QB Tre Roberson sneaked into the endzone for another 2 TDs, and WR Cody Latimer caught 9 passes for 140 yds. Their defense was also shockingly efficient holding Penn State to only 70 yds rushing in one of the most impressive efforts I've seen in a long time. Meanwhile, while they played decent enough throughout most of the game, Penn State also made a list of every mistake a team can make in a single game and successfully checked off each box. Botched snaps, blocked kicks, fumbled kick offs, horrible penalties, even a safety, the comedy of mental errors played out like a 3-stooges film. The Lions will need to clean up pretty much EVERYTHING if they expect to even get to 6 wins this year. This game was a complete disaster, especially in the 2nd half; there's really just no other way of putting it.
So I'm left with just one question: why did Indiana pick today to show some defense?! Why couldn't they just play mediocre football like always?!... All kidding aside, the Hoosiers played their hearts out today and definitely didn't look like the team that lost to Navy. They were solid in all phases of the game and played out of their minds with confidence and "swagger" (I hate that word so much). They deserve all kinds of credit. I just wish Penn State hadn't made it so easy on them with all those mistakes.
As for the players, Christian Hackenberg was a classic Jekyll and Hyde. On one hand, he was poised in the pocket and made decent decisions. He went a respectable 30/55 for 340 yds (a personal best) and 3 TDs. Those are huge numbers, and normally they would equal a win. Except, every time it looked like things were rolling, Mr Hydenberg would come out. Like when he turned a play action pass into an accidental handoff for a loss; or when he randomly overthrew a receiver by 10 yds; or when he threw to nowhere and got called for intentional grounding; or how about when he took too long while standing in the endzone and got tackled for a safety? And I don't understand why a kid as confident as Hackenberg is so afraid to run. If everyone's covered and your offensive line (who played fantastic all day by the way) opens up a big hole, get a few yards! It's better than nothing!
Allen Robinson gave us a scare after he got the wind knocked out of him in the endzone on one of the more impressive drives of the day. Thankfully he was back on the very next drive. Hackenberg's favorite target had an All-American day catching a career high 12 recs for 173 yds and 2 TDs. That my friends is what we call video game numbers. Robinson is now #7 on Penn State's career receptions list with 118, and tied with O.J. McDuffie for #5 on the career TD receptions list with 16. Definitely a bittersweet day for him.
Ok, enough sulking, how was my prediction:
Actually my score predication of 41-28 was fairly close to the actual 44-24 score... just for the wrong teams. We did see the Hack-Rob Connection (trademark) for 2 TDs, Hackenberg crushed my predicted 250 yds by 90, and Robinson went crazy besting my 100 yd prediction by 40. The running backs only combined for a meager 70 yds and 0 TDs (although Belton did score a receiving TD), far from the 3 TD performance I foresaw. Finally, Amos got the interception, not Mike Hull.
A short memory is going to be needed as Michigan looms next week for Homecoming. It'll be a 5pm kickoff under the lights in Beaver Stadium, and they're calling for a full stadium White Out! Should be a blast, and you may just see a certain transforming robot live at the game!!!
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