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from a lot of yards to not a lot of yards?" Wilson was referring to Indiana's 33-27 victory over Rutgers this past Saturday. The Hoosiers had to rally aAer allowing the last-place Scarlet Knights to take a 24-13 lead early in the third quarter. They were able to do that, sandwiching a pair of Richard Lagow touchdown passes around a 34-yard run by Devine Redding. Lagow finished with 394 passing yards, but the running game was inconsistent, as Redding got nearly half of his 73 rush- ing yards on that long third-quarter scoring run. Wilson said Rutgers' defensive front "played harder than our guys, I felt, and got off blocks and defended the run." But Lagow more than made up for any defi- ciencies in the ground game, completing 28 of 40 passes and throwing for three touchdowns. Lagow's performance was no surprise considering that it was the third game this season in which he threw for three touchdowns. The 6-foot-6, 240- pounder from Plano, Texas, had just the skills Indiana was looking for when he enrolled in the spring. He had begun his career at Connecticut in 2013, but leA school before the season began and headed to Oklahoma State as a walk-on. Things didn't work out there, either, and he spent the next two seasons at Cisco (Texas) Community College before leav- ing for Bloomington. Lagow won the starting quarterback battle in August and has since gone on to become the second- leading passer in the Big Ten, averaging 286 yards per game. Lagow has a trio of excellent wideouts in Mitchell Paige, Nick Westbrook and Ricky Jones, all of whom have at least 40 catches. And in Redding, a 5-10, 208- pound junior, he's got a solid running back to complement his arm. "They take a lot of shots down the field, similar to us," Penn State coach James Franklin said. "A big focus for us is to eliminate the chunk plays. You look at how they have been built over the last couple years, and they are kind of differ- ent this year compared to the two previ- ous years. I think a lot of that has to do with the running game – the running backs that they have had, and also the new quarterback and what they have at the wide receiver position." And the Hoosiers have something else this year: a defense that is not an extreme liability. They're ranked seventh in the Big Ten against the run and 11th against the pass, and their progress in those de- partments has kept the offense's fre- quent scoring binges from going to waste. The architect of that improvement has been first-year defensive coordina- tor Tom Allen, who was hired away from South Florida in January after co- ordinating a Bulls defense that allowed only 19.6 points per game in 2015. Franklin said Allen "has really changed their program. That was a big hire. I know Kevin has been talking about that all off-season. Getting him to come to Indiana has made a big difference for them, and they're playing really well on defense now." A year ago, Indiana bounced back from a six-game losing streak, defeating Maryland and Purdue in its last two reg- ular-season games to attain bowl eligi- bility. (It lost to Duke in overtime, 44-41, in the Pinstripe Bowl). The challenge is more formidable this year, as the Hoosiers will travel to second-ranked Michigan aAer hosting Penn State. So if they aren't able to engineer an upset over the Lions on Saturday, there's a good chance they will go into their traditional finale vs. the Boilermakers still needing a victory to become bowl-eligible. And there are external factors that come into play, as well. When the season enters its final stages and the pressure ratchets up, players can't help but notice what's being said and written. "Everybody has got Twitter, everybody follows whatever, so they're going to hear comments," Wilson said. "You just can't [let] the comments distract you from doing your job. And our job is that we've got to prepare and play well, because if we don't play better than last week, we're not going to have a good outing Saturday, and we've got things that have got to be corrected. "So our deal is that it's going to take our best effort, it's going to take our best week. It's a strong challenge. It's a great team we're playing, and we're going to need to have a great week to have a chance, and that's all we're talking about." NATE BAUER RECORD 8-1 It pummeled Iowa last week, and now Penn State's chances of finishing the reg- ular season on an eight-game winning streak seem not just possible but proba- ble. Indiana's up-tempo, quick passing game could give the Lions fits early but should level off in the second half. PENN STATE 37, INDIANA 23 PHIL GROSZ RECORD 7-2 Penn State had its most impressive per- formance of the season against Iowa. What it needs to do against Indiana is to put together the same balanced offensive attack it fielded against the Hoosiers. And on defense, it needs to put pressure on QB Richard Lagow, because he leads the Big Ten with 13 interceptions. Penn State will most likely have to score 30 or more points in this game. That's exactly what will happen. PENN STATE 42, INDIANA 24 MATT HERB RECORD 6-3 Indiana has a very good passing attack and probably matches up better against Penn State than Iowa did last week. That said, it's hard to pick against the Lions the way they've been playing lately. PENN STATE 34, INDIANA 27 TIM OWEN RECORD 7-2 Another big test for Penn State's second- ary, as Indiana's strength lies with its passing attack. Even if it finds some suc- cess through the air, with the way the Nittany Lion offense has been chugging along, it probably won't be enough. PENN STATE 37, INDIANA 28 RYAN SNYDER RECORD 7-2 Penn State will likely have a close game down the stretch. That game could be this weekend, but I expect the Lions to leave Bloomington with their eighth win. PENN STATE 27, INDIANA 21 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 2 BWI'S FORECAST

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