Slow-motion shot of Indiana’s game-winning TD is gut-wrenching for Penn State fans

Penn State’s disastrous season just got even more painful for Nittany Lions fans. Penn State entered Week 11 as a two-touchdown underdog to No. 2 Indiana at Beaver Stadium, but gave the Hoosiers everything they could handle. 

Penn State took a 24-20 lead with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter on a 19-yard catch and run touchdown from Nicholas Singleton, but when the offense had an opportunity to put the game away, it gave the ball back to Fernando Mendoza with 1:54 left and no timeouts. It was too much time for a Heisman Trophy favorite to work with. 

Mendoza only needed 75 seconds to march his team the length of the field for the game-winning touchdown score. While Indiana didn’t come close to using all the time on the clock, it did need every inch of the back of the end zone for wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. to come down in bounds. 

Cooper caught the 7-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal, narrowly getting his toes down as senior safety Zakee Wheatley attempted to push him out of bounds and force the incompletion. It hardly looked like a touchdown live, and the slow-motion shot of the score makes it even more painful for Nittany Lions fans who can see exactly how close their team was to pulling a massive upset. 

Close enough isn’t enough for Penn State in 2025

Penn State is 3-6 after the 27-24 loss in Week 11. The Nittany Lions don’t have a win over a Power 4 opponent, and with three games left, need to win out for a chance to play in a bowl game. Yet, the team is somehow only 16 total points away from being in College Football Playoff contention. 

Saturday’s loss was Penn State’s fifth one-score loss of the season. Between James Franklin and Terry Smith, Penn State is 0-5 in one-score games. Those five losses have come by 16 combined points, with two one-point losses. In three of lose five one-score losses, Penn State has held a fourth-quarter lead. 

The margins in college football are insanely thin this season. The proliferation of talent that has resulted from the introduction of the transfer portal, NIL payments, and, most recently, revenue-sharing has leveled the playing field. Without being able to overwhelm most teams in the Big Ten with talent, coaching is more important than ever, and Penn State routinely comes out on the losing end in that battle. 

Saturday was just another example, and that slow-motion shot is a brutal reminder of how close this team was to competing to win the conference and earn a spot in the 12-team CFP.