3 costly fumbles doom IU vs. Penn State

For a player who said he wasn’t down, sophomore quarterback Kellen Lewis appeared to shoulder the weight of his team following a 36-31 loss to Penn State.\nFumbling three times – the third effectively ended the game – Lewis mumbled through his post-game interview after his team squandered a chance to become bowl eligible for the first time since 1993.\n“It almost seems kind of like a curse now, trying to get that sixth win to guarantee a bowl game.” Lewis said. “We know we can win one more, and we know we’re better than that.”\nFrom the opening whistle, the Hoosiers came out with a purpose. \nOn their first drive, IU went 80 yards and jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. Penn State’s first two possessions resulted in a punt and an interception, inspiring a homecoming crowd that yearned to see the Hoosiers become bowl eligible.\nDespite the early success, the Hoosiers failed to capitalize on the offensive end and allowed Penn State to score its first touchdown. \nFrom then on, IU and Penn State continued to trade scores through the first half.\nIn the second quarter, Lewis rolled out of the pocket to find junior running back Marcus Thigpen on a screen that went 30 yards for the score. \nBut Penn State drove down the field in their final two possessions of the first half – both for touchdowns – to take a 20-14 lead.\nAfter playing toe-to-toe with Penn State in the first half, the Hoosiers looked as though they might unravel in the second half.\nSenior cornerback Tracy Porter misjudged a punt and fumbled inside the IU 15-yard line. \nPorter, one of the team’s two captains, also missed another punt on the IU’s final drive that landed inside the 10-yard line.\n“If you’re playing as hard as he plays, mistakes are going to happen,” Lynch said. “That’s part of the doggone game.”\nLewis later fumbled the ball on two straight possessions inside IU territory, but Penn State only scored six points off of two field goals due to a stalwart IU front seven that kept the Nittany Lions out of the end zone.\n“We just agreed that basically we would stay and fight,” said sophomore linebacker Will Patterson. “It was just a matter of making tackles and doing our job.”\nSuddenly, the IU offense came to life again. \nFacing a fourth down, sophomore wide receiver James Bailey caught a Lewis pass at the Penn State seven-yard line, and was given the first down on a close spot of the ball. \n“I thought that on the big screen, he clearly had it,” Lynch said. “That’s when I started yelling, when I saw it on the replay board.”\nHaving been given another chance, Lewis then found a wide-open James Hardy on the next play to put the Hoosiers down 29-24. \nWith that catch, the junior wide receiver now has the most receiving touchdowns (31) of any player in IU history, breaking Jade Butcher’s 38-year old record.\nAn energetic crowd then tried to will the Hoosier defense into one more stop, but Penn State drove 77 yards and extended its lead back to 12.\nWith fans heading toward the exits, Lewis took it upon himself to give the Hoosiers one more chance. \nSprinting up through the middle of the pocket, Lewis ran 56 yards for a touchdown to bring the Hoosiers back within five points. After the Hoosiers forced Penn State to go three-and-out, Porter misread the punt again, and it rolled all the way to the IU five-yard line.\nNeeding 95 yards and having only 1:43 to score, the Hoosiers last-ditch drive ended soon after it began. With only 40 seconds left in the game and from their own 36-yard line, Lewis fumbled – his third and final fumble of the day – to end any hope of a comeback – and bowl eligibility – Saturday.\nHardy said the team will bounce back though. \n“It just wasn’t our day,” Hardy said. “But we’re not the same Indiana team, and now we have to go out and show it.”\nLynch agreed.\n“They’re a resilient group,” Lynch said. “They can get down, but you can’t knock them out.”