Indiana football loses at Penn State 33-24: One thing we learned

Today we saw just how talented and spirited the players on the 2023 Indiana roster are. As 30 point underdogs facing a ranked team on the road, the Hoosiers put up more of a fight than could have been reasonably expected of a 2-5 team that’s never won at Penn State.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to overcome the way this program has been led over the last three seasons and another winnable game slipped away. Sloppy mistakes, conservative play calling down the stretch, and bad penalties beat Indiana. Again.

There’s a lot to be said about how well some individuals played today and their resolve in the face of yet another season slipping away.

Rather than torture myself and our readers recapping too much of a horrifically painful game, I’ve decided to keep it brief and focus on the one major takeaway from today’s game:

Under this coaching staff, Indiana will not be a winning program. No matter what.

There have been signs all season, but Indiana’s penultimate offensive drive made it absolutely clear that this staff is not even coaching to win.

Penn State made a horrible decision and gifted Indiana the ball with a chance to take the lead with just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Brendan Sorsby was in the midst of the best game of his career, the special teams were struggling, and Penn State’s defense had already handed Indiana two wide open passing touchdowns.

Rather than take a shot at the end zone, Indiana opted for three straight runs up the middle to set Indiana up for a field goal that was only two yards shorter than one the Hoosiers had already missed. There was no attempt to score or take a lead.

The most charitable view of the situation would be to assume that Brendan Sorsby was hurt and unable to throw on that drive. We saw him holding his shoulder after a big hit on the previous drive and it wasn’t even clear that he’d return to the game before Indiana got the ball back.

Tom Allen had this to say afterward:

Indiana doesn’t appear capable of winning a football game. It’s come in blowout fashion against Michigan, Maryland and Rutgers and in a few heartbreaking decisions against Louisville and Penn State.