STATE COLLEGE -- The pounding started early.

And yes, maybe Penn State’s defense was a bit agitated by the five-game losing streak the team brought into its Big Ten matchup with No. 2 Indiana on Saturday.

Nittany Lions’ veteran edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton tuned up Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza following a third-down pass on the visitors’ first possession.

The hits on Mendoza just kept coming, even as PSU (3-6, 0-6) fell behind 20-7.

Mendoza got it from just about everyone on the Lions’ defense as PSU coordinator Jim Knowles made it a point to test the QB’s physical limits.

Mendoza could have broken, given the amount of punishment he absorbed.

But after the Lions scored 17 second-half points to take a 24-20 lead at Beaver Stadium, it was Mendoza and his wideouts that

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