Nittany Lions escape Indiana’s upset bid, win 33-24
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UNIVERSITY PARK - Penn State endured a bad dream in Columbus and apparently didn't wake up for more than a week.
The Nittany Lions fell behind by a touchdown twice early and were tied again late before escaping with a 33-24 victory over Indiana on Military Appreciation Day at Beaver Stadium.
PSU, a 31-point favorite, improved to 7-1 on the season.
A week after their discouraging loss to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions took a long while to get going and were fortunate to survive the Hoosiers' upset bid.
The Lions allowed two long touchdown passes in the first half — from 90 and 69 yards — and found themselves tied 24-24 with 2:58 remaining following Drew Allar's first interception of the season.
After trailing 7-0 and 14-7, the Lions took a 17-14 halftime lead on Alex Felkins' 50-yard field goal.
When they capped their first drive of the third quarter with Allar's 16-yard touchdown pass to Theo Johnson, the Lions had a 10-point lead (24-14), but Indiana didn't go away.
The Hoosiers pulled within 24-21 on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Brendan Sorsby to Omar Cooper with 10:54 remaining.
The teams traded punts before Allar was picked off by Josh Sanguinetti, who returned it to the Lions' 21 with 5:02 left.
Indiana opted for three straight running plays and then Chris Freeman's 35-yard field goal tied the game (24-up) with 2:58 remaining.
Allar followed with the game's decisive play — a 57-yard bomb up the right sideline to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 31-24 lead with 1:46 left.
Penn State closed the scoring with a safety when Dani Dennis-Sutton sacked Sorsby, who fumbled and the ball rolled out of the end zone.
Sorsby ended up completing 13-of-19 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted late n the first half by Jaylen Reed.
Allar, who struggled in Columbus, ended up completing 20-of-31 for 210 yards and three touchdowns.
Allar's interception broke a streak of 310 throws at PSU without a pick.
Lambert-Smith caught six passes for 96 yards to lead the Lions' receivers. Kaytron Allen's 81 yards on 18 carries fronted the ground game.
Indiana fell to 2-6.
Penn State visits Maryland next Saturday at SECU Stadium. Kickoff is 3:30 and Fox will televise.
The Terps (5-3) lost at Northwestern 33-27 on Saturday.
For a complete recap of the game, check out Penn State Extra in Monday's print edition.