Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/621318
D E C E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 19 already owned 10 NCAA and 15 South- eastern Conference records. The Bull- dogs also led the nation in interceptions with 31, had the two leading pass inter- ceptors in All-American Terry Hoage (12) and Jeff Sanchez (nine) and had given up just seven TD passes all season. What Georgia didn't have was a passer. Quar- terback John Lastinger was completing fewer than 50 percent of his passes, but he was a leader whose performance in clutch situations "allows us to win," coach Vince Dooley said. The Bulldogs also had been here before. For the third consecutive year, Georgia was playing in the Sugar Bowl and in 1980 had beaten Notre Dame to win the national title. Paterno had lost all three Sugar Bowl games in which he'd coached, as the Lions fell short in 1972, '75 and '78. He had admitted that the Su- perdome was "a tough place to coach." To get his players ready for the noise, he used some of the 10 days of practice in State College to work indoors with speakers blaring loud crowd noises. "It would give you a headache when you walked out of practice," said Garrity. De- spite Walker, the oddsmakers listed the Lions as three- to four-point favorites. Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News picked the Lions to win 27-24. "Balance of Blackledge, Warner offsets brilliant effort by H. Walker," he wrote. "Fans will talk about this one for years." Conlin was so right! The Lions won the toss and chose to re- ceive. Dooley had figured Paterno would first test his "bruised" defensive line by running the ball up the gut. However, Pa- terno's strategy was to use the speed and dexterity of his receivers and to throw long. ADer Warner made 4 yards up the middle on the first play, Blackledge passed to tight end Mike McCloskey for 33 yards, then to Garrity for 27. With two more passes and two runs, the Lions went 78 yards and Warner then ran 2 yards around leD end for the touchdown. Sophomore Nick Gancitano kicked the PAT and the Lions led, 7-0. Georgia came right back. With Walker carrying six times for 40 yards, including runs of 12 and 11 yards, the Bulldogs marched 70 yards in 15 plays before they were halted by State's defense and forced into a 27-yard field goal by Kevin Butler. For nearly the rest of the half, the game belonged to State. The Lions continually shiDed their defensive scheme, hitting PHOTO FINISH The postgame scene, with Paterno exiting the field triumphantly on the shoulders of his players, is one of the iconic mo- ments in Penn State football history. Penn State Athletics