Penn State Sports Magazine
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ward Archie, who let the football bounce behind him at the 20. Three Illini players covered it at the 4, and the referee sig- naled a timeout for a TV commercial. "We were pretty confident at that point," Conlin said. "We're laughing and joking [on the sideline] and Archie's run- ning off the field and we're hollering at him, 'Hey, catch the ball. I guess we have to go 90 now.' " With a frenzied Memorial Stadium crowd cranking up the noise, the Nittany Lion offense trotted onto the field with 6:07 showing on the clock. Contempo- rary postgame reports cited Collins keep- ing the players calm as they huddled up. But Conlin has a different memory. "We're still laughing and joking in the huddle," he said. "We absolutely knew they were done. Their defense was shot. They were completely fried. You could see it in their faces when the drive began. It was just a matter of taking our time and doing what we had to do." Penn State would use variations of its basic I-formation in its dramatic 14-play drive. The tailbacks or wide receivers would rotate in and out with the play from Paterno and Ganter. The interior linemen were the same five who, for the most part, had been the starters since the season opener against Minnesota. This group included redshirt junior right guard Marco Rivera, who had been replaced in the starting lineup at Illinois by Wayne Holmes due to a shoulder injury he had suffered the previous Saturday at Indi- ana. To Rivera's left was Greeley at center, and to his right was redshirt junior tackle Andre Johnson. Two redshirt juniors were on the opposite side of Greeley: left guard Hartings and left tackle Conlin. Paterno made his only major alteration to the lineup when the Lions reached the Illinois 3-yard line with a first-and-goal and only a minute left in the game. He sent one backup tight end, redshirt soph- omore Keith Olsommer, to pair with starter Brady in the seven-man line for- mation, while redshirt freshman fullback Jason Sload lined up to the left of Milne in the full-house backfield. Paterno said later that he didn't hesitate to give the ball to Milne because "he's what you want down there because he's so strong." "If Kerry calls my number," Milne told the media after the game, "I'm going to do my best to get into the end zone." And what was Hartings thinking when he realized he would be the lead blocker? "We called that play a lot, so I had the ex- perience," he said. "I don't think anyone who plays football at a high level thinks about it in the 20 seconds to do that. You don't think about the consequences of P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> Jim Williams | Helped guide 1986 national champions O B I T U A R Y Jim Williams, a longtime Penn State assistant football coach and adminis- trator who helped bring the school its second national championship, died on Oct. 9 in Danville, Pa., at age 78. Williams joined the Penn State foot- ball staff in 1977 as an assistant coach with the defense. After 16 years, he left the coaching staff to become an adminis- trative assistant for the program in 1993 before retiring in March 2005. In 1986, Williams helped shape a Penn State defensive unit that did not allow more than 19 points to an opponent all season. The 1986 campaign was capped by the Nittany Lions' 14-10 victory over Miami in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl to clinch a 12-0 season and Penn State's second national championship in four years. Among Williams' responsibilities were preseason arrangements, game- day operations, office management, liaison with high schools and profes- sional sports teams and bowl game preparations. Williams coached some of Penn State's most accomplished defensive players. Before embarking on his coaching career, Williams played center and linebacker at Penn State under head coach Rip Engle. Among his team- mates were Bob Mitinger, Dave Robin- son, Roger Kochman, Dick Anderson and Galen Hall. Williams earned a degree in business administration in 1963 and soon began his 29-year coaching career as an as- sistant coach at Bellefonte Area High School from 1964-68. Williams was then given the opportunity to revital- ize the State College Area High School program in 1969. In eight seasons at State College, his teams compiled a 65-13 record. Among the players he coached at State High were future Penn State standouts Matt and Paul Suhey. During his time at State High, Williams' coaching talents also were recognized by his peers. He was an as- sistant coach in the annual Big 33 game in 1973 and served as the head coach of the 1974 Big 33 team. In 1996, Williams was inducted into the Penn- sylvania High School Coaches Hall of Fame for his contributions as a prep coach. He was inducted into the Cen- tre County Hall of Fame in October 2018. ■ WILLIAMS

