Someone always brings up the Minnesota game so I thought I'd watch several games from that season. I get up, work on some cabinet making projects, shoot pool for a couple of hours and then it's youtube time. That team lost three close games but overall they were better than I remember save for one thing. The offense wasn't very capable of sustaining a drive. Lots of big plays for scores from both the offense and the defense. I do remember well the opener against Arizona. Came back for that game with a close friend that went to Arizona. Virtually every score that came from a big play and overall I wasn't as impressed as the final score would lead anyone to believe. That defense though was fun to watch and still is. It was loaded
1999
- Thread starter olelion
- Start date
I had a coworker back then who was an Arizona grad. I got tremendous enjoyment over the way he was humbled by that game.
That defense was loaded for sure. Brown and Arrington going #1 and #2 in the draft was a great validating moment of that.
I can never think of that season though without picturing several of our players lying prone on the turf, totally deflated after failing to block Minny’s winning field goal. An agonizing inflection point
That defense was loaded for sure. Brown and Arrington going #1 and #2 in the draft was a great validating moment of that.
I can never think of that season though without picturing several of our players lying prone on the turf, totally deflated after failing to block Minny’s winning field goal. An agonizing inflection point
And the start of the dark years. From that loss through 2004 was a terrible stretch.I had a coworker back then who was an Arizona grad. I got tremendous enjoyment over the way he was humbled by that game.
That defense was loaded for sure. Brown and Arrington going #1 and #2 in the draft was a great validating moment of that.
I can never think of that season though without picturing several of our players lying prone on the turf, totally deflated after failing to block Minny’s winning field goal. An agonizing inflection point
2002 had some exciting moments. Interesting year for sure. Some very good games and an exciting team. That team and what happened to it made replay start in the big ten the following year which was the first league to have it. Also Zack mills coming into the osu game 2001, pretty exciting.
Yes… 2001 OSU and the highlight moments of 2002 felt like finding brief oases of reasons to feel good after crawling through a vast expanse of college football wasteland, desperately thirsty for something to get excited about in PSU football again.
Little did we know we’d have another two-year stretch of thirsting ahead of us :/
If I’m remembering right, there was a goal-line stand late in the 2004 season to preserve a win against Indiana that finally gave us a little spark of something to get excited about — or at least a moral victory. Just a tiny foreshadowing the team could actually rise from the depths and put together something special for 2005.
Yes, you're right about the IU game. It's amazing that after the "Dark Period," Paterno was able to summon enough magic to win two more Big 10 Championships and beat schools like FSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M and LSU in bowl games when bowl games meant more.
Power of the ring. I proposed to my wife at the gazebo at the duck pond the night before. After that Indiana game the “drive of shame” back to New York ended and my wife became an avid psu fan.
Some bright spots but not many. The '01 OSU game was terrific and Joe got the wins record. Nebraska in '02 was great.
Well, it started with realizing that if you recruit top notch HS talent and let them play right away, maybe they can help. Along, with realizing MRob could be a very effective college QB and leaning heavily on a seasoned defense that had guys like Poz and Hali.
2002 ended with a thud with a bowl loss to Auburn due to a hapless offensive effort, capped of by LJ Jr publicly admonishing the offensive coaches for being too predictable and having an outdated offensive game plan.
And LJ was right. He should have been the starting RB starting the game after AZ but he had his issues back then as well.
Loved those 2 and Norwood was one of the toughest SOB's i've ever seen.
I think it was like 13-9 and Auburn had a RB that ran roughshod over us.
In my mind, I’m remembering the LJ Jr. moment of calling out the coaches as being after the godforsaken Toledo loss n the 2000 season. No?
+1, its one of the things that earned him a further room in the dog house.
He was also correct but then that Offense really didn't have a lot to work with.
He blasted the coaches after the Auburn loss in the bowl game. He said the offense was outdated and predictable.
Yes. Auburn offense wasn’t all that impressive but the PSU offense could only muster up 3 FGs and was stifled most of the game.
Perhaps he did it after the Toledo game in 2000 AND after the Auburn bowl after the 2002 season?
I’m sure the rant I’m specifically thinking of was after Toledo, because I remember it including a mention that their offensive playbook included the shotgun but the coaches would never use it in a game. And that Toledo loss came earlier than the 2000 win over Purdue, when Rashard Casey DID line up in the shotgun for the first time.
Do not remember that part but do remember one of our DL talking about how much stronger Toledo players were than PSU players. Which inevitably fueled one of the other complaint/ controversies of that era being the nature of our strength program and failings of HIT
And Sargent. The horsemen of the apocalypse in 2005. Watch the Minnesota game that year and you begin to realize how good that offense was with them in it.
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