Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> T H E 2 0 1 8 Penn State by referring to the it as "that eleventh team." A nationwide TV audience and a pumped-up record crowd of 96,719 turned out on a sunny afternoon to see Penn State get its first real taste of Big Ten officiating when the referee stopped the game early in the first period and the public address announcer was told to warn the crowd to quiet down when Michigan had the ball or Penn State would be penalized. As if that weren't enough, there were several questionable officiating calls or no calls throughout the 60 minutes that favored the visitors. In the end, the Nittany Lions beat them- selves with missed opportunities, men- tal breakdowns and big plays that went against them. Tyrone Wheatley's 47- yard run late in the fourth quarter set up a 6-yard touchdown pass and extra point that sealed Michigan's victory, 21- 13. After the game, Wheatley exempli- fied the Michigan arrogance I experienced two decades earlier by boasting, "You have to pay your dues. We just had to show them we've been here a while." That was a turning point for me as a Michigan fan. However, what really did it was a game three years later that didn't even involve the Wolverines. It was at the Kickoff Classic against USC in the New Jersey Meadowlands, a game that opened the college football season. Penn State actually won the game hand- ily, 24-7. I was just a regular fan at the time and sitting in the stands with my wife, Carole, in the Penn State section. Somehow, two couples of post-college age wearing USC jerseys had seats di- rectly behind us. Before the kickoff and into the first few minutes of the game, they were being a little obnoxious, aim- ing derogatory remarks and boos at Penn State. In an attempt to nullify their boorish behavior, I struck up a polite conversation. They told me they worked in New York but were Michigan gradu- ates and were only there to root against a Big Ten opponent of the Wolverines. Their loud anti-Penn State remarks did- n't last long, as the Nittany Lions over- whelmed the Trojans. The two couples were long gone when USC scored its only points of the game with 30 seconds left by recovering a Penn State fumble in the end zone. My distaste for Michigan and its still haughty fan base has in- creased tenfold since then. A matter of time Complaining about officiating in any sport and disparaging the integrity of the officials frequently comes off as sour grapes. Certainly, Penn State has re- ceived its share of favorable decisions by officiating crews on questionable plays. Nothing tops Mike McCloskey's contro- versial sideline reception in the closing seconds of the Lions' victory over Ne- braska in 1982, which eventually helped Penn State win its first national champi- onship. Yet, even with the addition of replay review in 2003, the perception throughout Big Ten fandom is that Michigan and Ohio State still get the most breaks from officials. The TV replay system that is now an in- tegral part of college football can be traced back to Penn State's 27-24 over- time defeat at Ann Arbor in October 2002 and the Lions' 42-35 overtime loss to Iowa at Beaver Stadium two weeks earlier that prompted coach Joe Paterno to chase after referee Dick Honig in a postgame scenario captured in a now-famous video. I was there to see it all. The Michi- gan game might not have reached over- time if a pass reception by Penn State's Tony Johnson in the last minute of regu- lation had not been ruled incomplete. Penn State had marched from its own 20-yard line to the Michigan 49. On third-and-5, quarterback Zach Mills hit Johnson at the 23-yard line in front of the Penn State sideline. Officials said Johnson was out of bounds despite strong objections by Lion players and staff close to the action. TV replays showed Johnson not only had one foot in bounds as required by the college rules, but both feet. Whether Penn State could have used the last 40 seconds to kick a winning field goal or score a touchdown will never be known. Three days later, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley asked Big Ten com- missioner Jim Delany for an overall re- view of conference officiating, and coaches from other schools chimed in to support Curley, including Michigan's Lloyd Carr. The next season, the Big Ten began experimenting with TV replays. It was such a success that in 2005 the NCAA officially sanctioned the use of the replay system as long as conferences had the technology. In what is probably Penn State's most disheartening loss ever to Michigan – the 2005 game at Ann Arbor – both teams benefited from close calls in their favor that were reviewed or not reviewed by re- play. But it was two seconds added to the clock by the referee in the last half- minute of the game that may have cost Penn State a third national champi- onship. Readers can see it all for them- selves on the ABC broadcast on YouTube. Penn State was undefeated and ranked eighth in the polls, while Michigan was 3-3 and trying to avoid its worst start since 1967. Frankly, the Nittany Lions didn't play up to their standard that day and squandered opportunities, but there was a flurry of offense in the fourth quarter, as the two teams combined to score 39 points. With 3:45 left in the game, Michigan broke an 18-18 tie on a 47-yard field goal. After the ensuing kickoff, the Wolverines intercepted a Michael Robinson pass, but four downs later they had to punt. In less than two minutes, Robinson took the Lions downfield and on the 13th play from the 5-yard line he scrambled around the right side for a touchdown. The extra point made it 25-21 with 53 seconds on the clock. On the ensuing kickoff, the Lions took their chances by opting to kick deep to Michigan's Steve Breaston, a game- breaking player from suburban Pittsburgh who had been recruited by Penn State. Breaston made them pay, dashing 41 yards to the Michigan 47-yard line. After the game, Paterno admitted that kicking deep had been the wrong decision. On the first play, Wolverines quarter- back Chad Henne, another Pennsylvan- ian recruited by Penn State, completed a

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