High-powered Indiana offense will test Penn State

After its attempt to tie, or maybe even defeat, top-ranked Ohio State at the end of regulation Saturday fell 9 yards short, Indiana gets to bounce back against Penn State Saturday at Beaver Stadium.

Which prompts the question: Can the Hoosiers bounce back?

"To me, we haven't accomplished much," Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said Monday at his weekly news conference. "There's a lot of football to play. I think there's a lot of fight in this team. There's opportunities for guys to step up. I think our team has that mentality.

"We're going to play a tough opponent [this week], tough place to play, never won there, not going to be easy. But expect our guys to prepare their best, get better this week."

The Hoosiers (4-1), who are 1-17 all-time against Penn State, went unbeaten in nonconference play against a less-than-stellar list of opponents - Southern Illinois, Florida International, Western Kentucky, Wake Forest. They've shown outstanding offense and a defense that tends to give up yardage in big chunks. Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott scored on touchdown runs of 55, 65 and 75 yards.

For the season, Indiana has rolled up averages of 36 points and 498 yards on offense, both tops in the Big Ten. Defensively, the numbers are 32 points (13th) and 503 yards allowed (14th and last).

Wilson saved his biggest compliments for the Penn State defense, calling the unit "awesome, awesome, awesome." The Nittany Lions have allowed averages of 15.8 points and 284.0 yards on defense through five games.

"Penn State is very, very good on defense - very, very good," Wilson said. "Their 21 sacks are [third] in the nation. Just great run defense, don't give up points. Just awesome up front - linebackers, structure, well-coached, secondary knows what they've doing . . . [They] know where they're going to get attacked and how to prevent stress."

Indiana has some offensive weapons, but two did not finish the Ohio State game because of ankle injuries. Jordan Howard, a transfer from Alabama-Birmingham who ranks second in the Big Ten to Elliott in rushing, has gained 709 yards on the ground but gained just 34 against the Buckeyes.

Quarterback Nate Sudfeld left the Ohio State game in the third quarter and his status for Saturday is unclear. He has completed 59 percent of his passes for 1,277 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

"I'll be prepared," Sudfeld said, "but as a quarterback, you really need to get practice reps. It's about having the timing with my receivers. It's really going to be a lot of work to get those mental reps and make sure I'm on the same page with those guys."

The Nittany Lions have struggled offensively, currently standing 95th in scoring and 116th in total offense in the FBS statistics.

"When their line gets going, [with] one of the premier quarterbacks in college ball [Christian Hackenberg], if they can get their run game in rhythm, they're a great offense," Wilson said.

The Big Ten announced that the Indiana game will be shown on ESPN2 and that the Oct. 17 night game at Ohio State will be televised by ABC.

jjuliano@phillynews.com

@joejulesinq