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Fernando Mendoza authored his Heisman moment on Saturday afternoon, marching the Hoosiers 80 yards down the field in 1:15 for the go-ahead touchdown to Omar Cooper Jr. to give Indiana a thrilling 27-24 win on the road at Penn State. 

Indiana found itself in unfamiliar territory on Saturday afternoon as Penn State erased a 13-point deficit to take a 24-20 lead on the No. 2 ranked team in the country late in the fourth quarter. After burning all three of its timeouts, Indiana was able to force a Penn State punt with two minutes to play to give Mendoza and the offense one more chance to avoid their first loss of the season.  

A sack on first down was an inauspicious start, but then Mendoza began to string together some key completions. A seam shot moved them into Penn State territory and then he found the game's unlikely hero Charlie Becker for his ninth catch of the day to set up a goal-to-go situation. 

On third-and-goal, Mendoza threw one high to Cooper Jr. in the back of the end zone, who somehow got his left toe to tap inbounds as his right foot hovered over above the paint out of the end zone for the go-ahead and eventual winning score with 36 seconds left. 

Penn State moved the ball out to midfield, but could not push it into field goal range to try to force overtime, as Ethan Grunkemeyer's Hail Mary on the final play got knocked down. 

Mendoza finished the game with one of his worst statistical performances of the season, completing 19-of-30 passes for 218 yards, one touchdown and one interception. However, that one touchdown came on the backs of an incredible drive that, despite a rough game otherwise, will be remembered for a long time in Indiana football lore. Becker didn't catch the game-winning touchdown, but stepped up in a big way for injured star receiver Elijah Sarratt all game, totaling 117 yards to nearly match his career receiving yards in one game.

The path to that final drive was a winding, meandering road that took a number of twists and turns before ultimately landing on an Indiana win. The Hoosiers got off to a sluggish start, but took a 20-7 lead midway through the third quarter thanks in large part to a pair of turnovers forced by their defense. 

Despite that advantage, the Indiana offense had never truly hit their stride and the Nittany Lions' defense was able to keep Penn State in the ball game. Thanks to that defensive performance, Penn State was able to trim the lead to 10 going into the fourth quarter when momentum swung the Nittany Lions' way. 

Early in the fourth quarter, Nick Singleton finally broke loose for a 59-yard run -- aided by an accidental block from the umpire in the secondary -- that set up a Penn State touchdown to cut the deficit to three.  

On the ensuing Indiana possession, Mendoza tried to hit a deep corner route on second down, but under-threw his man who got undercut by Penn State safety King Mack for an interception that gave the Nittany Lions the ball back in plus territory. 

The Nittany Lions capitalized on that quick change of possession with another solid drive that Singleton capped off with an exclamation point, taking a screen pass and making three Indiana defenders miss on his way to the end zone for the go-ahead score. 

Unfortunately for Penn State, for as spectacular as their defense performed all afternoon, they could not get the final stop they needed to pull off the shocking upset. With the heartbreaking loss, Penn State falls to 3-6, and in a season full of disappointments, Saturday's may have been the most gut-wrenching of them all. 

For Indiana, the win keeps them undefeated at 10-0 and on a collision course with Ohio State for the Big Ten Championship later this year. They will certainly have some things to clean up on tape, as the defense got gashed on the ground late and the offense was not nearly as consistent as they'd like to be. Curt Cignetti will be happy to let his team learn those lessons in a win rather than a loss and keep all of the one-loss Big Ten teams behind them in the standings.