Sunday, November 21, 2010
Associated Press
LANDOVER, Md.
It was turning into quite a day of misadventures for Joe Paterno.
Four players, including three starters, were late for their morning team bus, so the Penn State coach decreed they wouldn’t play in the first half.
Then Paterno’s bus broke down on the way to the stadium, forcing him and about a dozen players to find room on another one.
Then his Nittany Lions blew a 14-point lead against Indiana, a team that had lost 11 straight Big Ten games.
And, by the way, his starting center was hurt.
Then, with the score tied in the third quarter, the tide turned. Andrew Daily stuffed the ball before it could leave the Indiana punter’s foot, and James Van Fleet returned the block for a touchdown to give Penn State the lead for good in a 41-24 victory Saturday.
“I was concerned, let’s put it that way,” said Paterno, who got career win No. 401. “I was concerned that we had a good lead, and we let them back in the ball game.”
Matt McGloin completed 22 of 31 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns in his third career start, the first 300-yard game by a Penn State quarterback this year as the Nittany Lions (7-4, 4-3) found the nation’s capital to be a satisfactory home away from home. Evan Royster and Silas Redd each ran for scores, part of Penn State’s 171-yard rushing day.
Indiana (4-7, 0-7) struggled again on defense, although not as infamously as in last week’s 83-20 loss to Wisconsin. The Hoosiers have never beaten Penn State, having failed in all 14 tries. They’ve lost 12th straight conference games, eight of which have been close in the fourth quarter.
“Today was no different,” Indiana coach Bill Lynch said. “We just need to get over the hump and make those plays.”
The Hoosiers were technically the home team, having agreed to move the game for a $3 million payout, but Penn State recruits heavily in the region and has about 42,000 alumni living in the Washington, D.C., area. Nittany Lions white outnumbered Indiana red by about 3-to-1 among the announced attendance of 78,790 at FedEx Field.