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By JERRY KELLAR; Times Leader Sports Writer
Sunday, November 06, 1994 Page: 1C
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Maybe it was the dreary, rainy weather hanging over
southern Indiana. Maybe it was the small crowd.
Maybe it was just those Big Ten blues.
Whatever the reason, Penn State’s football team just wasn’t itself Saturday
at Memorial Stadium.
Still, the Nittany Lions won.
“Sometimes, you have those days,” wide receiver Bobby Engram said following
Penn State’s less-than-thrilling 35-29 victory over Indiana. “But hey, any win
is a great win.”
The top-ranked Lions (8-0 overall, 5-0 in the Big Ten) need only to win at
Illinois next week to secure their first-ever conference championship and earn
a berth in the Jan. 2 Rose Bowl.
Their lackluster performance before a crowd of 47,754, however, may have
cost them their No. 1 rating in the CNN/USA Today coaches’ poll. State came
into the game ranked second in the Associated Press poll behind Nebraska,
which won easily against Kansas on Saturday.
“I don’t care about polls,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said in a cramped
post-game interview tent. “I would just hope we learned the difference between
being real good and good is so slight.
“It’s a good lesson for us.”
It should be pointed out that the final score was not indicative of the
Lions’ dominance over the Hoosiers (5-4, 2-4). Indiana needed two late
touchdowns, one coming on a last-second, 40-yard desperation heave, to make
the final count respectable.
The game’s rather bizarre ending concluded with Indiana converting on a
two-point conversion pass, as Hoosier players and fans celebrated wildly.
“The way it ended, Indiana people felt like they won it,” Paterno said.
Penn State also had two long touchdowns called back by penalty in the
fourth quarter — Mike Archie’s 89-yard punt return, and linebacker Brian
Gelzheiser’s 75-yard run with a fumble recovery.
“We controlled the whole game,” Paterno pointed out. “We weren’t in danger
of losing. We just weren’t crisp. It was bound to set in considering the
performances we’ve had (so far this season).”
Indeed. Coming into the game, the Lions had outscored their seven opponents
by a 352-124 count. And they were coming off back-to-back emotional victories
against Michigan and Ohio State.
“You can’t blow everybody out,” said Penn State tight end Kyle Brady, who
caught a 7-yard TD pass in the first quarter. “Every once in a while you’re
going to have games like this. It’s a good lesson for us.”
It was evident from the start that State was going to have problems
reaching its gaudy 50 points-a-game season average.
The Lions, in fact, found themselves locked in a 7-7 tie with IU midway
through the second quarter. However, State struck quickly before the half.
Kerry Collins hit wide out Freddie Scott for an 18-yard score, and reliable
Brett Conway drilled a 30-yard field goal as the clock expired to give the
visitors a 17-7 edge at the break.
It was a weird afternoon for Collins, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 213
yards and two TDs.
At times, he was unstoppable: Collins was 7-for-7 for 77 yards on State’s
first scoring drive of the day.
At times, he resembled a nervous freshman making his first game appearance:
Collins threw two interceptions and misfired on several occasions on passes to
open receivers.
“Overall, I think he played well,” Paterno said of his senior quarterback.
“He just missed a couple of big plays and had a couple of passes dropped.”
It was that kind of day.
Paterno said he sensed trouble was ahead for his team before the game.
“There wasn’t much enthusiasm before the game,” he said. “They were
lethargic.”
“Obviously, we didn’t play our best,” added Engram, who dropped at least
two of Collins’ passes.
Penn State’s offensive troubles opened the door for its defense to shine.
And overall, it did.
Led by Gelzheiser, the Lions kept the Hoosiers out of the end zone until
the offense got cranking.
“It was good for us to be in this type of game,” said defensive end Todd
Atkins, who had one of his team’s two sacks. “We finally were able to pick
them up.”
Then Ki-Jana Carter took over.
The flashy tailback from Westerville, Ohio, turned in yet another solid
performance, rushing 20 times for 192 yards and a touchdown — that coming on
a sensational 80-yard run in the fourth quarter. Carter now has 1,095 rushing
yards for the season. He became the third Penn State runner to reach the
milestone in consecutive seasons. The others were John Cappelletti (1972-73)
and Curt Warner (1981-82).
“Carter’s a good one, I guarantee that,” Indiana coach Bill Mallory said.
“My God, they have so many weapons. I don’t know if you try to take anything
away. You just try to contain them.
“That’s as fine an offense as there is around.”
The Hoosiers weren’t too shabby either Saturday.
IU rolled up 414 yards of offense (State had 469) and got a tremendous
effort from backup quarterback Chris Dittoe, who was inserted into the lineup
in relief of starter John Paci during the second quarter.
A 6-foot-6 sophomore, Dittoe hit on 21 of 35 passes for 279 yards and four
TDs — three coming in the final period. His first, a 35-yarder to tough
receiver Ajamu Stoner, briefly tied the score at 7-7. That touchdown was set
up by Eric Smedley’s interception deep in IU territory.
Mallory was most proud that his team refused to give in to the mighty
Lions.
“Teams would get down to (Penn State) and just crumble,” Mallory said. “I
really thought we played well.”