Indiana gets set to kick off. The Penn State special teams could use something big here.
Green takes the return and makes it to the 24-yard line before being brought down.
Royster takes the handoff and cuts around for the 32-yard line.
Royster takes it again and picks up the first down. Penn State playing a little conservative now. We're under 10 minutes.
It's Royster again and he picks up another six yards.
Green gets it for a change of pace and runs it up the middle for a one-yard gain. It's gonna be third down and three for Penn State.
Clark fires a screen pass to Curtis Drake, who makes some nice cuts and shows off his speed en route to a 28-yard pickup. First down for Penn State and the Nittany Lions are at the 27-yard line.
Suhey picks up a short gain. Moye gets a catch for a first down.
We're heading down to the field now. Thanks for tuning in. Check back for post-game coverage.
***
Third and eight for Indiana after the timeout.
Chappell finds an open receiver at the goaline but Sukay hits him hard to force the drop. Fourth down.
Freeland makes the kick and Indiana takes on three more.
Penn State 24 Indiana 13...10:43 left.
***
The student section sings a little Bon Jovi to celebrate the TD and the teams return to the field for the kickoff.
A booming kick by Wagner is returned out of the endzone by Tandon Doss, Astorino comes up with the tackle at the 25-yard line.
A handoff is stopped by Lee immediately.
On second down, Chappell finds a wide open receiver for the first down.
Chappell completes another pass, this time to Doss for another first.
Chappell's deep pass in overthrown and Doss is covered tightly by D'Anton Lynn.
The second-down pass is tipped by Crawford at the line and falls incomplete. Third down now for Indiana. The crowd gets loud.
Chappell finds Turner for a first down. Penn State can't seem to hold the Indiana receivers in check.
One yard run and it's second down. Chappell completes a short pass to Turner, who runs down the sideline for a 10 yard gain and a first down. Indiana is driving hard and is at the 23-yard line.
Chappell decided to take it himself and is forced out of bounds after a two yard pickup.
Chappell fins McCray open but he is met by Hull and Lee immediately. Injury timeout.
11:05 remaining
***
Sports Chief and senior Dave Miniaci taking you the rest of the way in possibly my final game at Beaver Stadium.
107,379 in attendance here after a very rough start. The stadium was fairly empty at kickoff.
Penn State will start on the 2-yard line.
Royster takes the handoff and fights his way into the endzone. Touchdown Penn State. Wagner adds the PAT
24-10 Penn State...14:57 left
***
Say what you want about the (at times) shoddy fan presence at Beaver Stadium this year, but the wave looks pretty impressive from above to a first-time press box attendee like myself.
Royster picks and pokes his way through the Hoosier defense for eight yards, bringing the Nittany Lion offense to their own 46, bringing up 2nd-and-2. Penn State converts after Clark finds Suhey in the flat yet again.
On the following play, Clark just barely overthrows a wide-open Moye down the near sideline. Would've been a sure touchdown.
On 3rd-and-1, Clark plunges into the Hoosier defense for two yards, picking up the first down. Penn State ball on the Indiana 33. On second down, Royster knifes through the Hoosier defense for a first down. The Penn State offense finally seems to be generating some continuity.
On 3rd-and-6 from the IU 15, Clark throws an incompletion over the middle to Moye, but flags come flying as the Penn State receiver was interfered with by Indiana's Adrian Burks.
Now 3rd-and-goal from the IU 2 after an incompletion intended for Quarless and a run for minimal yardage as the quarter comes to an end. It's been a pleasure live-blogging this quarter, but now I must relinquish my duties to the Bearded One, Collegian sports chief Dave Miniaci.
***
Bowman's pick-six was the longest interception return for a touchdown since Nolan McCready's 76-yarder against Illinois in 2005. I've been waiting years to include McCready in a story/blog...finally I'm able to do so.
Indiana begins at their own 24 after Wagner's kick. On first down the Hoosiers try a long pass -- which falls incomplete -- and on 2nd Payton picks up a pair of yards. 3rd-and-8 -- big play for Indiana. Bowman stifles the drive as he deflects a Chappell pass across the middle.
Zug is back to return the kick again, but no dramatic finish this time. He fair catches the punt and draws a sarcastic cheer -- and a fairly loud one at that -- from the crowd.
***
Following Wagner's miss, Indiana takes over at their own 20. On 2nd-and-9, Sean Lee not-so-cordially separates the Hoosier receiver from the ball, forcing a 3rd down...which Indiana converts by completing a 13-yard pass to Terrance Turner.
On the subsequent play, Turner picks up 15 more, then Chappell connects with Belcher for 19. That's 47 yards on three consecutive completions.
Finally the Nittany Lions get the play they were looking for as Navorro Bowman picks off a Chappell screen pass and takes it back 73 yards for the touchdown. Wagner tacks on the extra point.
Penn State 17, Indiana 10...6:54 left in the 3rd quarter.
***
And following Fortuna's gracious introduction, this is Collegian Wednesday columnist Patrick McDermott. Matt's still a little bitter that I'm not on sports staff this semester, but he'll have to live with it.
Indiana's kickoff goes to DE Jerome Hayes. Hayes made some pretty shifty moves on his return until he -- guess what -- fumbled. Penn State's Matt Stankiewitch recovered, however, and the Nittany Lions will begin the drive at their own 45. Brandon Beachum has just been helped off the field by the training staff and was putting no weight on his right leg. We'll monitor the situation and let you know what we find.
Penn State converts a 3rd-and-1 as Clark hits Suhey in the flat for 4 yards. After moving the ball to the Indiana 39, Clark completes a pass to Zug for 4 more, setting up a 3rd-and-3 where Moye catches a pass for 15 up the right sideline. 1st-and-10 from the Hoosier 20.
On the very next play, Clark appeared to have a touchdown to Moye, but the receiver was popped in the chest by a Hoosier defender, dislodging the ball and forcing the incompletion. Penn State follows that up with a delay of game penalty -- the kind of thing that sums up today's game so far.
After a Quarless completion, Wagner misses the 34-yard field goal from the left hash. Still 10-10 as the Nittany Lions continue to give Indiana chances to take control of the game.
***
Here are a few stats before the second half gets underway:
Penn State has outgained Indiana, 189-145.
Penn State has more first downs, 11-8.
Penn State actually has more kick return yards, 44-21...
...AND punt return yards, 16-0.
Penn State has four turnovers to Indiana's 0.
Indiana has 2 penalties to Penn State's 0.
And with that, I'll hand blogging duties over to sports staff turncoat Pat McDermott.
(I kid, I kid.)
***
The Penn State defense has finally woken up, forcing another three-and-out by the Hoosiers, who left their brief drive scoreless after Freeland missed a 47-yard field goal try.
Surprisingly, the Lions don't take a knee on first down with :56 left. Clark throws a pair of incomplete passes to Zug, the second of which should have been picked.
And with that, we have our first Brett Brackett sighting. (I swear.) Brackett makes the 18-yard grab on third down to bring the Lions to the Indiana 48. With that catch, Brackett passes Matt Brown, yours truly, Nate Mink and Wayne Staats on the Penn State 2009 receiving yards list.
Clark then tried a wide open Zug deep but it was just out of Amish Lightning's reach. The Lions then used the true freshman Curtis Drake on an end-around, and he took it 26 yards before being brought down by a facemask. That brought the Lions down to the Indiana 13, where two plays later Clark found Royster for a short screen that the running back to the end zone for the score with :06 left in the half.
So the Lions' worst half of the season ends and somehow Penn State is tied at 10 with Indiana. Typical Hoosier football as Indiana thoroughly outplays its opponent on the road but somehow can't come out on top. I can't imagine Penn State playing any worse in the second half, but I've been wrong before.
The final Blue Band performance at Beaver Stadium this season is now taking place, with a nice Batman theme playing out.
Halftime,
Penn State 10, Indiana 10
***
The Penn State defense finally forced a three-and-out on Indiana, and you can probably guess what happened on the punt return.
(Waiting...)
(Waiting...)
FUMBLE!
(Sorry for my inner-Sports Guy. I couldn't resist.)
Zug fumbled the punt and Indiana recovered at the Lion 29. The Hoosiers will have just under two minutes to try to put more points on the board.
That's four first-half turnovers for the Lions. So much for the sure-handed folks they got back there to field punts and call for fair catches. Why not risk more turnovers with the reward of, say, a nice return? I'm a journalism major, not econ, but it makes sense to me.
***
Penn State finally put together a decent drive, going 45 yards on eight plays in 3:55 to get on the board with a 33-yard Collin Wagner field goal.
Royster again beared the brunt of the offense, accounting for 35 of those yards. The other 10 came from Clark and Brandon Beachum runs.
Clark looked for Derek Moye on a fade route on 3rd-and-5 from the Indiana 16, but the rail-thin Moye was unable to hang on after absorbing a pair of hits near the goal line.
Wagner followed the field goal by kicking it into the Indiana end zone for a touchback, so the Hoosiers will start from their own 20.
2:52, second quarter
Indiana 10, Penn State 3
***
Penn State was thisclose to holding Indiana to a three-and-out, but on 3rd-and-9 Chappell found Doss for 13 yards near the Penn State sideline to the Hoosier 35.
Chappell then completed two of his next three passes but they only went for eight yards, and Penn State got its best special teams play of the day, courtesy an Indiana penalty. Zug bobbled the catch and pounced on it, but it was ruled that he was interfered with, so the Lions will take over at their own 39.
***
Penn State took over at its own 7 with Chaz Powell on the sideline with a jacket on. His return does not look likely.
Royster was the man on the drive, gaining five and seven yards, respectively, on his first two carries before Stephfon Green came in and netted just a single yard on two carries. With Clark facing pressure on 3rd-and-8 from his own 21, he found Royster, who did a good job of making something out of nothing but could only manage six yards.
Jeremy Boone came on for his first punt on Senior Day and drilled it 53 yards to Doss, who made a fair catch at his own 20. But hey, that was the first Penn State drive without a turnover, so there's something to take out of it, right?
Baby steps, folks, baby steps.
***
Hey folks, Matt Fortuna here to take you through what Penn State fans can only hope is a much better quarter. Truth be told, however, we've seen this act before. Indiana is a 4-6 team that could very easily be 8-2, having almost pulled the upset against Wisconsin last week while giving away late leads at Iowa and at Northwestern. The Hoosiers also took Michigan to the wire at the Big House earlier this season, though that's beginning to look less impressive by the week.
Back to the action here, Chappell was able to extend Indiana's drive with a four-yard plunge before the drive stalled on its next series. I guess you could say the Lions' special teams play improved, as Zug didn't fumble his punt return. He was, however, met by a plethora of Indiana defenders at his own 7, which is where Penn State will start its next drive.
***
IU ball at its 29; 10-0 IU
A run nets two yards on first down as the seconds wind down here in a rough 1Q for Penn State all around. Chappell completes a pass to Belcher to the 37 to bring up a third-and-2 as the nightmare first quarter for the Lions ends.
Matt Fortuna takes over the blog for the second.
10-0 IU; END OF THE FIRST
IU ball at its 13; up 10-0 with 1:43 left in the 1Q
Burgess gets the carry on FD for no gain.
A.J. Wallace is down injured as Beaver Stadium falls silent. I don't think this stadium has ever been this quiet this season. Bowman is hunched over looking down at Wallace, clearly concerned. Wallace does get up and is helped off of the field.
Back to game action, and Tandon Doss drops the ball. A key third down here for the Hoosiers as a quick pass gets broken up. Even if the ball was completed, Lee was all over the play and it would've gone nowhere.
Astorino returns the punt and makes a nice return but fumbles the ball for PSU's third turnover of the quarter. Indiana recovers and gets the ball back. The horrendous special teams strike again. The play is under review as the groans came down right after the fumble. Once again, the officials made the correct call on a close play as the call is upheld.
**
PSU ball at its 24; 10-0 IU with 5:32 left in the 1Q
Personnel changes were made with the special teams unit, as Stephfon Green is back on the return.
Clark passes to Joe Suhey on first down for about nine yards. A nice block opens room for Clark as he runs for the FD.
Kevin Newsome gets the surprise call to be QB for a play but he gets stuffed for a loss of three. A more typical play on second down as Royster gains back those three yards to bring up third down. Clark then uses his footwork again as he scrambles for a 13-yard gain and a FD to the IU 48.
It's a senior connection on FD as Clark finds Andrew Quarless for a 28-yard gain. There's still no return of Powell, but it's unknown if there is anything and what could be bothering him injury-wise.
Clark then makes another bad throw as Nick Polk picks off the QB. That's two picks in the same amount of drives. No chance to complete the pass down field as Polk stepped up and made the easy pick.
**
IU ball at the PSU 43; 3-0 IU
Penn State's defense is faced with a short field -- something that hurt it last week -- thanks to the pick. Chappell's first down pass gets two yards and after a couple of stops, Indiana gets the crucial fourth-down-and-1 conversion to get deeper into PSU territory.
Indiana gets six yards on first down to set the stage for an incredible catch by Damarlo Belcher. The officials looked at each other for a few seconds before calling it a catch and TD. The replay is up here in the box and it looks like the officials made the right call. Regardless, the play is under review.
Not surprisingly, the review is upheld much to the expected chagrin of the PSU faithful. The XP is good as the Hoosiers take a stunning two-score lead here in the first.
IU-10, PSU-0; 5:38 left in the 1Q
**
Chaz Powell gets the kickoff inside the 5 and returns it to the 24 to start Clark and Co.'s first possession.
Senior Pat Mauti gets the start as Penn State goes to the ground with Evan Royster and gets five yards on first down. Mauti stays in there for second down as Powell gets the ball on the ground and gives the Lions the FD.
Clark's first pass of the game gets picked off by Matt Mayberry as Graham Zug was wide open away from the throw. Clark would definitely like a mulligan after that one.
**
A short kick by Collin Wagner gets returned to the 31 to start the game. A 6-yard run gets the Hoosiers started and Indiana keeps it close to the chest its first pass of the game as Chappell completes a 3-yarder to make it third and one. Trea Burgess gets the call and picks up the first down on the ground.
A gaping hole for Bryan Payton leads to another first down for the Hoosiers as Nick Sukay and Drew Astorino make the tackle. It's early, but Indiana is already having success running the ball.
Chappell finds Tandon Doss for another first down to the PSU 25. Doss gets the ball again on a quick pass and picks up four yards. A lot of those so far and it's keeping the Lions D on its heels. Chappell tries it again, but Lee bats the ball down to bring up a third. A lot of confusion as Terrance Turner makes a great catch for a first down. Penn State thought it came up with the ball, but the Hoosiers keep possession and get the first down.
Not much went right the next play as Navorro Bowman stuffs Zach Davis-Walker for a 7-yard loss. Another short pass pushes the ball back to the Penn State 10 but pressure by Jared Odrick forced Chappell to throw the ball away. It took a while to get there, but the defense finally brings up a fourth down.
Nick Freeland makes the easy 27-yard field goal as Indiana grabs the early lead. Penn State gets its first possession of the game down three.
IU-3, PSU-0; 9:56 left in the 1Q.
**
The teams have made their way out of the tunnels and Penn State gets to kick off to Indiana and defend the north end zone to start the game.
**
As expected, Daryll Clark and Sean Lee got the loudest cheers when they came out for the senior day announcements. A lot of hugs and hand shakes for them and the rest of the seniors when the group finished coming out.
Only a few minutes until kickoff here as Penn State looks to win its ninth game of the season but also avoid losing its third home game.
***
It's the final game at Beaver Stadium for the season and for the senior class as the close-but-not-quite-there-yet Indiana Hoosiers come to Happy Valley.
This is Wayne Staats starting the blog today. This could be Brown's and my last game here as well, but we don't get the special introduction the players get.
The Nittany Lions have to rebound from last weekend's tough loss to Ohio State that ended hopes of a second straight Rose Bowl appearance. The offense struggled all around, but the passing game had especially a rough time. On the bright side, Indiana's pass defense is among the worst in the nation.
Speaking of the Hoosiers, they need to sweep their last two games to become bowl eligible. Three of Indiana's six losses have come by three points or less and IU also has the blown fourth-quarter lead against then-unbeaten Iowa in the 42-24 defeat.
As for the pregame festivities for senior day, it's a shame the student section is this empty. I'm awful at giving estimates, but this could be the worst it has been less than 30 minutes before kickoff. I guess the loss, the noon kickoff and a weaker opponent are three factors in this.
On the news front, DeOn'tae Pannell is listed as the starter at LG on the depth chart in place of Johnnie Troutman. Pannell and the offensive line have a tough task today in holding back Greg Middleton and Jammie Kirlew.
digg | 
Facebook | 
del.icio.us
