The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State’s 36-35 upset overtime loss to Indiana
Penn State eventually shook off the rust in its season-opener against Indiana on Saturday night, but the effort was too little, too late, as the then-No. 8 Nittany Lions fell to the Hooisers in a 36-35 overtime loss in Bloomington.
A contest that started with star junior tight end Pat Freiermuth getting Penn State on the board first went south for the Nittany Lions quickly. In the first half alone, Penn State committed three turnovers — two off of interceptions from redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford and one from a fumble by redshirt sophomore quarterback Will Levis.
After halftime, the Nittany Lions outscored the Hoosiers 28-19, but untimely mistakes still cost them.
“A lot of different situations came up through this game — a lot of different plays,” head coach James Franklin said after the game. “We finally got in a rhythm in the second half a little bit, but you can’t not play well on the road in the Big Ten against good opponents, and we didn’t do that early on.”
Penn State played a Big Ten opponent to open its season for the first time since 1994, and it’s safe to assume not having a traditional warm-up game against a nonconference opponent played a factor in the loss.
Still, Franklin made no excuses for his team’s lackluster performance.
“At the end of the day, we’ve gotta find a way to get it done,” Franklin said. “You’re gonna open the season sometimes with conference games. That will happen in our future. You’ll play some out-of-conference opponents, as well, that are really good. So, that will happen.”
GOOD
QB Sean Clifford’s ability to scramble: Clifford couldn’t get it done with his arm in the first half, so he started using his legs to create opportunities in the second half.
In the opening half, Clifford only carried the ball six times for 25 yards. But in the second half, he found chances to pick up yards on the ground when plays broke down. It resulted in a team-high 17 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown for the game.
“When he became a more aggressive runner, other things fell into place for him,” Franklin said.
And as a result, things began to fall in place for Penn State, too.
With his team down by two scores at the end of the third quarter, Clifford broke free for a 35-yard dash to the end zone that put the Nittany Lions within three points. There were also several times in the second half when he threw the ball on the run, buying enough time for his receivers to create space.
If Clifford can consistently be a threat on the run, the passing game should become more open for him.
BAD
RB Devyn Ford’s fourth-quarter touchdown run: The irony here is that the one thing that Penn State failed to do for over two quarters early in the game is the very thing that cost it: score a touchdown.
With 1:42 left in the game and the Nittany Lions leading by one point, the strategy should’ve been to milk the clock and force Indiana to use its final timeout. Instead, sophomore running back Devyn Ford crossed the goal line for a 14-yard rushing touchdown while the Hoosiers sat back and allowed him to do so.
Then, the Penn State defense failed to make a stop. Indiana went on to score and convert a two-point conversion in regulation before winning the contest in overtime.
But it’s hard to put all — or even a majority — of the blame for the loss on Ford, and Franklin said as much in his postgame press conference.
“I know in some ways people probably look at that one play, but there were a lot of plays throughout the game that we should’ve done differently and could’ve handled better ... ,” Franklin said. “It’s my job as the head coach to make sure everybody clearly understands those situations and obviously, right there, that didn’t happen.”
UGLY
Special teams play: One of the surprises of Saturday’s game was the play of Penn State’s special teams. The Nittany Lions missed three field goals — one right before halftime, one on their first drive of the second half and one that would’ve won them the game in regulation.
Junior kicker Jake Pinegar hit the left upright on a 25-yard field goal attempt right before halftime that perfectly summed up Penn State’s first-half performance. (Last season, Pinegar was 11-of-12 on field goals.) In the third quarter, the Nittany Lions used a 15-play, 54-yard drive to take 7:39 off the clock before coming up empty handed when Pinegar missed a 47-yard field goal try.
Then Jordan Stout tried a 57-yarder at the end of regulation that would’ve allowed Penn State to avoid the upset in Bloomington, but came up short. Stout hit a school-record 57-yard field goal last season against Pittsburgh.
This story was originally published October 25, 2020 at 6:04 PM.
