STATE COLLEGE – Omar Cooper Jr. made an acrobatic 7-yard touchdown catch with 36 seconds left, giving No. 2 Indiana a thrilling 27-24 victory over Penn State Saturday at Beaver Stadium.
The Hoosiers (6-1, 9-1) won in State College for the first time after 13 consecutive Big Ten losses. They sent the Nittany Lions (0-6, 3-6) to their sixth straight loss, their first six-game losing streak since 2004.
After a Penn State punt and a 7-yard sack, Indiana moved downfield behind Fernando Mendoza, who completed five passes for 87 yards. He threw a high pass to the back of the end zone for Cooper, who leaped and caught it over Zakee Wheatley.
It was the third time in four conference games that the Lions had a fourth-quarter lead and lost it.
Nick Singleton gained 120 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, for Penn State, which dropped its 16th straight game against a top-five opponent.
King Mack intercepted Mendoza’s pass at the Indiana 44 with 10:47 to go. On second-and-8 from the 19, Singleton took a short pass from Ethan Grunkemeyer, juked a defender and scored to give Penn State its first lead with 6:27 left.
The Lions forced Indiana to punt after Dani Dennis-Sutton sacked Mendoza. Penn State picked up a first down and then punted to the Hoosiers with less than two minutes to go.
Indiana took over at its 20 after Gabe Nwosu’s 63-yard kick sailed into the end zone.
Ethan Grunkemeyer completed 22-of-31 passes for a career-high 219 yards and one touchdown with one interception in his third career start for Penn State.
Mendoza, held in check most of the afternoon, was 19-for-30 for 218 yards and ran for a touchdown.
Penn State trailed 17-7 at the break, but played a solid first half until the final three minutes. After Indiana took a 10-7 lead on a short field goal, Grunkemeyer checked down to Kaytron Allen on third-and-8 from the Lions’ 24. Allen lost the ball as he was tackled, the Hoosiers recovering his fumble with 1:09 left.
With the help of a pass interference penalty on Mack, Indiana scored on Kaelon Black’s 1-yard run.
Penn State’s defense forced Indiana to punt on its first two possessions before the Hoosiers scored after a 53-yard pass from Mendoza to Charlie Becker. Mendoza scrambled 18 yards for a touchdown that made it 7-0 late in the first quarter.
The Lions responded with the help of a 33-yard kickoff return by Singleton. They converted on fourth-and-1 on a short pass to tight end Andrew Rappleyea and then on third-and-10 on a throw to Trebor Pena for 43 yards to the Indiana 13.
Singleton finished the drive with three carries, the last a 2-yard TD run that tied it 7-7 with 11:08 left in the second quarter. But the Lions had just one first down the rest of the half, on Grunkemeyer’s 23-yard completion to tight end Khalil Dinkins as the clock ran out.
