Blue White Illustrated

P O S T S E A S O N P R E V I E W >> P E N N S T A T E T he 1923 Rose Bowl was a historic game of firsts, with a couple of bizarre pregame incidents right out of a slapstick movie comedy. First, Penn State was invited to play in the game several months be- fore the opening of the 1922 season. The invitation had been sent se- cretly that spring and privately ac- cepted by Penn State officials in August. When the student newspa- per, the semi-weekly Collegian, broke the news in late October prior to the Nittany Lions' matchup with Syracuse, the Pacific Coast Intercol- legiate Conference, which organized the game, said it was "a tribute to past achievements" by Penn State. That was a reference to the Lions' outstanding teams of 1919 (7-1), 1920 (7-0-2) and 1921 (8-0-2). However, Penn State coach Hugo Bezdek certainly helped manipulate the invitation because of his strong West Coast contacts, including coaching in the 1917 and 1919 Rose Bowl games for Oregon and the Mare Island Marines. At the time of the Collegian scoop, Bezdek's Nittany Lions were riding high with a 29-game unbeaten streak stretching back to 1919, including five victories during that '22 season. A 0-0 tie with Syracuse at New York's Polo Grounds added to the mark, but then the team collapsed, losing three of its next four games before the trip to Pasadena. Nittany Lions made history in first visit to Rose Bowl geles Times. The Lion offense netted 430 yards, and the much-maligned Penn State pass defense also came through with big plays to thwart O'Neil, who broke five 32-year-old Rose Bowl records by completing 41 of 61 passes for 456 yards. "Lions No. 1 in Pasadena," said the headline in the Pasadena Star-News. "We proved to everyone in the country we're certainly worthy to be national champion as much as anyone else," Pa- terno told the media after his players had given him the game ball. But it was not to be. "Undefeated. Un- tied. Unappreciated," said the front of a popular T-shirt sold in Happy Valley. Pa- terno had his fifth unbeaten team and be- came the only coach to win all of the traditional New Year's Day bowls: the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Cotton. He also was now the winningest coach in bowl history. But Nebraska won the national title by an overwhelming margin. Only one media voter split his ballot in the AP poll, with Nebraska getting 51 1 ⁄2 first- place votes and 1,539 1 ⁄2 total to Penn State's 10 1 ⁄2 and 1,497 1 ⁄2. The coaches gave the Cornhuskers 54 first-place votes and 1,542 points to Penn State's eight and 1,496 points. Only The New York Times and the Sagarin computer ratings made the Lions No. 1. Despite playing what the NCAA said was the 17th-toughest sched- ule, the laurels went to Nebraska with the 57th-hardest schedule. Maybe, as the Alumni Association's John Black wrote in his Football Letter, the championship was determined by one play at Michigan – a month before the Lions visited the Big House. That was the day of Colorado's Hail Mary upset. "If Colorado had not upset Michi- gan on that improbable play," Black wrote, "the Wolverines would have been ranked No. 1 when Penn State went into Ann Arbor on Oct. 15. Consequently, when the Lions moved into the top spot themselves after defeating Michigan, their hold on No. 1 would have been un- breakable, rather than tenuous." Per- haps, but that doesn't factor in the innate bias by the voters, who all season long favored Nebraska coach Tom Os- borne because he had not yet won a na- tional championship. But 1994 is now part of the Penn State football legacy. "Undefeated. Untied. Un- appreciated." ■ BEST OF THE BEST Members of Penn State's unbeaten 1994 team returned to campus for a re- union in 2014. From left to right: Jeff Hartings, Keith Conlin, Ki- Jana Carter (front), Kyle Brady, Kerry Collins, Brian Milne and Fred- die Scott. Photo by Patrick Mansell

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