Zander Diamont had to try ?something.
The freshman quarterback’s offense wasn’t moving. His team trailed by three and, with a little less than three minutes left against Penn State, IU needed to move the ball 75 yards.
For a brief moment, Diamont saw junior tight end Anthony Cosaro open across the middle of the field. Diamont threw across his body. He said he thought he could squeeze it through a hole in the defense.
He couldn’t.
“It was a bad read,” Diamont said.
Penn State sophomore linebacker Nyeem Wartman stepped in front of the pass for a routine interception. Already near the red zone, the turnover allowed the Nittany Lions to run 1:31 off the clock while adding a field goal to increase their lead to six.
With only 53 seconds left, all Diamont could manage on IU’s final drive was six desperation heaves. The offense wasn’t working Saturday, and it wasn’t going to change on the last drive.
IU lost 13-7.
It was a fitting end to a game the IU offense squandered away each scoring opportunity presented.
While the defense kept IU (3-5, 0-5) in the game, the offense couldn’t manufacture a threat against the Penn State (5-4, 2-4) defense.
IU managed 221 yards but converted only three of its 17 third down attempts. In 16 possessions, IU punted 11 times.
IU’s lone score came on an interception returned for a touchdown by senior safety Mark Murphy in the second ?quarter.
Saturday was the first time since Oct. 25, 1997 that an opponent has shut out the IU offense. The Hoosiers now have just one offensive touchdown in the last 10 quarters.
IU Coach Kevin Wilson has tried different formations, different players and trick plays, but the results have been the same.
IU’s offense cannot move the ball consistently enough to score.
“We’re a little bit different right now,” Wilson said. “It is what it is.”
Dropped passes proved costly — IU had three. Two of them came on critical third downs in the second half.
The most notable came with just shy of 11 minutes remaining on third-and-five with IU at the Penn State 33-yard line trailing by three.
Diamont threw to fellow freshman receiver Simmie Cobbs, who dropped the pass at the 25-yard line. Had Cobbs caught it, the drive would have continued, and IU may have had a shorter field goal attempt to tie the game.
Instead, freshman kicker Griffin Oakes tried a 51-yard field goal that he pushed wide right.
It was the closest IU would get to scoring from that moment on.
Diamont, who said the game felt slower, did show statistical improvement from his previous two starts, but it wasn’t enough to spark the offense.
He completed 13-of-28 passes for 68 yards. He also rushed for 58 more, most coming on scrambles.
IU junior running back Tevin Coleman was held to fewer than 100 yards for the first time all season. He finished with 72 yards on 20 carries.
Coleman said the Nittany Lions’ defensive ends rushed the ends too quickly for him to find a gap. When he did, a linebacker was there to meet him.
“I just couldn’t get anywhere,” ?Coleman said.
IU had the lead after Murphy’s interception return, but Penn State’s Bill Belton answered that score on the first play of Penn State’s next possession with a 92-yard touchdown run to tie the game.
At times, Coleman said it gets frustrating when IU can’t move the ball.
With only three games left, IU is running out of time to figure things out offensively. And it doesn’t help when IU plays against defenses like Penn State’s on Saturday.
“They’re a great defense,” Coleman said of Penn State. “They just did our thing and stopped us.”
