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Stine: No reason to question on-field effort of Lions

Rise & Stine

Sometimes the other team really does just win the game. That is what happened with Indiana last week, anyway.

Yes, there's plenty to fret about with Penn State these days. This has been one of the most disappointing seasons in quite a long time, if ever, in State College.

The lines on both sides of the ball have been subpar. Linebacker U looks nothing like that right now. The star quarterback is injured. James Franklin is fired, and Terry Smith is fighting like crazy to just keep it all together.

I had a conversation with fellow beat writer Neil Rudel coming back from Ohio State less than two weeks ago, and I said I believed a lot of the team was checked out at that point.

I could not have been more wrong.

Last week was all you needed to see to believe that these guys are playing hard for Smith.

The Hoosiers pulling off the drive that they did was what a championship team does, and maybe it will be the moments that people will look back on if quarterback Fernando Mendoza wins the Heisman Trophy at season's end.

He is tremendous, and so are all of his receivers and tight ends.

The play that Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. made to secure the final touchdown that sunk the Nittany Lions...wow.

That was as good as it gets. It was truly an all-timer.

You can point fingers at a lot of things. The coverage wasn't perfect. Mendoza had all kinds of time to make the incredible throws that he did.

But this is also the No. 2 team in the country. They're supposed to be pretty good.

Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer is improving every week that he's out there. Nicholas Singleton finally looks to be heading in the right direction. Special teams, led by punter Gabe Nwosu and kicker Ryan Barker, have been stellar.

If the Lions play the rest of the way like they did last week, they will probably win all three regular season games and become bowl-eligible.

PSU is favored against Michigan State and probably will be at Rutgers. They may be another favorite in the final home game with Nebraska.

Smith said last weekend that no one will ever question the effort of a team he leads.

After last week, I believe him. There probably isn't much reason left on why anyone would question the effort.

Andy Stine can be reached at astine@altoonamirror.com