1 1 The Daily Collegian "I think this football team has a good quarterback in Kevin Thompson." Penn State quarterback Kevin Thompson prepares to handoff the ball against' Illinois was sticking with Thompson as his starter at quarterback despite Thompson's shaky Oct. 31. Yesterday at his weekly press conference, Lion coach Joe Paternolsaid he performance in a 27-0 loss to Michigan Saturday. Stand by your man Paterno sticking with beleaguered Thompson By VITO FORLENZA Collegian Staff Writer Despite No. 19 Penn State's offensive troubles against Michi gan last Saturday, especially those of quarterback Kevin Thompson, coach Joe Paterno said Thompson is still his offen sive leader. "I think this football team has a good quarterback in Kevin Thompson," Paterno said yester day at his weekly press confer ence. "He's got to go out there and be a good quarterback. He's got to come to the front, and he will." Paterno added that he thought Thompson indeed made mistakes in the Nittany Lions' 27-0 loss to Michigan, including wrong reads on the Wolverines' defense and pass coverage, but also stated Penn State outside hitter Christy Cochran stuffs the ball against Purdue this season. Last season, despite making it to the finals of the NCAA Tournament, Penn State had to share the Big Ten title with Wisconsin. Perno's Press weekly conference that the whole offense committed errors. Paterno said the lack of a passing game was not solely a result of Thompson's shortcom ings although the veteran coach said it was "mostly his fault" but that receivers had difficulties getting off the line of scrimmage and into their routes. In addition, the receivers made some incorrect adjustments as they were running their patterns. "Michigan outplayed us and probably outcoached us," Paterno said. "We had opportunities, but Sports Penn State coach Joe Paterno we didn't take advantage of them ... We had the ball three times inside the 20 in the first half, and we didn't get a point." Paterno added that while he claimed responsibility for the Lions' performance in Michigan he said he and the coaching staff could have prepared the team differently in some areas it is not any indication that the coach thinks he is overly respon sible for the debacle. "You can always do something different," Paterno said. "I don't think I've taken an inordinate amount of blame." Gameday linebackers Before Saturday's Penn State- Michigan game, ESPN broadcast a feature on Penn State's starting linebacker trio. The piece showed the improve ment of Penn State's defense Lady spikers discuss ways to insure champion By DONNIE COLLINS Collegian Staff Writer Last season, the Penn State women's volleyball team ran roughshod over its opposition. The Lady Lions lost just one match during the regular season a Halloween night fall at the hands of conference foe Wisconsin. They navigated through the nation's most difficult schedule, defeating 13 ranked opponents and Team USA, and they held the No. 1 ranking for nine weeks. They made their way to the NCAA Tournament, sweeping Northern Illinois, Ohio State, BYU and Florida before the heartbreak ing loss to Stanford in the national championship game. Despite its 34-2 overall record and No. 2 national ranking at the end of the season, Penn State was n't even recognized as the best team in its own conference. The from last year, asking if the main difference in this year's squad was the emergence of LaVar Arrington. However, ESPN Gameday host Chris Fowler, in an article on ESPN.com, wrote that the story was supposed to focus on Arring ton only, but Paterno "nixed the idea," adding that Arrington is a sophomore and Paterno didn't "want him singled out and show ered with praise." "That's not true," Paterno said when asked the validity of Fowler's comments. "They came up here to interview LaVar Arrington, Brandon Short and Mac Morrison. They asked me to compare this linebacking crew with some others. I told them what I thought. That is what gets people angry in interviews is when people want to create a Tourney time? Lions and Badgers finished the 1997 conference schedule with identical 19-1 records, thus both squads were declared co-Big Ten title holders. The idea of sharing the distinc tion of being the conference's best team escaped Wisconsin coach John Cook at the time. He said at the conclusion of the conference schedule last season he was "look ing forward to playing Penn State in the final four" to determine the true conference champion. That meeting never came to pass, as Florida defeated Wisconsin in the quarterfinals. Although a plan to determine a true conference champion, if indeed such a system would be required to break a tie, hasn't been put in place, Big Ten coaches admit there have been talks to possibly remedy the situation in the future. Discussions of a possible Big Ten volleyball tournament, much like story. That is absolutely untrue." Medical report While the Michigan loss saw the return of wide receiver Joe Nastasi, who had been out with a broken left hand since the Lions' 27-17 win over Minnesota, the Lion offense still is considerably wounded. Tailback Cordell Mitchell, who did not make the trip to Ann Arbor, Mich., is still out with a shoulder injury and his status for Saturday remains in question. The Lion offensive line is also banged up. Guard Ryan Fagan injured his ankle against Michi gan and most likely will miss Sat urday's game. Fagan's backup, Greg Ransom, is also injured. Tackle Jordan Caruso is still nursing an ankle injury and his status is also ques tionable for Saturday. the competition started by the con ference for men's basketball last year, have taken place among coaches at times in the past. Ohio State coach Jim Stone said the dis cussions are basically in the pre liminary stages, with some coaches still unsure of their own stances. "They discuss it on and off," Stone said. "Generally a couple (of Wednesday, Nov. 11, 1998 Lady spikers to challenge Buckeyes By CARLA MOTKO Collegian Staff Writer With returning starters including setter Jen Flynn, outside hitter Rosie Snow, middle blocker Dana Stearns and middle blocker Shellye Sills, Ohio State was expected to be a top national contender as always. but its 12-11 overall record thus far, 5-9 in the Big Ten, has been a shock to everybody in the volley ball community. Despite the slow start, the Buck eyes are getting back on track and will have a chance to stabilize their rocky season when they take on No. 2 Penn State (24-0, 14-0) at 7 p.m. today in Columbus, Ohio. "I'm a little surprised that (the Buckeyes) are not doing so good, because as long as I've been here their team has always been really tough," opposite hitter Lindsay Anderson said. "When they played here, we beat them pretty good. and we expect them to play better this time." The Buckeyes started off the season with a No. 13 ranking, and it looked like they would have anoth er dominant season when they rolled over No. 7 Florida and No. 18 UCLA early on. But things took a turn for the worse. Just before the start of the Big Ten season, Sills was knocked out of the lineup and the Buckeyes' starting six had to adjust. Flynn moved out of setter to fill in for Sills, but the adjustment did n't work. When then-No. 14 Ohio State met then-No. 1 Penn State, the outcome was ugly. The Lady Lions gave up only seven points to the Buckeyes in the three-game match. Flynn hit minus-. 148 on the night. "Jen's a great setter and that's where they needed her," Penn State opposite hitter Katie Schu macher said. "I think one of their weaknesses the first time we played them was that she wasn't setting." With Ohio State's lineup off kil ter, Penn State went virtually unblocked, and its hitters ran ram pant. Lauren Cacciamani led Penn State with 12 kills and Emily Stout hit a devastating .833. For tonight's match, Sills will be back in the lineup and Flynn will start at setter. Although this solve, some of the Buckeyes' problems, others have arisen. Both outside hitter Angelee Abbring and middle blocker Bri anne Spiers will sit out tonight's contest. Abbring rose this season as one of the Buckeyes' leaders, but Penn State contained her to only five kills and a .077 hitting percentage last time. "We've struggled all year with injuries," Ohio State coach Jim Stone said. "We have two starters who are probably not going to play this weekend." Despite Ohio State's problems, Penn State coach Russ Rose real izes the Buckeyes are still a dan gerous team. He feels their record is not indicative of the threat they pose and hopes his players also realize that. "They were embarrassed by their performance here," Rose said. "We played very well and they played very poorly, and I expect them to play much differ ently than they did the first time. To me this will be a match for pride." coaches) are proponents, a couple are in the middle and a couple are opposed to it. We've never gotten off dead center with it." Conference volleyball tourna ments are popular in some circles, but in others, the postseason title hunt is nonexistent. Of the 30 Div. I conferences, many like the America East Con ference, Atlantic Coast Confer ence, Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Sky and Western Athletic Conference have tournaments. But the most competitive volleyball conferences the Big Ten, Pac Ten, Big 12 and Big West have elected to not have tournaments. Penn State coach Russ Rose said he doesn't favor a conference tour nament. It's not just because his team was the co-champion in '96 and '97 and is well on its way to winning the title outright this sea son. Please see TOURNEY, Page 20
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