Well, the Nittany Lions did it. A two-point favorite at the Capital One Bowl, the Nittany Lions finally got the signature win they’d been seeking all season long with a 19-17 win over LSU on New Year’s Day.
It was a game that probably shouldn’t have been played considering the horrendous field conditions at the Florida Citrus Bowl. Luckily, no one was injured in the muck and mud that made running difficult, to say the least.
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll look back at the Capital One Bowl and focus on an unlikely hero, kicker Collin Wagner.
Let’s start with the big story — the weather.
Daryll Clark delivered in the muck and mud to be named the Capital One Bowl MVP.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Weather Woes
The Nittany Lions are a spoiled bunch.
On most Saturday afternoons, they play on the pristine surface at Beaver Stadium and never have to worry about poor footing or sod coming up underneath their feet.
On New Year’s Day at the Capital One Bowl, they got to see how the other half lives.
A soaking rain, coupled with the fact that the Champs Sports Bowl was played at the Florida Citrus Bowl just a few days prior to the Capital One Bowl left the field an absolute mess. The field went from bad to worse as the afternoon rolled on.
While the field at the Florida Citrus Bowl didn’t exactly receive rave reviews, most Nittany Lions said that they believed the squad adjusted well to the adverse conditions.
“I felt like we were ready for it more than they were,” said defensive end Jack Crawford. “We’ve been in these conditions before. We played half of our games in the rain. We were ready for the rain, we were ready to get wet. It was no big deal.”
For the defensive players, it was tough to pursue. That made life difficult on guys like Jared Odrick, who spent much of the afternoon chasing LSU’s elusive QB Jordan Jefferson.
“It was hard to get a good pass rush today, to be honest with you,” Odrick said, sitting on a folding chair outside the Penn State lockerroom. “It was tough to do anything quick. Everything had to be power. Everything had to be side to side, through a person. It was tough, but we did some things, we were able to get pressure. I was just happy that we were able to do that.”
For senior linebacker Sean Lee, who wore his mud-stained No. 45 jersey to the news conference for a final time, it was a game he will never forget.
“I played on AstroTurf in high school (at Upper St. Clair), so I never played on a field like that,” Lee said. “But I think once the game went on, you kind of forgot about it and just played.”
Offensively, it was tough sledding for senior QB Daryll Clark and Co. While Clark was named the game’s MVP, he threw just one touchdown pass. He admitted that the playing conditions definitely changed the game.
Despite the officials’ efforts to keep shuffling game balls in and out, Clark said they were rarely dry.
“It was tough throughout the entire game because if it wasn’t wet, it had some mud on it. If it didn’t have mud on it, it was wet. And with the field conditions being so bad, sometimes the snap was a little bit short,” Clark said.
Collin Wagner booted four field goals to push the Lions to a 19-17 win.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Wagner Delivers
Heading into the showdown with LSU in the Capital One Bowl, many experts believed that the outcome could hinge on a special teams play.
That’s exactly how it turned out.
With 57 seconds left and Penn State trailing 17-16, kicker Collin Wagner trotted out for a 21-yard field goal. Under normal conditions, it would have been a chip shot for the State College Area High School product. On this day, however, conditions were hardly normal.
The snap was good, the hold even better and the kick was perfect and it pushed the Nittany Lions ahead for good, 19-17.
“I just went out and tried to relax. I told myself ‘I’ve done this a thousand times.’ I just went out and tried to do the same thing,” Wagner said. “It’s almost hard to describe how good it is. I really don’t know what to say.”
In the final minutes of the contest, Penn State appeared content to let the game come down to Wagner’s leg. Six consecutive running plays left the ball resting on the right hash at the LSU 4-yard line. According to Wagner, kicks from that distance can be a bit difficult.
“I don’t have a problem with the right hash. I don’t prefer one over the other, so it was all right. When you’re up close like that, it can be a bit tricky. It was as good as the field was gonna get. We had to adjust how far over and how far back we went just so I could get a decent patch of grass to kick on,” Wagner said.
The 21-yarder capped a career day for Wagner. Prior to the game-winner, he connected on kicks of 26, 18 and 20 yards.
During pregame warm-ups, Wagner and holder Jeremy Boone worked tirelessly on finding decent patches of grass and getting their timing down in the torrential downpour.
“You almost have to go out and just look for a decent patch of grass to kick on. You go out, look around for five seconds and find a place where you can plant your foot so you won’t slip and fall,” Wagner said.
The key to kicking under such poor conditions, Wagner said, is getting that plant foot down properly.
“It is (the key), especially on a field like this today,” he said.
It had been an up-and-down season for Wagner, who came into the Capital One Bowl hitting on 15-of-22 field goals. But in the biggest game of the season, on the biggest stage, Wagner came up huge.
It was a fact not lost on his head coach.
“Wagner is a good kicker. He doesn’t have the great (leg). He’s not a 50-yard field goal kicker, although we’ve tried a couple with him, and it really just — it fell short on him in the ballgame. But he’s consistent and he works hard,” coach Joe Paterno said.
After the Nittany Lions grabbed a 7-0 lead on a touchdown pass from Daryll Clark to Derek Moye, it became Wagner’s show. The offense seemed to bog down in the Red Zone, forcing Wagner into action.
Wagner’s four field goals left him one shy of the Capital One Bowl record of five, which was set by Maryland placekicker Jess Atkinson against Tennessee in 1983. He did, however, tie a Penn State bowl record. The last time a Nittany Lion kicker connected on four field goals in a bowl game came at the 1999 Outback Bowl, when Travis Forney hit on four field goals.
Clark was named the MVP of the 2010 Capital One Bowl, but this day belonged to Wagner.
“To come out here in these types of conditions and perform the way I wanted to,” Wagner said, “it’s almost indescribable.”
Chris Morelli is the award-winning editor of Blue White Illustrated, a weekly publication devoted to Penn State athletics. He is also a regular on “Sports Central,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com. This column does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of BWI’s writers or publisher.
