Penn State field goal seals victory over Hoosiers

INDIANAPOLIS -- Penn State senior quarterback Rashard Casey didn't want to watch.\nAfter Casey marched his team 52 yards in less than two minutes, his teammates' hopes of defeating IU rested on the foot of senior kicker Ryan Primanti. \nWith 12:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, Primanti missed a 27-yard field goal. Now with 18 seconds left in the game, Primanti had a chance to break a 24-24 tie.\n"I really didn't want to watch it," Casey said. "But I had confidence in him."\nPrimanti did nothing to disappoint Casey or his teammates, as Primanti's 39-yard field goal attempt split the uprights, improving Penn State's record to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten.\n"It was close the entire game and I knew at some point it was going to come down to a big kick or a big play," said Primanti, who last kicked a game-winning field goal as a high school senior. "I'm just fortunate it was a special teams play." \nThroughout Penn State's final drive, Primanti waited anxiously on the sideline. The Nittany Lions started their final drive with 1:55 left, but had no timeouts after using all three earlier in the half.\nOn first down with 22 seconds remaining, Penn State coach Joe Paterno decided to call on Primanti. Casey just completed a four-yard pass to senior tight end Tony Stewart, who ran out-of-bounds to stop the clock. Paterno said he decided Primanti was going to kick the field goal on first down because he didn't want to risk someone getting tackled in the middle of the field and not having time for a field goal.\n"I was ready," Primanti said. "I knew at anytime we would go for that last kick."\nWhen Primanti's field goal sailed wide right earlier in the half it was his first miss in nine attempts. As he marched back to the sideline, Paterno was the first to console his kicker.\n"Hey, they all miss once in awhile," said Paterno, who is three wins from passing Paul "Bear" Bryant as college football's all-time winningest coach. \nDespite the kick's short distance, it flew from a weird angle. Primanti said he got careless and didn't focus on putting the ball through the uprights. \n"Sometimes in practice, sure, I've had the same problem," he said. "It's more of an alignment problem than kicking the ball."\nFortunately for Primanti's sake, he didn't have to wait long to redeem himself. Less than four minutes after the miss, Primanti calmly made a 39-yard field, giving Penn State a 24-21 lead. Primanti said attempting another field goal shortly after the miss made it easier for him to regain his confidence.\nPrimanti's teammates said they never lost confidence in Primanti. Nittany Lion junior running back Eric McCoo was thinking "he'll make it" the moment Primanti stepped on the field in the closing seconds.\n"We have confidence in our teammates," McCoo said. "He has confidence when we're out there with the ball and we have confidence with his leg to put it through the upright"