VOLUME 77 ISSUE 5 Penn State vs. Northwestern September 29, 2014 The Letter The previously undefeated Nittany Follow us on Lions ran out of Twitter and miracles Saturday. Check out the new Football Letter After raising hopes of Blog Penn State fans to unrealistic levels by winning games against PSU 0 3 3 0 6 their two toughest NW 14 0 0 15 29 opponents with exciting comebacks in the final CONTENTS three minutes of each contest, their luck and The Letter their pluck ran out against an unrespected Northwestern squad that Notes from the Cuff nailed them 29–6 and ruined a Homecoming that was perfect all week— Other Sports except for the three­and­one­half hours the Old Grads spent in Beaver News of Note Stadium. Game Photos Statistics Actually, even that had a few highlights: a career­long 51­yard catch that DaeSean Hamilton wrestled away from two defenders in mid­air; a crunching tackle by linebacker Mike Hull to stop a threatened three­ PAST ISSUES touchdown first quarter lead on Northwestern’s fake field goal run from View past issues the PS 3­yard line; and a nostalgic halftime performance by the alumni and student Blue Bands, climaxed by a special presentation to retiring Director O. Richard Bundy for his 48 years of service to Penn State. The weekend started with the magnificently warm blue­and­white­sky weather that encouraged returning grads to take long and leisurely strolls across one of the most beautiful campuses in the country and through the model college town to the south. And they still had time to meet old friends and gorge on tasty Berkey FAN ZONE Creamery ice cream at the Hintz Family Alumni Center, before grabbing a Football Schedule spot along the route of the Homecoming Parade that exceeded all the Team Roster previous 94, according to veteran parade observers. GoPSUSports.com From there they migrated to the Nittany Lion Shrine to watch Radio/TV Listings Distinguished Alumna, widow and 17­time grandmother Sue Paterno Big Ten Football TV dance like a teenager with students and the Lion mascot. They also Schedule listened to her tale of surreptitiously painting the statue the night before Big Ten Standings her husband’s first Homecoming game as head coach 49 years ago in Big Ten Schedule and Results order to ignite school spirit. Penn Staters in the Pros “Whether or not we had anything to do with raising fan base support for our football team or making our stadium more alive, I don’t know,” she For advertising info, said. “But we eventually became the greatest show on Earth, and we’re only going to get better and better.” “I started at Penn State in 1958, and I have loved this place from the time I came here. And I will always love this place.” State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham called the weekend “a family reunion for alumni and the whole town and gown community.” She said, “At Homecoming, we’re all together in a very positive way.” All of Penn State’s other fall sports teams won all of their contests during Homecoming Week. The defending national champion women’s volleyball team swept the same Wisconsin team they beat in the 2013 title match, then disposed of another Big Ten power—Minnesota—both on the road. The undefeated men’s soccer team toppled Penn at home and Michigan away. The No. 8 women’s soccer squad defeated Bucknell, Northwestern and Illinois in six days. And the seventh­ranked field hockey team turned back Lock Haven, Michigan State and Ohio State in the same time span. Saturday morning a large “Huddle With the Faculty” crowd filled the Nittany Lion Inn Ballroom to witness a moving performance by the Essence of Joy singers directed by Anthony Leach, professor of music and former University Laureate. And as Saturday’s beautiful weather even exceeded Friday’s, tailgaters throughout the eastern side of campus savored their pre­game repasts and jovially chatted about the impending blowout they anticipated. But none expected it to be unheralded 1–2 Northwestern upsetting 4–0 Penn State in convincing fashion. (Even the media that reports on the Wildcats regularly had picked the Lions by a couple of touchdowns.) That two­touchdown advantage quickly became Northwestern’s, as its no­huddle offense marched down the field at will, until Mike Hull’s crunch halted their scoring ’til the fourth quarter. At the same time, the ’Cats defense forced four three­and­ outs for just three yards in Penn State’s first five possessions, while the Lions laid an egg bigger than any in Beaver Stadium since the 6–4 Homecoming loss to Iowa a decade ago. Numerous times the Lions seemed primed to reverse the momentum by picking up the egg and casting it to the cow pastures surrounding the stadium. But each time they dropped it and let it crack, until the resulting omelet was devoured by the feisty Wildcats, who stalked their prey relentlessly until they could make the kill. In the end, it was obvious the visitors wanted the game more than the home team. Though Coach James Franklin has assiduously insisted to the players since his coming that there is no game on the schedule except the coming Saturday’s, their plethora of mistakes would lead one to believe the Lions took Northwestern too lightly and looked past this game to the expected week of rest following it. Give Northwestern the credit they deserve, said an austere Coach Franklin in his post­mortem with the media. “They were the better team today. They were well­coached. They played hard and did not make a lot of mistakes,” said the young mentor, who absorbed his first loss in his last 10 times on the gridiron. “We weren’t ready to play today,” he said, but he also guaranteed that “we will get it fixed.” “Nobody cares more than our players and coaches, and the bye week could not come at a better time for us to work at fixing it,” he declared. “The same issues keep popping up,” he pointed out. “We’ve started slow in some games, and we’ve been able to come back and rally late in games. You can only do that so many times before it comes back to haunt you … You have to be able to start strong. You have to establish a running game and protect the quarterback,” he explained. “We’ve been able to get by with this by playing smart, playing hard, playing with tremendous effort and persevering. Let’s be honest, we haven’t played pretty all year long, and it caught up to us today against a good, solid, well­coached, hard­nosed team.” Penn State has been too one­dimensional on offense. Disregard the Massachusetts game and the yardage gained by quarterback Christian Hackenberg scrambling when he couldn’t find a receiver to throw to, and the Lions have rushed an average of only 67 yards per game. Saturday the NW defense exploited all Penn State’s vulnerabilities, while its offense tested State’s heretofore trusty defense. And the Lions’ special teams faltered again. With an opportunity to showcase their talents before the largest day­ game crowd (102,910) since the Nebraska contest in 2011 and a national BTN television audience, the Lions gave up the first points in an opening quarter in their last eight games and scored the fewest points in the Northwestern series since it began in 1993, while losing to the Wildcats for the first time since 2004. The 23­point margin was the biggest allowed in a home game since the 33–7 loss to Miami in 2001. The 50 rushing yards are the fewest by Penn State since the Ohio State game in 2012. Northwestern started strong in the first quarter, gaining 166 yards on 25 plays, while scoring 14 points and should have tallied 10 more. At the same time, the ’Cats surrendered only 31 yards on 12 plays by the befuddled Lions and kept them caged inside their own 33­yard line, while pushing them back on one series from the PS­15 to the PS­12, from where Chris Gulla shanked a punt just 17 yards. Hackenberg was pressured on each of his six passes and could complete only three for 29 meaningless yards, while losing three yards on two scrambles. NW passer Trevor Siemian connected on 11 of 15 first­ quarter attempts for 150 yards, including a 28­yarder to Mike McHugh on third­and­eight and an 18­yarder to Tony Jones on third­ and­10. Both set up one­yard sneaks by Siemian for touchdowns. (He would score the Wildcats’ third offensive TD on a one­yard sneak halfway through the final frame.) Miles Shuler’s 42­yard return of Penn State’s first punt by Daniel Pasquariello set the stage for Northwestern’s first TD on a short 31­yard drive. The visitors’ other touchdown was tallied by linebacker Anthony Walker, who jumped a well­known route to intercept a Hackenberg throw for a 49­yard Pick­6 on the first play of the fourth quarter. On the first play of the Lions’ next possession, Hack was sacked for a loss of 10 yards and fumbled the ball, which NW recovered on the PS­15. The ’Cats moved to the PS­7 and Jack Mitchell kicked a 23­yard field goal. State could convert only three of 17 third downs and three times in the second half Northwestern stopped the Lions on fourth­and­short, forcing them to turn the ball over on downs—once on the PS­28, setting up a short drive to the visitors’ final touchdown.