sports
Penn State crushes Alabama
Tide bobbles bowl chances as Lions recover
By MARK ASHENFELTER
Collegian Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - There’s still
a long way to go before it can be
called a Cinderella season, but the
football team went from a wallflower
to the helle of the ball here Saturday.
From being undefeated and unre
garded by the media, the Lions be
came a national power in just under
three hours. All it took was a 23-3 no
doubt-about-it thrashing of No. 2 Ala
bama.
The No. 6 Lions (7-0) hadn’t gained
any real respect because of what was
called a soft schedule. It was agreed
they’d finally be tested against the
Crimson Tide, but many skeptics
expected them to fail.
Instead, the Tide receded under the
brunt of Penn State’s attack.
Alabama gained just 21G yards of
total offense, and the stunned crowd
of 60,210 watched the Lions gain 378
yards against a defense that was
supposed to be airtight.
Not only did the Lions hand Ala
bama its worse setback in 10 years,
but they also the Tide’s their third
loss in Bryant-Denny Stadium in
the last 25 years.
Joe Paterno, the Lions’ head coach,
took his team’s success in stride. He
wasn’t surprised by the outcome,
despite beating a team Alabama
Head Coach Ray Perkins said had
“touched greatness” after several
earlier victories.
“I thought we had a good football
team coming down here,” Paterno
said! “I really thought we were better
than Alabama. I felt we might be a
little bit stronger and probably just as
quick in a lot of key spots.
"I knew we were going to be ready
to play, we had been looking forward
to this game for a long time.. . There
were two good football teams and we
were just a little bit better than they
were.”
Paterno may have been pleased
with the win, but quarterback John
Shaffer was absolutely ecstatic. The
key to Penn State’s offense, Shaffer
connected on 13 of 17 passing at
tempts for 168 yards. More impor
tantly, he led a balanced attack the
Lions rushed for 234 yards that
kept the Tide from focusing its de
fense on one area.
“This was a very big game in our
season and in Penn State’s history,”
the senior said. “We played one of the
finest football teams I’ve faced up
until this point in my college career.
We feel very fortunate to be able to
beat a team like that.”
Perkins, who saw his team lose the
longest unbeaten streak (12-0-1) in
the nation, lavished the Lions with
praise.-
“Give Penn State’s football team a
lot of credit,” Perkins said. “I said
during the week they were a great
team and they went about things
today like a great team.
“I said they deserve to be in the top
five teams in the country and I think
there’s no question about that after
today. They’re by far the best team
we’ve played.”
The Lions haven’t looked this good
since winning the national
championship in 1982. Linebacker
Shane Conlan said it’s the best the
defense has looked in five years and
the offense was at peak efficiency
after a slow start.
Coupled with Colorado’s upset of
No. 3 Nebraska, the Lions could be
ranked as high as third this week.
And with scouts from nine bowl
Please see LIONS, Page 12
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Penn State’s Don Grahafh forces Alabama quarterback Mike Shula to cough up the ball.
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but it wasn’t the only ball the Tide dropped on the day
Three Alabama fumbles and two interceptions cost the Tide heavily.
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Collegian Photo / Crtsly Rickard
Collegian Photo / Cristy Rickard
Collegian Photo/Cristy Rickard
in 23-3 win
Defensive line leaves
mark on Tide's rushers
By CHRIS RAYMOND
Collegian Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The offi
cial program for Saturday’s game
billed the Penn State-Alabama
matchup as the biggest clash ever
staged in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
And although the program cover
sported a full color photo of Tide
kicker Van Tiffin, much of the
hype surrounding that statement
centered around the opposing
backfields.
Coming into the contest, Penn
State had averaged 272.8 yards per
game on the ground behind the
explosive running of D.J. Dozier,
Blair Thomas, Steve Smith and
Tim Manoa. Alabama, mean
while, had rushed to a 265.6 yards
per-game average on the legs of
Bobby Humphrey, Gene Jeltz and
Bo Wright.
When the title bout drew to a
close, however, one side of the
lineup was poorly represented on
the scorecard. The Humphrey-
Jeltz-Wright tandem had com
bined for a paltry 44 yards rushing
on 33 carries. Penn State, on the
other hand, had racked up 210
yards on 51 attempts.
In the end, it wasn’t the back
field superstars who made the
difference in the contest but the
defensive line on the other side of
the ball the humble quartet of
Don Graham, Tim Johnson, Bob
White and Mike Russo.
"Those guys just took off,” out
side linebacker Shane Conlan said.
“I think that made the difference
in the game. We controlled the line
of scrimmage and that made a lot
of things happen for the lineback
ers so we could come up and make
some big plays. I think that was
the key to the game.”
Johnson led the linemen with
eight tackles and two sacks on the
day. He was followed by Graham
who recorded five stops and two
sacks, White who had four stops
and one sack and Russo who regis
tered four stops. Graham and
White were also responsible for
recovering two of Alabama’s three
fumbles.
“Coming into this game we
knew we were going to have to
Unheralded offensive
line keys Lions' win
By MARK ASHENFELTER
Collegian Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - All week
long the talk centered on the ex
ploits of Alabama’s defense.
Wasn’t this the unit that had kept
the opposition to an average of 287
yards per game, less than 100 of
them on the ground?
The Crimson Tide entered the
game as all that and more.
Opponents had averaged less than
three yards per rushing attempt
and had struggled to average 11.7
points per game.
Those statistics, in addition to
facing All-America linebacker
Cornelius Bennett and his equally
tough, but underrated, coun
terparts had Penn State fans won
dering if the Lions had any chance
Saturday.
After all, how could a team that
struggled to score against Cincin
nati match up against such a fero
cious bunch?
The answer turned out to be
simple.
It’s hard for even the greatest
defender to tackle a tailback while
lying flat on the Astroturf.
Due in large part to an outstand
ing effort by the Lions’ offensive
line, Penn State gained 234 yards
rushing on the way to a shocking
23-3 victory in Bryant-Denny Sta
dium. Alabama’s defenders were
constantly blown off the line of
scrimmage and Lion quarterback
John Shaffer had great protection
all afternoon.
Although Bennett ended with 14
tackles, he never really hurt the
Lions. The line kept him away
from Shaffer and only one of his
tackles went for a loss of yardage.
“We tried to do as well as we
could with Bennett,” Lion Head
Coach Joe Paterno said. “We tried
to run away from him or run at
him.
“We tried to keep him honest
with some reverses early in the
game so we could run at him (later
on).”
Short tackle Stan Clayton saw a
lot of Bennett, but was far from
awed by the All-American’s repu
tation. Clayton hinted that it
The Daily Collegian
Monday, Oct. 27, 1986
‘I think this was the
best performance
overall from the
defensive line all
year. 5
Bob White,
defensive end
have a good effort from the down
people taking care of the guys
inside because we had the speed
outside to run their backs down,”
White said. “We played pretty
decent all year against the run so
we wanted to take care of the run
first and force them into their
passing game so we could do some
other things.
“I think this was the best perfor
mance overall from the defensive
line all year,” White added. “I was
glad to see that because we’re
going to need that later on, espe
cially in games like this.”
Despite the Lions’ overwhelm
ing success in shutting down the
same Alabama offense which had
squashed Tenessee 56-28 one week
earlier, Johnson said the defensive
line could still use some work.
“You don’t know it and you don’t
see it but we still made some
mistakes today that cost us as far
as yardage and stuff like that,” he
said. “We made some mistakes
and I still think that we have to gel
yet. We just have to go a little
further each game.”
With upcoming contests against
West Virginia, Maryland, Notre
Dame and Pitt, the Lions may get
an opportunity to do just that. And
although their contribution to the
game may not always receive the
same press as the highly regarded
play of the Penn State linebacking
core, it can lead to a great overall
performance by the defense.
If you don’t believe that just ask
Trey Bauer who recorded a team
high nine tackles on Saturday.
“The defensive line has been
doing a great job for as long as
I’ve been here and they don’t
really get the credit they de
serve,” Bauer said.
could’ve been different if he
didn’t practice against great line
backers on a daily basis.
“We know that he’s just another
player, he can be beat and that’s
what we tried to do,” the Cherry
Hill, N.J., native said. “We just
tried to go at him. He’s just anoth
er football player, we go against
guys every day on our football
team that are All-Americans.”
Shaffer was sacked just once on
an afternoon in which he com
pleted 13 of 17 pass attempts for
168 yards. He credited the line’s
ability to stop the Tide’s rush as a
key to his performance.
Long guard Dan Morgan said
the Lions concentrated on running
into the heart of the line, the one
area where Alabama appeared
vulnerable. Noseguard Curt Jar
vis and tackles Derrick Slaughter
and Cliff Thomas are smaller than
the Tide’s linebackers and the
Lions thought they could have
success running at them. But Mor
gan said it still wasn’t easy.
“They really battled us the
whole game,” he said. “They’re a
good football team.”
Jarvis wasn’t surprised to see
the Lions coming his way.
“I guess all year we’ve wonder
ed when someone was going to
really challenge us up front with
the running game,” he said.
“Penn State was definitely the
first team this year to challenge
our defense running the ball over
and over. When you think about it,
they would have been stupid not to
check us out.”
Center Keith Radecic, the lead
er of the experienced group,
agreed that the line had a great
day. But he knows that there are
still areas for improvement.
“They had some big plays, they
got us for a couple of losses,”
Radecic said. “But we had some
big runs. We stayed on (our)
blocks really well today.
“We pass protected well for
John, gave him a lot of time to
throw the ball and we connected
on a lot of key passes. As an
offensive line, I don’t know if we
dominated, but we played very
well as a team.”
Stickwomen outhustle Senators, 3-0
By MARK FURRY
Collegian Sports Writer
If statistics don’t lie, then the truth about the
field hockey team's victory over Davis & Elkins
was that the Senators were completely dominated.
But satistics do lie, at least when it comes to
sports.
The Lady Lions may have won the game 3-0.
They may have oulshot Davis & Elkins 37-4, and
Penn State goalie Michele Monahan may have
only had to make three saves in contrast to the
Senators’ goalie’s 22.
But statistics can’t measure hustle or heart, and
according to Penn State Head Coach Gillian Rat
tray, Davis & Elkins had both.
“Their goalie, Donna Burns, played brilliantly,”
Rattray said. “She kept them in the game. The
game was not as lopsided as the stats would
indicate. Davis & Elkins really hustled. They’re a
good team.”
Lady Lions remain perfect in Atlantic 10
By MARK S. McWHIRTER
Collegian Sports Writer
With one conference match to go
in the season, the women’s volley
ball team’s Atlantic 10 record re
mains perfect. After blanking A-10
rival Rhode Island and newcomer
Massachusetts over the weekend,
the Lady Lions have only Temple
left to beat to ensure a No. 1 rank
ing at the conference championship
in November.
The Lady Lions played only six
games this weekend, three in Am
herst, Mass, and three in Kingston,
R.I. After it was all over, Penn
State had rolled to a 15-10,15-4,15-7
victory over UMass and a 15-4, 15-
10,15-4 win over Rhode Island.
Despite the one-sided scoring,
Friday night’s match against
UMass saw Penn State up against a
team that Head Coach Russ Rose
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According to Penn State’s seinor co-captain
Mary McCarthy, the Lady Lions had trouble
finding the back of the net.
“We took a lot of shots, but couldn’t get it in,”
McCarthy said. “I think we passed better in the
Ursinus game (played last Thursday) than we did
against Davis & Elkins."
The Lady Lions’ first goal came 15 minutes into
the first half. Stacia Palahnuk notched her fourth
goal of the year on an assist by Tracey Neave.
However, the Lady Lions did not get on the board
again until late in the second half when sophomore
Tami Worley scored to give the Lady Lions a 2-0
lead.
Mary McCarthy added an insurance goal two
minutes later to give Penn State the 3-0 win. The
Lady Lions are now 13-3-2, while Davis & Elkins
drops to 4-10-2.
The only bad news to come out of the game was
that defenseman Becky Vaughan injured her fin
ger and pending the doctor’s word, is questionable
considers a future power in the A
-10.
“We played well when we had
to,” Rose said. “I think UMass is
the second best team in the confer
ence and I won’t be surprised if we
see them in the championships.”
UMass added another potential
problem for the Lady Lions with a
noisy crowd. Co-Captain Vida Ker
nich said the house was rocking in
Amherst.
“At one point we couldn’t even
hear the referee blow his whistle,”
Kernich said.
For Kernich, who has recently
been struggling in and out of a
hitting slump, things seem to be
getting back on the right track. She
said that she thinks the worst is
over.
“I started coming out of it (the
slump) against Pittsburgh,” Ker-
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nich said, “and I was feeling better
this weekend.”
With former starter Heidi Pilecki
out with a sprained ankle, Saman
tha Johns is filling in on the left
side. Rose said Johns has contrib
uted with solid performances in
Pilecki’s absence.
“Samantha Johns is doing an
outstanding job,” he said. “She
plays all the way around (not com
ing out on back row rotations) and
is playing well.”
All-American setter Ellen Hensl
er is having another banner year as
she continues to dominate the oppo
sition. And after three plus years
under Rose, he is still amazed at the
quality of Hensler’s play.
“Ellen had an exceptional week
end,” Rose said. “She elevated her
play so that it was clear she was the
best player on the floor in both
matches.”
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for Wednesday’s game with Princeton. With Vaug
han out, the Lady Lions are left with only two
healthy defensemen and three slots to fill.
If needed, Sue Sommers, who is listed as a
forward, will fill in for Vaughan.
“Sue Sommers played for Becky against Davis
& Elkins and got some valuable playing time at
defense,” Rattray said.
“We played well defensively (against D&E),”
McCarthy said. “But if Becky is out for a while, it
could be. a problem. It will be interesting in
practice with only two defensemen healthy.”
The Lady Lions have now played two teams in a
row that were not in the top 20 Ursinus and
Davis & Elkins. Before those two games, the
schedule read like a who’s who in field hockey. But
McCarthy sees a danger in playing unranked
teams.
“When you lose to a team in the top 10, it doesn’t
seem as bad as when you lose to a team that is not
in the top 10,” McCarthy said.
Freshman middle blocker Bessy
Ramirez is rapidly making a name
for herself in the A-10, as she has
the best hitting efficiency in the
conference. The Mayaquez, Puerto
Rico native had another strong
showing this past weekend as she
registered 18 kills, four blocks and
two service aces.
Right side hitter Lisa Leap con
tributed in typical form with 20 kills
and two blocks on the weekend. The
hitting combination of Leap and
Johns has been successful thus far
for the Lady Lions, and with Izetta
Phillips at the middle-hitter spot,
Rose is pleased with his team.
“Izetta Phillips is starting to
swing more and more on the court,”
Rose said.
Next weekend, the Lady Lions
will host Temple, Virginia Com
monwealth and Pittsburgh in the
Penn State Open.
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