Click here to subscribe today or Login.
By JERRY KELLAR [email protected]
Sunday, October 22, 2000 Page: 1C
UNIVERSITY PARK – The playoff season has started in earnest for Penn State’s
football team.
Coming into Saturday’s game against Illinois, the Nittany Lions knew they
needed to win their last five regular-season contests in order to be eligible
for a bowl berth.
One down, four to go.
“We’ve got to approach each game like that,” senior defensive end Justin
Kurpeikis said after the Lions’ 39-25 victory over the Fighting Illini at
Beaver Stadium. “There’s no double-elimination.”
After losing five of its first seven games, Penn State has left itself no
margin for error. That in mind, coach Joe Paterno’s squad put forth its most
complete performance since beating Purdue last month.
The Lions got timely plays from their offense, especially quarterback
Rashard Casey, who looked like the Casey of old against the Illini. State’s
defense forced four turnovers, each one seemingly bigger than the last. And
the special teams contributed by blocking a field goal and making one from 51
yards.
It all made for a happy homecoming for the overflow crowd of 96,475.
“I told (the team) I’ve been here 51 years and we’ve never had a
homecoming crowd come to see a 2-5 football team,” Paterno said afterwards.
“I told them you have to have some pride. They don’t want to go out as
losers.”
Consider Saturday’s win as the first big step.
“In order to salvage this season, we have to win these games,” said
tailback Eric McCoo, who helped State to an early lead with rushing (7 yards)
and receiving (14 yards) touchdowns in the first quarter. He accounted for 91
yards of offense.
“Our whole team,” he added, “we weren’t gonna let anyone come in our
stadium and beat us today. We were on our A-game.”
To be sure, Casey was at the head of the class.
The senior quarterback completed 13 of 24 passes for 208 yards and two
touchdowns, and added 94 more yards on the ground. Thirty-nine of those came
on a spectacular twisting, turning, trouble-avoiding TD jaunt in the fourth
quarter that was reminiscent of the plays he pulled off on almost a weekly
basis last season.
Casey nearly was stopped for a huge loss before somehow escaping several
Illini defenders by reversing his field and sprinting to the end zone.
“We worked on it all week,” said Paterno, tongue firmly in cheek. “It’s
kind of tough to practice because it’s tough to place all those guys in the
right places.”
The Lions, almost to a man, described their teammate’s run as “amazing.”
And most of them probably were unaware that Casey was working with a slightly
sprained ankle he injured the series before.
So exhausted was the quarterback after the play that he nearly didn’t get
off the field in time for the extra-point attempt.
It wouldn’t have mattered. By then, the Illini had all but given up the
good fight.
Problem was, it was a sloppy one. Despite outgaining Penn State 472-390 in
total yardage, Illinois made just enough mistakes to prevent it from leaving
town with a win.
Two of their four turnovers led to 14 Lion points. The largest and most
dramatic of these errors came on the Illini’s first offensive possession of
the second half.
Trailing 14-10 and with the football near midfield, junior quarterback Kurt
Kittner (29-49, 326 yards) tried to dump one off to tight end Josh Whitman in
the left flat. But Lion middle ‘backer Shamar Finney read the play perfectly,
one-handed the football into his chest and raced 49 yards untouched to
paydirt.
“I read (Kittner’s) eyes the whole way,” said Finney, who speared the
ball with his left hand while in full stride. “I saw that green and I was
like, `Oh, boy. I gotta get in there somehow.’ ”
The touchdown increased State’s lead to 21-10 and helped, at least
momentarily, to keep the offensive-minded Illini at bay.
“It felt like it was a good time to make a big play and I did it,” Finney
said.
It was the kind of game-turning play the Lions have not received during the
first two months of the season.
“Like I told (Illinois coach) Ron Turner, it’s still a game of
turnovers,” Paterno said. “That is what you have to do and that is what this
team has not been doing. You have to go out there and make big plays.”
Turner knew his young club was in for a battle.
“We went up against a good football team, a solid football team, despite
what their record is,” he said. “When they don’t make mistakes and you make
mistakes … we didn’t have it today. We’re young and you can’t make mistakes
at critical times and we did.”
Still, the Illini were in the game right up until Casey’s run in the final
minutes.
Kittner’s 55-yard scoring bomb to flanker Greg Lewis (he also teamed with
Lewis on a 8-yard score in the first half) and subsequent 2-point conversion
got the visitors within three, 21-18.
But the Lions answered with a 51-yard field goal by Ryan Primanti midway
through the third period, and Casey’s off-balance 15-yard TD strike to Kenny
Watson early in the fourth.
That touchdown was set up by cornerback Bhawoh Jue’s 31-yard interception
return.
“Take away some of those turnovers and it might be a different outcome for
us,” said Kittner, who three two interceptions to go with his three TD
passes. “They are an aggressive defense and it felt like I was running for my
life on every play.”
That was the plan.
“Excluding the fact that our defense wasn’t as solid as I’d like it to be,
this was like old Penn State football,” said Kurpeikis, whose eight tackles
were second only to James Boyd’s 10. “We weren’t making mental mistakes and
we were forcing the opponent into mistakes.”
Kittner flung one last scoring pass – a 4-yarder to Whitman – to pull his
team within a touchdown again.
But Casey sealed the matter and guaranteed himself a spot on SportsCenter
with his cross-country journey.
Next up, a meeting with Indiana in the RCA Dome.
“The week off gave us a chance to work the bugs out,” McCoo said. “We
weren’t near perfect, but we are moving in the right direction. We still have
a lot to play for this season.”