BLOOMINGTON, IN — The Indiana Hoosiers shocked the world on Saturday pulling off the upset of No.8 Penn State in overtime 36-35. They hadn’t beaten a Top 10 team since October 10, 1987 when they caught Ohio State creeping around the chicken coup.
Give all of the credit to the Hoosiers for being opportunistic all day as they took advantage of the Nittany Lions mistakes. Penn State did everything to lose the game and Indiana did everything to win it. When I say EVERYTHING to lose it Penn State circled the box three times. Give IU credit for causing them problems all day.
Penn State turned the rock over three times in the first half as the Hoosiers took advantage going up 17-7 at the break. PSU also committed 10 penalties and made bone head mistakes like scoring with less than two minutes left while up 21-20.
After forcing a turnover on downs Penn State scored a touchdown that Indiana allowed them to score to get the ball back. Genius on Tom Allen’s part by the way. The IU defenders opened the lane like the Red Sea and allowed Devyn Ford to literally walk into the end zone. He’d scored before he realized that he shouldn’t have. Penn State was now up 28-20.
Then Michael Penix Jr. took the Hoosiers on a ride they’ve never been on before going 75 yards scoring with 22 seconds left. Then they converted the two-point conversion to knot it all up at 28-28.
Penn State took the first overtime possession and scored on a 9-yard pass from Sean Clifford to Parker Washington making it 35-28. Indiana scored on the next possession on a 9-yard pass from Penix to Whop Philyor making it 35-34. Kick the extra point or go for the win right now?
Tom Allen and the Hoosiers playing with House Money decided to push all of the marbles and chips into the middle of the table and go for two now. Why play with this thing playa? Allen figured he’s got the No.8 team in the country on the ropes bleeding from the mouth. Let’s knock him out right now. Don’t give them any wiggle room to survive.
Penix scrambled to his left and dove for the pylon touching it! Ball Game!!! It was called good on the field and after further review by replay the call stood. He was clearly out but who am I?
The Hoosiers had pulled the biggest upset of the college football season in their first game of the season. It was the biggest win in 33 years for the IU program. Give the Hoosiers all of the credit for finishing because that’s a game that in the past they would have found a way to trick off.
In the post-game press conference Tom Allen had this to say, “It gives you tremendous confidence when you come back like we did. Just think about the whole sequence of events that happened there at the end, late in the fourth quarter. Since I’ve been here, we found ways to lose those types of games. This game, we found a way to win. That’s why it’s so powerful to have that kind of finish and just to find a way to win.”
Give Allen credit for giving the kids the confidence to win games like this. He’s literally changing the atmosphere in Bloomington. Go Hoosiers!!!
