Turning Point: Jack Tuttle (And Indiana’s Upset Hopes) Goes Down

With Penn State having just notched another touchdown to go up 21-7 with a little over five minutes remaining in the first half, Indiana quarterback Jack Tuttle trotted back onto the field to try and lead his team to another touchdown drive similar to the one he engineered in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7. Doing so would make the game truly interesting again and give the Hoosiers some momentum and hope heading into halftime.

Such hopes were crushed on the second play of said drive when D’Von Ellies brought Tuttle to the ground for a sack for the fifth and final time of the game. Emphasis on the “final” part because that’s the moment where Tuttle left the game clutching his shoulder and would not return. With Indiana’s usual starter Connor Bazelak already ruled out of the game due to injury (and also ineffectiveness), things went from bad to Yakety Sax for the Hoosiers’ QB situation as true freshman Brendan Sorsby was forced into action and showed absolute “deer in the headlight” play in the face of a ferocious PSU pass rush that had been having its way with Indiana from the very first drive.

Another backup Dexter Williams would ultimately play the remainder of the game and not look completely out of his league, but the damage had already been done by that point. To be fair to Tuttle, with the way PSU’s offense had been lighting up the Hoosiers and with how the Nittany Lions were winning the battle in both trenches, it was highly unlikely Indiana was going to be able to keep pace if he had been able to play the entire game. However, since this is a “Turning Point” article, we did have to pick a moment of importance and forcing the opposing team to have to dig deep into their QB reserves is our nominee for this week.