STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – While it took Joe Paterno longer than expected to track down the “Bear,” he made sure to shoot him down in his first attempt.
One week after tying Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Division 1-A career coaching victories record at 323, Paterno’s Penn State Nittany Lions defeated Ohio State 29-27 on Saturday, giving Paterno his record 324th Division 1-A coaching win.
“You never think it’s going to be a big deal until it happens like this,” Paterno said. “With this many people, it’s just hard to describe.”
The “like this” Paterno referred to was the way his 1-4 Penn State team fought back from a 27-9 deficit to score 20 unanswered points en route to the win.
“It’s an unreal feeling for all of us,” Penn State offensive lineman Tyler Lenda said. “It’s just such a relief to get this win for coach Paterno. You couldn’t ask for a better scenario, the way we did it.”
After a 20-0 drubbing Penn State took against Michigan at home on Oct. 6, the Nittany Lions stood at 0-4 on the year. Adding to further misery, they were 1-6 since Paterno notched his 321st coaching win on Oct. 28, 2000. There were definite doubts that Paterno would not get win No. 324 until 2002.
Against Northwestern, the Lions lost a late 31-28 lead to fall behind 35-31 with two minutes to go. With their starting quarterback, Matt Senneca, out with an injury, Penn State put its collective hopes on the shoulders of redshirt freshman quarterback Zack Mills. All Mills did was drive the Lions 69 yards in 1:41 to lead Penn State to its first victory of the year, 38-35.
“Nobody thought we were going to be able to do it, especially with two of the tougher opponents of the season (Northwestern and OSU), and we just played two comeback wins,” said Lenda, whose father Ed played on Paterno’s first Penn State team in 1966.
Before the Northwestern game, the calls for Paterno’s job reached a feverous pitch in Happy Valley. After Saturday’s victory over OSU, such calls were nonexistent.
“Every once in awhile, people will say to me, ‘Get out of it, get out of it,’ ” Paterno said. “And like everyone else, once in awhile I’ll think about it and then I realize just how much it means to me and how many absolutely great days I’ve had and I don’t want to get out of it.”
Paterno attributed many of his great days to his wife, Sue.
“This record wouldn’t even be close without her,” Paterno said. “When I retire, the university won’t have any trouble getting a good coach. If they can find a good coach’s wife like Sue, they’ll be miracle workers.”
During his press conference following the game, it appeared Paterno came near tears talking about the record and his wife’s role. Sue Paterno, sitting in the front row, noticed and threw a single tissue to her husband.
On the field after the game, a video montage was shown on the two giant scoreboards chronicling Paterno’s career.
“It’s amazing, truly outstanding,” Penn State safety and Ohio native Sam Crenshaw said, while watching the images on the scoreboard. “I’ve been waiting all year for the Ohio State game, but I know coach has been waiting his whole career for this day.”
While Paterno downplayed the significance of winning No. 324 against Ohio State, it had to be especially sweet claiming the record against the Buckeyes.
On Sept. 23, 2000, OSU pummeled Penn State, 45-6. To add insult to the Lions’ injury, OSU scored a late touchdown after Penn State cornerback Adam Taliaferro was taken off the field on a stretcher, paralyzed.
Taliaferro has since made a near-miraculous recovery and is now walking. He even led Penn State onto the field before its season opening game against Miami in Florida.
Paterno said revenge was not a factor and gaining the record against OSU did not add anything special, but he did use last year as a motivating factor.
“I did tell our kids that we didn’t play well at Ohio State last year and that a lot of people saw that game,” he said. “And that they did score after Adam was carried off the field, and that we owe it to ourselves to play well.”
During the postgame press conference, Paterno continuously tried to steer focus of the media’s questions back to discussion of the game, and not the record. He did so in vain.
One topic that Paterno did not seem to shy away from was discussion of his first game as Penn State coach, a win against Maryland.
The Maryland connection is worth noting because the man whose record he beat, Paul “Bear” Bryant, had his first career coaching victory while coaching at Maryland.
Still, Paterno said he would match Saturday’s win against many of his previous 323 victories – including two national championship game victories.
“The one thing that keeps going through my mind is how many great moments I’ve had in coaching.” he said. “This would have to be right up there in everything that’s happened to me.”
