Defense, special teams spark Penn State to win over Indiana

LANDOVER, Md. - It has been a constant demand of Joe Paterno throughout Penn State's up-and-down 2010 football season, the need to get game-changing plays from the special teams and defense.

Late in the third quarter Saturday, with the sputtering Nittany Lions locked in a tie with Big Ten cellar-dweller Indiana in a rather peculiar game, Paterno's players finally heeded his wish.

Safety Andrew Dailey blocked a punt that walk-on linebacker James Van Fleet returned 21 yards for a touchdown. Three plays later, strong safety Drew Astorino intercepted a pass at the Indiana 43 that led to a field goal.

The Nittany Lions finally had some breathing room, and punched over a late touchdown to take a 41-24 victory over the Hoosiers before a predominantly Penn State crowd of 78,790 at FedEx Field.

Indiana had moved its home game to Landover for financial reasons.

Penn State (7-4 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) piled up 496 yards, with redshirt sophomore Matt McGloin passing for a career-high 315 yards and two touchdowns. After the Hoosiers (4-7, 0-7) had rallied from an early 14-0 deficit to tie the game at 17 and 24, the Lions' defense held them to three first downs and 39 yards over the final 181/2 minutes.

But the spark that helped make the victory possible came from Dailey, a junior who played a lot Saturday in Penn State's package of five and six defensive backs, and Van Fleet, a reliable special-teams performer.

Dailey, rushing from the left-end position, made a beeline toward Chris Hagerup after the punter had fielded a low, wide snap, and appeared to get to him before he even punted the ball.

"I might have gotten it on his drop actually," Dailey said. "I know the rule is, if you hit the ball, you can hit the punter. I got there so fast, I just jumped all over everything."

Van Fleet said his first thought was, "I've got to tuck the ball away.

"I was hoping I didn't get tackled from behind," he said. "But I looked up at the [video] screen to see who was around me, but it was my teammates, so I just ran."

The TD gave the Nittany Lions a 31-24 lead with 1 minute, 40 seconds left in the third. Penn State then got another big play on Astorino's diving interception and drove to what would become Collin Wagner's 35-yard field goal three minutes into the fourth.

"I thought we hung in there and played better, more consistently, even though at times we could have been a little more intense," Paterno said. "But the blocked punt was a big play, obviously."

Freshman Silas Redd, who sat out much of the first half after being cited for public urination earlier in the week on campus, ran 1 yard for an insurance score with 3:20 to play.

Paterno benched four players, including three starters - defensive tackles Ollie Ogbu (a cocaptain) and Devon Still, and offensive tackle Chimi Okoli - in the first half for being "very late" to the team bus.

With backup tackle DeOn'tae Pannell also late to the bus, and center Doug Klopacz suffering what appeared to be a knee injury, the Lions went with a new-look line. Stefen Wisniewski moved to center, and two first-time players, redshirt freshman guard John Urschel and sophomore tackle Mike Farrell, came in on the right side.

"I thought they played pretty well for their first real action in there," Wisniewski said. "Farrell never really practices at right tackle, so that was really impressive for him to step up like that. Urschel played tough, made a mistake here or there, but overall was real solid."

The officials saw four of five close decisions overturned on review, including three that were ruled touchdowns and then disallowed.

McGloin connected on 10 of his first 11 passes for 143 yards and a short touchdown to Brett Brackett on the first play of the second quarter. He also connected with Derek Moye on a 21-yard TD in the third.