Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/749466
P R E G A M E R E P O R T P E N N S T A T E @ I N D I A N A N O O N , N O V . 1 2 A B C / E S P N 2 INDIANA FACTS COACH Kevin Wilson (North Car- olina, '84) COACH'S RECORD 25-45 in six seasons; career record: same 2016 RECORD 5-4 (3-3 Big Ten) RECORD VS. PSU Penn State leads the all-time series, 18-1. MOST RECENT MEETING Chris- tian Hackenberg threw two touchdown passes and added a pair of short TD runs to lift the Nittany Lions past Indiana, 29-7, last October at Beaver Stadium. The Hoosiers were hampered by injuries at quarterback, as fresh- man third-teamer Danny Cameron played most of the sec- ond half. GOOD NEWS The Hoosiers have a strong re- ceiver corps, and it got even bet- ter recently when Camion Patrick returned to action after missing the first half of the season while recovering from an ACL injury he suffered in the spring. Patrick, a 6-2, 225-pound redshirt junior, had a 40-yard touchdown catch against Rutgers this past Satur- day. BAD NEWS For all its offensive prowess, Indi- ana has not been good in the red zone. In fact, its 66.7 percent suc- cess rate (24 scores in 36 chances) is the Big Ten's worst. DID YOU KNOW? Indiana totaled 650 yards of of- fense in a 42-36 victory over Maryland on Oct. 29. It was the sixth time in the program's history that the Hoosiers reached the 650-yard plateau in a game. Five of those games have taken place during Wilson's coaching tenure. M A T T H E R B | M A T T @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Indiana is not the kind of place where win- ning seasons and bowl invitations are taken for granted. The Hoosiers haven't fin- ished above .500 since 2007, and they've had only one winning sea- son in the past 22 years. They haven't won a bowl game since 1991. They haven't played in a Rose Bowl since 1967. With that history as the backdrop, the fact that Indiana is poised on the brink of bowl el- igibility heading into the final three weeks of the 2016 regular season is a big deal. This is an opportunity that the Hoosiers don't want to squander, so they're approaching their im- pending matchup against Penn State with rel- ish, since a victory over the 12th-ranked Nittany Lions would remove the ele- ment of uncertainty concerning its postseason fate. But not too much relish. "You don't want to squeeze too tight," coach Kevin Wilson said ear- lier this week. "We haven't handled success good. … We didn't even play well the other day. Is that maybe one of the reasons we were not as clean? That the running game goes 1 Wilson is aiming for his first win- ning regular sea- son at Indiana. Photo by Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M