Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1420595
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 1 19 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M FIVE YEARS AGO, 2016 Like safecrackers nudging the tum- blers into place in some seemingly impregnable vault, the Nittany Lions steadily, methodically worked their way into the Big Ten Championship Game in the last month of the 2016 regular season. That process involved a lot of win- ning; the Lions defeated Iowa (41-14), Indiana (45-31), Rutgers (39-0) and Michigan State (45-12) in November. It also involved some scoreboard watching. On the evening of Nov. 12, a few hours after PSU had put away the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Iowa stunned second-ranked, division-leading Mich- igan, 14-13. Suddenly, the door to the East Division title was ajar. The Lions still needed another Wol- verines loss, and on Nov. 26 they got it. Shortly after the Penn State-Michigan State game got underway in Beaver Sta- dium, Ohio State finished off a double- overtime victory over Michigan in Co- lumbus. With the door to the vault having swung wide open, the Lions stepped past it and made off with all the valu- ables. Trace McSorley threw for 376 yards, and Penn State scored 35 un- answered points in the second half to break open a close game against the Spartans. In doing so, the Lions assured themselves a spot opposite West Divi- sion champ Wisconsin in Indianapolis. James Franklin could scarcely contain his excitement. "It's been fun to watch those guys make plays and watch Trace grow up in front of our eyes," he said. 10 YEARS AGO, 2011 After 46 seasons and 409 victories, the Joe Paterno era came to a devastat- ing end on Nov. 9, when the legendary coach was fired by Penn State's board of trustees. Paterno's ouster had been pre- cipitated by the arrest of former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jerry San- dusky on charges that he had preyed on young boys over a 15-year period, and also by allegations that high-ranking university officials had failed to report him to authorities. When the Lions returned to the field three days after Paterno's firing, long- time assistant Tom Bradley was their interim coach. A capacity crowd of 107,903 poured into Beaver Stadium to see Penn State take on Nebraska, but the mood was somber, and the Cornhuskers prevailed, 17-14. Afterward, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said he thought the game shouldn't have been played. Bradley strongly disagreed. "At no time did I think the game would be canceled, nor did I think the game should be canceled," he said. "The players on this football team, the players from Nebraska — they deserve a chance to compete." The Lions were competitive after falling behind by 17 points midway through the third quarter. They scored two late touchdowns on runs of five and six yards by Steph- fon Green. But their come- back fizzled out when Silas Redd was stuffed on fourth- and-one with just under two minutes to play. The Lions had been in contention for the Big Ten title earlier in the season. In the wake of Paterno's dismissal, the team's on-field results came to seem almost like an afterthought, but Bradley saw some hopeful signs in an afternoon that, for a few hours at least, resembled a normal football Saturday. "Just to see them all out there and the class they exhibited, maybe today is the start of the healing process," he said. 25 YEARS AGO, 1996 The Penn State football team reeled off three victories in November as part of a late-season surge back into the na- tional top 10, where it had spent much of the season's first month before losing to Ohio State and Iowa in October. The second of those November wins was a rare triumph in Ann Arbor. The Nittany Lions clamped down hard on Michigan's offense on Nov. 16, coming away with a 29-17 comeback win. After the victory, Michigan quarter- back Scott Dreisbach said he was per- plexed by the Wolverines' struggles on offense. "I can't put my finger on what the problem is," he admitted. The problem against Penn State was that the Nittany Lions kept getting their fingers on Dreisbach's passes. The Li- ons picked him off three times and also recovered a fumble by the quarterback, part of a defensive tour de force in which they finished with five takeaways, all in the second half. It was Penn State's third victory in a row over the Wolverines, but its run of good luck was about to end. After the win in 1996, the Nittany Lions lost their next nine games against Michigan, a skid that didn't end until 2008. — Matt Herb This Month in Penn State Athletics History Quarterback Trace McSorley threw for 376 yards in a win over Michigan State that clinched Penn State's berth in the 2016 Big Ten Championship Game. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL PSUtixman@gmail.com www.PSUtixman.com Get your PSU Football Tickets at go t ti cke t s?