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Penn State was on the verge of a massive upset of No. 2 Indiana, but Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza and wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. had other ideas.
Indiana survived Penn State, winning 27-24 on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium thanks to an incredible 10-play, 73-yard drive that Mendoza authored.
The Nittany Lions were up 24-20 with 1:51 left in the fourth quarter, and Indiana had no timeouts. On the first play of the drive, Mendoza was sacked by defender Zane Durant for a loss of seven yards.
The Indiana quarterback rallied his team back to the line of scrimmage and completed a 22-yard pass to Cooper to negate the sack and get a first down. Mendoza spiked the ball to stop the clock.
On the ensuing play after the spike, Mendoza connected with E.J. Williams Jr. for 12 yards and another first down. Two plays later, Mendoza hit Riley Nowakowski for a 29-yard gain to move into Penn State territory.
Mendoza then connected with Charlie Becker for another 17 yards to move to the Penn State 7-yard line. With 45 seconds left, Indiana gave themselves a chance to win the game.
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It looked like Mendoza completed the comeback on second down. The Hoosiers quarterback connected with Becker on a slant in the end zone for a touchdown, but the referees blew the play dead because Penn State got a timeout at the last second. The Nittany Lions forced an incomplete pass on second down to force third down after the timeout.
On third and goal, with the Hoosiers’ undefeated record on the line, Mendoza and Cooper saved the day.
Mendoza, who was about to be clobbered by oncoming rushers, stepped into a throw and delivered a high pass to Cooper. The wide receiver skied for the catch and, in acrobatic fashion, just got his toe down in the end zone to complete not only an incredible touchdown, but the comeback as well.
Penn State got the ball back with 35 seconds and one timeout, down 27-24, but couldn’t get into field goal range, and their Hail Mary attempt fell short.
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Mendoza threw for 218 yards and had one touchdown with one interception in the win. Cooper had six catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.
Indiana improved to 10-0 with the win and will look to keep it rolling against Wisconsin (2-6) next week. Penn State dropped to 3-6 with the loss and will look to rally against Michigan State (3-6) next week.
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