2B—The
Neil Hutton blocks and Duane Taylor attacks
The truth
DALLAS—“A-what about-a this Italian-a boy, hah?”
the writer joked. He must have thought that a big Cotton
(Bowl win left room for jokes with Joe Patemo. But the
subject was no joke to Patemo. He let an unintelligible
phrase slip by. Then, “Hey come on, will ya let me enjoy
this one?”
The “Italian-a boy” was freshman wingback Jim
Cefalo, and since he accounted for one-third of Penn'
State’s total yardage in the Cotton Bowl, it was un
derstandable that the writer. might want to talk about
him. But Paterao’s anguish discouraged such con
versation.
Even as happy as he appeared on his dripping wet stroll
from the showers where he’d been thrown, Patemo must
have just"ended a long season. His team had scratched
and clawed just as he’d forseen in August. But besides
that, he had to do something he never really wanted to do.
Joe Patemo, who’d always spoken for the virtues of
freshman teams and against the pressures of freshmen in
varsity athletics, had to develop his game-breaking
threat in a freshman. And Joe Patemo had to look to other
freshman and sophomores to fill positions that in other
years were easily manned by juniors and seniors.
Cefalo was obviously the leader, if such terminology
may be used loosely, of the movement. But review the
Lions’ season and their lineup changes. Senior Walt Addie
was the starting tailback in September. But it was Soph
'74 Nits had something to prove
DALLAS—Somehow the Penn State locker room at the
Cotton Bowl seemed much different than the one in Miami
just a year earlier. Then again last year’s Lions were 12-0
and this year’s were 10-2. - -
Perhaps the heart of the matter lies there. Last season,
Patemo had a team that did everything it was supposed to
do. It was expected to go undefeated and to trounce some
people. It was expected to have a running back lead the
east and make All-America, then the pros. It was ex
pected to place a fair number of players in the pro draft
and it did just that and more with 11 Nittany Lions being
selected.
So much happened last year that was forecasted in the
pre-season outlook, that no one was really surprised.
However, this season has been just the opposite. People
expected some things, but not all things like last year.
People knew that an unblemished record was not in Joe
Patemo’s cards this fall. He had some trump but no meld.
SPORTS EDITOR: Jeff Young ASSISTANT
SPORTS EDITORS: Tim Panaccio. Dave
Moms. SPORTS WRITERS: Rick Starr, Barb
Parmer
' anther,
Penn
<5.
on
§Jeff Young;
Sports Editor
Neil Hutton who gained 79 yards in 12 carries |before the
Cotton Bowl audience. Senior; Dan Natale caught three
passes in the Cotton Bowl, but freshman Randy Sidler’s 10
receptions frbm -the tight end srot during the season
helped make Natalets Bowl efforts a reality. Senior
fullback Tom Donchez led the Lion rushers; but. soph
backup Duane Taylor was right there all the time, picking
up nearly half Donchez’ total yards in less than half the
attempts. And sophomores Georgp Reihner 1 and Brad
Benson found jobs on the offensive line.
Now right away one may point to injuries that forced
Patemo into substitutions. But the injuries cannot resolve
an entire season of experimentation. Seniority has always
weighed heavily with Patemo. Where were the seniors
What people didn’t jtnow was that Penn State would pull
together in this end. What they didn’t foresee was a Cotton
Bowl bid. Whiat they didn’t expect was some strong play
by a lot of young players.
Guys like Jimmy Cefalo, Neil Hutton, Duane Taylor,
Tom Giotto and Tom Odell.
There was a gap in the offensive line which lost.two All-
America’s. A defensive secondary which was inex
perienced and untested. Within time, everyone pulled
together, much; closer than last season’s Orange Bowl
victors. i !
“I think it’s jan outstanding football team,” lauded
Paterno. “It took time for those young kids to get better. I
think it’ll be a better football team next year.”
Last year’s team didn’t have much to prove. This year’s
squad had morelof the same than it probably wanted. The
result was a successful cohesion of talent thajt earned its
ink without relying week in and week out. on explosive
offensive performances by John Cappelletti. I
Maybe that’s jwhy the Penn State locker room was so
much more vibrant this year. Maybe that helps explain
Joe and the rest 1 of the coaching staff getting tossed about
in a shower, along with Gov. Milton J. Shapp. Maybe
that’s why everyone enjoyed themselves more this year
and-in particular, this'Cotton Bowl.
they got the chance to attack a Penn State trad /
State youth
who.didn’t play in the Cotton Bo- ri, who didn’tplay in the
late games of their final college season, after the team
had performed well enough to receive a bowl hid?
They were on the sidelines. And the reason they were
there is that perhaps there was someone stronger,
someone quicker or more agile. Someone who could in
any way bring Penn State closer to a win. And by no
means was that person necessarily a senior.
© Last year’s Nittany Lions started nohrie in the entire 22
-positions of younger than junior class. The team finished
with a 12-0 record and an Orange Bowl victory. This
year’s team for whatever reasons played freshman and
sophomores in key positions and finished 10-2 with a
Cotton Bowl victory. Last year’s post-Orange Bowl quotes
were dotted with ‘No. 1’ claims. This year’s post-Cotton
Bowl quotes had none of the same, but the players talked
and acted as though they had accomplished just as much.
Paterno has ballyhooed this team as having played to
its potential more than any he can remember, but what
would that potential hkye been had the youngsters not had
their chance? Care to! speculate on the NC State game
without the rushing of Taylor, Hutton, Cefalo? How about
the Syracuse or Pitt contests?
One memo: No matter what a coach professes to
believe in, and whatever he says he wants to do, what he”
really wants is to have more points than the other team
when it’s all over, and to have that situation as often as
possible. Happy New Year.
JOQM Tim Panaccio
Ass ’ t Sports Editor
“We had a great time, I mean that,” said Paterno in his
locker room cubbyhole in Dallas. “You can say what you
want about a lot of places, but yOu couldn’t have had a
better time anywhere but here, especially in the player’s
cases.”
It was more relaxed this time around. There wasn’t any
needless pressure about remaining undefeated or
whether or not Penn State would ever finish number one
in the nation.
/The mystical spell of 1973 had been broken in a driving
rainstorm against Navy. After that, it all boiled down to
one thing: Proving to yourself you could do what others
thought you doing,
Photo by Eric Felack