Sean Lee was there. He saw what Joe Paterno jokingly referred to this week as "the hockey game." And Lee still decided to come to Penn State.
It was an overcast October day three years ago when Iowa defeated the Nittany Lions, 6-4 in Beaver Stadium. Lee was then a senior at Upper St. Clair High in Pittsburgh and being recruited by both Penn State and Iowa.
But the weekend didn't mark an official college visit for him. Instead of being wined and dined and watching from the sideline, Lee made the trip to State College and took in the homecoming game from the stands.
For a consummate defensive player like Lee, he couldn't have picked a better game to attend.
Not a touchdown was scored. Two safeties were awarded. And two first half Iowa field goals were enough to hold on to the win.
"At the time, both defenses were very good," Lee said yesterday. "I concentrated more on the defenses than offenses."
Good thing, or Lee may have been scared away from either Big Ten school.
Penn State's offense struggled so much (147 total yards) that midway through the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes -- leading 6-2 -- intentionally took a safety instead of punting on fourth down from their own 1-yard line.
Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz believed his team was incapable of relinquishing even a 2-point lead, and figured the Hawkeyes would have a better chance of winning if Penn State had to travel farther to score.
At that point, every late-game play became immensely important. Any long run or pass, however unlikely it appeared it would happen, could have decided which side won. The fans among Lee realized this.
"I came to that game to watch the defense, especially the linebackers. On that day I saw the crowd, the intensity," Lee said, "and I wanted to be a part of it."
So, in one aspect, the reality that Penn State's defense scored more points than the offense paid off.
The Hawkeyes won the game, but lost the recruiting battle. Lee, a Penn State fan growing up, chose to play for the Lions. Iowa, led by Ferentz, an Upper St. Clair graduate, came in a close second.
But, nonetheless, the loss marked a low point in a dreadful offensive year. Anyone not watching through Lee's defense-centered eyes could see that.
Even Paterno, looking through his Coke-bottle glasses.
"We weren't very good, obviously," Paterno recalled this week.
The Lions finished 4-7 overall that year, and 2-6 in the Big Ten, tied for a program-worst ninth place. They averaged just more than seven points per game in their first six conference contests, before scoring more than 20 in wins against Indiana and Michigan State to end the year.
"That season we were close, but we could never get those one or two plays to get us over the hump," wideout Terrell Golden, then a redshirt freshman, said this week.
That 2004 season, while the offense sputtered, the defense held its own, similar to the trend that has unfolded so far this year.
But Golden, now sharing a locker room with Lee, doesn't want any friction to develop between either unit this time around, even though he sees the similarities of the two seasons thus far.
"Sean Lee sits right next to me in the locker room and it's more so, 'We're going to need you guys in the game,'" Golden said. "Just like you need us."
