Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1529598
D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 4 6 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Even so, few expected the Illini to keep pace with a Penn State team that had averaged 48.4 points in its first eight games. Fading Hopes Penn State's trip had been chaotic from the start. At the team hotel, play- ers were restless thanks to a succes- sion of prank phone calls that the front desk had put through to their rooms throughout the night. When they woke up Saturday morn- ing, the players learned that the power had gone out. Instead of a hot breakfast in the hotel restaurant, the team had to order takeout. Speaking to The Penn Stater Magazine years later, then-stu- dent manager Kirk Diehl recalled get- ting to Memorial Stadium ahead of the team and meeting up with the Illinois game day crew. "They were great," Diehl said. "The TV's on, and they said, 'Hey, your guys are on the news right now. They're eat- ing pizza at the hotel bar.'" That disruption didn't sit well with players. Said safety Kim Herring, "Who eats pizza and goes out and plays football? Your stomach's not going to be right." It wasn't long before Nittany Lion fans began feeling a bit of indiges- tion themselves. A fumble by running back Ki-Jana Carter on Penn State's first possession set up an early Illinois touchdown, and the Illini cashed in again when Kerry Collins tossed an in- terception on PSU's next drive. By the end of the first quarter, the hosts were leading 21-0. With the last rays of day- light fading, Penn State's hopes for an undefeated season were seemingly dim- ming, too. "We couldn't have played any worse," center Bucky Greeley said. 'All's Well That Ends Well' Once the Nittany Lions stopped turn- ing the ball over, they began creeping back into the game. The score was 28- 14 at halftime and 31-21 heading into the fourth quarter. When fullback Brian Milne scored on a 5-yard run, the Lions trailed by only three points. Illinois went three-and-out on its next possession, leaving the Lions with six minutes to save their undefeated season. It was clear, though, that noth- ing was going to come easy on this day. When Mike Archie misjudged Illinois' punt, Penn State found itself having to start out at its own 4-yard line. The pressure of having to put together a 96-yard drive in the waning minutes against one of the nation's best defenses might have overwhelmed some players, but one of the hallmarks of the Lions' 1994 season was that they always kept their cool. They had an unflappable quarterback in Collins, and a corps of veteran players around him. By that point in the game, they knew they had the upper hand. "There was an awareness among our offense and their defense that they couldn't stop us anymore," tight end Kyle Brady told The Penn Stater. "Even when we got the ball on our 4-yard line, we knew they couldn't stop us — and they knew it, too. When we came out of the huddle, you could almost see it in their eyes. It was as if both units knew it was inevitable." The Lions covered those 96 yards in 14 plays. Collins completed all 7 of his passing attempts, and Milne finished it off by crashing into the end zone from 2 yards away for the go-ahead score. The touchdown, Milne's third of the game on just 7 carries, gave PSU a 35-31 lead with 57 seconds left, and the defense made it hold up. An interception by Herring in the end zone with 10 seconds remaining finished off the Illini. "All's well that ends well, I guess," Joe Paterno said after watching his team clinch a Rose Bowl bid in only its second year of Big Ten membership. Poll Position The return trip went a lot better than the one the Nittany Lions had endured a few days earlier. When they arrived on campus, their buses headed straight to Rec Hall, where fans had gathered for an impromptu pep rally. The scene was joyous, and there was some talk after- ward that maybe the game would vault Penn State back to No. 1 in the polls. The Lions had held the top spot for two weeks before slipping to No. 2 follow- ing a 35-29 win over Indiana in which the Hoosiers had scored a couple of late touchdowns to make the game seem closer than it really was. The concerns over poll positioning were legitimate, because the Lions knew they wouldn't have a chance to meet Nebraska for the national title due to the Big Ten's ties with the Rose Bowl. While their game at Illinois may not have been a Top 25 showdown, it showed the team's mettle in a way that no previous game had. Perhaps the pollsters would reward their resilience. Or perhaps not. When the polls came out that week, Penn State was still No. 2, and that's where it ended up. The Nittany Lions won their last two regular-season games against North- western and Michigan State, and they defeated Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Ne- braska also won out, beating Miami in the Orange Bowl the night before PSU faced the Ducks. Penn State's second-place finish in the polls still irritates longtime fans, but the '94 season is remembered as one of the greatest of the Paterno era, and perhaps no game is recalled more fondly than the one against unranked Illinois. It was emblematic of the kind of team Penn State fielded that year. "We were an unselfish group," Collins recently told GoPSUSports.com. "We didn't care who got the credit. We didn't care how it got done. We just wanted to get it done. Not only that, the work ethic was tremendous, our attitude was really good and we were hungry. We wanted it for each other." ■ "We were an unselfish group. We didn't care who got the credit. We didn't care how it got done. We just wanted to get it done." K E R R Y C O L L I N S O N T H E 1 9 9 4 N I T T A N Y L I O N S