BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Trace McSorley took a bunch of big hits. He got up every time.

Same for No. 12 Penn State.

Following the lead of their resilient quarterback, the Nittany Lions rallied for their sixth straight win Saturday at Indiana and could climb in the polls again this weekend. McSorley helped direct Penn State to 24 fourth-quarter points in a 45-31 victory against the Hoosiers.

“We’ve been down by double digits multiple times late in games,” the sore McSorley said. “But there’s never that kind of feeling that, `We can’t come back from this.”’

Penn State (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 10 CFP) made the previous two wins look easy, outscoring Purdue and Iowa by a combined 103-38.

This one was a physical struggle.

Nobody took more blows than McSorley. Playing behind a patchwork offensive line, the 6-foot, 205-pound McSorley stood tall in the pocket even when everything broke down.

In perhaps the gutsiest performance of his career, McSorley finished 16 of 30 for 332 yards passing, three short of a career high. He also threw two TD passes and two interceptions, one of which sailed high as he tried to avoid an untouched blitzing defender.