BLOOMINGTON, Ind. _ The giddy ride that Penn State had been on appeared in danger of coming to a crashing halt Saturday against a fired-up Indiana team, but the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions had enough determination _ and offense _ to get their sixth straight victory.
The Nittany Lions rallied from deficits of 24-14 and 31-28, and Saquon Barkley scored on a 2-yard run with 3 minutes, 58 seconds to play for the go-ahead score in a wild 45-31 victory over the Hoosiers at Memorial Stadium.
The Lions improved to 8-2, 6-1 in the Big Ten, thanks to 31 points in the final 16 minutes of the game that enabled them to hold off the pesky Hoosiers (5-5, 3-4).
Barkley, the Big Ten's leading rusher, was bottled up all day and gained only 60 yards on 33 carries. His first of two fourth-quarter touchdowns, a 4-yard run, gave Penn State a 28-24 lead less than three minutes into the period. The TD was set up by a 54-yard pass from Trace McSorley to DaeSean Hamilton.
Indiana responded quickly, needing just 1:03 to regain the lead. Quarterback Richard Lagow hit Mitchell Paige for 11 yards on third and 10 and Camion Patrick for 22 yards to move into Penn State territory. From the 40, Lagow found a wide-open Nick Westbrook at the goal line, an obvious mix-up in the Lions secondary, and the Hoosiers went up 31-28.
After an exchange of possessions, Penn State drove 57 yards to the go-ahead score, helped by a 26-yard pass from McSorley to Chris Godwin. Showing great second effort, Barkley ran 13 yards to a first-and-goal at the 2, and went in from the same spot two plays later.
Indiana failed on a fourth-down gamble from its own 22, and Tyler Davis kicked a 39-yard field goal to put the Lions up by seven. The Hoosiers got one first down at their own 27, but Lagow fumbled after being sacked by linebacker Brandon Bell, and defensive end Torrance Brown scooped up the ball and ran 9 yards for the final touchdown. It was Indiana's fifth turnover of the game, all on fumbles.
McSorley, who threw two interceptions, his first turnovers since Sept. 24 against Michigan, completed 16 of 30 passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns to Godwin. The Hoosiers outgained the Lions, 454-411.
Penn State led, 14-7, late in the second quarter, but Indiana ran off 17 consecutive points to take a 24-14 lead, getting a 47-yard field goal by Griffin Oakes and a 12-yard scoring run by Devine Redding, his second TD of the day, in the third quarter.
But the Nittany Lions, who had only two first downs in the third quarter up to that point, drove 70 yards in four plays with the help of a 43-yard pass from McSorley to Saeed Blacknall. Two plays later, McSorley found Godwin in the left corner of the end zone from 21 yards out for the touchdown that narrowed the deficit to 24-21 with 1:09 left in the period.
The Nittany Lions scored just one touchdown off four first-half turnovers. The last of the turnovers, a bouncing punt that glanced off the Hoosiers' Isaac James, was recovered by Christian Campbell at the Indiana 6. McSorley needed just one play _ a pass to a wide-open Godwin in the end zone _ for the score that gave the Lions a 14-7 lead.
However, on its next possession, Penn State turned the ball over on McSorley's first interception in six games, breaking a streak of 139 passes without a pick. Richard Fant returned the interception 34 yards to the Penn State 32 and Indiana scored in five plays, finding the end zone on Redding's 12-yard run with 1 minute left in the first half.
The Hoosiers took the second-half kickoff and drove to a go-ahead 47-yard field goal by Griffin Oakes. The kick was set up on a 34-yard pass from Lagow to Nick Westbrook that moved the ball to the Penn State 32.
Indiana was knocking on the door again after McSorley badly overthrew his intended receiver, Juwan Johnson, and Tony Fields picked it off and returned the ball to the Lions 29. The Hoosiers drove to the 1, but on fourth down, Lagow's pass to Westbrook was broken up by linebacker Brandon Smith.
The Nittany Lions drove 60 yards after receiving the opening kickoff and moved downfield with the help of McSorley completions of 32 yards to Barkley and 17 yards to Godwin. On third and goal from the 10, McSorley dropped back to pass, did not find anyone open, and took off around the left side for the touchdown.
