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game, throw five interceptions in an- other. Cocky, yes. Red-headed Irishman, of course. Hotheaded, sure. "He sometimes flirts with hot- headed," center Matt Stankiewitch corrected. "But I don't think he's hot- headed; I think he's more emotional. I think he has a lot of pride in his school, a lot of pride in what he does. A lot of pride in throwing the ball, a lot of pride in calling plays." McGloin has had help, of course, particularly from sophomore wide re- ceiver Allen Robinson, who caught 10 passes for 197 yards and three touch- downs and broke Penn State's single- season reception record. And this season's offensive scheme – the likes of which has never been seen at Penn State – makes a difference, too. But McGloin, who had no scholarship offers coming out of West Scranton High, is the guy who's making it work. After two seasons in which he could- n't even beat out Rob Bolden for the starting job, McGloin has mastered Bill O'Brien's complicated, NFL-style offense. It's barely remarkable when he identifies a blitz, realizes the play call wouldn't work, checks off, and fires a ball into the end zone to the perfect spot where Allen Robinson could leap over a defensive back and grab the touchdown. On fourth down, no less. Which is how Penn State scored its first touchdown Saturday, on Robin- son's leaping, 26-yard reception. "It's not really set," Robinson said. "He just throws it out there for me to make a play." Such plays don't happen by acci- dent. Robinson and McGloin prac- ticed together nearly every day in the summer, figuring out their timing. And McGloin, as he has all season, credited O'Brien and Fisher. "They've done such a great job teach- ing me how to play quarterback the correct way," he said. "It can't help but rub off on you. They have a unique way of making things stick to you." In the process, McGloin became one of the Nittany Lions' leaders, and they needed his poise when linebacker Michael Mauti went down with a knee injury in the first quarter. The team – and the stadium – seemed to deflate, and Indiana scored twice to take a 10- SCORING SUMMARY 1ST 4:26 2ND 14:44 13:20 8:56 7:06 2:25 0:31 3RD 13:04 8:34 5:33 0:17 4TH 3:56 PSU IND IND PSU IND PSU PSU IND IND PSU PSU PSU Robinson, Allen 26-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Ficken, Sam kick) 7 plays, 91 yards, TOP 2:46.........................................................................0-7 Ewald, Mitch 26-yard field goal 10 plays, 55 yards, TOP 2:07.......................................................................3-7 Bolser, Ted 2-yard pass from Coffman, Cameron (Ewald, Mitch kick) 6 plays, 27 yards, TOP 1:11.......................................................................10-7 Robinson, Allen 53-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Ficken, Sam kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:31.....................................................................10-14 Ewald, Mitch 44-yard field goal 7 plays, 51 yards, TOP 1:45.....................................................................13-14 Robinson, Allen 10-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Ficken, Sam kick) 9 plays, 77 yards, TOP 4:32.....................................................................13-21 Zwinak, Zach 16-yard pass from McGloin, Matt (Ficken, Sam kick) 3 plays, 62 yards, TOP 0:54.....................................................................13-28 Houston, Stephen 79-yard pass from Coffman, Cameron (Ewald, Mitch kick failed) 1 play, 79 yards, TOP 0:14......................................................................19-28 Ewald, Mitch 46-yard field goal 6 plays, 18 yards, TOP 2:03.....................................................................22-28 Zwinak, Zach 1-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:01.....................................................................22-35 Zordich, Michael 4-yard run (Ficken, Sam kick) 8 plays, 52 yards, TOP 3:18.....................................................................22-42 Ficken, Sam 28-yard field goal 10 plays, 57 yards, TOP 6:30...................................................................22-45 7 lead with 8:56 left in the second quarter. But McGloin and Robinson re- sponded by connecting on a 53-yard touchdown pass, this one made pos- sible by Robinson taking a short pass, spinning 360 degrees around a de- fender and outsprinting the entire In- diana defense. "There's no doubt he's our best play- maker," McGloin said. "As a quarter- back, you have to get him the ball." Indiana hung around until midway through the third quarter, pulling to within 28-22 midway through the quarter. But McGloin then directed a nine-play touchdown drive – high- lighted by an 11-yard pass over the middle to Brandon Moseby-Felder on fourth-and-9 from the Indiana 32. Penn State added another touch- down – and finished with 546 yards of total offense. McGloin's 395 yards passing were nearly another Penn State record (Zack Mills holds the sin- gle-game record with 399 yards), but as far as O'Brien was concerned, it N O V E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 1 2 2 was the kind of effort he expected. Because O'Brien can pinpoint a mo- ment. It didn't guarantee that Mc- Gloin was capable of this kind of game, this kind of season, but it showed the potential. It was during spring practice. O'Brien ordered McGloin to the front of the meeting room and told him to diagram a play: Gun Trips Right 64 Special H Sneak. Remembered O'Brien: "And he drew it up in about three seconds – neatly – knew the read, knew what everybody did, drew up the front, drove up the coverage, knew the protection, where it was supposed to go." And perhaps the most remarkable thing? McGloin, although he remem- bers the moment, didn't think of it as anything special: "That was just studying the playbook and doing what [O'Brien] wants. Just reading the playbook at night, drawing it up on the board, not freezing." He smiled. "Just knowing what you're doing." B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

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