Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/750798
own drops in this one for the rest of the week. Indiana had four turnovers in the first half alone, and five for the game. The last, a Brandon Bell strip on Richard Lagow, was scooped by Tor- rence Brown and returned into the end zone to clinch the Penn State win. BEST SACKIt has to be Bell's 18-yard sack to seal the game at the end, but to avoid total duplication, we'll also give a nod to Garrett Sickels and Kevin Givens, who quickly converged in the backfield to force a punt on Indiana's first possession of the afternoon. BEST HITNittany Lion safety Malik Golden reversed Indiana's momentum at the end of the first quarter, killing a likely scoring drive with his hit on Hoosier wideout Mitchell Paige. Strip- ping the ball to the turf, Penn State re- covered to earn possession. BEST EFFORTMcSorley gets the game effort nod after working his way through a gimpy leg. But one play in particular stands out for an individual best effort: Blake Gillikin somehow managed to avoid disaster early in the game after the snap slipped through his hands on a punt attempt. The true freshman corralled the ball, avoided the oncoming tacklers and booted a 22-yard punt downfield to the Hoosiers' 40- yard line. BEST KICKStopped at the 34-yard line, the Hoosiers' Griffin Oakes opened the second half with a 47-yard field goal to give Indiana its first lead of the after- noon. Oakes had been struggling this season, but he couldn't have hit this one better. BEST RETURNJohn Reid escaped the clutches of no fewer than six Hoosiers on his first punt return of the after- noon, skirting 19 yards from his own 10-yard line to the 29 early in the game. BEST DECISIONPenn State stuck with its plan to get Barkley going, but the de- cision to simply air it out with deep shots from McSorley proved to be the difference in getting Penn State's of- fense rolling. McSorley would throw for 216 of his 332 yards in the second half, allowing the Nittany Lions to outscore the Hoosiers 31-17 in the second half and 24-7 in the fourth quarter. WORST DECISIONThe officials seemed to have a rough afternoon in Blooming- ton. From questionable spots to a head- scratching decision to re-kick late in the first half (apparently because a ball had been inadvertently thrown into the end zone from the kids' playground adjacent to the field), the zebras are likely happy to be done with this one. MOST TELLING MOMENTRyan Bates shifted out to left tackle on the Nittany Lions' second possession of the game, bumping Derek Dowrey up to left guard. The position switch was indica- tive of the scrambling the Nittany Lions have needed to do in the absence of both injured starting tackles. Paris Palmer left the game and walked to the locker room before the midpoint of the first quarter. He was dressed in street clothes coming off the field at the game's conclusion. N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 5