Leaping Lions

Penn State vaults closer to New Year's Day bowl game

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- As Penn State and Michigan players walked off the field and headed up the Michigan Stadium tunnel following the Nittany Lions' 29-17 win Saturday, the Wolverine players -- some with eyes closed and heads shaking in disbelief and others with puzzled expressions frozen on their faces -- made a left and trudged into their locker room.

Meanwhile, the Lions, smiling and jubilant, turned right and bounced into their locker room.

Penn State, with its defeat of Michigan before 105,898 in attendance at the Big House on a bright, brisk, autumn afternoon perfect for college football, took a step toward a New Year's Day bowl game and vaulted to the No. 7 ranking. The Wolverines, on the other hand, fell out of the top 20 and closer to a bowl game sometime in late December and somewhere in Texas.

The Lions, who now have beaten Michigan the last three years, won the game because they were able to force the Wolverines into making mistakes and then capitalize them. It was a Penn State team that was equally impressive on offense, defense and special teams, but a squad that at the same time showed its mettle by rebounding from a third-quarter deficit to finally win the game.

"We have great character on our team," Lion offensive guard Pete Marczyk said. "We've got guys with good attitudes, and when you have guys with good attitudes good things happen."

Good things certainly happen to Penn State in Ann Arbor, especially during the final 20 minutes of the game. After allowing Michigan's Chris Howard to bolt 27 yards into the end zone and give the Wolverines a 17-13 lead just two minutes into the second half, Penn State's defense simply buckled down. The unit, playing without injured starting defensive back Brian Miller for the third consecutive game, didn't allow Michigan another point after Howard's score.

"When we play like that it's tough to beat us," defensive tackle Brandon Noble said. "It's attitude and effort. Everybody has a real good attitude, and we all want to play hard."

The Lion offense, on the other hand, just continued its workmanlike effort. Using a short, crisp passing game to perfection and a running game that spread the ball around to the fullback and tailback, Penn State put together a 12-play, 51-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard Brett Conway field goal -- his third of the day.

Michigan still led, 17-16, with 4 minutes, 47 seconds left in the third quarter, but the momentum seemed to be shifting back toward the Lions. Then when Michigan got the ball back and linebacker Gerald Filardi threw Clarence Williams for a 5-yard loss, that momentum seemed to really be changing.

It changed completely two plays later when freshman David Macklin blocked a Michigan punt and teammate Ahmad Collins picked up the ball at the Wolverine 2-yard line and lumbered into the end zone.

"Whenever the ball is on the ground in front of me rolling, I always think of picking it up and never jumping on it," Collins said.

Good thing for Penn State he picked it up. The score gave the Lions a 22-17 lead, and though their 2-point conversion failed, the visitors seemed to have a firm grasp on the win.

The grasp got even tighter when Kim Herring picked off his second Scott Dreisbach pass with just under 5 minutes left in the game. On the next play, Lion tailback Curtis Enis, who became the eighth Penn State back to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season after he ran for 114 yards Saturday, scampered 38 yards untouched for the game's final points.

There was no one star for the Lions. There were many.

Herring had his two interceptions and 10 tackles, while the rest of the secondary came up with two more picks. Filardi made 10 stops and recovered a Dreisbach fumble.

On offense, Enis was his usual solid self, accumulating 163 yards rushing and receiving. Wide receiver Joe Jurevicius (six catches, 59 yards) was the favorite target of quarterback Wally Richardson, who finished 20 of 34 for 183 yards and looked comfortable and confident standing in the pocket provided him by an offensive line that seemed impenetrable all afternoon.

"I thought Wally played a heckuva football game," Lion coach Joe Paterno said.

Penn State made more big plays than Michigan on a day when either team could've taken that all-important step toward a major bowl game. And in the end, it was the Lions who were closer to spending New Year's Day playing football and not watching it on television.