Penalties, turnovers hurt Penn State in loss at Indiana

Penn State coach James Franklin didn’t dig deep to figure out what went wrong for his team in its season-opening 36-35 overtime loss Saturday at Indiana.

“Give Indiana credit,” Franklin said during a video conference Saturday. “They played well. And we didn’t. Not a good combination.”

Specifically, Franklin cited penalties and turnovers for hindering his team.

“We have not been a team to get penalties, and we have not been a team to get turnovers,” Franklin said. “And (Saturday), we had both. We had 10 penalties for 100 yards, which is very uncharacteristic for us. Then we had three turnovers, and a lot of those turnovers were in the red zone, too.

“A lot of different situations came up through this game. A lot of different plays. We finally got into a rhythm in the second half a little bit. But you can’t not play well on the road in the Big Ten against good opponents. And we didn’t do that early on.”

Each of Penn State’s turnovers happened in the first half. Quarterback Sean Clifford was intercepted by Indiana defensive back Jaylin Williams with 39 seconds left in the first quarter. Williams returned the ball 14 yards to Penn State’s 38-yard line.

Indiana defensive back Jamar Johnson picked off Clifford with 7:06 left in the first half. Johnson returned the ball 17 yards to Penn State’s 4-yard line.

Finally, quarterback Will Levis fumbled at Indiana’s 9-yard line 55 seconds before halftime, and Hoosiers defensive lineman Jerome Johnson recovered.

“I didn’t feel like we were comfortable on offense or in a rhythm in the first half,” Franklin said. “Obviously, a lot of that is the quarterback. It’s the nature of playing football and the nature of offensive football. But I thought he did settle down as the game went on. I also thought when he became a more aggressive runner, that’s a big part of Sean’s game. When he became a more aggressive runner, then other things fell into place for him.”

Clifford had a game-high 119 rushing yards on 17 carries.

Franklin also was dissatisfied with his special teams. Kicker Jake Pinegar missed two field goals, a 25-yard attempt with no time remaining in the second quarter and a 47-yard attempt at 4:13 of the third quarter.

Kicker/punter Jordan Stout also failed to connect on a 57-yard attempt with 3 seconds remaining in regulation.

“We didn’t play as well as we have typically have played on special teams,” Franklin said. “We had some things on special teams. We didn’t kick the ball necessarily well on (extra points). And field goals, we didn’t kick necessarily well. And (kickoffs), we just weren’t as clean as we need to be. Returning kicks as well, kickoffs and punts.”

Franklin dismissed any suggestion that opening with a Big Ten opponent played a role in his team’s downfall.

“At the end of the day … we’ve got to find a way to get it done,” Franklin said. “You’re going to open the season sometimes with conference games. … You’ll play some out-of-conference, as well, that are really good. That will happen. Did that factor in here? Could you normally iron a few bumps … in out-of-conference games sometimes? Yeah. But at the end of the day, this is who we were opening with and we needed to be ready. And obviously, we weren’t (Saturday) based on turnovers and penalties.”