Blue White Illustrated

t's a cliché to say that "records are made to be broken," but there is one record in Penn State football that will never be broken – even though the offi- cial record is fraudulent. The record-holder is Nittany Lion legend Mike Reid, a Hall of Fame defen- sive tackle who won the Maxwell Award as the nation's outstanding player in 1969 and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Since his first collegiate game as a sophomore on Sept. 17, 1966, when freshmen were ineligible, Reid has held the team record for the most safeties in a single game: three. That also was the historic day Joe Paterno made his debut as the Nittany Lions' head coach, as Penn State beat Maryland, 15-7, in Beaver Stadium. The game has been celebrated over the decades as a significant one both for Paterno and Penn State, but Reid's feat has virtually disappeared into obscurity. There it is on page 94 of Penn State's 2014 Spring Media Guide under the heading "Safeties" in a list of defensive records. Reid actually is credited with three records: most safeties in a game, in a season and in a career. The only reason Reid's three safeties are not an NCAA record is because of a specific rule about the two points awarded for a safety. "The reason we don't list a record for safeties by an in- dividual," Jim Wright, the NCAA direc- tor of statistics, explained in an email, "is because we do not award individual players with the two points. It goes as a team entry. This actually has been in our stats manual for a number of years." Check out page 16 of the Official 2013 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records Book, and you'll find four teams holding the record for most safeties in one game, starting with Penn State in the 1966 Maryland game. The others are: Arizona State (vs. Nebraska, Sept. 21, 1996), North Texas (vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, Sept. 27, 2003) and Bowling Green (vs. Miami, Ohio, Nov. 15, 2005). I have been intrigued by Reid's unique record ever since writing about that 1966 season for my first book, The Penn State Football Encyclopedia, published in 1998. I certainly didn't remember the safeties but discovered them while re- searching my book. Reid's first safety was the result of a blocked punt on the seventh play of the second quarter. Maryland was leading 7-0 after a 73-yard drive on its second possession of the game. The Terrapins were facing fourth-and-26 at their own 2-yard line when Reid, playing middle guard, broke through and, according to some reports, hit the ball with his stom- ach, sending it flying out of the end zone. "There's a sophomore for you," Pater- no cracked after the game. "If he'd blocked it with his hands, we'd have had a touchdown." That touchdown came 5 minutes, 11 seconds later when Penn State drove 60 yards on 11 plays following Maryland's kickoff from its 20-yard line. Quarter- back Jack White scored the touchdown on a 2-yard scamper around left end on fourth down, but his pass attempt to fu- ture Hall of Fame tight end Ted Kwalick for two points was intercepted. Bobby Capretto's interception on Maryland's first play following the Li- ons' TD set up a 23-yard field goal by Tom Sherman with 3:47 left in the half, and except for Reid's two credited safeties in the fourth quarter, there would be no more scoring that after- noon. It's also noteworthy that when the second half began, Reid was moved to middle linebacker for some plays be- cause the defense was stymied by pass- es into the flat by Maryland quarterback Al Pastrana. "[Mike] had a lot of territo- ry to cover, and he did it well," Paterno said after the game. Reid's second safety came on the sec- ond play of the fourth quarter. As the third quarter was winding down, Penn State drove 53 yards on 10 plays follow- ing a fumble recovery, only to fall short on fourth-and-1 at the Maryland 4- yard line on the last play of the quarter. Maryland gained 3 yards when the fourth quarter started, but on second down, as Doug McDonald of the Centre Daily Times wrote, "Reid, [end] Bill Morgan and [end] Bob Vukmer swarmed over Al Pastrana in the end zone for an- other safety." Naturally, the game all but ended on the third safety. In the closing minute, a well-placed 48-yard punt by Wayne Corbett put the ball on Maryland's 2- yard line. In Ridge Riley's popular week- ly Alumni Football Letter, he summed up the zaniness at the end of the game: "With thirty seconds left, [Maryland's back-up quarterback Phil] Petry, trying to pass, looked up to find Reid, Morgan and Vukmer looming in front of him. You could almost hear him say 'the heck with this' or something like that. He wheeled and tossed the ball through the sideline boundary of the end zone [for a safety]." Tim Montgomery returned Mary- land's ensuing kickoff to the Penn State 21-yard line as the last four seconds on the clock ticked off. Maryland head coach Lou Saban told reporters Reid's safety off the blocked punt turned the game around. Reid also was honored nationally for his three safeties, as Sports Illustrated Upon further review, this record doesn't stand I

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