Blue White Illustrated

S E A S O N 17-yard sideline pass to Jason Avant in front of the Michigan bench. TV replays showed he was out of bounds, but the play was not reviewed by the referee. With two short passes, Henne had Michigan at the Penn State 27-yard line, and the Wolverines called timeout with 28 seconds showing on the stadium clock. That's when Carr went to work on the officials, pleading that his tight end had either stepped out of bounds or that the clock did not stop properly when he called timeout from the sideline. As the teams trotted back onto the field, referee Bill Lemmonier announced that two more seconds had been put on the clock "based on when the timeout was re- quested by the coach." When Paterno protested and asked for an explanation, the officials ignored him. Three plays later, the Wolverines were at the 10-yard line and were facing a fourth-and-4 situation with one second left. From my seat behind the Penn State bench looking left through my binocu- lars, I watched Henne find a small open- ing in the Lions' defense and hit Mario Manningham with a perfect pass on a post pattern for the winning touch- down. The pain and frustration showed on the faces of the players and coaches several yards in front of me. Penn State went undefeated the rest of the season and beat Florida State, 26-23, in a triple-overtime thriller in the Or- ange Bowl to finish third in the polls, while Texas beat USC for the national championship. Many fans like to include Penn State's losses at home to Michigan in 1997 and '99 among the program's most depress- ing defeats. However, those teams were a cut below the three on my list because they closed out their seasons with addi- tional defeats that tarnished their his- torical reputations. As I reflect back on my years as a Michigan fan and the 1993, 2002 and 2005 Penn State games, I now believe I had the wrong headline on that 1972 story in the football program. My new headline is as appropriate today as it was 46 years ago: "A missionary among the heathens." ■ No. 74 in Lou Prato's book Autographed copies available via louprato@comcast.net or through Lou Prato & Associates at 814-954-5171 Price: $14.95 plus shipping, handling and tax where applicable Also available with autograph: Lou's book We Are Penn State: The Remarkable Journey of the 2012 Nittany Lions Price: $19.95 plus shipping and tax where applicable

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