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with less than a minute left. So were the fullback and one of the tight ends who were part of that historic play. Certainly, without the confident lead- ership and consummate skills of fifth- year senior quarterback Kerry Collins, the long drive in the cold and swirling wind and rain may have faltered. But when one analyzes the players who were on the field during that tension-filled span, it was mostly underclassmen. Of the five offen- sive linemen, only center Bucky Greeley was in his last season of eligibility. Aside from Collins and Milne, only one other senior touched the ball during the 14 plays: tight end Kyle Brady with two pass receptions. Redshirt junior tailback Ki-Jana Carter had four carries and one reception, while redshirt junior split end Bobby Engram caught two passes, and redshirt sophomore flanker Freddie Scott caught one. Head coach Joe Paterno and offensive coordinator Fran Ganter were the master- minds behind the play-calling, and Collins never had to re- sort to an audible. The execution of the plays was so nearly perfect that 11 of the 14 plays were on first or second down. The other three came on third down. Curiously, all the plays were near the Penn State sideline, across from the Memorial Sta- dium press box and left to right for the CBS national television audience, with the original scrimmage lines set at the near hash marks. "Going toward our sideline wasn't planned," Ganter said recently. "As to the play calling, I frankly can't remember. But I have a gut feeling from being in the same situation in a lot of different games. Joe always wanted to get the ball to the play- makers, and Bobby Engram was the pri- ority. So he knew exactly what he wanted to do. I remember Brady making an awe- some play on that first series on a clutch third down and then Engram making one." Second-ranked Penn State was a 12- point favorite over No. 25 Illinois, but a bad omen when the team arrived in Champaign late Friday afternoon had a disconcerting effect on the players and coaching staff. The hotel power went out. That forced several changes to the familiar routine, including a pregame meal of cold hoagies and cold pizza. They also had to climb up and down multiple flights of stairs a few times, even to get taped before going to the sta- dium. Keith Conlin, the starting left tackle on the short side, laughed as he remembered it all. "We were very regimented when we traveled," Conlin said. "We were told when to wake up, when to leave, what to eat and this and that. We got knocked out of our routine and it sort of screwed up a lot of us. We were in disarray going into P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> EARLY DEFICIT Paterno consults with Ganter on the Penn State sideline with the Nittany Lions try- ing to recover after giving up three early touch- downs. Photo by Steve Manuel

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