No. 7 Penn State pulls way for win over Indiana
No. 7 Penn State pulls way for win over Indiana
By GENARO C. ARMA
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — No. 7 Penn State overcame a sluggish start to move a step closer to the Rose Bowl.
Derrick
Williams ran for one score and caught a touchdown pass, Daryll Clark
threw for 240 yards and two scores in an uneven outing, and a stifling
defense held Indiana to six first downs in the Nittany Lions' 34-7
victory on a dreary Saturday.
Heavy underdogs coming into Beaver
Stadium, Indiana (3-8, 1-6 Big Ten) trailed just 10-7 at halftime in
large part because of miscues by Penn State (10-1, 6-1). One drive
ended after Clark fumbled at the Indiana 1, while Kevin Kelly missed a
40-yard field goal to foil another effort.
Momentum swung after
halftime in favor of the Nittany Lions and Joe Paterno, who once again
coached from the press box because of a sore right leg and hip.
Tailback
Evan Royster bounced off three Indiana tacklers like a pinball on a
19-yard touchdown run to put Penn State up 17-7. Royster finished with
63 yards on 12 carries.
The defense then pinned Indiana deep on
the next drive with a three-and-out. Kelly kicked a 36-yard field goal
to extend the lead to 13 with 8:20 left in the third quarter before
Clark hit Deon Butler on a slant from 6 yards out to push Penn State
ahead 27-7 about five minutes later.
Bundled up in ponchos and
slickers under a cold, off-and-on rain, the relatively subdued Penn
State faithful could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Marcus
Thigpen led Indiana with 72 yards on eight carries, including a 57-yard
touchdown run in the first half. Indiana managed just 180 yards of
total offense on the day.
The Nittany Lions returned to the win
column following the disheartening defeat Nov. 8 at Iowa that crippled
the chances of a third national title for Penn State's Hall of Fame
coach.
A Big Ten championship is still well within reach, though
Penn State faces a tough obstacle next week at home against No. 15
Michigan State. The Spartans were idle on Saturday.
Indiana had
injury problems, missing three starters in the secondary. Hampered
throughout the season by sore ankle, quarterback Kellen Lewis struggled
under withering Penn State pressure in the second half and finished
9-of-21 passing for just 57 yards and an interception.
Williams
had a 39-yard touchdown catch over the middle to give Penn State a 7-0
lead, and he added a 36-yard scoring run on an end-around in the fourth
quarter. The senior captain finished with 62 yards on four receptions,
and 61 yards rushing on four carries.
Yet the Hoosiers still had designs on an upset after staying close to Penn State through the soggy first half.
Thigpen
bounced out from a crowd on a run up the middle and found two blockers
around the edge to escort him untouched down the sideline for his long
TD run that silenced the crowd and evened the score at 7-7.
But
the second half has been a problem all year for the Hoosiers, who came
into the game being outscored 163-68 after halftime, and Saturday was
no different.
Coming off the worst performance of the season at
Iowa, Clark bounced back by going 20-of-36 passing. He softened the
Indiana defense by hitting receivers over the middle, but the
quarterback also fumbled twice and threw a deep interception into
double coverage on a pass intended for Butler.
Butler finished
with 56 yards on five catches. He broke the school's career reception
record of 167, previously held by Bobby Engram.
NEW YORK (AP) — Penn State slipped to the back of the one-loss pack
Sunday in The Associated Press college football poll, while No. 1
Alabama and No. 2 Texas Tech strengthened their hold on the top spots.
The
Nittany Lions fell four places to No. 7 in the Top 25 after losing for
the first time this season. The 24-23 loss at Iowa on a field goal in
the final seconds all but eliminated coach Joe Paterno's team from the
national title race and left only Alabama and Texas Tech as unbeaten
teams from the six BCS conferences.
The Crimson Tide (10-0)
needed overtime to stay perfect, beating LSU 27-21 in Nick Saban's
return to Baton Rouge, La., as Alabama coach. The Tide received 44
first-place votes and 1,604 points from the media panel.
The Red
Raiders (10-0) followed up their big win over Texas last week with a
resounding 56-20 victory over Oklahoma State. The impressive
performance earned the Red Raiders the remaining 21 first-place votes,
up from 12 last week, and 1,574 points.
Alabama plays Mississippi
State at home on Saturday and Texas Tech has a week off before playing
at Oklahoma on Nov. 22, the Red Raiders' fourth consecutive game
against a ranked opponent.
No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Texas, No. 5
Oklahoma and No. 6 Southern California, all with one-loss but still
with national title hopes, all moved up one spot and are ahead of the
Penn State.
No. 8 Utah (10-0) moved up two spots, jumping over
Boise State (9-0) which stayed at No. 9. The Utes and Broncos are both
trying to break into the Bowl Championship Series from conferences
without an automatic bid to the big-money games.
Ohio State moved up two spots and completes the first 10.
Oklahoma State fell three spots to No. 11 and is followed by Big 12 rival Missouri.
No. 13 Georgia is one spot ahead of the other unbeaten team, Ball State (9-0) from the Mid-American Conference.
Mountain West rivals TCU and BYU are Nos. 15 and 16, respectively.
No.
17 North Carolina has its highest ranking since it started the 1998
season No. 12. That was the season after coach Mack Brown left Chapel
Hill for Texas.
Michigan State is No. 18. LSU dropped three spots to 19th and Florida State moved up four spots to No. 20.
Pittsburgh moved up four spots to No. 21 and the final four teams were unranked last week.
Cincinnati
is ranked for the first time this season at No. 22 after beating West
Virginia 26-23 in overtime. The Mountaineers dropped out of the
rankings.
Oregon State, which has won four straight and controls
the Pac-10 race because it beat USC, also moved into the rankings for
the first time this season. The Beavers are No. 23.
No. 24 South Carolina and No. 25 Tulsa both moved back into the rankings.
California, Georgia Tech and Maryland also dropped out after losses.
By RALPH D. RUSSO
NEW YORK (AP) — Penn State surged in the Bowl Championship Series
standings after its big win at Ohio State, closing the gap on
first-place Texas and second-place Alabama on Sunday.
Still, the Nittany Lions are in danger of being unbeaten and left out of the BCS national championship game.
The
Longhorns were again first by far in all the polls and on top of all
the computer rankings. Staying undefeated won't be easy for Texas,
which plays at Texas Tech on Saturday, but if Colt McCoy and crew can,
a trip to Miami for the Jan. 8 title game will be theirs.
The top two teams in the final BCS standings play for the national title.
Texas'
.9981 BCS average is the third highest since the current formula, which
counts the USA Today coaches' poll and Harris poll for two-thirds of
the grade and a compilation of six computers for the other third, was
put in place in 2004.
The Crimson Tide (.9499) were a solid second in the polls, and second in all but one of the computer ratings.
Penn
State's 13-6 victory over Ohio State helped in the computer rankings
and pushed its average to .9257. The problem for the Nittany Lions is
the perceived weakness of the Big Ten in comparison to the Southeastern
Conference and the Big 12.
After a week off, Penn State plays at
Iowa (5-3) and finishes the season with home games against Indiana
(3-5) and Michigan State (7-2).
It's unlikely those opponents
will help lift Penn State into one of the top two spots if the Crimson
Tide win the SEC and Longhorns win the Big 12.
The rest of the top five remained the same, with Oklahoma (.8270) fourth and Southern California (.7822) fifth.
Georgia
(.7703) is sixth, Texas Tech (.7431) is seventh and Florida (.7295) is
eighth. All could make big jumps next week — or take substantial falls.
The Red Raiders get Texas in Lubbock, the second of four games against currently ranked teams.
The
Bulldogs and Gators meet in Jacksonville, Fla., with the winner getting
the inside track to the play in the SEC title game with national
championship hopes.
Tenth-place Utah and 11th-place Boise State
are both in position to earn an automatic BCS bid, but only one is
reserved for teams from the non-BCS leagues that finish in the top 12
of the BCS standings.
Utah's Mountain West Conference rival, TCU
(8-1), is in 13th place, and with some help could become the first team
from an conference without an automatic bid to reach the BCS without a
perfect record.
The other potential BCS busters are Ball State in 16th place and Tulsa in 18th.
(WEST LAFAYETTE - AP) Penn State's offensive success this season has made it possible to overlook its impressive defense.
The No. 6 Nittany Lions entered
Saturday's game against Purdue averaging 50 points and 515 yards per
game. Penn State didn't approach those totals against the Boilermakers,
but defense carried the day in a 20-6 win. Penn State outgained Purdue
422 yards to 241 and had a shutout until the middle of the fourth
quarter.
Linebackers Josh Hull and Navorro
Bowman led the way. Hull had 11 tackles, including two for losses, and
Bowman had nine tackles, with two for losses.
Freshman safety Drew Astorino
intercepted a pass and returned it 29 yards. He said his job usually is
easy because the Nittany Lions are strong up front.
"It starts with our D-line," he said.
"We always have great linebackers, and the secondary doesn't have to
make too many tackles."
Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter entered the day hoping to make his mark on the record books -- and instead got benched.
He needed 124 yards passing to reach 10,000 for his career, but ended up with just 112 in one of the worst days of his career.
Penn State (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten) now can
look confidently toward its showdown at Wisconsin. Purdue (2-3, 0-1)
has plenty of questions heading into its game at Ohio State.
Penn State has been more successful
than most in handling Purdue's spread offense. The Nittany Lions beat
the Boilermakers 12-0 in 2006, then didn't allow them an offensive
touchdown in a 26-19 win last season. In Saturday's game, Purdue
produced its lowest yardage total since gaining 223 yards in 2003
against Notre Dame.
"I think it's just our defensive
coaches," Astorino said. "They do a great job of scheming, and I think
they just call the right defenses and we just have to play."
Purdue running back Kory Sheets said Purdue's offense played poorly.
"They have a very good defense, but it
was bigger than that today," he said after the game. "I can't believe
we played the way we did today. We had a great week of practice, and
everybody seemed ready for this challenge."
Penn State focused on taking away the big play.
"You let them have those deep ones,
you're in trouble," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "We decided we
were going to just try to tackle. I said the one thing we've got to do
in this ballgame is tackle. And the couple of big plays they got was
missed tackles."
Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark said the defense made the difference.
"Every win is not going to be as good
as you wanted," he said. "Defense did a great job today. We thank them
for helping us out a lot today. We made some mistakes."
Astorino's interception late in the third quarter led to a field goal that gave Penn State a 20-0 lead.
Joey Elliott replaced Painter in the
fourth quarter and quickly led Purdue down the field. Elliott's
fourth-down completion to Desmond Tardy put the Boilermakers at the
Penn State 1, and Kory Sheets went over the top for Purdue's only
points to make it 20-6 with 6:28 to play.
Penn State ran out the clock after
that, something the Nittany Lions haven't had to do this season. Their
final drive was 11 plays and 58 yards.
"I think some good came out of it,"
receiver Deon Butler said. "We showed that we could run the ball down
at the end of the game, and that we could run the clock out with our
running game."
Penn State's offense did some damage,
too. Evan Royster ran for 141 yards and a touchdown and had 53 yards on
four catches. Clark completed 18 of 26 passes for 226 yards and ran for
a score for Penn State.
Purdue had other chances to score, but kicker Chris Summers missed two field goals and an extra point.
"You just can't come out of the red
zone with no points, otherwise it acts as a backbreaker to the team,"
Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "It would have been a different ballgame
with those field goals converted. Bottom line is we need to get better
for next week."
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