Penn State overcame turnovers, penalties and general bad luck to beat Indiana 16-10. Defense was key in the victory, as Penn State forced two turnovers and held Indiana to just 260 yards.

“Our defense played a good, solid game, as they have all year,” Joe Paterno said. “[Overall], we didn’t look very good today. We gotta do better.”

Indiana opened the scoring with a 49-yard field goal to go up 3-0. Neither team would have much success in the remainder of the quarter. Penn State came closest to scoring, but a touchdown was negated by a holding penalty. On the next play, a Rob Bolden pass deflected off his receiver and was intercepted.

Matt McGloin got the nod in the second quarter and led the Nittany Lions to a field goal. Two long third-down conversions to Derek Moye and Shawney Kersey brought Penn State down to the Indiana 12 yard line, but the Hoosier defense was able to hold the Nittany Lions there. Anthony Fera split the uprights from 29 yards to tie the game at 3-3. Fera would go on to miss a 52-yard field goal on the final play of the first half.

Penn State out-gained Indiana 241-105 in the first half. However, the Nittany Lion quarterbacks combined for just 9-23 passing with one interception. Penalties and turnovers were killers for Penn State. The Nittany Lions committed four penalties for 45 yards and turned the ball over twice.

“I think we’re wasting too many opportunities,” Paterno said. “Neither [quarterback] had one of their better games.”

The Penn State defense continued to dominate in the second half, forcing a fumble on Indiana’s first drive. Penn State could not turn the great field position into a touchdown however, settling for a 27-yard Fera field goal to go up 6-3 with 12:18 left in the third quarter.

With 1:41 left in the third quarter, Penn State finally got into the end zone. On McGloin’s first play of the second half, he threw a 74-yd. pass to Moye to put the Nittany Lions up 13-3. In the fourth quarter, McGloin led another drive that ended in Fera’s third field goal of the game. This time, Fera connected from 33 yards with 10:10 left in the game.

“We just got in a little bit of a groove there in the second half,” Matt McGloin said. Referring to his touchdown pass to Moye, he said, “They were pressing a lot…we sent Derek up on a go route. He ran under it and he made a great play.”

Indiana did not give up however, coming within six points with 3:51 left in the game. Indiana quarterback Dusty Kiel led the Hoosiers on a 14-play, 77-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown to make it 16-10. Indiana had a chance to win the game on its final drive, but a Hail Mary pass was unsuccessful.

Penn State finished the game with 466 yards compared to just 260 for Indiana. McGloin ended the game with 204 yards on 10-22 passing. Bolden managed just 67 yards on 6-14 passing. Redd had 127 yards on 30 carries, while Moye led all receivers with six receptions for 158 yards.

While the win was not pretty, the coaching staff was happy enough to get out of Bloomington, Ind., with a victory. Next week, however, the Nittany Lions will have to play better at home against Iowa.