Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526526
6 0 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M T ype the phrase "worst college foot- ball game ever played" into your search engine of choice, and you are guaranteed some entertaining results. Did you know that in 2008, Mississippi State went 0-17 on third and fourth down in a 3-2 loss to Auburn? I didn't. Nor did I know that Wake Forest needed double overtime to pull off a 6-3 win over Vir- ginia Tech in 2014. Or that Illinois and Northwestern had more punting yards than offensive yards in a 0-0 tie to open the 1978 season. What I did know — what sent me down this particularly dark rabbit hole in the first place — was that 20 years ago, Penn State lost to Iowa, 6-4. It was an unsightly score for an unsightly game, and it has gained an almost mythic status in Nit- tany Lion football lore over the past two decades, cultishly appreciated in much the same so-bad-it's-good way that the Land Grant Trophy is appreciated. Is it the worst college football game ever played? Possibly not. But there's a strong case to be made that it's the worst game Penn State has ever played, and it's almost certainly the worst game of the Paterno era. "It was a long game — a long, boring game," Penn State safety Donnie Johnson told ESPN years later in an oral history of the contest. "All I remember is just punts." Offensive Struggles In the early 2000s, Penn State was mired in its losingest stretch since Joe Paterno's appointment as head coach in 1966. Devoid of receiving threats and plagued by uncertainty at quarterback at a time when the game was becoming increasingly pass-oriented, the Nittany Lions compiled losing records and missed out on the postseason in 2000, '01 and '03. They were well on their way to do- ing so again in 2004, dropping four of their first six games. Their best offensive showing against a Power Five opponent to that point in the season was a 13-point outburst in a loss to Purdue. NO OFFENSE TAKEN Twenty years ago, Penn State and Iowa played a game that has lived on in Nittany Lion football infamy M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Joe Paterno went 3-8 against Kirk Ferentz from 1999-2011. Iowa's 6-4 victory in 2004 was its fifth in a row over the Nittany Lions. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL