San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Indiana upsets No. 8 Penn State in overtime on disputed play.
Indiana coach Tom Allen had grown weary of close calls in big games.
On Saturday, Allen went for it — and Michael Penix Jr. made those gambles pay off in the Big Ten rivals' first game of the delayed season,
Indiana 36,
No. 8 Penn State 35 (OT)
After leading the Hoosiers on a touchdown drive in the final minute of regulation and scoring on a 2-point conversion to force overtime, Penix hooked up with Whop Philyor for 9-yard TD pass in overtime and dived into the pylon for the decisive 2-point conversion to give Indiana a 36-35 victory over No. 8 Penn State — its first win over a Top 10 team in more than 33 years.
“We'd been close so many times, and I was tired of being close,” Allen said. “We liked the call and stayed with the call (after Penn State called timeout) and stayed with the call. We felt like we had our three players involved in the play and one of those was going to get the ball or Michael was going to keep it. If felt like the right thing to do.”
Indiana snapped the longest streak of consecutive losses to Top 10 foes at 42, a skid that dated to a 31-10 victory at Ohio State on Oct. 10, 1987 — a game the late Earle Bruce dubbed as the darkest day in Buckeyes history.
They ended the secondlongest active streak of losses to Top 10 opponents in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Only Wake Forest, at 63, had been longer.
They beat their highestrated opponent since upsetting No. 6 Michigan State in 1967, which capped a threegame streak in which they also beat No. 10 Arizona and No. 7 Wisconsin and won for only the second time in 24 tries against the Nittany Lions.
They did it on a day Penix wasn't at his best. He finished 19 of 36 with 170 yards, one touchdown and three sacks. But his magical feet worked wonders when the Hoosiers needed him most.
“All I'd seen was an opportunity, an opportunity to go out and show the world what the Indiana Hoosiers are all all about,” Penix said, referring to the final play of the game. “They were playing man (coverage), and we've got to score to win the game so I wasn't going to let my team down. I went out and gave it my all.”
It took a lengthy replay review to confirm the initial call and when the official made the announcement Penix knew was coming, the wild celebration began inside the mostly empty stadium.
Allen needed to pull out every trick in the book, too, especially after Sean Clifford hooked up with Jahan Dotson on a 60-yard TD pass to give Penn State its first lead of the second half, 21-20 with 2:30 left in regulation.
Penn State sacked Penix on the next two plays, forced him to throw the ball away on third and an incompletion on fourth, taking the ball back on down at the Indiana 14. This time, Allen called for the defense to give up the touchdown, hoping for one more possession, and Devyn Ford obliged with a TD run that gave Penn State a 28-20 lead.
Instead, Penix capitalized on the miscue. He took the Hoosiers 75 yards in seven plays, scoring on a 1-yard TD run before the tying conversion. And after Clifford made it 35-28 with 9-yard TD pass to Parker Washington in overtime, Penix hooked up with Philyor before beating two Nittany Lions defenders to the front pylon.
No. 2 Alabama 48, Tennessee 17: Losing their most dynamic player left Alabama in no mood to celebrate — not even a big win over a longtime rival.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle broke his right ankle on the opening kickoff, about the only thing that didn't go the Crimson Tide's way in a victory over Tennessee.
Mac Jones threw for 387 yards and ran for a touchdown, and Najee Harris ran for three more TDS as No. 2 Alabama added the 14th straight win in this rivalry.
The Crimson Tide (5-0) outgained Tennessee 587-302. But playing the Vols (2-3) proved costly for Alabama a second straight season. A year ago, Tua Tagovailoa hurt an ankle in the second quarter and missed the next game against Arkansas.
On Saturday, Waddle rolled his right ankle as he was tackled on the opening kickoff and was taken by cart to the locker room. Waddle came out after catching the ball deep in the end zone, something coaches usually don't want. But Alabama coach Nick Saban said he trusts the judgment of the talented player.
Saban said Waddle has a similar injury to what Kenyan Drake had with a high ankle sprain with a fracture that probably will need surgery.
No. 1 Clemson 47, Syracuse 21: Trevor Lawrence threw two touchdown passes, Travis Etienne ran for three scores and host Clemson (6-0, 5-0) shook off a sluggish performance to win its 27th straight Atlantic Coast Conference game and put away pesky Syracuse (1-5, 1-4)
No. 3 Notre Dame 45, Pittsburgh 3: Ian Book passed for 312 yards and three touchdowns — two of them long catch-and-runs to graduate transfer Ben Skowronek — and visiting Notre Dame (5-0, 4-0) overwhelmed reeling Pittsburgh (3-4, 2-4).
No. 6 Oklahoma State 24, No. 17 Iowa State 21: Spencer Sanders passed for 235 yards and ran for 71 and a touchdown in his return from injury and host Oklahoma State (4-0, 3-0 Big 12) beat Iowa State (3-2, 3-1).
No. 9 Cincinnati 42, No. 16 SMU 14: Desmond Ridder rushed for 179 yards and three touchdowns, and Cincinnati (4-0, 2-0 American Athletic) stifled the offense of SMU (5-1, 2-1).
No. 11 Miami 19, Virginia 14: D'eriq King threw for 322 yards and a touchdown, Mike Harley had career bests of 10 catches for 170 yards and the Hurricanes outlasted visiting Virginia (1-4, 1-4 ACC). Harley's big night for Miami (5-1, 4-1) started with a 43yard touchdown grab on the Hurricanes' second play from scrimmage. King completed his first nine passes and finished 21 for 30.
No. 18 Michigan 49, No. 21 Minnesota 24: Joe Milton accounted for two touchdowns in an unflappable debut at quarterback for Michigan, and the Wolverines trampled Minnesota with 258 rushing yards in a victory to open the virus-delayed season.
Wake Forest 23, No. 19 Virginia Tech 16: Walk-on freshman safety Nick Andersen had three interceptions, Christian Beal-smith ran for 129 yards and Nick Sciba kicked three field goals to help Wake Forest (3-2, 2-2 ACC) beat visiting Virginia Tech (3-2, 3-2).
No. 22 Marshall 20, Florida Atlantic 9: Brenden Knox rushed for 101 yards and caught one of redshirt freshman Grant Wells' two touchdown passes to lead host Marshall (5-0, 3-0 Conference USA) over pandemic-depleted Florida Atlantic (1-1, 1-1).
No. 25 Coastal Carolina 28, Georgia Southern 14: Backup QB Fred Payton threw three touchdown passes, and Coastal Carolina (5-0, 3-0 Sun Belt) won its first game as a ranked team with a victory over visiting Georgia Southern (3-2, 1-2).