PSU's Paterno Among the Best
January 23, 2012 03:07 PM | General
Mountaineer football has experienced an unprecedented run of success over the last eight seasons. Consider:
* Eight consecutive bowl appearances
* Three BCS bowl victories (Sugar, Fiesta and Orange)
* 78-24 overall record
* Six Top 25 finishes
* 92 weeks in the Top 25
* 38 weeks in the Top 10
What West Virginia has managed to accomplish under three different coaches is certainly worth touting.
Now, add 38 more years of similar success – all under one guy - and that’s what Penn State football fans have enjoyed during Joe Paterno’s remarkable 46-year coaching career that spanned five decades and nine different presidents.
And for 27 of the 46 seasons the late Paterno coached at Penn State he dominated eastern football like no other – not Pitt’s Jock Sutherland, not Syracuse’s Ben Schwartzwalder, not Maryland’s Jim Tatum, not Army’s Earl Blaik - none of them could sustain what Paterno was able to accomplish during his long tenure in State College, Pa.
And no one ever will again, partly because no coach will ever be at the same place for that amount of time, and partly because we’ve all gone our separate ways.
From 1966 to 1992 when Penn State was an eastern independent, Paterno’s teams racked up 247 victories, 17 Top 10 finishes, 14 10-win seasons, four undefeated campaigns and two national titles. Only Pitt for a brief period of time in the late 70s even came close to challenging Penn State for eastern supremacy, the Panthers beating Penn State three times in a span of five seasons between 1976 and 1980. Of course Paterno wasn’t too thrilled about that - or Pitt’s brash, young coach Jackie Sherrill.
Before joining the Big Ten in 1993, Paterno was 25-2 against West Virginia, 23-0-1 against Maryland, 21-4 against Syracuse, 20-6-1 against Pitt, 17-0 against Temple, 16-2 against Boston College, 13-1 against Rutgers, 9-1 against Army and 6-2 against Navy. His combined record from 1966-92 versus those nine major eastern programs was 150-16-2. Paterno lost multiple games to eastern teams just four times in 27 years in 1966, 1984, 1987 and 1988. That’s unbelievable.
“To be brutally frank,” Paterno once said, “many of our eastern rivalries just weren’t competitive.”
No, they weren’t.
Paterno’s undefeated ’68 team swept through the northeast like a hurricane, beating Maryland 57-13, Pitt 65-9, West Virginia 31-20, Syracuse 30-12, Boston College 29-0 and Navy 31-6. Only Army was able to give the Nittany Lions a game that year, falling 28-24 in Happy Valley.
It was a similar deal in 1969: 48-0 over Maryland, 27-7 over Pitt, 20-0 over West Virginia, 15-14 over Syracuse, 38-16 over Boston College and 45-22 over Navy.
In 1973 it got worse. Penn State routed Maryland 42-22, Pitt 35-13, West Virginia 62-14, Syracuse 49-6, Navy 39-0 and Army 54-3. Amazingly, the Nittany Lions finished fifth in the polls that season behind undefeated Notre Dame, one-loss Alabama and once-tied Ohio State and Oklahoma.
The first time I saw Paterno in person was in Morgantown in 1978 when the Lions were on their way to a meeting against top-ranked Alabama in the 1979 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans (that game featured Alabama’s famous goal line stand that denied Paterno his first national title and gave Bear Bryant his sixth).
I was only 10 at the time and I wasn’t all that familiar with Penn State football. I was more enamored with the bright green Astroturf at old Mountaineer Field and how I was going to get down there to run around on it after the game, the chicken wire fence used to keep the WVU students separated from the normal people and that crazy Frisbee Dog who entertained fans before the Pride of West Virginia hit the field.
That was until I saw this bespectacled guy, dressed in a white collared shirt, dark tie, and sporting charcoal gray trousers rolled up just high enough to reveal his white tube socks and coal black sneakers. He was standing down below us in the tunnel amongst a bunch of hairy-armed brutes. No one wore tats back then and the few who did only put them on their forearms and shoulders anyway.
The Penn State players were dressed in all white uniforms - a single blue stripe running across the helmet and a navy blue numeral the only two things separating them from looking like a bunch of ghosts. For years, some of the younger WVU players used to be deceived by those plain white uniforms and dark shoes when they would study Penn State film. They thought those white uniforms didn’t make them look that big. But they were. And those dark shoes didn’t make them look that fast. But they were. Plus, they were smart and tough – the football Superfecta.
Then, the guy with the dark tie and flooders all of a sudden darted out onto the field like he was shot out of a cannon, the team confidently jogging out behind him. Odd, I thought. Could this be Penn State’s famous football coach? Games weren’t on TV back then like they are today, so you only had a couple chances to see the best teams, plus, we were usually outside playing football in the yard anyway. He certainly wasn’t dressed like any of the other coaches out there, I thought. In fact, he looked more like the guy wearing the pocket protector who read our electric meter outside the house each month. But it was him: Famous Joe Paterno, or simply JoePa, as he was then becoming known.
His team didn’t look like the world beaters they were made out to be, either. West Virginia jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead on touchdowns by Duggan and Conwell – not to be confused with Fusina, Guman, Clark, Millen, Moore and Suhey – and a surge of electricity overtook old Mountaineer Field. The WVU students sitting next to me who had observed back-to-back-to-back 39-0, 33-0 and 49-28 drubbings at the hands of these same Lions were beginning to cook up the biggest celebration America had seen since V-E Day.
But the Sunnyside Siege was quickly called off. A blocked punt here, a punt return there, a couple of phantom calls, some really long passes and a lot of punishing runs later, that 14-point Mountaineer lead turned into another double-digit Penn State loss faster than its high-stepping coach could run off the field.
What just happened, I wondered?
What happened was I had just witnessed my first Penn State defeat, one of 26 in a row the Mountaineers endured over four decades. That’s the equivalent to Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson- Nixon-Ford-Carter-Reagan in presidential years.
It wasn’t until 1984 that West Virginians were finally able to chase Paterno off their own field. They did it again in 1988, and both times he had to leave before the game was over.
West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said his postgame visit with Paterno after the ’84 victory was a brief one – far shorter than he would have liked.
“He said, ‘Don, I just want to congratulate you. I knew when this game was over it was going to be pure pandemonium. I want to shake your hand and I’m getting out of here,’” Nehlen recalled.
After their quick handshake Paterno took off running in one direction, Nehlen the other.
That’s what happens when you beat great football programs. And Joe Paterno’s was one of the best.
* Eight consecutive bowl appearances
* Three BCS bowl victories (Sugar, Fiesta and Orange)
* 78-24 overall record
* Six Top 25 finishes
* 92 weeks in the Top 25
* 38 weeks in the Top 10
What West Virginia has managed to accomplish under three different coaches is certainly worth touting.
Now, add 38 more years of similar success – all under one guy - and that’s what Penn State football fans have enjoyed during Joe Paterno’s remarkable 46-year coaching career that spanned five decades and nine different presidents.
And for 27 of the 46 seasons the late Paterno coached at Penn State he dominated eastern football like no other – not Pitt’s Jock Sutherland, not Syracuse’s Ben Schwartzwalder, not Maryland’s Jim Tatum, not Army’s Earl Blaik - none of them could sustain what Paterno was able to accomplish during his long tenure in State College, Pa.
And no one ever will again, partly because no coach will ever be at the same place for that amount of time, and partly because we’ve all gone our separate ways.
From 1966 to 1992 when Penn State was an eastern independent, Paterno’s teams racked up 247 victories, 17 Top 10 finishes, 14 10-win seasons, four undefeated campaigns and two national titles. Only Pitt for a brief period of time in the late 70s even came close to challenging Penn State for eastern supremacy, the Panthers beating Penn State three times in a span of five seasons between 1976 and 1980. Of course Paterno wasn’t too thrilled about that - or Pitt’s brash, young coach Jackie Sherrill.
Before joining the Big Ten in 1993, Paterno was 25-2 against West Virginia, 23-0-1 against Maryland, 21-4 against Syracuse, 20-6-1 against Pitt, 17-0 against Temple, 16-2 against Boston College, 13-1 against Rutgers, 9-1 against Army and 6-2 against Navy. His combined record from 1966-92 versus those nine major eastern programs was 150-16-2. Paterno lost multiple games to eastern teams just four times in 27 years in 1966, 1984, 1987 and 1988. That’s unbelievable.
“To be brutally frank,” Paterno once said, “many of our eastern rivalries just weren’t competitive.”
No, they weren’t.
Paterno’s undefeated ’68 team swept through the northeast like a hurricane, beating Maryland 57-13, Pitt 65-9, West Virginia 31-20, Syracuse 30-12, Boston College 29-0 and Navy 31-6. Only Army was able to give the Nittany Lions a game that year, falling 28-24 in Happy Valley.
It was a similar deal in 1969: 48-0 over Maryland, 27-7 over Pitt, 20-0 over West Virginia, 15-14 over Syracuse, 38-16 over Boston College and 45-22 over Navy.
In 1973 it got worse. Penn State routed Maryland 42-22, Pitt 35-13, West Virginia 62-14, Syracuse 49-6, Navy 39-0 and Army 54-3. Amazingly, the Nittany Lions finished fifth in the polls that season behind undefeated Notre Dame, one-loss Alabama and once-tied Ohio State and Oklahoma.
The first time I saw Paterno in person was in Morgantown in 1978 when the Lions were on their way to a meeting against top-ranked Alabama in the 1979 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans (that game featured Alabama’s famous goal line stand that denied Paterno his first national title and gave Bear Bryant his sixth).
I was only 10 at the time and I wasn’t all that familiar with Penn State football. I was more enamored with the bright green Astroturf at old Mountaineer Field and how I was going to get down there to run around on it after the game, the chicken wire fence used to keep the WVU students separated from the normal people and that crazy Frisbee Dog who entertained fans before the Pride of West Virginia hit the field.
That was until I saw this bespectacled guy, dressed in a white collared shirt, dark tie, and sporting charcoal gray trousers rolled up just high enough to reveal his white tube socks and coal black sneakers. He was standing down below us in the tunnel amongst a bunch of hairy-armed brutes. No one wore tats back then and the few who did only put them on their forearms and shoulders anyway.
The Penn State players were dressed in all white uniforms - a single blue stripe running across the helmet and a navy blue numeral the only two things separating them from looking like a bunch of ghosts. For years, some of the younger WVU players used to be deceived by those plain white uniforms and dark shoes when they would study Penn State film. They thought those white uniforms didn’t make them look that big. But they were. And those dark shoes didn’t make them look that fast. But they were. Plus, they were smart and tough – the football Superfecta.
Then, the guy with the dark tie and flooders all of a sudden darted out onto the field like he was shot out of a cannon, the team confidently jogging out behind him. Odd, I thought. Could this be Penn State’s famous football coach? Games weren’t on TV back then like they are today, so you only had a couple chances to see the best teams, plus, we were usually outside playing football in the yard anyway. He certainly wasn’t dressed like any of the other coaches out there, I thought. In fact, he looked more like the guy wearing the pocket protector who read our electric meter outside the house each month. But it was him: Famous Joe Paterno, or simply JoePa, as he was then becoming known.
His team didn’t look like the world beaters they were made out to be, either. West Virginia jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead on touchdowns by Duggan and Conwell – not to be confused with Fusina, Guman, Clark, Millen, Moore and Suhey – and a surge of electricity overtook old Mountaineer Field. The WVU students sitting next to me who had observed back-to-back-to-back 39-0, 33-0 and 49-28 drubbings at the hands of these same Lions were beginning to cook up the biggest celebration America had seen since V-E Day.
But the Sunnyside Siege was quickly called off. A blocked punt here, a punt return there, a couple of phantom calls, some really long passes and a lot of punishing runs later, that 14-point Mountaineer lead turned into another double-digit Penn State loss faster than its high-stepping coach could run off the field.
What just happened, I wondered?
What happened was I had just witnessed my first Penn State defeat, one of 26 in a row the Mountaineers endured over four decades. That’s the equivalent to Eisenhower-Kennedy-Johnson- Nixon-Ford-Carter-Reagan in presidential years.
It wasn’t until 1984 that West Virginians were finally able to chase Paterno off their own field. They did it again in 1988, and both times he had to leave before the game was over.
West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said his postgame visit with Paterno after the ’84 victory was a brief one – far shorter than he would have liked.
“He said, ‘Don, I just want to congratulate you. I knew when this game was over it was going to be pure pandemonium. I want to shake your hand and I’m getting out of here,’” Nehlen recalled.
After their quick handshake Paterno took off running in one direction, Nehlen the other.
That’s what happens when you beat great football programs. And Joe Paterno’s was one of the best.
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