Penn State earns 1st Big Ten win in huge defeat of IU

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- IU received the opening kickoff Saturday against Penn State and promptly marched downfield on a 13-play, balanced-scoring drive and an early 7-0 lead.\nEverything went downhill from there.\nThe Nittany Lions, who came into the game winless in the Big Ten, reeled off 52 unanswered points including 31 in the third quarter for a blowout 52-7 victory. That left IU winless on the road for the second time in two seasons, despite a record performance by freshman running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis.\n"They threw some stuff at us we hadn't seen before, so we just came in at halftime and tried to adjust," senior safety Joe Gonzalez said. "We just weren't into it the second half. It was like that wasn't us out there in the third quarter."\nIU couldn't contain the PSU air attack in the first half. With three passing touchdowns, PSU junior quarterback Zack Mills doubled his season total. Mills rolled left and found senior wideout Tony Johnson on the side of the end zone for the first score, and hooked up with Johnson again for five yards over the middle to cap a 96-yard drive with PSU's second touchdown. After scoring 24 points in the first quarter all year, PSU had 14 against IU.\n Mills added another touchdown, a 33-yard play action strike to freshman wideout Maurice Humphrey, to put PSU up by two scores going into the half.\n"On defense, first half, play action really hurt us," IU coach Gerry DiNardo said. "We didn't play very good. I felt okay at halftime. 21-7, I felt like our defense started playing better toward the end."\nDown 14, IU was still in the game when the third quarter began. By the time the period had ended, IU had been blown out. After a PSU field goal, IU went three and out and punted. But PSU senior safety Yaacov Yisrael blocked freshman punter Tyson Beattie's kick and junior safety Andrew Guman returned it 10 yards for a score.\n"I didn't really see anyone coming, it's my job to get the ball off," Beattie said. "They came up through the a-gap, two of them. Apparently, we got it off in under 2.1 (seconds), which is what we're supposed to do, so there must be some broken assignment in there somewhere."\n PSU backup quarterback Michael Robinson helped the Lions score two more touchdowns in the third quarter. First, he outsprinted junior linebacker Josh Moore around the left side for a 10-yard rushing touchdown. Then, on PSU's next possession, Robinson found a wide open Johnson for 30 yards and his third touchdown of the game.\nUp 45-7, the Nittany Lions still weren't done. With 18 seconds left in the quarter, junior IU quarterback Matt LoVecchio threw a pass that linebacker Paul Posluszny intercepted and returned 15 yards for a touchdown.\n"I hate when it gets like that, when it gets ugly," DiNardo said. "We're a better football team than we looked the second half of that game. I hated for it to get away like that, they had the pick for a touchdown and the blocked punt for a touchdown. That interrupts the flow of the game and they get two extra scores."\nThe Hoosiers did start the game on a positive note. Green-Ellis rushed eight times for 45 yards on the first drive and LoVecchio found senior wideout Glenn Johnson on a 12-yard scoring pass. Overall, Green-Ellis rushed 42 times for 203 yards, the fifth-best freshman rushing performance in IU history. He said he was proud of the accomplishment, but would have preferred the win. \n"It means something to me, but not as much as if we had won the game," he said. "On an individual basis it means a lot, but I wish I would've gotten 300 yards and we would have won the game."\n-- Contact staff writer Gavin Lesnick at glesnick@indiana.edu.