Some Penn State students have complained that the use of pepper spray following Saturday's Penn State-Ohio State football game was excessive and are questioning police preparation for the game.

Brian Sommer, Class of 2005, said he was on the field, but not doing anything destructive and was still pepper sprayed indiscriminately.

"My eyes were swollen for over two hours and I didn't do anything -- never mind all the other kids it happened to who weren't doing anything wrong," Sommer said.

Sommer also said Penn State University Police were using foul language and spraying pepper spray at anyone within about 10 feet.

"People were getting tackled and threatened with batons," Sommer said. "It was absolutely out of control and it was absurd behavior on the part of the Penn State police."

University Police Criminal Investigations supervisor Thomas Sowerby would not comment on police actions after the game and deferred all questions to University Police director Steve Shelow, who could not be reached by press time last night.

Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said university police did a good job making sure there were no serious injuries.

"It was really an unusual situation that university police were asked to handle," Kendig said. "The police are well-trained and only use deterrents in necessary circumstances."

University Police officer Ray Trexler confirmed that university police were in charge of preventing students from rushing the field after the game with the assistance of several other police departments, including the State College, Ferguson Township, Patton Township and Pennsylvania State police departments and Centre County Sheriffs.

Dan Clark (freshman-architectural engineering), a student who camped out at Paternoville prior to the game, said a few of the university police officers were taunting fans.

"Some students were looking to jump over and some cops were pointing at them telling them to come over and see what happens," Clark said.

Clark said he and his group asked officers before the game what to do if the students began to rush the field.

"They basically said, 'If you get pushed over that sucks and you might get pepper sprayed,' " Clark said. "We couldn't move because we were up against the rail and they showed no concern -- the railing really does hurt when you are being pushed up against it by thousands of people."

Shortly after the game, a railing between the stadium's junior/senior and freshman/sophomore sections collapsed from being pushed by students. State College police Sgt. Mark Argiro said he was aware of people who fell over the broken railing and of others being pushed over railings, but said he is unsure if that type of incident is avoidable.

"It is unfortunate and I am sure the people in the front row did not expect that," Argiro said. "That's how people get killed."

Clark said he and a few other people he sat with were sprayed even though they were not attempting to go onto the field.

"We walked straight home because the one person in my party was sprayed so badly he had to go home immediately and take a shower," Clark said. "He was still having problems with his eyes the next day."

Argiro said university police asked State College police officers to help prevent students from entering the field.

"State College police officers did not strike anybody and the only time we pepper-sprayed anyone was when they got too close to where we were standing," Argiro said. "Those students were not in the crowd -- it was well after they were on the field."

Argiro said that technically, everyone who was on the field was trespassing, but Penn State understood the celebration and allowed it.

"It was just a bit too much for the fans to expect to stay on the field as long as they wanted and some were tearing up large chunks of grass," Argiro said. "That is not a matter of school pride, but rather overstepping the bounds of proper behavior."

Maureen Karstetter, Mount Nittany Medical Center's vice president of communications, said there were numerous injuries over the weekend, but said there was no way to discern between stadium injuries and outside injuries. She added that she knows of at least one incident in which a patient was treated for being pepper sprayed.

In 1993, students rushed the field after a football game at the University of Wisconsin-Madison between Wisconsin and the University of Michigan, injuring nearly 75 people, including many critical injuries.

Lt. Bill Larson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department said that following the incident, the university changed its student section from general seating to reserved seating, added a cross-aisle between upper and lower student sections, and cut the number of students allowed in the lower level.

He said the department only uses pepper spray in "dire situations" and does not use pepper spray to hold back the students.

Larson said the University of Wisconsin's police department does all it can to prevent students from rushing the field, but once students are on the field they withdraw officers for the safety of the fans and the police officers. Officers then stand in a line formation to usher students off the field calmly, he said.

Matthew Grobe (senior-recreation and park management) said Penn State police officers were spraying even those people who fell over the guardrail accidentally.

"The police should have given a little more thought to who and where they were pepper spraying," he said.

Kendig said with all the "mass confusion and exuberance," he is comfortable with the judgment of the police.

"The one bottom line here that I think people are missing is that it is university policy that you are not allowed on the field unless you are a participant," Kendig said. "Everyone recognizes the thrill of the win and the excitement, but the police were trying to prevent a situation that could have resulted in injury and thousands of dollars of damage, and I think overall they did a good job in doing that."

Clark said he agrees with the policy that students should not rush the field.

"There is no reason to do it, but I feel they could do a better job to prevent it and actually help students who were pushed down or caught in the middle," he said.