—The Daily Collegian Monday, November 7, 1977
Time to list
Fusina with
Lion greats
RALEIGH, N.C. Welcome to the
class of the elite, Chuck Fusina.
On a day in which the Penn State
football team wavered between looking
like the Pittsburgh Steelers and the
Bellefonte High School Red Raiders,
you, Mr. Fusina, as the Penn State
quarterback, took your place here
Saturday as one of the top signal-callers
in the country and, by far, the finest
thrower in Nittany Lion history. .
And so it was for the 6-1, 199-pound
junior from McKees Rocks, Pa. Penn
State fans seem almost to take Fusina
for granted.
Of course, they all realize he is one
solid quarterback. But, after Saturday's
sparkling performance against North
Carolina State a performance in
which he set school records for com
pletions (22) and yards (315) it has
been discovered that Lion coach Joe
Paterno recruited a prize three years
ago.
Pete '
Dougherty
"Their quarterback (Fusina) threw
some passes I've never seen a college
quarterback throw," ' losing coach Bo
Rein said. "He'd loop it over a cor
nerback and in front of a safety."
Fusina has done plenty of looping this
season, and needs just 214 yards to break
John Hufnagel's single-season record of
2,039. Fusina, with two games to go this
year, needs just 418 more to become the
all time passing yardage leader, /
snapping Hufnagel's mark of 3,545
and he still has a season to go.
But the true value of Fusina was seen
with 2:35 to go in the game. Penn State
had the ball at its own 17, trailing 17-14.
"Chuck got everybody in the huddle
and settled everybody down," fullback
Matt Suhey explained.
Then, Chuck proceeded to drive the
Lion offense down the field, and 13 plays
and a minute and 37 seconds later split
end Scott Fitzkee was standing in the
endzone with a Fusina-thrown football.
The 11-yard pass to Fitzkee climaxed a
masterfully engineered drive by Fusina,
who obtained 65 of the 83 yards via the
air. .
"He needed this game," Paterno said
of Fusina. "He just doesn't realize how
good he is. He is a superb passer and a
tough competitor. And he has a soft
personality."
Not too surprisingly, Fusina is un
certain as to the accuracy of Paterno's
assessment.
"I don't know if I needed it," the
quarterback said, "but' I know the team
needed it. A game like this turns our
whole season."
What makes the winning drive all the
more impressive is, because of time
limitations, Fusina was forced to call
many of his own plays.
"They ( the coaches) brought most of
the plays in," Fusina said, "but on first
downs, I had to call them."
,
It was on a first down that the com
pletion to Fitzkee came, and, true to
Fusina's word, it was a play called by
the quarterback.
"I yelled for Scott to do the flag pat
tern," Fusina said. "I knew the defender
had been leaning a little bit, so I had him
try to turn the guy on the post."
Fusina, as he did all afternoon and as
he has done all season, hit the receiver in
the numbers to complete what would
seem to be the most pressure-filled
sequence in his football career. But
Fusina felt differently.
"I didn't feel any pressure," he said.
"I have so many things to think about
that I think there was less pressure then
than there usually is."
.Whether the pressure was there or not,
Fusina performed like Mr. Cool. With his
precision execution of the two-minute
offense, Fusina has proven himself well
rounded in all aspects, and can be
mentioned first now when talking about
all-time great Penn State quarterbacks.
Are you listening, pro football scouts?
f• Ted Brorn, North Carolina State's premier running back, amassed i a school record 251 yards in a losing effort
Celebration of the play that saved the Lions' mane: split end Scott . Fitzkee realizes he's scored (left), turns upfield to look for possible penalty flags (center), and is mobbed by teammates
What happened
By PETE DOUGHERTY
Daily Collegian Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. Amid the ex
citement and celebrating in the Penn
State lockerroom here Saturday some
thing was lost.
At least it wasn't'the football game for
the Lions. It well could have been had it
not been for the heroics of the Nittany
Lion offense in the final two-and-a-half
minutes.
However, somehow the first 57 1 / 2
minutes were forgotten. How could a
cliche-freak like Penn State coach Joe
Paterno let his players forget a football
game is 60 minutes.
Obviously, it is hoped the final 1-24th of
the game will be what gets carried over
to this Saturday's game with Temple.
For during most of the game, Penn State
—, particularly the defense, and more
specifically the line was bottled up
Lions-N. C.
The game statistics
First Downs
Rushes-Yardage
Passes (att.-comp.-int.)
Passing Yardage
Total Yardage
Fumbles-host
Return Yardage
Punts-Average
7 0 .7 7-21
0 3 7 7 - 17
Penn State
North Carolina State
First Quarter
P 8 Cefalo 36 from Fusina (Bahr kick); 8 plays, 80
yards, 2:57
Second Quarter
NCB— Sherrill 25 field goal; 15 plays, 66 yards, 12:02
Third Quarter
NCS— Brawn 7 run (Sherrill kick) ; 6 playa, 6 0 yards,
8:59
PS Suhey 1 run (Bahr kick); 10 plays, 76 yards,
14:59
Fourth Quarter
NCB Vickers 1 run (Sherrill kick); 13 plays, 77 yar
ds, 4:24
PS Fitzkee 11 pass from Fusina (Bahr kick); 13
plays, 83 yards, 0:58
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Penn State Geise 12 for 68 yards; Suhey 12 for 60;
Torrey 11 for 54; Fusina 3 for minus-2.
N.C. State Brown 37 for 251 yards; Vickers 20 foi•
78; Evans 16 for 2; Johnson 5 for 17; Adams 4 for 25.
Passing
Penn State Fusina 22 of 36 for 315 yards (two in
tercepted).
N.C. State Evans 7 of 18 for 68 yards (one in
tercepted); Johnson 1 of 2 for 19 yards (none in
tercepted).
Pass Receiving
Penn State Shuler 8 for 105 yards; Cefalo 5 for 98;
Geise 3 for 42; Fltzkee 3 for 40; Bassett 1 for 23; Torrey
1 for 7; Suhey 1 for O.
Photos by Ken Kasper
, x
~~/
lIMMIIM
Penn State N.C. State
26 28
38-167 73-396
36-22-2 20-8.1
315 87
482 460
8-50 3-21
9 2
4-42 5 4-36.0
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Offensively, the Lions moved the ball
with a great deal of success, but were
often stopped by failure to make the big
play when it was needed or by crucial
penalties many of which were illegal
procedure.
"We were a little bit jumpy today,"
fullback Bob Torrey said in trying to
explain the confusion. "I don't know
why. It was not just one person, it was
the whole team."
But Paterno felt the offense wasn't
having any major problems.
"We just never had good field
position," he said. "We had it one time,
and made a bad play to take us out of
field goal range. It was Chuck's (Fusina,
quarterback) only bad play of the game
(an interception). We had two or three
drives over 70 yards."
Overall, the Lions amassed 482 yards,
State:
N.C. State Brown 4 for 25 yards; Dawson 2 for 27;
R. Hall 2 for 35.
Punting
Penn State Fitzkee 4 for 43.5 average
N.C. State —Evans 4 for 38.0 average.
Kickoff Returns
Penn State Moore 1 for 13 yards.
N.C. State Stringer 3 for 70 yards; Vickers 1 for 20
Punt Returns
Penn State Cefalo 2 for 2 yards.
Interceptldn Returns
Penn State Millen 1 for 7 yards.
N.C. State Cowher 1 for 2 yards; Carter 1 for 0
Tackles
Penn State - Banks 3 solos, 14 first hits, 7 assists for
24; Donaldson 1,7, and 12 for 20; Millen 2,6, and 4 for
12; R. Hostetler 3,7, and 2 for 12; Sidler 0,6, and 4 for
10; DePaso 1,4, and 5 for 10; Guman 4,5, and 1 for 10;
Hutton 3,1, and 4 for 8; -Clark 2,2, and 3 for 7; Dim
minick 1,3, and 2 for 6; Kubin 0,3, and 0 for 3; Edwards
0,1, and 0 for 1; Bradley 0,0, and 1 for 1; Harris 0,0,
and 1 for 1; D. Hostetler 0,1, and 0 for 1; Fitzkee 1,0,
and 0 for 1; Petruccio 0,1, and 0 for 1; Gladys 0,0, and 1
for 1.
N.C. State - Wescoe 1 solo, 8 first hits, 6 assists for
15; London 3,4, and 2 for 9; Cullen 2,5, and 1 for 8;
Prongay 2,3, and 3 for 8; Wilson 4,1, and 2 for 7;
Cowher 1,2, and 4 for 7; Stringer 2,3, and 1 for 6;
Jenkins 1,2, and 2 for 5; Carter 3,0, and 2 for 5;
O'Doherty 0,1, and 3 for 4; Hannah 1,0, and 2 for 3;
Gupton 0,2, and 1 for 3; J. Hain, 0, and 2 for 3; Gale 1,
0, and 1 for 2; Sullivan 1,0, and 0 for I; Ray 1,0, and 0
tort; Hitt 1,0, ando for 1.
Fumbles Recovered
Penn State Millen 2.
N.C. State Wilson 1.
Fumbles Caused
N.C. State—Carter 1.
Passes Knocked Down
Penn State Millen 1; Diange 1
N.C. State—Cullen 1.
the other 57% minutes?
yet only. 21 points. In fact, even an ABC
TV commentator at the Alabama-LSU
game later in the day wondered how
Fusina could throw for 315 yards and not
have his team score more than it did.
On defense; the problem was reversed
but seemed more serious. N.C. State
moved the ball with relative ease, but
Penn State came up with the big play
when it needed it.
What evolves as particularly
worrisome is, for the first time this year,
the Lion defensive line was being con
trolled at the line of scrimmage.
"Their offensive line played
,an ex
cellent game," defensive tackle Matt
Millen said. "They contained Bruce
(Clark, the other defensive tackle), and
they contained myself."
When the defensive line was able to
break loose, they were getting fooled
and after a while a bit tired by the
slick ball maneuvering of Wolfpack
Offensive guard John Dunn (62) and center Chuck Correal sive lineman while blocking. The offensive line gave
(55) play a chess game with a North Carolina State defen- Fusina time to throw for 315 yards.
Brown's
By PETE DOUGHERTY ,
Daily Collegian Sports Writer
RALEIGH, N:C: Ted Brown
deserved better fate.
It was indeed unfortunate that the 5-8,
188-pound North Carolina State
University running back chose Satur
day's game against Penn State to put on
the best show of his football career.
All Brown did was set school records
for rushing attempts and rushing yard
age and break two personal milestones.
But shortly after Brown limped off the
field with less than four minutes left in
the game, the 44,800 Carter Stadium fans
forgot he had gained 251 yards on 37
carries, reached the plateau of 1,000
yards rushihg for this season and 3,000
for his career, and had been so elusive
that Nittany Lion defenders were
grabbing only shirt, which caused
Brown to run out of tear-away jerseys
with No. 23 on them. • -
No, Brown's heroics were soon to be
forgotten by the remarkable Penn State
drive in the final few minutes that
handed the Woldpack a 21-17 defeat. But
Brown couldn't be faulted. .
"Brown has always been tough for
us," Penn State head coach Joe Paterno
said. "I said before the game that he was
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quarterback Johnny Evans. And, as a
result, N.C. State possessed the ball for
almost 14 1 / 2 minutes longer than did
Penn State.
"I'm totally exhausted," Millen said.
"It was really hot out there. I don't like
playing past the Mason-Dixon line." ,
Defensive end Bill Banks believed the
weariness was not that much of a fac
tor."
"When• you're in good condition," he
said, "you can come back after a couple
of plays."
Whatever the reasons, it was a game
that turned out much closer than ex-1
pected. \
On Penn State's opening possession,
Fusina was able to drive his team the
length of the field, Fu.iina hitting tight
end Mickey Shuler for 13 yards and
flanker Jimmy Cefalo for 19 along the
way before Cefalo hauled in a 36-yard
Fusina aerial for a TD.
heroics dimrneo
one of the great backs in the country,
and he didn't do anything to change my
mind. What did he gain? Four-hundred
fifty yards?"
"We counted on using Brown a lot
today," N.C. State coach Bo Rein said.
"In fact, we were going to put him in the
hospital and rest him for three days. I'm
joking, of course. We got him out about
the right time. He'll be sore for a few
days, but he'll be ready again next
week."
Not only did N.C. State use Brown a
lot, but they also used him effectively. In
all, the Wolfpack gained 460 yards as the
offensive line burst holes in the Penn
State defense for Brown to run through.
But the yardage, records, and
milestones meant little to Brown.
"Points is what counts,"? Brown said.
"What good do the records do?"
Still, it was an encouraging loss for
N.C. State. Led by quarterback Johnny
Evans, the Wolfpack moved the ball
down field like it was the team that
should be No. 7 in the country instead of
the Lions.
"I was really up," Brown said. "It's
hard to play a team like Penn State and
not get up. I knew we were playing the
seventh-ranked team in the nation, and
After that, both units played true •
form the rest of the half. N.C. St& ,
drove 67 yards to the two on the ensui
possession, but Banks stopped a foul •
down play as a Wolfpack gamble faile( ' Y A .„
The Wolfpack also saw drives stall
the Penn State 49-, 35-, and 8-yard lin ,
the latter resulting in a 25-yard J
Sherrill field goal, but did manage
take it in on two short runs that sa :
wiched a Matt Suhey score for PI
State. •
Only a storybook 13-play, 83-y:
drive that began with 2:35 remain
made the complexion of the game
ferent. But_even at that Paterno dic
define anything as crucial
"There wasn't a key to the game,"
said. "It was a good, hard football ga
between two good teams. Both ,tea .1
moved the ball well and both played IA
a lot of emotion. We just had the ball .
last time."
I
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that always boosts your morale
"We knew if we beat Penn State t
we'd have a good chance at a b
game," Brown continued. "When
have a , goal like that, it ma
everybody try harder.
"But I never thought I was goini
run the ball that much. But it doe
matter. You get pounded either way.'
However, a good portion of the ge
saw the nine-point underdogs doing
pounding.
"Our offense played very well," F
said. "Our offensive coaches did a g
job of getting them ready. Our plan
to spread them out some, but still
our basic offense."
It was basic offense that enabled
Wolfpack to glide up and down the ft
covering every square inch of the f
except the area most important
end zone.
"If-we had been smart enough on 1
first drive," Rein said of an insta
where his team gambled on fourth
goal from the two and failed to score,
get three points . . . well, we didn't ki
how long we could keep moving the I
on them, so we went for it.
"It took the No. 7 team in the natio.
beat us today. I congratulate them.
ENE