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<p>The play that found the end zone &#8212; Penn State&#8217;s first game-winning touchdown on the final snap in 88 years &#8212; had actually been called earlier in the game. Tight end Mike Gesicki had managed to sneak out in the flat and come well open on the sideline, but Iowa&#8217;s pass rush caused the pass to be well underthrown.</p><p>But when the Nittany Lions called timeout before the decisive fourth-and-goal play on Saturday night, there was still some tinkering to be done.</p><p>Receivers coach Josh Gattis had approached offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead with the idea to switch Juwan Johnson&#8217;s route on the play to the middle of the field. With Kinnick Stadium hitting its loudest roar and only a minute before the play clock would start up, Moorhead went to work.</p><p>&#8220;It was something that we didn&#8217;t even practice, to be honest with you,&#8221; Gesicki said. &#8220;He just kind of drew it up right there &#8212; literally drew it up on a piece of paper and said, &#8216;You&#8217;re going to go here, and you&#8217;re going to go here and this is what you&#8217;re going to do.&#8217;</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s kind of what you can do when you&#8217;re coach Moorhead and you&#8217;re a football genius.&#8221;</p><p>The coach himself isn&#8217;t exactly using that word to describe himself these days. Not even after a lengthy profile by Sports Illustrated and several national outlets listing him as a top head coaching candidate for 2018.</p><p>For now, Moorhead is trying to block out the talk about his future in the profession.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m like anybody in the world,&#8221; Moorhead said. &#8220;People don&#8217;t like to be criticized and they do like to be praised. But when you get caught up in it and allow it to affect who you are as a person, it becomes a distraction.</p><p>&#8220;What I hang my hat on everyday is that we&#8217;re gonna come in and take care of business. The things that come along with that after the season, we&#8217;ll address it then.&#8221;</p><p>As to the Lions&#8217; current situation, Moorhead is looking to clean up their work in the red zone heading into Saturday&#8217;s game against Indiana.</p><p>Penn State recorded nearly 600 yards of offense against Iowa but scored only 21 points. After being torched a year ago by several big plays, the Hawkeyes were determined not to let it happen again this time, playing soft coverage that took away the deep ball.</p><p>But it did give Saquon Barkley plenty of room underneath on checkdowns, which is a big reason why he finished with a career-high 12 catches.</p><p>It&#8217;s not an uncommon strategy. While Penn State is still doing well by its definition of explosive plays &#8212; runs of 12 yards or greater and passes of 15 yards or greater &#8212; those touchdowns of 40 and 50 yards are harder to come by.</p><p>&#8220;I think that&#8217;s a byproduct of what the defense is giving us and how we&#8217;re trying to get the ball out and disperse it among our playmakers,&#8221; Moorhead said.</p><p>Saturday will provide an interesting test for Moorhead&#8217;s offense. In last year&#8217;s meeting, the Hoosiers were as good as anyone in bottling up the Lions on the ground as Barkley finished with a paltry 58 yards on 33 carries (1.8 ypc) and Penn State had just 77 rushing yards as a team.</p><p>But five different players caught deep passes in the Lions&#8217; 45-31 win &#8212; Chris Godwin (26 yards), Barkley (32), Saeed Blacknall (43), Gesicki (45) and DaeSean Hamilton (54).</p><p>Tom Allen, then the Hoosiers&#8217; defensive coordinator, is now the head coach. And he and Moorhead will have themselves another chess match.</p><p>Moorhead is looking forward to it.</p><p>&#8220;No one rises to low expectations,&#8221; Moorhead said. &#8220;Every time that we take the field, our expectation level when a possession begins is that it&#8217;s going to end with a touchdown,&#8221; Moorhead said. &#8220;To this point in the season, we are averaging 40 points, close to 500 yards of total offense. But I do think that we have more in us.</p><p>&#8220;I do think we have to continue to improve on a weekly basis with our preparation, our play calling and our execution, but I definitely think that our best football is still ahead of us.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is looking for a better performance in the red zone this week against Indiana. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_AP17271005810907.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is looking for a better performance in the red zone this week against Indiana. </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, PennLive.com </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com </p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT </strong></p><p>Indiana at Penn State </p><p>3:30 p.m., Saturday, BTN</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

PSU’s Moorhead sets bar high: ‘Our best football is still ahead of us’