Penn State breaks late tie, beats Indiana on Drew Allar’s TD pass [updated]

STATE COLLEGE — Theo Johnson approached Drew Allar after he threw the first interception of his career late in the fourth quarter Saturday.

Allar’s mistake allowed prohibitive underdog Indiana to tie it with less than three minutes to go before stunned Penn State fans at Beaver Stadium.

“I told him, ‘You’re the best in the country and don’t forget it,’ ” Johnson said. “ ’That doesn’t define you.’ I thought it was really cool to see him bounce back after that and show up when we needed him.”

Allar threw a deep strike to KeAndre Lambert-Smith down the right sideline for a 57-yard touchdown with 1:46 to go, lifting the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions to a 33-24 victory over the Hoosiers.

“It just felt good because we missed a couple deeper shots earlier in the game,” Allar said. “Dre made a fantastic catch. It was pretty good coverage (by Indiana’s Jordan Grier), honestly. Dre made a really good catch and was able to stay inbounds.”

Moments earlier, Allar threw the first interception of his college career after an NCAA-record 311 attempts without one. Indiana’s Chris Freeman kicked a 35-yard field goal to tie it with 2:58 left.

After Kaytron Allen caught an 11-yard pass and ran for 10, Allar dropped back, received great pass protection and delivered the first comeback win of his college career.

“Drew gave me a lot of time to get under it,” Lambert-Smith said, “and he gave me a perfect ball. I just made the play and stayed inbounds. I needed that touchdown.”

Penn State (4-1 Big Ten, 7-1) needed it to avoid losing to Indiana (0-5, 2-6), a 32-point underdog, which caused problems all day.

Defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton then sealed it, sacking Indiana quarterback Brendan Sorsby from the blind side and forcing a fumble. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety.

“I saw they were going to pass the ball,” Dennis-Sutton said. “I wanted to force the tight end to block me one-on-one and that’s what happened. I tried to get around him.

“I had no idea it was a strip sack. I turned around and was about to celebrate and then I saw the ball rumbling and stumbling into the end zone.”

Penn State coach James Franklin warned the Nittany Lions all week of not allowing one loss to turn into two. It was clear the Lions had an emotional letdown after their 20-12 loss last week at No. 3 Ohio State, which snapped their 11-game winning streak.

Franklin wouldn’t admit that he was relieved from avoiding the worst loss of his tenure with the Lions, but he used the word “awesome” six times in answering one question.

“It was awesome,” he said of Penn State’s second-longest TD of the season. “I enjoyed it. I thought it was awesome. Drew being able to sit in there and deliver that ball and KeAndre being able to finish the play and stay inbounds was awesome.

“It was awesome. We’ve talked about it a bunch. We have to continue to do that. But that was awesome.”

Allar completed 20-of-31 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns and was sacked three times. Lambert-Smith finished with six catches for 96 yards.

“Everyone faces adversity,” Lambert-Smith said. “It might sound a little weird, but I’m happy he got that pick out of the way. I told him, ‘We’re sticking with you. We have 100% belief in you.’ ”

After taking a 17-14 lead, the Lions opened the second half with an impressive drive, marching 75 yards in 12 plays. They ran it eight times before Allar lobbed a 16-yard pass to Johnson for the touchdown.

Penn State’s offense, however, struggled the rest of the way. Indiana pulled within 24-21 on Sorsby’s 26-yard touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. with 10:54 left.

Sorsby finished 13-for-19 passing for 269 yards and three TDs with one interception.

Several minutes later, Allar threw the interception to Josh Sanguinetti, who returned it to the Penn State 21. The Hoosiers had to settle for a field goal after three runs did not gain a first down.

“At that point of the game, I can’t put the ball in jeopardy being up three and backed up in our own territory,” Allar said. “I can’t do that. I probably should have taken the sack and given the punt team a chance to flip the field.

“All the credit goes to the defense on that. They held them to a field goal and gave us a chance to go down the field and win the game.

In the first half, Indiana took advantage of two breakdowns by the Penn State defense, which has had very few this season.

On the Hoosiers’ third series, DeQuece Carter got behind the secondary and hauled in Sorsby’s pass for a 90-yard touchdown, the longest completion against the Lions since 1993.

The Lions answered with the help of their special teams. KJ Winston recovered punt returner Camden Jordan’s fumble at the Indiana 32. Seven plays later, Allar found backup tight end Khalil Dinkins all alone in the back of the end zone for an 8-yard score on fourth-and-1.

Indiana struck again. Sorsby found Carter down the left sideline after a coverage breakdown. The Hoosiers’ 69-yard TD play put them up 14-7 early in the second quarter.

“We just had to make sure we stayed together after they had their big plays,” Winston said, “and finish how we needed to.”

The Lions tied it after Indiana running back Trent Howland was ruled down short of the first down on fourth down. From there, Allar improvised and hit Nick Singleton for a 28-yard gain to the Hoosiers’ 31. Aided by a pass interference call, they tied it when Singleton plowed into the end zone from the 2.

Safety Jayden Reed, who struggled in the first half, intercepted Sorsby’s pass across the middle and returned it to the Indiana 43. Penn State drove to the 18, but had to settle for Felkins’ 51-yard field goal as time ran out in the half for a 17-14 lead.

At the end, the Lions were glad to escape with a win, thanks to Allar and Lambert-Smith.

“We work on it a lot,” Lambert-Smith said. “It was definitely exciting seeing it play out in front of 107,000, in a game, for a game-winner. That was exciting. Hopefully you see it more in the future.”