Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539550
6 2 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M I t's going to be bedlam when Penn State welcomes Oregon to Beaver Stadium on Sept. 27. It's always bedlam on White Out night, of course, but this game is going to be different. Ever since the Big Ten signed a $7 billion media-rights deal in 2022, Penn State has had difficulty setting up its schedule so that its best home game airs in prime time. Partly as a result, the Lions haven't faced a top-10 opponent in a regular-season White Out since then- No. 4 Ohio State visited in 2018. This year, however, the stars have fi- nally aligned. The Ducks and Nittany Lions are both legitimate national cham- pionship contenders, making their clash one of the most eagerly awaited games of the season. Adding to the intrigue, these teams have rarely played over the years. Lo- cated on opposite sides of the continent, Penn State and Oregon have met just five times, with the Nittany Lions holding a 3-2 edge. Of those five games, four have been played at neutral sites. One took place in Portland, two were bowls, and the most recent was last year's Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis, a shootout in which the Ducks outlasted the Lions, 45-37. The other game was a regular-sea- son clash played 61 years ago, on Oct. 3, 1964. That's when the Ducks made their first and, to date, only visit to State College. Considering how it went, it's perhaps not so surprising that PSU was in no hurry to welcome them back. Everything Changed The most important thing to know about Oregon's 22-14 victory in front of 44,803 fans on a sunny early-October afternoon at Beaver Stadium is that the Nittany Lions had 9 fumbles, of which they lost 6. They fumbled four times in the third quarter alone. Halfback Don Kunit lost the ball on Penn State's first possession of the sec- ond half, setting up a touchdown that gave the visitors a 12-7 lead. Gary Klin- gensmith then fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Oregon recovered and scored again for a 19-7 lead. On the first play of Penn State's next drive, an Oregon blitz led to a botched exchange between Klingensmith and quarterback Gary Wydman. Linebacker Harry Cartales pounced on the loose ball, and while the Ducks failed to score this time, the Lions were still in a gener- ous mood. After going three-and-out, PSU botched a punt. Kicker Frank Hershey picked up the ball and began running. His sprint down the sideline gave the Nittany Lions new hope … until the ball popped out again when Cartales tackled him at the Oregon 47-yard line. "He wasn't holding it very tight," Car- tales told the Eugene Register-Guard, "so I started tugging." The Nittany Lions had been error- prone in their previous two games against Navy and UCLA, but the ball- THE MORE THINGS CHANGE … In 1964, Penn State faced Oregon and Ohio State in two of the season's most consequential games M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M Aware that he was approaching his retirement, Rip Engle named longtime aide Joe Paterno associate coach ahead of the 1964 season. PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS