Penn State Lets Air Out of Pitt : College football: In next-to-last game in this long series, 64 passes by Van Pelt doesn’t get the job done as No. 6 Nittany Lions win, 32-20.
PITTSBURGH — By throwing 64 times in a nearly four-hour game, the Pittsburgh Panthers showed they might not want their rivalry with Penn State to end. The way he dominates Pitt, Joe Paterno also should hope it doesn’t.
Tony Sacca directed the No. 6 Nittany Lions to two touchdowns in 5 1/2 minutes, and they held off Pitt for a 32-20 victory Thursday.
Craig Fayak kicked four field goals and Richie Anderson added two touchdowns as Penn State (10-2) survived the passing of Alex Van Pelt.
Paterno, probably coaching his last game at Pitt Stadium, got his 239th victory at Penn State to move past Woody Hayes into fifth place on the all-time career coaching list. He trails Eddie Robinson, Bear Bryant, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Pop Warner.
The Pitt-Penn State series, first played in 1893, will end after next season when Penn State moves into the Big Ten Conference. Maybe Paterno should reconsider now that he is 9-1-1 in Pitt Stadium and 19-6-1 overall against Pitt.
“I don’t think I’ll coach another one out here unless a miracle occurs,†Paterno said. “I was just glad to get the win. We knew they’d pass a lot . . . and I tried to tell our kids to have patience and wait for the big play. We tried to do that with Anderson.â€
Anderson rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns--on an 11-yard run that made it 14-0 with just 5:27 gone and a 29-yard burst in the fourth quarter that restored Penn State’s two-touchdown lead. Pitt (6-5) had closed to 26-20 on Van Pelt’s four-yard pass to Glenn Deveaux.
Van Pelt completed 27 of 64 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns but threw five interceptions and had five other potential interceptions dropped--two by Penn State defensive linemen inside the Pitt five-yard line.
“We got a little frustrated out there because I’ve never seen so many opportunities for interceptions,†cornerback Derek Bochna said. “We knew we could stop them unless we made some big errors. We never got scared.â€
Van Pelt, joining Dan Marino as the only 8,000-yard passers in Pitt history, broke the school record of 51 passes he shared with Rick Trocano (1978) and Dave Havern (1968).
“Nobody’s had success running against them. Notre Dame couldn’t get 100 (rushing) yards against them, neither could Miami,†Pitt Coach Paul Hackett said. “Alex made some sensational plays and big throws, but when you throw that many times, you usually lose. He forced too many in there, and that’s when you get interceptions.â€
Sacca, who threw 37 fewer times than Van Pelt, gave Penn State a 7-0 lead with a 28-yard pass to Troy Drayton with 1:35 gone. He then found Terry Smith for 20 yards to set up Anderson’s first touchdown.
Sacca, the top single-season passer in Penn State history, completed 11 of 27 for 164 yards. Hone of his passes was intercepted.
The kicking game also played a big factor as Penn State beat Pitt for the third consecutive season. Craig Fayak, who had missed eight of 21 previous attempts, kicked four field goals and Doug Helkowski constantly backed up Pitt’s offense by averaging 44 yards on nine punts.
“The kicking game was the big difference,†Paterno said.
Penn State, a 10-game winner for the first time since its 1986 national championship season, leads the series, 46-41-4. It has been played 29 times on Thanksgiving Day.
“I thought we had a chance, but once we cut (the score) to 26-20, we couldn’t get a big play or a first down to keep any drives alive,†Hackett said. “I thought we had a chance to capture something special, but we just couldn’t get it done.â€
O.J. McDuffie’s fumbled punt got Pitt back in the game in the first quarter, setting up Glenn Deveaux’s four-yard touchdown run that made it 14-7.
Fayak kicked field goals of 25, 47 and 24 yards--the latter two in the final 1:18 of the half--to make it 23-7 at halftime.
Van Pelt found freshman Dietrich Jells behind Bochna on a 73-yard scoring pass play early in the third quarter, but the Panthers self-destructed with blown chances and Van Pelt’s three second-half interceptions.
“We tried all day to get (Jells) one-on-one in their secondary, but it happened just once,†Hackett said.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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