Beaver Stadium rocked like it hasn’t for at least two years, since the Nebraska game in 2002. A raucous student section, clothed uniformly in white t-shirts, was determined to “white-out” Purdue, and the alumni sections joined that lead, making it extremely difficult for the Boilermakers’ Heisman Trophy candidate, quarterback Kyle Orton, to call audibles at the line of scrimmage, as he has done so successfully throughout the 2004 season.
And the much-maligned Nittany Lion gridders responded with their best performance of the year against ninth-ranked and undefeated Purdue, before succumbing, 20-13, in front of a season-best crowd of 108,183 and a national ESPN-TV audience Saturday evening.
There were a lot of positives for Penn State, even though the Lions lost their third straight Big Ten game and let their overall record slip to 2-4.
- The Nittany Lion defense held the nation’s top offense to season lows in points and yardage and picked off the first two interceptions of the year against Kyle Orton, the most prolific collegiate passer.
- Penn State’s offense committed no turnovers for the first time since the season opening win over Akron.
- The Lions’ pass rushers sacked Orton as often as Purdue’s first four opponents combined.
- State’s quarterback Zack Mills passed for a season-high 293 yards, and its wide receivers made several spectacular catches.
- While several starters missed the game because of injury, they were replaced with underclassmen who rose to the occasion.
Despite these accomplishments, an emotionally drained Coach Joe Paterno was not in a good frame of mind after the contest.
“We have a bunch of kids who are busting their butts, and we had a great crowd,” Paterno told the media. “We expected to get a great win, but we didn’t. And until we do, I’m going to be frustrated.”
Asked if he wasn’t encouraged by improved play on both sides of the line, the coach snapped back, “We got licked again. I’m not happy about anything. These guys have fought their guts out in three games, and we haven’t been able to get the win.”
Acknowledging that Penn State has started the conference season against three of the toughest teams in the Big Ten this year, Paterno retorted, “But we are Penn State. We’re supposed to win these games.”
Obviously disappointed that his team could not upset the highest-ranked team in the Big Ten, Paterno said, “We’re better than a week ago, but not good enough. I’m tired of not being good enough.”
The one positive comment made by the man who had just tied Pop Warner for second on the all-time list of most games coached referred to the fans. “Our crowd was super. They deserve a couple of wins,” said the veteran of 457 contests on the sidelines, who had given a rousing pep talk to the faithful at a special “Rally in the Valley” Friday night.
The first sellout crowd of the season in Beaver Stadium saw the Nittany Lions hold the potent Purdue offense to less than half its average of 47.2 points per game and more than 200 yards below its nation-leading 549.2 yards per game, including 106 yards under its rushing average and 95 yards less than its passing average. Penn State was the first opponent to hold the Boilers to less than 512 yards of total offense and less than 300 yards passing.
The Lion defenders surrendered only one passing touchdown to Kyle Orton, who led the nation with an average of 4.1 TD passes per game. And after he had thrown 165 aerials without an interception, the Penn State secondary picked off two successive Orton tosses in the fourth quarter.
The bad news is that despite these two golden opportunities, plus a third, which resulted from a 65-yard kickoff return by freshman Rodney Kinlaw, the Lion offense could score no points in the fourth quarter, and thus State suffered its third conference setback by a total of 29 points.
Winning for the first time ever in Beaver Stadium, Purdue pushed its record to 5-0 for the first time since 1945. It was the third road victory in a row for the Boilers, who dumped Notre Dame, 41-16, in South Bend a week ago, and are now headed home to meet the other two teams that are unbeaten in the Big Ten this year—Wisconsin and Michigan—in their next two encounters.
Purdue Coach Joe Tiller told reporters after the game, “I thought we played a team today that played as well as it can possibly play,” in a back-handed compliment to the Lions. He added that playing in the shadow of “Touchdown Jesus” at Notre Dame was nothing compared to the noise in Beaver Stadium.
“They did a great job of making it hard to communicate out there,” Tiller said.
“That was the loudest place I’ve ever been in,” said Purdue’s senior wide receiver Taylor Stubblefield, who broke the Big Ten’s career reception record by catching his 267th pass on the visitors’ first possession. That record had been set just last year by Stubblefield’s now graduated teammate, John Standeford.
“We knew this team had a great defense,” said Stubblefield, who finished the game with seven catches for 63 yards—40 of which came on a third-quarter touchdown reception. “Their record does not show how good a team they are.”
Orton, the nation’s top-rated passer said, “They had a great scheme, and they’re big and physical and played us well. They made us get out of some things we like to do.”
Famous for the West coast offense that he installed at Purdue after coming from Wyoming, Coach Tiller said, “They were changing their coverages and playing a tremendous amount of zone and different types of zones. This game had the most combinations of coverages that we’ve seen.”
Defensive Coordinator Tom Bradley had to run his schemes with a couple of linebackers in new positions. By Thursday middle linebacker Tim Shaw was still unable to play on the ankle he injured at Minnesota. So freshman Dan Connor was moved from the outside linebacker spot, where he backed up defensive captain Derek Wake, and got his first career start in the middle with just one-day’s practice at the position. In addition, he called the signals in the defensive huddle, and compiled a career-high 10 tackles to share the team lead with sophomore Paul Posluszny, who left the game after sustaining a shoulder injury early in the third quarter. This forced Bradley to use walk-on safety Nolan McCready at linebacker, a position he had never before played, in several of the defensive schemes.
Orton, a leading early-season contender for the Heisman Trophy, completed 24 of 35 pass attempts for 275 yards but only one touchdown.
Meanwhile, Penn State’s Zack Mills, playing the whole game for the second week in a row with a sore shoulder, completed a career-high 29 of 49 attempts for 293 yards, including a 37-yard scoring strike to freshman wide receiver Terrell Golden. It was only the second reception of Golden’s career and his first touchdown. After making a spectacular diving catch in the end zone, the exuberant freshman went into a little dance and immediately drew a flag for excessive celebrating.
The Nittany Lions hurt themselves with several other penalties.
Their first possession of the game ended abruptly after a 20-yard gain was nullified by an illegal procedure penalty, and their second ended when a first down was nullified by a holding penalty. Both times Mills had to throw the ball away on third down, and the Lions went three-and-out. State’s first drive of the second half was also killed by a holding penalty.
Unable to establish a rushing attack, the Lions’ longest run came in the third quarter on a nine-yard burst by tailback Tony Hunt through the only hole opened all evening by the offensive line. But with a 2nd-and-one on the Purdue seven-yard line, the visitors’ stopped the Lions for two plays and forced them to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Robbie Gould that left the home team on the short end of a 17-13 score.
State’s total of 18 rushing yards was the third lowest ever in the Joe Paterno era, and the 17 attempts was the fewest ever under JoePa. Conversely, the 51 pass attempts and 29 completions were the second highest of each by a Paterno-coached team.
Penn State extended its second and third quarter scoring lead over its opponents to 87-46. However, the slow-starting and slow-finishing Lions have been outscored by the opposition, 33-21, in the first quarter and, 17-7, in the final frame.
Calvin Lowry’s interception and 12-yard return on the first play of the fourth quarter gave the home team the ball on the PS-43. A beautiful catch by Terrance Phillips between two defenders of a 33-yard pass from Mills helped the Lions advance to the Purdue six. But a fake field goal on 4th-and-five backfired, when Mills was stopped after a three-yard run around right end, and the Lions had no points to show for the effort.
Orton’s next pass, just two plays later, was picked off by cornerback Anwar Phillips at the visitors’ 42. But after gaining one first down, the Lions were stopped at the Boilermakers’ 28, and Gould pulled a 45-yard field goal attempt wide left. Again, no points.
Nursing a narrow four-point lead with 8:21 left in the game, Purdue mounted a time-consuming drive that was kept alive, when Orton scrambled free of the Penn State pass rush and flipped an outlet toss to Bryant Dorian in the right flat on a 3rd-and-14 situation. Dorian juked Paul Cronin just beyond the line of scrimmage and dashed 17 yards down the right sideline for a first down that allowed Purdue to eventually move to the PS-28, from where Ben Jones kicked his second field goal of the night—a 46-yarder for the final points.
Penn State had one last chance, after Rodney Kinlaw sliced 65 yards through the Purdue kickoff coverage team to set the Lions up at the visitors’ 33 with 2:36 on the clock. But Mills threw four straight incompletions, and the outcome was settled.
When the Nittany Lions dropped a 16-7 verdict to undefeated Minnesota a week earlier, Paterno told his team they had found a way to fight, now they had to find a way to win. They were unable to do that against their third straight unbeaten opponent, but they get a week off before trying again against Iowa in Penn State’s Homecoming contest Oct. 23.
For the glory,
