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STATE COLLEGE — First came the high-step at the goal line. For a true sophomore backup, Zander Diamont sure had his touchdown celebration down pat.

Indiana’s quarterback reached the back of the end zone and put his index finger to his lips to give a shush to the Penn State fans in the bleachers in front of him.

The Nittany Lions defense was displeased.

“Yeah,” said Diamont’s Penn State counterpart, Christian Hackenberg, who gave the slightest of smirks. “Those guys weren’t too happy.”

No indeed. Indiana never scored again.

An anticipated shootout between the Lions and Hoosiers never materialized. With both sides missing key cogs on offense, it was the Penn State defense that hammered home a 29-7 victory on Saturday.

Indiana’s Big Ten-leading offense was a shell of itself for much of the afternoon, playing without starting quarterback Nate Sudfeld and starting tailback Jordan Howard, both of whom suffered ankle injuries last week against Ohio State.

Then Diamont went down as well in the third quarter, stripping the Hoosiers down to redshirt freshman third-stringer Danny Cameron, who entered the game without a pass attempt in college.

“Since he’s a freshman, he’s inexperienced,” Lions safety Marcus Allen said of Cameron. “So with our D-line, he was basically like lunch to us.”

Diamont appeared to injure his throwing shoulder after being driven into the ground by defensive end Garrett Sickels on a third-down rollout.

“They came after him,” Hackenberg said. “(The showboating) doesn’t sit too well with a lot of guys on our team.”

Oddly enough, Hackenberg himself stole the show on the ground with the Lions once again playing without top rushers Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch.

The junior pocket passer figured in on all four Penn State touchdowns, not only connecting with Brandon Polk and DaeSean Hamilton for 39-yard scores but running it in himself twice from 1 and 5 yards out. Hackenberg had 262 yards through the air, making him the second player in school history to top 7,000 career passing yards.

On top of his first career game with two rushing touchdowns, he set a new career-long with a 22-yard scramble.

“If a quarterback can get two first downs a game for you with his legs, you’re going to be in a really good position,” Lions coach James Franklin said. “Christian was able to do that today. I’ve been saying for a while that he has the ability to do that and it showed up today.

“I think now we’ll have conversations about him being a dual-threat quarterback and installing the option.”

OK, so he was joking about that last part. One imagines.

Hackenberg didn’t quite have the flair on his scores that Diamont did. His first one came on a smart play-action call on the goal line that had tight end Kyle Carter wide open for a score.

Only he didn’t throw the ball.

“Safer play to just make sure you get the ball in there,” shrugged Hackenberg, who ran about 15 yards for a 1-yard score.

“We scored a touchdown, we won the game,” sighed Carter, who was asked about the play one or two or 11 times after the game. “Seven points is seven points. We won the game.”

On his second rushing touchdown, Hackenberg took off up the middle and went airborne, awkwardly vaulting into the end zone to make it 26-7 and put the game out of reach.

Hackenberg took some grief for that one from teammates.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ ” tailback Nick Scott said. “What is he doing?”

After the game, he joked that he took some lessons from watching his predecessor, Matt McGloin, the Scranton native who was razzed for a similarly strange-looking dive on a game-winning rushing score against Northwestern in 2012.

But it was more than enough to get the Lions (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) their fifth straight win.

The defense made sure of that, collecting four sacks against a Hoosiers offense that had allowed just three in the first five games combined. Senior end Carl Nassib had two to bring his season total to 10, just five off the school single-season record with half the campaign still left to go.

Penn State has gotten the job done against a pair of shorthanded offenses to open Big Ten play. The 10 combined points the Lions allowed against Rutgers and Indiana is the program’s lowest total through two games since joining the conference in 1993.

Perhaps most impressively, the defense never allowed the Hoosiers to build momentum.

Indiana (4-2, 0-2) stunned the Lions right after Diamont’s touchdown by recovering an onside kick. But the Lions forced a three-and-out midfield, as they did in the second quarter after running back Mark Allen lost a fumble.

“It was huge,” linebacker Brandon Bell said. “We were able to shut them down. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”

“We did a great job of answering back,” safety Jordan Lucas said.

In more ways than one.

Quarterback Christian Hackenberg figured in on all four Penn State touchdowns on Saturday against Indiana, passing for two and rushing for a pair.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_hack-iu.jpg.optimal.jpgQuarterback Christian Hackenberg figured in on all four Penn State touchdowns on Saturday against Indiana, passing for two and rushing for a pair. Gene J. Puskar | AP photo

Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg (14) gets some help celebrating one of his rushing scores from tailback Nick Scott (24).
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_hack-td.jpg.optimal.jpgPenn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg (14) gets some help celebrating one of his rushing scores from tailback Nick Scott (24). Gene J. Puskar | AP photo
Lions rally after Indiana QB’s taunt

By Derek Levarse

[email protected]

PENN STATE 29, INDIANA 7

Indiana`7`0`0`0`—`7

Penn State`7`12`0`10`—`29

First Quarter

PSU — Brandon Polk 39 pass from Christian Hackenberg (Joey Julius kick), 7:35

IU — Zander Diamont 12 run (Griffin Oakes kick), 4:11.

Second Quarter

PSU — DaeSean Hamilton 39 pass from Hackenberg (kick failed), 5:40

PSU — Hackenberg 1 run (kick failed), 0:36

Fourth Quarter

PSU — Hackenberg 5 run (Tyler Davis kick), 10:37

PSU — Davis 30 field goal, 5:33

Team stats`IU`PSU

First downs`14`22

Rushes-yards`33-79`32-154

Passing`155`266

Comp-Att-Int`15-33-1`22-40-0

Return Yards`23`32

Punts-Avg.`11-41.0`7-44.3

Fumbles-Lost`2-0`1-1

Penalties-Yards`8-65`3-30

Possession`24:25`35:35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — IU, Zander Diamont 11-38, Devine Redding 13-32, Andrew Wilson 5-12, Alex Rodriguez 2-6, Mike Majette 1-4, Danny Cameron 1-(minus-13). PSU, Nick Scott 8-57, Mark Allen 8-45, Christian Hackenberg 9-21, DeAndre Thompkins 2-11, Johnathan Thomas 2-9, Brandon Johnson 2-6, Trace McSorley 1-5.

PASSING — IU, Diamont 9-17-0-90, Cameron 6-16-1-65. PSU, Hackenberg 21-39-0-262, McSorley 1-1-0-4.

RECEIVING — IU, Ricky Jones 5-59, Mitchell Paige 3-15, Isaac Griffith 2-31, Jordan Fuchs 1-20, Anthony Corsaro 1-13, Redding 1-7, Simmie Cobbs 1-5, Nick Westbrook 1-5. PSU, Chris Godwin 4-41, Eugene Lewis 3-39, Kyle Carter 3-30, Scott 3-21, DaeSean Hamilton 2-49, Brandon Polk 2-46, Mike Gesicki 2-21, Allen 2-15, Gregg Garrity 1-4.

A — 97,873

Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse

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