Indiana University Bloomington vs Penn State University Park >> Penn State Recovers From Early Turnovers for Win
Written by Mark Eddinger
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November 14, 2009
The No. 18 Penn State Nittany Lions turned the ball over four out of the first six times they had the ball on Saturday against the Indiana Hoosiers, but rallied to win 31-20. Penn State moved to 13-0 all-time against Indiana and the senior class left Beaver Stadium with one last home win. The Beaver Stadium crowd was stunned at the beginning, but the turning point came when Navarro Bowman intercepted Ben Chappell and ran it back for a 73-yard touchdown to give the Nittany Lions a 17-10 lead with 6:54 left in the third quarter. Indiana (4-7, 1-6) jumped out to a 10-0 lead on a Nick Freeland field goal and a Damario Belcher 26-yard touchdown catch from Chappell. Penn State (9-2, 5-2) began the game by turning the ball over on two Darryl Clark interceptions the first two times they had the ball. Their third possession never got started because Drew Astorino fumbled the punt return. Collin Wagner put Penn State on the board with a field goal with 2:52 left in the second quarter and the Nittany Lions tied the game at 10 with six seconds left before halftime on a 13-yard touchdown pass by Clark to Evan Royster. Royster scored his second TD of the day on a 2-yard run, three seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 24-10. Clark added a 1-yard touchdown run after Freeland kicked a field goal for Indiana. Tandon Doss caught a 6-yard TD from Chappell with 1:06 left to yield the final of 31-20. Royster had 17 carries for 95 yards and added four receptions for 39 yards. Clark wasn’t spectacular, going 17-28 for 194 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Chappell was 32-51 for 298 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Indiana run game was held to 48 yards on the ground. Bowman was the standout on defense, racking up 12 tackles, two for loss, one sack and the interception for the touchdown. Sean Lee added 10 tackles and four pass break ups on senior day and Drew Astorino also made 10 tackles. Matt Mayberry led the Hoosiers with 15 tackles. Both teams wrap up their regular seasons next week. Penn State will head to Michigan State to take on the Spartans and Indiana will finish up at home against Purdue on Saturday. |
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