No Enis in backfield spells ineffective ground game for Lions

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Nobody seemed eager to talk about it afterwards, but the topic of Curtis Enis' absence from Penn State's 21-6 loss to Florida in the Citrus Bowl simply could not be avoided.

"I'm not going to make excuses," Paterno said. "I can always moan about something, but I don't think that's fair to the kids who played."

Penn State's running attack was hapless throughout the game, and though Florida's super-fast defensive unit certainly had a lot to do with that, an Enis-less Lion backfield was the most obvious cause. Lion tailbacks Chris Eberly and Cordell Mitchell tried to fill Enis' rather large shoes but hardly posed a threat to the Gator defense -- on 29 rushing attempts, the Lions picked up only 47 yards.

"I thought between me and Chris we could have handled it," Mitchell said. "We could have used Curtis, but you can't dwell on it."

It wasn't exactly the kind of production the Lions were hoping for, and their general ineffectiveness in the running game rendered the entire Lion offense impotent. Both Eberly and Mitchell showed promise throughout the season but were not ready to handle the bulk of the Lions' rushing duties.

Mitchell ran tentatively, and though extremely fast, never got into the open field to utilize that speed. It was also clear Mitchell lacked the hard-running, power style that so often Enis used to his advantage. As the game wore on, Eberly was able to pick up some tough yards, but the swarming Florida defense was quick to close on him when he broke past the line of scrimmage.

"They were tremendously fast," Eberly said. "The front four did a tremendous job for their squad. They really penetrated and filled gaps well."

Even when the Lions moved into scoring position, the chances of moving the ball on the ground still seemed slim.

Never was the Lions' inability to run more obvious than in the second quarter, when they twice failed to score from the less-than-one-yard line. On fourth-and-goal from the half-yard line, with Penn State trailing 14-3, Eberly took a handoff from quarterback Mike McQueary and tried to squeeze into the end zone behind the blocks of tight end Brad Scioli and fullback Anthony Cleary.

The Florida defense, however, stuffed him for no gain. McQueary, like Paterno, refused to speculate on what would have happened had Enis carried the ball.

"The personnel is different, but we've run that play a number of times with the people who were there today," McQueary said.

On the Lions' next offensive set, they again faced fourth-and-one from the one, but instead of running, opted to pass. McQueary's pass to tight end Cuncho Brown, however, was intercepted.

Afterwards, the Gator defense jumped for joy, the Lions hung their heads, and the Lion running game -- along with Penn State's chances of winning -- was pronounced dead on the spot.