Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539550
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 5 6 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M security issues against Oregon were scarcely to be believed. "That third quarter was the most hor- rible 15 minutes I've spent in my life," coach Rip Engle lamented. "I guess it was just as horrible for a lot of other people here today, and I'm just sorry. "What else can I say? How do you ex- plain nine fumbles, four of them in one quarter? Who knows wh a t h a p p e n s ? I have no answers but no excuses, either." The Nittany Lions did manage to put a drive together in the fourth quarter, cut- ting their deficit to five points, 19-14, on a 1-yard touchdown run by Kunit. But Oregon answered with a 32-yard field goal and held on by intercepting Wyd- man twice in the final six minutes. Even before the disastrous second half, Engle felt that PSU's carelessness was taking a toll. The Lions had jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a 2-yard touch- down run by Ed Stuckrath, but then Wydman fumbled in the second quarter, setting up an Oregon TD that trimmed Penn State's lead to just one point after the PAT sailed wide. "The whole complexion of the game seemed to change," Engle said ruefully. Feeling Confident The loss to the Ducks left Penn State winless. It wasn't just the worst start in Engle's 15 years as head coach; it was the worst start in pro- gram history. Never before had the Nittany Lions been 0-3. Those struggles had not been en- tirely unexpected. The backfield was inexperienced, including Wydman, who had missed the 1962 season with a knee injury and the '63 cam- paign with mononucleosis. The instability extended to the coaching staff. By the early 1960s, Engle was approaching the end of his long tenure with the Nittany Lions. Prior to the 1964 campaign, he had named his protégé Joe Paterno as- sociate coach, a prelude to the change in leadership that everyone knew would be coming before too long. But even though he was in the midst of his next-to-last season, Engle still had plenty of fight left in him. His team did, too. A week after losing to Oregon, the Nittany Lions beat Army, 6-2, get- ting the only points they would need on a 2-yard touchdown run by Bob Riggle early in the third quarter. The Lions won two of their next three, setting up a high-stakes meeting with Ohio State on Nov. 7 in Colum- bus. The Buckeyes had risen to No. 2 in the Associated Press poll after open- ing their season with six consecutive victories, including shutouts of Illinois and USC. Nobody gave Penn State much of a chance against Woody Hayes' talented squad, but Paterno was unfazed. In his book "Football My Way," he recounted a conversation with PSU sports informa- tion director Jim Tarman the night before the game. "We're going to shut out Woody," he told Tarman. "We've put in some changes that will neutralize some of the things they do best on offense, and we've scrapped our regular offense." In the end, Wyd- man completed 12 of 22 passes for 147 yards, while the Lions rushed for 194 yards as a team. Mean- while, PSU's defense held the Buckeyes to just 60 yards and 5 first downs. The Lions handily won the turnover battle, recovering 2 fumbles and totaling 3 in- terceptions, while not suffering any giveaways of their own. The result was one of the biggest upsets of the era, a 27-0 romp that Hayes described after- ward as "the soundest trouncing we've ever gotten." History Repeats There are some obvious parallels between that 1964 season and the Big Ten campaign that is about to get un- der way this fall. Sixty-one years ago, the Lions faced Oregon at home and Ohio State on the road in games that were played 35 days apart. This year, they'll do exactly the same. The Nittany Lions would be quite happy if the parallels ended up includ- ing a shutout victory over Ohio State in Columbus. They haven't held the Buckeyes scoreless since 1978, and you won't find anyone predicting it'll happen this year, either, but stranger things have happened. As for the Oregon game, it's hard to imagine anything stranger than what transpired the last time the Ducks vis- ited. Eight giveaways in a single game? Four in a single quarter? That's the kind of history no program would ever want to experience twice. Once was bad enough. ■ PHOTO COURTESY PENN STATE ATHLETICS "That third quarter was the most horrible 15 minutes I've spent in my life. I guess it was just as horrible for a lot of other people here today, and I'm just sorry. What else can I say? How do you explain nine fumbles, four of them in one quarter?" R I P E N G L E