As the year winds down, there’s a plenty of action going on in Happy Valley.
The Penn State football team is preparing for its Alamo Bowl date with Texas A&M, the men’s and women’s basketball teams are in full swing, as is the Penn State wrestling team.
In this edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll look at the Nittany Lions’
matchup with the Aggies and its historic overtones, check out how the weekend went for the Nittany Lions and Lady Lions and check in on the PSU grapplers.
(Joe Paterno will coach his 500th game on Dec. 29 when the Nittany Lions face the Aggies in the Alamo Bowl.
Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Historic Game
When Penn State faces off with Texas A&M in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29, it will be a historic game for Penn State coach Joe Paterno.
No, not because it will be his 34th bowl game at Penn State, although that’s certainly remarkable.
No, not because the game pits the Nittany Lions against the Aggies — that’s happened before.
It will be historic because it will be Paterno’s 500th game as head coach of the Nittany Lions.
There have been many milestone games for Paterno. And while most remember the big wins — No. 300 (48-3 over Bowling Green in 1998), No.
324 (29-27 over Ohio State in 2001) — we thought it would be fun to look back at all the milestone games — 1, 100, 200, 300 and 400.
We’ll start at the beginning.
Game No. 1: Penn State 15, Maryland 7 (Sept. 17, 1966) — In his first game as head coach, the Lions found a way to win. Three Mike Reid safeties proved to be the difference in the game. Quarterback Jack White led the Lions on a key 11-play, 60-yard scoring drive. White would score Penn State’s only touchdown of the day on a 2-yard quarterback keeper.
Penn State held an 8-7 lead when junior Bob Capretto picked off a Maryland pass to set up a 23-yard field goal by Tom Sherman that gave Penn State an 11-7 lead.
Paterno’s first game as head coach was hardly a thing of beauty, but it was a win.
Game No. 100: Penn State 31, Pittsburgh 10 (Nov. 28, 1974) — In a game played at Three Rivers Stadium on Thanksgiving night, the Nittany Lion defense held sensational running back Tony Dorsett to just 67 yards on
17 carries.
After a Dorsett 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter gave the hated Panthers a 7-3 lead, Penn State got a Chris Bahr 20-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 7-6.
The second half, however, was all Penn State as it outscored Pitt, 25-3, to win the game with ease. Quarterback Tom Shuman tossed a pair of TDs to Jim Eaise and Bahr tacked on two more field goals as the Lions won in front of a national TV audience and a crowd of 45,895.
Game No. 200: Iowa 42, Penn State 34 (Sept. 17, 1983) — Coming off their national championship season of 1982, the Nittany Lions struggled out of the gate, losing their first three games of the 1983 campaign. The third loss of the year came against the Hawkeyes, who upset Penn State in Happy Valley.
Penn State held a 21-14 halftime edge, but couldn’t keep it. Iowa came out of the locker room and scored the next 28 points. Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Long completed 16-of-30 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns.
He also rushed for a score. Penn State quarterback Doug Strang returned to the starting lineup and completed 17-of-36 for 254 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He, like Long, also rushed for a score.
In the end, though, it wasn’t enough and the Lions fell to 0-3.
Game No. 300: Penn State 37, Rutgers 17 (Oct. 19, 1991) — The Nittany Lions trailed, 14-7, on homecoming before taking a 21-14 lead into the intermission. In the second half, Penn State put the game away, outscoring the Scarlet Knights, 16-3, over the final two quarters of play.
Quarterback Tony Sacca scored on a 20-yard run and completed 13-of-28 passes for 220 yards.
Penn State didn’t have a knockout punch at running back, but the trio of Gerry Collins, Sam Gash and Shelly Hammonds racked up well over 100 yards and accounted for two scores.
Terry Smith had six catches in the game and O.J. McDuffie had a pair.
Game No. 400: Minnesota 24, Penn State 23 (Nov. 6, 1999) — In what had to be one of the most shocking losses in Beaver Stadium history, the
1999 Nittany Lions watched their season unravel at the foot of Minnesota kicker Dan Nystrom, who booted a 32-yard field goal as time expired to push the unranked Golden Gophers past a stunned then-No. 1 Penn State squad. The Gophers were down to their final play when quarterback Billy Cockerham threw a jump ball that was knocked toward the ground, but Arland Bruce came up with a game-saving catch to put the Gophers in field goal range.
Penn State would go on to lose its next two that season and landed in the Alamo Bowl.
It is in that same bowl that Paterno will coach his 500th game of his career.
(Brianne O’Rourke and the Lady Lions are off to a 7-3 start.
Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Big Wins for Roundballers
The Penn State men’s and women’s basketball teams picked up big wins over the weekend. On Saturday night, the Nittany Lions posted an 89-86 come-from-behind overtime win over previously once-beaten Seton Hall.
On Sunday afternoon, the Lady Lions bounced back for their seventh win of the year, knocking off Georgetown, 56-47, at the Bryce Jordan Center.
For the men, Saturday’s was a crucial game. As the Lions (4-4) fell behind by 10, then 15, the hometown crowd began to think, “here we go again.” But freshman Talor Battle scored 11 consecutive points at the end of regulation to force overtime, where the Lions won it.
Battle was one of four Lions in double digits.
“He’s a competitive kid,” said PSU coach Ed DeChellis. “He took some big shots, he made some big plays tonight and hopefully he has his confidence back.”
December is a big month for the Lions. They have four non-conference games remaining, all of which are winnable. Penn State has a chance at being 8-4 heading into Big 10 play, which would be very big indeed.
The Lady Lions bounced back from a disappointing loss at Syracuse to post a nine-point win.
It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Penn State got enough offense and used a stifling defense to smother the Hoyas.
Kam Gissendanner led the Lady Lions (7-3) with a double-double, scoring 10 points and ripping down a career-high 17 boards.
“Kam’s been our best rebounder all season,” said Penn State coach Coquese Washington. “She just guts it out on the boards, going after the other team’s tallest players. She uses her body. Man, I didn’t know she had 17, but that’s not a surprise.”
Point guard Brianne O’Rourke bounced back from her worst game of the year to lead the Lady Lions with 12 points. Tyra Grant added 11 points while Rashida Mark also posted a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
The Lady Lions grabbed a quick 5-2 lead to begin the game, but Georgetown (5-2) battled back to knot the game at 8-8. The lead bounced back and forth in the first half, but Penn State put on a nice run right before the intermission outscoring the Hoyas 10-2 to take a
31-26 lead into the locker room.
But Penn State, which came out as flat as a pancake on last week at the Carrier Dome, appeared to be more aggressive on both ends of the court.
Grapplers Win Two
The Penn State wrestling team improved to 4-0 with a pair of big wins over the weekend. On Friday, the Nittany Lions defeated Lehigh, 33-0.
On Sunday, they beat one of the nation’s top programs, Oklahoma State, 21-18.
The last time the Nittany Lions defeated the Cowboys, home or away, was in 1993 in Stillwater. That season, the Nittany Lions went 22-0-1.
“I obviously give the credit to the guys,” Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. “They showed up and turned up their intensity. And our two pins were huge.”
Penn State and Oklahoma State split the 10 matches, 5-5, and the Cowboys owned an 18-11 edge in takedowns. But, as Sunderland alluded to, Penn State won the bonus point battle, 6-3, and that was the difference in the match.
The Nittany Lions are idle until Jan. 4, when they wrestle Cornell.
In addition to writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a sports publication devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in State College and Altoona. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.