Evanston, Ill. -- It was another one of those all-too-often days that have beset Penn State's embattled football program since the turn of the millennium.
The Nittany Lions (2-8 overall, 0-6 in Big Ten play) played a superb 53 minutes of football, much as they had the week before, nearly disconnecting Ohio State from a second straight run at a national title.
But in weather as dreary as this third losing Nittany Lions season in the previous four, again Penn State fell short in ways almost too cruel to explain.
Gone were memories of a bold goal-line stand that seemed to allow Lions fans among the half-full Ryan Field crowd to envision a second straight shutout of Northwestern (5-5, 3-3).
Instead, because of a play N.U. coach Randy Walker had employed successfully in the Wildcats' 16-7 upset of then-ranked Wisconsin, the Lions surrendered a key fourth-down conversion and Northwestern began its whirlwind rally that brought a 17-7 triumph and more heartburn on the visitors' sideline.
The print media almost doesn't have to produce week-to-week storylines for the '03 Nitts any more. The games always seem to include most of the following ingredients...
* One key special teams play (in this case, two. David Kimball, lionized -- you'll pardon the expression -- after kicking two long field goals in Happy Valley in the near-upset of O.S.U., missed from 27 and 34 yards. Killers.)
* One hoop-de-doop gadget play -- the aforementioned scramble formation on fourth-and-8 that resulted in N.U.'s regular field goal holder, Eric Batis, faking and running what amounted to a student-body left to pick up 9 yards, a key first down that allowed Jason Wright to tie the game on a 6-yard run with 6 minutes, 49 seconds left.
"Everybody was on the sideline, yelling 'Fake!'," said coach Joe Paterno, whose eyes told the downhearted story of this season. "We weren't very smart -- that play never happens."
Alas, as the football gods continue to stick pins in the Nittany Lion icon, it happens too often to the guys in the generic blue and white uniforms.
* A genuinely blind lucky play. This one involved a near-interception of an underthrown Brett Basanez pass intended for Brandon Horn in the end zone less than two minutes later. Yaacov Yisrael was in perfect position to pick off the underthrow, but was bumped by fellow defensive back Rich Gardner. Naturally, the ball, with 6-8 geometric options, lands guess where? Right in Horn's hands for the winning touchdown.
"We were both going for the ball and unfortunately, it got knocked out of my hands," said Yisrael, a senior and native of nearby Palatine, Ill. "It seems that's the way it goes this year."
Gardner still wore the look of depression as he recounted his road-to-hell paved with the best intentions. "I didn't realize he had position on the ball," he said. "That's the way this season's been. All you can do is come out and play hard...He was going to pick it off and I made a break on the ball. It was my fault."
The post game Lions didn't need the media, they needed a flock of priests. Confession was good for the many sad souls.
* The final ingredient: Missed opportunities. Sophomore Mo Humphrey, by all accounts a very accomplished wide receiver who will make hundreds of thousands of friends before long, dropped two key first half passes -- one a potential 48 yarder deep into Wildcats territory, the other a 27-yard T.D., took his turn in the outdoor confessional.
"I had a chance to make a big play (wide open at the N.U. 5) but I didn't focus," he said sadly. "I blame the whole thing on me. The pass was perfect but I dropped the ball."
It was an emotionally-spent bunch, a team that just a week before, before 108,276 of the most supportive home fans in Beaver Stadium history, had nearly toppled the defending national champion Buckeyes from title consideration.
It has been a well-documented season that has brought much introspection -- where are they headed, what about recruiting, Big Ten roles, relearning winning, etc. -- and when you look back at the Lions eight losses, at least six were totally winable and it didn't take a vivid imagination to envision Penn State taking one of the other two.
But this is the reality. And Joe Paterno, in his 38th season, isn't about to buy into what-ifs. "You let people hang around and they're going to beat you," he assessed finally,
after admitting his team had some folks who underestimated the Wildcats, who are still bowl-eligible.
"I've got to find a way to do a better job, I guess. We've had teams with bad luck before and we were able to overcome it. I don't think it's a confidence thing. We play and practice like we're going to win. I just have to do a better job."
This from a man whose winning percentage is still higher than Woody Hayes', Bo Schembechler's, Bobby Bowden's.
The Lions don't want to hear a syllable about being the nation's best-ever 2-8 team. Junior quarterback Zack Mills, whose 22-of-36 completion/230-yard numbers with one late killer interception, appears to be recapturing much of that electrifying promise he showed his freshman year. But he's become a classic Paterno Guy and might have summed up the State of the Team best.
"You get (worried) about forgetting how to win," he said. "We desperately need a win. Things go well and we play a team like Ohio State down to the wire. The biggest problem (vs. Northwestern) in the second half was field position...(Demoralized) would be a good word, yes. We're just not making plays in the clutch and that's on me."
They get another shot to capture some self-respect vs. Indiana University, which is coming off its first Big Ten victory in 12 league games this past Saturday, a last minute 17-14 home win over Illinois.
Not a whole lot of glory in that, but a chance to regain a little sanity for sure. |
