Despite the beautiful blue and white skies over Madison, Wisconsin, it was very clear that God was not a Penn State fan Saturday, as a multitude of misfortunes befell the Nittany Lions, who lost to the undefeated Badgers, 16-3, before a record crowd in Camp Randall Stadium and a national ESPN-TV audience.
On the first play from scrimmage Penn State’s senior quarterback Zack Mills suffered a separation of his right shoulder, when he was knocked to the ground just after releasing a 49-yard pass to split end Michael Robinson. State’s career passing leader made another attempt on the next play but threw an interception, before coming out of the game and having his injury diagnosed.
Penn State’s offensive strategy changed abruptly as Robinson, the Lions’ Mr. Everything, moved to quarterback. But, with 1:43 left in the first quarter, he went down hard under a Wisconsin blitz, was knocked unconscious and taken off the field in an ambulance.
Before halftime, Sue Paterno was notified that her son-in-law, Chris Hort, had just suffered a severe head injury in a bike accident back in State College, so she and Athletic Director Tim Curley immediately flew home from Madison. Coach Paterno was not informed of the accident until the end of the game, at which time he and his son Jay, an assistant coach, immediately left for Altoona General Hospital, where Hort, husband of Mary Kay Paterno Hort and father of three Paterno grandchildren, had been life-flighted.
On the field in Camp Randall Stadium, the Nittany Lion defense stuffed Wisconsin’s two leading rushers and allowed the 20th-ranked Badgers only one touchdown. However, with their top two playmakers injured, the Lions were unable to generate enough offense to get into the end zone and thus suffered their seventh straight loss on the road.
Penn State’s offensive troubles started early.
After hooking up with Robinson on the Lions’ longest pass play of the season, Mills, not realizing that it was more than just a hurt in his shoulder, tried to pass to wide receiver Gerald Smith. But the errant aerial wound up in the arms of Badger cornerback Brett Bell on the Wisconsin 20, and the visitors’ first threat was snuffed out.
Penn State squandered two more first-quarter opportunities against the nation’s fourth-best defense, when a third-down sack of Robinson snuffed out the Lions’ second advance into enemy territory, and a holding penalty cut short an effort to capitalize on Calvin Lowry’s recovery of a Wisconsin fumble at the W-30.
Then Penn State’s 2004 nemesis—the turnover—struck for the 12th time this season, surrendering valuable field position and momentum to a Wisconsin offense that had heretofore been held to a total of minus four yards in three possessions, while the Lions had gained 84. It came in the form of a fumble by sophomore tailback Tony Hunt, who had ripped up the middle for a seven-yard gain, before having the ball stripped from his grasp by strong safety Robert Brooks. The Badgers’ outstanding defensive end Erasmus James recovered at the PS-44; and Mo Mentum changed to a red jersey.
Wisconsin struck at the Achilles heel of State’s defense—completing a pass on third-and-long—to advance to the PS-14. On third-and-one Wisconsin quarterback John Stocco fooled everyone by faking a handoff behind power blocking to the left, and keeping on a naked bootleg to the right, diving across the goal line just before being blasted by Mike Guman, Anwar Phillips and Alan Zemaitis.
It would turn out to be the only touchdown of the day, and a sufficient number of points for victory—even though the score was the only first quarter statistic in Wisconsin’s advantage, as the visitors held a 24-yard edge in rushing and a 43-yard margin in passing.
Penn State’s third quarterback, junior Chris Ganter, took the controls in the second quarter and tried in vain to mount a drive into Wisconsin territory.
Meanwhile, the Lion defenders surrendered three first downs on one Badger possession and allowed Mike Allen to kick a 39-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead for the home team.
Three plays later Wisconsin safety and second leading all-time pass interceptor, Jim Leonhard, picked off a Ganter aerial at midfield and returned it 25 yards to set up Allen’s second field goal and a 13-0 halftime lead, despite the fact that the Nittany Lions had outgained the Badgers 51 yards to 13 on the ground and 110 yards to 92 through the air throughout the first 30 minutes.
Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, the dean of Big Ten gridiron mentors, made a brilliant strategic move at halftime that allowed the Badgers to control the ball and the clock and maintain their 13-point margin throughout the second half.
Since Penn State’s defense had held Wisconsin tailbacks Booker Stanley and Jamil Walker to just 22 yards on 13 carries in the first half, Alvarez moved 270-pound fullback Matt Bernstein to tailback and let him pound away at the Nittany Lions with a big offensive line and 270-pound second-string fullback Greg Root blocking in front of him. The junior behemoth blasted for 120 yards on 26 carries; and even though the Lion defense would allow only one more Mike Allen field goal, Wisconsin controlled the ball for nearly 21 of the final 30 minutes and walked away with its fourth win of the season and a jump start on the Big Ten conference campaign.
Penn State staved off a shutout, when Ganter moved his team 74 yards in 12 plays on its first possession to allow Robbie Gould to kick his first field goal of the year—a 23-yarder with 2:16 left in the third quarter. Ganter completed two passes to freshman wide receiver Mark Rubin, who played in his first college game, and Tony Hunt burst up the middle for 24 yards to set up the score.
Calvin Lowry and Alan Zemaitis each picked off interceptions in the fourth quarter, but State’s offense could not capitalize on the opportunities, and the Lions lost their conference opener for the fifth straight year.
When Mills and Robinson went down, Penn State had to adjust its game plan, defensive coordinator Tom Bradley explained, filling in for Paterno at the post-game press conference.
“Obviously when you lose your two offensive weapons, that causes a lot of problems for what you have left and what you can do,” Bradley said. “When you take someone like Robinson or Zack out, there’s going to be a dropoff just because those two are so talented.”
He said that Robinson factors into the game plan a great deal “not only as a quarterback, but as a wide receiver.” He said the offense became more limited because “Chris obviously doesn’t get the reps in practice, and you can’t run some of the things you had planned on.”
Robinson suffered a concussion and was treated and kept overnight at the University of Wisconsin Hospital for observation, before returning to University Park Sunday with assistant coach Bill Kenney. Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, Penn State’s Director of Athletic Medicine, indicated that Robinson is doubtful for Saturday’s game at Minnesota and will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
Mills told the media after the game he might be ready to play Saturday night in the Minnesota Metrodome, where the Lions face their second undefeated Top 20 opponent in a row.
For the glory,
