Penn State Football: Trap Game? Trap This

EVANSTON, Ill. — “What adjustments did you make at halftime?”

The question drew a smile and even a little snicker from Joe Paterno. It was the first from a very small room full of 40 or so media types, all squeezed into a space about the size of a double dorm room in East Hall, maybe a tad larger.

The post-game interview quarters at Ryan Field were so tight, the walls so confining, that the Penn State coach could — and did — extend his right hand a few minutes later to pat the head of a questioner literally kneeling at Joe’s feet  

It was a fair question and a good one, too. After all, the Nittany Lions entered the game ranked 12^th in the BCS standings yet trailed 13-10 at halftime against a team that was a .500 level performer in the Big Ten.  

That the Lions came back in the final 30 minutes to win 34-13, running their record to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten, was a foregone conclusion in many people’s minds.

Not in Paterno’s noggin, however. He knew all about games stuck between looking back and looking ahead. Funny, though only once before had the Big Ten schedule-makers sandwiched a game between Michigan and Ohio State on Penn State’s schedule. That was in 2001, in the dark years. That year the Nittany Lions lost 20-0 at home to Michigan, won 38-35 here at Northwestern, then beat Ohio State 29-27 in Beaver Stadium for Paterno’s 324^th career victory.

That was 67 victories ago.

(Interestingly, four times in 16 years Penn State has faced Michigan and Ohio State back-to-back. The conference first scheduled the package as a Welcome to the Big Ten present in PSU’s first year in the league, and the Lions lost both games. Since then, Penn State has answered the challenge of winning both games back-to-back three times — in 1994, 2005 and 2008.)

Saturday, Paterno knew what his players were thinking. They busted several ghosts in Michigan Stadium last week and knew that a certain son of a witch from Jeannette by way of Columbus was hitting Happy Valley next week.

“Joe talked to us about it being a trap game,” said center Stefen Wisniewski, grinning in a way that told you he knew that it was a State secret revealing such things. “Joe was very worried.”

Paterno also knew that very few of the Penn State players had ever been to the Nortwestern campus. Penn State last played here on Sept. 24, 2005, when the Lions won the game in the final minute on a 36-yard TD pass from MRob to D-Will. And the best that I can figure, nine Nittany Lions on the roster on Saturday were on the team then.

So they didn’t know about the small crowds. (Saturday’s attendance was a season-high 30,546).

Or the swirling winds. (Twenty mph gusts coming off of Lake Michigan, about eight blocks away, caused adjacent pennants to point in different directions).

Or the casual atmosphere usually found inside Ryan Field on game day. (On par with a spirited discussion about late 19^th century French history over a latte at one of Evanston’s five Starbucks.)

For players accustomed to feeding off the emotion of a White Out or the sheer size of a Big House, stepping onto Northwestern’s home turf is a downer. It is thinner, less attractive and patchier, too. I’m talking about the natural grass turf, but it could be the Wildcats’ roster as well.

For a visiting team like the Lions, Ryan is definitely not a Field of Orange or Fiesta Dreams.

Ryan Field is best absorbed as if the visitor imagines it all in black and white, a scene from the 1950s with big lettermen jackets, cheerleaders with megaphones and helmets without facemasks. Not saying it’s antiquated, but the visitors’ “suites” atop the press box — like the one shared by Penn State athletic director Tim Curley with university president Graham Spanier or the one shared by the Penn State assistant coaches — seat seven uncomfortably, and are perched one floor atop the press box, so high that all occupants must take a flight of steps down to catch the elevator.

“This atmosphere is not what we’re used to,” allowed Wisniewski. “I’ve been at high school games where there’s more electricity.”

He means more excitement and not voltage. I think.

Northwestern was all charged up heading into the game. Just the week before, the Wildcats had overcome a 28-3 deficit to defeat visiting Indiana 29-28 in a Homecoming game that was the biggest comeback in school history.

Ironically, Paterno was worried that the Nittany Lions’ batteries needed a jumpstart. So, at the urging of some assistant coaches, he gave his players last Monday off.

Then he had his coaches run the defense silly. Northwestern’s open set offense (all receivers, no backs) was capable of running upwards to 90 plays a game. By comparison, Penn State’s very efficient and effective 2009 offense averages 67 plays a game. Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley knew NU was definitely all Wildcats when on offense – plenty hissy and pissy. To get the Lion defense ready at practice last week, the Penn State staff went with two scout teams, not one. And they ran a play every 18 seconds, to get the players used to a constant and never-ending torrent of Wildcats.

It didn’t work.

None of it.

Not tackling — figuratively and literally — the fast-paced offense. Not the taking the low vibe stadium in stride. Not the looking behind. Not the looking ahead.

Led by senior quarterback Mike Kafka, in the first half Northwestern reeled off 45 plays while holding onto the ball for 18:11 of the first 30 minutes. That’s one play every 24 seconds, with each play going for 5.5 yards. On the way to its 13-10 halftime lead, Northwestern more than doubled the Nittany Lions’ rushing yards and nearly doubled their passing yards. Kafka ran for 42 yards and threw for 128 yards on 14 of 18 passing, which confused the Nittany Lion defense for the first in 2009.

Meanwhile, Penn State’s offense was relegated to 10 points, 37 yards running and one third down conversion in the opening two quarters.

Now throw in a delay of game penalty, a 12 men on the field penalty, a number of dropped passes, a frenzied amount of substitution and an inability to turn a turnover into a TD after recovering a fumble on the 23-yard line –- all in the first half.

What did you get? The potential for a Halloween shocker. Paterno entered the game 3-2 on Halloween, with the losses coming in 1992, when the 14^th-ranked Nittany Lions lost at BYU, 30-17, and in 1981 at Miami (Fla.). Penn State was ranked No. 1 at the time. I was there when a torrential downpour and a pulled Curt Warner hamstring handed the Hurricanes a 17-14 win at the Orange Bowl.

On Saturday, Paterno may have been thinking that Kafka was going to write a new chapter to add to that scary list. Then the Northwestern quarterback went down with a leg injury late in the second quarter — and never returned. His backup, Dan Persa, played well (42 yards rushing, 115 yards passing), but not nearly well enough.

“What adjustments did you make at halftime?”

This is what Joe replied: “The adjustment we made is that their quarterback got hurt.”

It also didn’t hurt that in the second half:

Penn State’s offense scored three times in 3 minutes and 40 seconds, Evan Royster scored on a 69-yard run to go over 100 yards for the fifth time in his last six games, Daryll Clark passed for a TD and 175 of his 274 yards, Derek Moye had three catches (including a 53-yard TD reception) to give him three straight six-catch games, the defense didn’t yield a point and gave up only 125 yards, a healthier Sean Lee had five of his 12 tackles and a healthier Navarro Bowman had five if his nine tackles.

Oh, yeah. Neither of Jeremy Boone’s punts was blocked.

“I’m pleased by the way we hung in there,” said Paterno, “and didn’t panic at halftime.”

Which leaves Penn State with all the trappings of a big game coming up against the Buckeyes.