Blue White Illustrated

fourth quarter. Defensive end Tamba Hali made the biggest play of the game with 1 minute, 21 seconds le= and the Buckeyes driving. Hali sacked Troy Smith, forcing a fumble that defensive tackle Scott Pax- son recovered at the PSU 41-yard line, preserving a 17-10 upset victory. However, the Lions' bid for a perfect season and possible national champi- onship ended the next week at Michigan. In a freewheeling, high-scoring fourth quarter, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr con- vinced the referee to add two seconds to the clock, and the Wolverines scored on a 10-yard pass on the last play of the game to win, 27-25. Since then, Connor has become Penn State's career leader in tackles (419), with Posluszny second (372) and Sean Lee, a 2005 freshman who received ample play- ing time in the last seven games, at No. 4. They and Shaw all carved out good NFL careers, with Posluszny and the still-ac- tive Lee developing into Pro Bowlers. One can only wonder what might have been for that 2005 team if not for Carr and the referee enabling Michigan to make the biggest play of the game. 1998-99 Arrington, Short and Morrison were starters for two years, and in 1999 they helped Penn State hold the No. 2 ranking in the country for most of the season. But a last-second 24-23 upset loss to two-touchdown underdog Min- nesota at Beaver Stadium on Nov. 11 sent the team into a tailspin, as it lost to Michigan and Michigan State before beating Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl to :nish No. 11 in both polls. Arrington and Morrison were on the outside, with Short in the middle in a 4-3-4 defense, and all were nominated for the Butkus Award. Arrington won it, along with the Bednarik Award. "I think that defense for the most part underachieved, and that includes the linebackers," Ham said. "That was a very good defense, and several players went on to play in the NFL. [Defensive end] Courtney Brown and Arrington were the :rst two dra= picks, Short was taken in a later round, and I think Morrison was in- jured in the bowl game and couldn't play in the pros because of that." Before the Minnesota debacle, the de- fense made many big plays, and Arring- ton had several. A=er two easy wins in the :rst two games, archrival Pitt was on the verge of pulling o< an upset at Beaver Stadium when Arrington blocked a 52- yard :eld goal attempt with four seconds le= to avoid overtime in a 20-17 victory. The biggest plays came in the eighth game at upset-minded Purdue. With the Boilermakers leading 7-0 early in the sec- ond quarter, Arrington forced a fumble by quarterback Drew Brees near Purdue's 2- yard line, scooped up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. Morrison set up a touchdown by recovering a botched punt at the Purdue 4 midway through the quarter. Then, in the :nal seconds of the half, Arrington blocked a 37-yard :eld goal attempt that could have given Pur- due a 17-14 lead. Nearly :ve minutes into the third quarter, Brown scored a 25-yard touchdown on an interception a=er de- ;ecting a Brees pass to put Penn State 1947 team fielded one of PSU's greatest defenses T here is at least one team from before 1950 that should rate alongside the four modern era teams and their out- standing group of linebackers. The undefeated 1947 team that finished No. 4 in the nation and tied No. 3 SMU, 13-13, in the Cotton Bowl set three NCAA records that still stand today, in- cluding the record for fewest total yards allowed per game (minus-47). The Nittany Lions were not as remarkable against the pass, but they were still good enough to finish the season ranked seventh in the nation in that category, and they led the country in defensive comple- tion percentage, as opponents hit only 27.2 percent of their attempts. At the time, the power-oriented sin- gle-wing formation that been the backbone of college football almost since its inception was almost extinct, overtaken by the flashier T-formation. Yet, in 1947 when the final Associ- ated Press poll was taken before the bowl games, only No. 1 Notre Dame used the T-formation, with No. 2 Michigan also employing the single wing. Single-wing players usually had to play defense, and many were on the field for the full 60 minutes of a game. The center doubled as a linebacker, as did the quarterback, who was some- times referred to as a blocking back. The other linebackers tended to be ei- ther offensive linemen or fullbacks. In 1947, senior center John Wolosky, jun- ior quarterback Chuck Drazenovich and his older brother Joe, a starting guard on offense, were the Nittany Lions' primary linebackers. Film clips from 1947 show the line- backers basically playing in a 5-3-3 or 6-3-2 defense against seven-man of- fensive lines, with one of them often blitzing. Wolosky was credited with a blitz in the Cotton Bowl that made All-America halfback Doak Walker miss his second extra point attempt. Penn State missed a PAT, too, causing the game to end in a tie score. Drazen- ovich went on to become one of the all-time great linebackers for the Washington Redskins, with four Pro Bowls to his credit. –L.P. CHUCK DRAZENOVICH P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >>

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