When people think of the elite Big Ten passing teams they think of names like Michigan State, Illinois and Wisconsin. After today they may come to think of Penn State.
The Penn State football team won its third straight game Saturday, defeating Southern Mississippi 38-20. The Lions played well in almost all aspects of the game but it was their newly found explosive passing game that excited the crowd and garnered them the win.
The game started unassumingly as both teams were stopped by third down sacks. Penn State defensive end Bob Jones came up big for the Lions with his sack of quarterback Jeff Kelly and Southern Miss outside linebacker Roy Magee stopped the Lions with a sack of his own.
After that stop the Golden Eagles took the first lead of the game, something every opponent has done against the Lions this season. The score came when running back Dawayne Woods ran 19 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown.
That score would be the only one Southern Miss would manage in the first half. The rest of the half was marked by the wizardry of Penn State freshman quarterback Zack Mills. After Woods' touchdown Mills promptly marched his offense down the field for the tying touchdown with an eight-play drive. The drive culminated with tailback Omar Easy's 11-yard diving touchdown run.
The Lions would never look back after that point, scoring on four of their next five drives. After two defensive stops by the Lions and a field goal by place-kicker Robbie Gould, Mills brought the offense into field goal range again. The Lions set up for the kick but they were not content to just go for three points. Penn State ran a fake field goal play and Mills took the snap and ran eight yards into the end zone for the touchdown.
Mills ended the first half by throwing a 3-yard touchdown pass to wideout Bryant Johnson. The ball was intended for split end Tony Johnson but a defender was draped all over him and he tipped the ball into the air. Bryant Johnson was then able to come down with the ball in the back of the end zone for the score.
Bryant Johnson is fast becoming a star in Happy Valley. He has proved to be Mills' favorite target over the past few games and he has put up some impressive numbers. Saturday he caught a career-high 10 balls for 132 yards and one touchdown.
The second half started off the same way the first ended, with the Lions moving the ball at will on what was the No. 9 defense in the nation. Again it was a pass from Mills to Tony Johnson that ended a Penn State drive with a touchdown. This time No. 11 was not interfered with and he caught the 32-yard pass to make the score 31-7.
As great as Penn State's offense played, the special teams and defense were not overshadowed in the victory. The Lions would follow up their touchdown drive with another score when tailback Larry Johnson blocked a Mark Haulman punt and returned it 40 yards for six points. Gould added the extra point and the score was 38-7 before three minutes could tick off of the clock in the third quarter.
Defensively the Lions dominated the Golden Eagles during most of the afternoon. Jones had one sack and two deflected passes. One of those deflections was snatched out of the air by linebacker Shamar Finney and it set up Gould's lone field goal. The defense eneded up with seven tackles for losses and two sacks.
The Golden Eagles did have a few bright spots Saturday. Woods ended the game with 126 yards and all three Southern Miss touchdowns. The Golden Eagles also showed some life against the Lions at the end of the game, scoring 13 unanswered points to bring score to 38-20.
The day, however, belonged to Mills. He finished the game with 280 yards passing and he was 23-33 with two touchdown passes. He had 36 of the team's 145 rushing yards, the highest total of any individual Lion. Of all the numbers Mills had the most impressive may have been that he ended the day as the Lions' all-time freshman passing leader. Mills moved past Todd Blackledge's previous mark of 1,037 yards.
Blackledge set that mark in 1980 and he won a national championship with the Lions two years later. Penn State fans can only hope Mills can do the same.
