Rejuvenated Lion defense performs admirably in defeat

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It was difficult to read the emotion in Justin Kurpeikis' eyes.

On one hand, he seemed happy to have finally earned a start on the defensive line for the Nittany Lions.

On the other hand, he and his teammates lost the game.

Kurpeikis looked like a poor man, who after hitting the lottery learned he had to return the windfall because of computer error.

Ruined by the shoddy Penn State offensive performance on New Year's Day was a Lion defensive effort worthy of mention. Save for two Florida drives -- one in each the first and second half -- the defense bottled up the Fun N' Gun Gator offense.

Florida took the game's opening drive 80 yards in four minutes and 12 seconds for what appeared to be a demoralizing 7-0 lead. After an interception, the Gators struck again when quarterback Doug Johnson's pass went through the hands of cornerback David Macklin, glanced off his facemask and landed snugly in the soft hands of wideout Jacquez Green.

But down 14-0, the oft-criticized Lion defense took matters into its own hands.

The tide began to turn on Florida's next drive when the Gators were forced to punt for the first time. Then toward the end of the first quarter, linebacker Jim Nelson intercepted a Noah Brindise pass deep in Penn State territory to keep the deficit at 14.

The Lion defense showed more signs of life in that first quarter than in the whole Michigan State game -- a 49-14 debacle on Nov. 29 when it seemed some defenders gave up late in the game.

"I thought our kids played hard. I told 'em they had nothing to be ashamed of," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "They hung in there. They get down 14-0, they could have packed it in, here we go Michigan State again."

That was not the case.

Against a Florida offense with more speed and dimensions than that of the Spartans, the defense rose to the occasion.

Unfortunately, a host of defensive-spurred golden opportunities went unredeemed by the offense.

Take for example safety Shawn Lee's interception of a Johnson pass early in the second quarter. The turnover spotted the ball at the Florida 31-yard line, but all the offense could manage was a field goal.

Or take the eye-bulging heroics of linebacker Brandon Short, who just before halftime sliced through the Gator line and caused a fumble by breaking up an attempted handoff. That egg was never even hatched, as the offense came away empty-handed from a first-and-goal at the six.

"Our job was to do our job. The offense was struggling so we had to come in and make up for 'em," Macklin said. "We weren't really pointing any fingers. Florida just came out with a great defensive stop -- two stops -- and I just give credit to Florida for that."

In postgame interviews, the defensive players were mature about the offensive letdown, refusing to stick the loss on their teammates.

But somewhere behind their comments was a wave of symbolic shoulder shrugging. They did all they could. They did what was asked of them. If anyone was to be blamed for the spoiled Citrus, it could not be the defense.

"They've been talking since the Michigan State game about fighting. Fighting, and testing our character, and see what kind of fight we had in us," Kurpeikis said. "When that happened they kind of jumped on us. No one wanted to go out with that type of reputation, so we said, 'Hey.' We looked at each other. 'We've gotta fight.' "