ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- This was the situation Coach Joe Paterno had waited all season to see. The Lions and Michigan Wolverines were deadlocked at 24 with just under five minutes remaining, and the Lion offense was in control.
Quarterback Kerry Collins entered the huddle, preparing to lead the offense on its game-winning drive in the No. 1 Lions' 31-24 victory over the Wolverines on Saturday. Only 55 yards away lay the goal line, which the Lions had yet to cross in the fourth quarter.
This would be the Lions' chance to prove themselves worthy contenders to the Big Ten title, and the national championship as well. And they would have the chance to do so in front of 106,832 fans in Michigan Stadium, as well as a national television audience.
On the first play of the drive, Collins hit Bobby Engram at the right sideline, and the wide receiver extended his body and managed to keep his foot inbounds by mere inches for a 14-yard gain.
The Lions then switched to a ground attack, utilizing their most potent ground weapon -- Ki-Jana Carter. The redshirt junior burst through the Michigan defensive line and rumbled down to the Michigan 15 for a 26-yard pickup.
Two failed running plays brought up a third-and-11 at the Michigan 16. With place-kicker Brett Conway on the sideline, warming up in preparation for a tie-breaking field goal, the Lions took one more shot at the end zone.
"I thought we were going to just run it and go for the field goal, but they called that passing play," Collins said. "It wasn't the prettiest pass -- I'm not going to say it was, but it got there."
Collins took the ball and, dropping back to the 20, looked around for an open receiver. He found Engram in between a pair of Michigan defensive backs and fired a rocket. Engram, who was running a post pattern against a man-to-man defensive setup, grabbed the ball just inside the goal line.
"I saw the ball in the air and I knew that I just had to make the big catch," Engram said. "It happened so fast. It's all reaction time. You don't have time to think."
The reception brought the Penn State faithful in attendance back to their feet. While the clutch catch may have stunned the Wolverine fans, it was no surprise to Paterno.
"He has a knack for doing that," Paterno said. "That was just a super catch that Bobby made at the end."
But Todd Collins and the Wolverine offense would have one last chance. With 80 yards to go and two minutes, 53 seconds in which to do it, the Wolverines set about their task.
Tailback Tyrone Wheatley busted through the Lion defense and, after evading several would-be tacklers, was stopped by Lion linebacker Willie Smith at the 50.
After a long attempt to Amani Toomer inside the 10 landed incomplete, Tim Biakabutuka gained nine yards on the ground to set up a third-and-1. But Collins called his own play -- a handoff to Biakabutuka, who was stuffed by Smith at the line of scrimmage.
"I had something else planned," Moeller said of the third-and-inches play, "but he's got to do what he sees and what he's been coached to do. He has the ability to move the plays around. But I'm not going to start up a whole controversy over one play. I'll be responsible for that call at the end of the game."
On fourth down, Collins scrambled out of a crumbling pocket and launched a pass in the direction of Mercury Hayes.
Lion cornerback Brian Miller got his hands on the ball at the same time as Hayes did and the two fell to the ground at the Penn State 41. Miller was the first to his feet, and the football rested in his hands.
"They came through in the clutch," the Lion signal-caller said of his defense. "Anytime you have a big victory the defense has to come through in the clutch, and they certainly did that today."
But the dramatic finish would not have happened had the Wolverines not come through in the clutch -- namely, the start of the second half, when Wheatley scored a pair of touchdowns with less than five minutes elapsed in the third quarter to give Michigan a 17-16 lead. The Lions had roared out to a 16-3 halftime lead after Conway hit a trio of field goals and Keith Olsommer caught a touchdown pass on first-and-goal at the three.
The win vaulted the Lions into the No. 1 spot in both the AP and USA Today/CNN Coaches' poll for the first time since their Fiesta Bowl win following the 1986 season.
"We needed that to put us back into the elite in the country," Collins said. "Maybe not the program, but the way it's been going the past two or three years, I think the program was in a lull for a little bit."
