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By MARK FITZHENRY; Times Leader Sports Writer
Sunday, October 18, 1998 Page:
UNIVERSITY PARK- Penn State’s secondary noticed something a little strange
while watching game film this past week leading up to Saturday’s Purdue game.
The Boilermakers, who averaged 45 pass attempts per game, thrived on short
timing routes, and yet their receivers weren’t getting hit enough, in the
Nittany Lions’ humble opinion.
“We knew we had to come up and put a smack on them,” PSU strong safety
Askari Adams said. “(Defensive backs coach Tom) Bradley mentioned it to us all
week about punishing the wide outs, because they haven’t been punished all
year. Our goal was to make sure they knew we were going to be with them all
game.”
Consider it done. Purdue completed 39 passes, nearly half of them (19) went
for fewer than 10 yards. Quarterback Drew Brees threw just one touchdown pass
after tossing 16 his first six games.
The secondary, in a crucial test that came two weeks after the loss to Ohio
State, came up big on Saturday in a 31-13 defeat of Purdue. Not only did it
limit the big plays by Purdue, the Nittany Lions made a few of their own.
Sophomore Bhawoh Jue, making his first career start, had eight tackles. “I
guess it was more of a boy to man experience for me,” he said.
Anthony King broke up a pass in the end zone, forcing Purdue to settle for
a field goal and a 14-6 deficit early in the third quarter.
Defensive backs and linebackers combined to break up 11 passes- a high
number considering Brees had just 19 incompletions.
But Adams said the biggest play was David Macklin’s interception on
Purdue’s first drive of the fourth quarter. A touchdown would have cut Penn
State’s lead to eight, maybe seven points. Instead, Macklin stepped in front
of a Purdue receiver and snagged Brees’ pass at the Purdue 44. Penn State held
a 28-13 lead and had the ball with 12 minutes left.
“That was big,” Adams said. “They were rolling. They were going down the
field on us. We had to make a play and that’s what he did for us.
“You can’t just pick out one person. Our whole defense did a good job. Our
secondary, nobody even mentioned us the whole week, that we’re good, nothing
like that.”
For the record, Penn State coach Joe Paterno said he has not used five or
six defensive backs as much in a while. He cited the 1994 Citrus Bowl against
Heath Shuler’s Tennessee Vols, and the 1987 Fiesta Bowl against Miami, and
other i