On Saturday at Beaver Stadium the Hoosier defense opened the game with a strong sequence. IU forced Penn State to go three-and-out while losing three yards on the drive. Frankly, it doesn’t get much better than that, especially against an offense ranked as the 11th-best in the nation by SP+.
Then, suddenly, things turned around for the Nittany Lions. Penn State punter Blake Gillikin sent it away as usual, got some hang time on it and forced IU returner Whop Philyor to make a choice — not the easiest thing to do when you’ve got a handful of opposing players barrelling toward you at full speed.