IU football: Three quick reasons the Hoosiers beat Penn State 27-24, highlights, stats

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Indiana beat Penn State by a final score of 27-24 on Saturday afternoon for their first ever win at Beaver Stadium.

Below are three quick reasons why the Hoosiers won, along with highlights and final stats.

Indiana (10-0) returns home for a Noon ET kick against Wisconsin next Saturday.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the game from The Daily Hoosier.

——————————————————

THREE QUICK REASONS INDIANA WON

1. A drive for the ages. Indiana trailed 24-20 with 1:51 left in the game and no timeouts remaining. Fernando Mendoza was sacked on the first play but then the Hoosiers completed a 10 play, 80 yard drive ending in a game-winning touchdown pass to Omar Cooper, Jr., who completed an amazing toe tap in the back end of the end zone. Mendoza completed 5 of 8 passes for 80 yards on the final drive.

2. Indiana takeaways bookend halftime. Aiden Fisher recovered a fumble just before halftime, leading to an IU touchdown. And then Fisher intercepted an early third quarter pass that led to an IU field goal. Both takeaways happened in Penn State territory. With their offense struggling to sustain drives, Indiana’s ability to capitalize on good field position with scores after the turnovers would prove to be critical.

3. Winning ugly. Indiana didn’t particularly dominate any facet of the game. And they struggled in many ways, particularly when they gave up 17 unanswered points in the second half. But they did enough in each facet to put themselves in a position to win it at the end — including getting Penn State’s offense off the field to set up the game-winning drive. Statistically the game was even across the board. It was a game someone had to win, and someone had to lose. And the Hoosiers found a way.

HIGHLIGHTS