Drew Allar throws first career interception but leads Penn State to a bounce-back win over Indiana

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders and with time winding down in the fourth quarter, Penn State quarterback Drew Allar unleashed a 57-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith, allowing the No. 10 Nittany Lions to escape with a 33-24 win over Indiana.

“Drew being able to sit in there and deliver that ball and KeAndre being able to make the play and finish and stay in balance,” head coach James Franklin said, “it was awesome.”

The deep ball came on the heels of Allar’s first career interception with 5 minutes, 2 seconds left in the game. Allar completed 20 of 31 pass attempts for 210 yards for three touchdowns and that interception, which set the Hoosiers up for a game-tying field goal with just under three minutes left.

“I didn’t even know I threw an interception until I got to the sideline because I got hit, and usually you hear the crowd react, but honestly, there was no reaction to it,” Allar said. “So honestly, I thought it was just an incomplete pass or something. … But after that happened, just [flushed] it, [moved] on.”

Allar connected with two tight ends, Khalil Dinkins and Theo Johnson, and Lambert-Smith for touchdowns as Penn State (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) struggled to find a consistent offensive rhythm for a second consecutive week.

“Just in general, we’re probably not where we would like to be as a room, you know, all the work we put in,” Lambert-Smith said. “But I mean, it’s adversity. Everything’s not gonna go smooth sailing. But yeah, I feel like our room, we’re pretty much battle-tested, we stick together.”

Nittany Lions running back Nick Singleton lunged 2 yards through a pile and extended his right arm past the goal line to tie the game, 14-14, in the second quarter. Singleton tallied 131 all-purpose yards, including a 50-yard kickoff return.

In his first career start, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton forced Indiana (2-6, 0-5) to fumble out of bounds in its own end zone for a win-sealing safety with 1:33 left in the game.

“I didn’t even know I actually stripped the ball … and then I turned around, about to do a celebration, and then I look back and see the ball is rumbling or tumbling into the end zone,” Dennis-Sutton said.

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Indiana wide receiver DeQuece Carter breezed past safety Zakee Wheatley and outran everyone else in the Penn State secondary for a 90-yard touchdown to open the scoring at the 7:37 mark of the first quarter. The toss from quarterback Brendan Sorsby marked the longest pass play in Indiana history.

After the Nittany Lions tied it late in the first quarter, Penn State blitzed cornerback Johnny Dixon early in the second, leaving Hoosier wide receiver Donaven McCulley wide open for a 69-yard touchdown. Indiana recorded 159 of its 349 total yards on the two touchdown passes.

Sorsby completed 13 of 19 passes for 269 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.

“We just made some mistakes this week that are uncharacteristic for us,” Franklin said. “Gotta give Indiana credit, they did a good job. We went into that game feeling like that quarterback’s a good player. I thought he played well today.”

After being carted off the field at Ohio State last weekend, defensive end Chop Robinson was ruled inactive ahead of kickoff on Saturday. Fellow edge rusher Amin Vanover was listed as questionable and did not play.

Wide receiver Harrison Wallace III left the game after falling awkwardly on his right arm in the first quarter. He returned to the sideline with his arm in a sling.

Other notable inactives included cornerback Elliot Washington II, safety Mehki Flowers, and tight end Andrew Rappleyea.

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A former Division III football player and coach was provided a ticket for Penn State’s tilt with Indiana by former Michigan analyst Connor Stalions, the staffer at the center of the Wolverines’ sign-stealing scandal, ESPN reported Friday.

The source, who spoke with ESPN on the condition of anonymity, said he previously recorded Nittany Lions games last season and the first half of the Oct. 14 game against UMass. He said Friday that he did not plan to attend Saturday’s game.

“I only did a half because it was pouring rain and they were playing UMass,” the source told ESPN. “It didn’t pay well enough, so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m not staying here.’”

On Saturday, the Hoosiers shielded their signals from press box view with black screens. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions appeared to keep their signal calling consistent with previous games.

Penn State takes on a high-powered offense at Maryland (5-3, 2-3) next Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, Fox29). The Terrapins dropped their third straight contest, 33-27, to Northwestern on Saturday.

“For us, we got to find a way to handle adversity during games, adversity during the week, and adversity in life and remap and rebound and tune out all the other stuff,” Franklin said.