Anticipation Building As Mountaineers Prepare For First Visit From Penn State Since 1992
August 22, 2024 02:30 PM | Football, Blog
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As we inch closer toward West Virginia's season-opening game against Penn State, it's difficult not to get nostalgic about those seasons when West Virginia and Penn State used to play on a yearly basis.
It was a rivalry in the sense that the two teams played annually, but when one team is winning nearly all the games, that doesn't really constitute a rivalry.
One of the first West Virginia football games I ever attended in person was a West Virginia-Penn State matchup at old Mountaineer Field in 1978.
My mom trusted a neighbor to oversee the health and welfare of her two boys, aged 10 and 13 at the time, both of whom happened to observe the activities from the WVU student section in the corner of the bowl end of the old stadium.
I remember noticing the stench of spilled beer and a foul-smelling aroma emanating from the top of the stadium, and I also recall with great excitement the Mountaineers jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead.
Quarterback Dutch Hoffman, who eventually lost his starting job to freshman Oliver Luck, flipped a short touchdown pass to West Virginia's Swiss Army knife, Rich Duggan, and fullback Dane "The Train" Conwell quickly added another touchdown after a Nittany Lion turnover.
Perhaps this was finally going to be the year, Mountaineer fans thought.
Similar feelings came over West Virginia rooters back in 1972 when Kerry Marbury took the game's opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. That was before Penn State responded with five straight scores on the way to an easy 28-19 triumph.
West Virginia faithful thought they might finally have a shot against the Lions in 1975 when the 10th-ranked Mountaineers traveled to State College to face No. 9 Penn State. But that one ended with Penn State scoring 39 and West Virginia scoring nothing!
Quarterback Ben Williams threw the longest touchdown pass in WVU history, 96 yards to flanker Danny Buggs at Beaver Stadium in 1973, but the Nits scored so much that afternoon that the Lion mascot couldn't complete the 62 push-ups required to punctuate linebacker Greg Buttle's 25-yard interception return that made the final score 62-14. Images from John Cappelletti's four-touchdown game against West Virginia in 1973 (AP photo).
That was the game when running back John Cappelletti boastfully pledged to score four touchdowns for his dying kid brother, Joey, which later became famous in a made-for-TV movie. Afterward, a dejected West Virginia coach Bobby Bowden said had he known this, he wished Cappelletti would have scored five.
Odd fumbles and mysterious calls always seemed to go Penn State's way, too, either through coercion, family connections or divine intervention. And that certainly didn't help matters!
So, West Virginia, amid a six-game losing streak that '78 season to Oklahoma, NC State, Cal, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Temple, had sprung a big surprise on second-ranked Penn State, and I was gleefully watching it all transpire in total ignorance of what was to come.
Well, it took the Lions just 10 minutes to retake control of the game, thanks to Mike Guman's 85-yard punt return, and they continued scoring until Steve Lewis finally ended the onslaught with a 12-yard touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter. Penn State added one more score for good measure in a 49-21 rout.
By that time, I was already in the car listening to Jack Fleming on the radio during our two-hour, deer-dodging journey across Route 7 back to my hometown, New Martinsville. If the game didn't make you sick, then the drive surely did!
That was basically the West Virginia-Penn State script each year until Don Nehlen finally ended State's nearly three-decades-long winning streak with a 17-14 triumph in 1984. By then, Nehlen had become so popular in the Mountain State that Fleming used tell the story on the banquet circuit of a fishing trip Nehlen once had with Joe Paterno on Cheat Lake.
According to Fleming, Paterno had accidentally fallen out of the boat and to Nehlen's surprise, JoePa couldn't swim. While Paterno was flailing in the water begging for Nehlen to jump in and save him, the West Virginia coach simply looked down, smiled and replied, "Walk, Joe, walk!"
Speaking of Fleming, no one had a better view of Penn State's dominance than the legendary Voice of the Mountaineers.
Fleming described almost every Mountaineer loss to Penn State from 1947 to 1992, taking a short break in the early 1970s to call Chicago Bulls games for WIND, before picking up with the aforementioned 39-0 defeat in 1975.
Compared to arch-rival Pitt, it's difficult to unearth much about Fleming discussing Penn State, I assume, out of sheer respect. It's hard to really take a dig at someone when you are always lying on your back trying to punch upward.
But, finally, in 1988, when West Virginia clearly had the superior team, Fleming unloaded.
Here were his opening remarks prior to West Virginia's 51-30 victory over the Nittany Lions in 1988:
"For over 30 years our faithful have been bedeviled by the Penn State Nittany Lions. Starting with the late Art Lewis, after he beat them three times in a row, the Nits began teeing off on West Virginia.
"Gene Corum, Jim Carlen, Bobby Bowden and Frank Cignetti took lump after lump from the Blue and White. Finally, in 1984, Don Nehlen put a stop to it. West Virginia won 17-14, but the Gold and Blue fans got so out of hand that Papa Joe Paterno had the pleasure of calling off the game with less than a minute to go, and that's typical.
"In 1985, '86 and '87, Penn State regained control. So now it's 1988 and the invaders from the north are here, sneaking in to try and smoke out West Virginia one more time. For State, a winning season is at stake. For West Virginia, an undefeated season is on the line along with the Mountaineers' national ranking.
"There is one difference, the hordes from the north are the underdog. I expect them to come out from inside a Trojan Horse. They are still led by a crafty guy with horn-rimmed glasses – the man who promotes himself as the savior of college football, but West Virginia is not fooled on this October day. He is Joe Paterno, the Darth Vader from Mt. Nittany, and he will do anything to win this football game to pacify Penn State's new-found horde of hors d'oeuvres-chomping, wine-sipping, Mercedes-driving, yuppie followers.
"Friends, this isn't a football game today, it is a crusade! We need you, wherever you are this afternoon. Hoist the battle flag, find a good rock for cover and stay with us because the invaders are here as the hills of West Virginia resounds with the sounds of the Mountaineers in combat. And the West Virginia University Mountaineers are on the air!"
An hour later, Fleming was excitedly describing Major Harris' wrong-way touchdown run and all the touchdowns that followed, including Undra Johnson's 55-yard scoring jaunt with just three seconds left in the first half to put West Virginia ahead 41-8.
It was one of those unforgettable afternoons that almost wiped away all the bad memories.
Almost.
Next Saturday, after 32 years away, the invaders from the North are finally returning, led by the bespectacled James Franklin. And like Paterno, Franklin will do anything to pacify Penn State's aging horde of hors d'oeuvres-chomping, wine-sipping, Mercedes-driving, yuppie followers.
Not quite sure "yuppie" is an adjective that resonates today, but you get the idea!
West Virginia wrapped up preseason camp yesterday with its mock game inside the stadium and begins Penn State prep today. The Mountaineers are scheduled to practice Friday, will hit the pause button Saturday, and then resume practice work on Sunday.
