1994 Penn State vs. Ohio State (10 Minutes Or Less)

[chrisuncleahmad]

This is all the more staggering a win given that Ohio State was a decent team that year- 9-4 and made the Citrus Bowl with Joey Harrington.

[abeastateverything]

psu vs nebraska in the championship would be beaassssssssssssst

[ryeschultz84]

As a Buckeye fan all I can say about the last tag in the vid is: You can have your 63-point game; we owned you for the next 15-years. ;-)

Seriously though, that was a great PSU team, and you did get screwed out of an NC. Say what would like about the BCS, but if it existed then, you'd be in the NC game. PSU versus NU. Could had been a great game.

[bptak01]

My nits got screwed this year....we were the best team in the nation....Our offense was unstoppable...Still love watching Ki-Jana run over everyone....

[andyPRice04]

PSU deserved #1 in one of the polls, 17 years later we're still arguing about a +1 playoff. I'm sure Nebraska wanted a shot at Penn State just as much as Penn State wanted a shot at them. It would have been a game of equal caliber to USC vs. Texas in 2005.

[blutus11]

an incredible offense. i'm not really a psu fan, and i'm still mad about their getting snubbed.

[BassAssassin9]

And we haven't landed some players with character issues? Do Bell, Baker, Taylor, Humphrey, and Chisley jog your memory? Glass houses my man. Pryor not all he's cracked up to be? The past two years, he led his team to two consecutive B10 titles, and two BCS bowl wins and was the MVP in both games. What a bum....Tattoo-Gate or not, I would take him in a heartbeat over that 5'5" noodle-armed wannabe Favre, Rudy walk-on who blew our bowl game.

[dougalmac54]

@BassAssassin9 So it's OK to be a scumbag as long as you win, is that it? You don't have a clue what Penn state stands for. And spare me the glass houses nonsense. ALL college footbal teams have had player issues of one kind or another. But OSU's coach and players are suspended for several games next year. So me ONE game for which JoePa ever got suspended? Show me ONE PS player that was suspended by the NCAA? It doesn't happen, JoePa cans 'em before the NCAA has to step in.

[dougalmac54]

@BassAssassin9 Don't ever compare the BS lack of standards or integrity of the schmuckeye football program to Penn State. OSU doesn't even come close, especially for player graduation rates, and especially African american player graduation rates. Terrelle Pryor and his buddies are a bunch of punk thugs who sold out their team, their coach, and their school for a bunch of tattoes. If you defend that ANY level, you're completely full of it, pal.

[BassAssassin9]

@dougalmac54 Not defending it, but glass houses man. We have been having guys in trouble lately. Its funny how some of my fellow PSU people trash kids for selling their own personal possessions, but conveniently ignore that we have had our players get into physical altercations resulting in injury. We are not perfect either.

[BassAssassin9]

@dougalmac54 Plus, I dont watch the games because I care about how our players do in school. Nobody cares and that doesnt sell tickets.

[BassAssassin9]

I do actually, and Shell and Spence have already scratched us and Rippy is looking OSU. We get our share of good players, but miss out on the difference makers. Henne, Pryor, Jones, Jenkins, and the list goes on. Against USC and Bama that gap in talent was evident. But until we have an octogenarian that refuses to recruit who employs his way underqualified son who got fired from JAMES MADISON, we will be second tier. Kids want to play for a winner and we haven't won a chip since '86.

[BassAssassin9]

I miss these days -- you know, the ones where we played to win big games, had a head coach that made in-home visits, and when we had big time talent at every position in the two deep. That and we didn't have a bumbling buffoon nepotism hire as our QB coach.

[Rocket4Barrel]

@BassAssassin9 Bumbling buffoon nepotism? WTF? You obiviously don't stay up on the recruiting do you? Do you realise that 60% of this past season's squad were underclassman, and we played the entire season with injuries on both sides of the line and with two talented but young QB's that were trying to find their rhythm. Why don't you check out rivals.com and see this years recruits that are coming in, and also the 2012 recruits that are leaning our way. Might shed some light son..:)

[BassAssassin9]

@Rocket4Barrel The next QB from PSU that does jack in the league will be Jay's first. Our QBs show little improvement from year to year. Jay is assigned to recruit Ohio and tell me how many recruits hes gotten from there with OSU offers? I can't wait til we get a new coach and he cant ride daddys coattails any more. How many other HS backups walked on at PSU? Jay gets a free ride bc of his name and that is nepotism. The guy got canned by JMU. If I were Bolden I'd leave to before Jay ruins me.

[Rocket4Barrel]

@BassAssassin9 Did I say that JayPa was a good coach? I did not, he sure as hell is not his old man. You seem to be basing PSU QB sucess in the NFL on the rest of the program, were in the top ten when it comes to producing NFL talent LB's.OL.DL,CB,TE etc, as far as Pryor goes, he's not what all he is cracked up to be, plus he along with several other of those players you mentioned have character issues. I have zero respect for players like him who pull stupid stunts like he did this past year

[mrodgers24]

Indiana also put over 20 points on PSU late in the year, but that game was because we took our starters out and they scored two late TDs.

[mrodgers24]

I disagree about that Penn State defense. It struggled late in the year because it was decimated by injuries. That's why Illinois, Michigan State, and Oregon all put 20+ points on us late in the year.

[dougalmac54]

@mrodgers24 What? Did you actually watch the Rose Bowl? PSU's defense trucked the "Quack Attack offense, held them to 2 TD's while PSU put up 38 points on the vaunted "Gang Green" defense, and then Oregon scored a last minute TD that was meaningless to the outcome. Gimme a break, that "D" played like total champs in the Rose Bowl. And Joe took out the starters in the games you mentioned, and 2nd and 3rd team guys played, that's why those teams scored meaningless TD's after the games were decided

[steverino47]

Watched this one w/some good friends, a family of faithful Buckeye supporters in Jonesboro, GA. Good times. My friends were concerned about OSU's new place in the Big 10 pecking order. While those fears were unrealized, it was a great day, (and season), to be a Nittany Lion fan.

[tpirrules19a]

What's the name of the song at the beginning? (The one right before the ABC CFB theme)

[72seeker72]

Now THAT, is an ugly football stadium. Don't tell me it's not, it just is!

[strongman80]

First off, I'm not a kid. Secondly if you read my comments closely, you will see that I agree with you. I acknowledge that JoePA put in the underclassmen in that game. That is what I meant by PSU scrubs. And when I said that Nebraska would have had their asses handed to them, I mean the would have recieved a Penn State beatdown. I suggest you read things carefully before you start blasting people.

[MVillani1985]

@strongman80 I agree that PSU would've beat Nebraska but I don't think it would have been a wipeout, I think it'd be like the 1994 Illinois game. Nebraska was pretty similar to 1994 Illinois but with a slightly better offense. One thing people forget about 1994 Penn State is that the defense was not flimsy, the starters just sat in the second half (for example PSU led 55-0 over Rutgers midway through the third quarter before allowing garbage time TDs in the final 20 minutes).

[BassAssassin9]

Seeing where we are now and what Joe is now, this video is actually kind of depressing.

[strongman80]

Actually they got fucked after the Indiana game. They where dropped from #1 to #2 after that game because PSU's scrubs let up a couple of touchdowns in the final minutes of the game. The most blatant tragedy of College football in the last 20 years. Nebraska would have had their asses handed to them.

[JoKeRsObLiViOn420]

@strongman80 kid joe paterno took out starter learn a thing or two before you open your mouth. 1994 penn state was best team of all time nebraska only got title becaus ethey felt sorry for you couch cause he sucked.

[tpirrules19a]

@strongman80 Checking Wikipedia PSU was dropped in the Coaches' after this game. They have the rankings before every game and PSU was shown as #2 before the Indiana game.

[dpinzow]

Penn State only had to play their starters all the way to the end in 3 games (@ Illinois, @ Michigan, and the rose bowl). Just a force of nature...all the rest of the games were over at halftime

Nebraska trailed Wyoming! at the half, struggled mightily against K-State, led Iowa St. (perhaps the worst team in CFB in 1994) 14-12 after 3 quarters and scraped by with a 13-3 debacle against an Oklahoma team that would have been lucky to win 2 games in 1994's Big Ten

[mongoose704]

@dpinzow In Nebraska's defense they were playing their third string QB for part of the season (K-State game included.) Don't underestimate them. With Frazier and Phillips playing for only two quarters against Warren Sapp, Ray Lewis and the #1 scoring and yardage defense, they steamrolled Miami in the 4th quarter and put them on oxygen.

Nebraska's equally good defense would have kept them undefeated in the Big Ten...until a showdown with Penn State. We were robbed of a game for the ages.

[mongoose704]

@dpinzow Nebraska's defense absolutely smothered the high powered Colorado Buffalo offense that scored 439 points on the season. Colorado averaged about 40 points per game other than that Nebraska game. They managed 7 measly points. Colorado had Kordell Stewart, Michael Westbrook, Rashaan Salaam and Christian Fauria on offense.

Oh Nebraska had a lucky week. Their 2nd string QB was healthy and able to start.

Man it's just fun to think about "what if."

[MVillani1985]

@mongoose704 Nebraska had a good defense, comparable to the Illinois defense, but unlike Illinois, they had a decent offense to go with it. They won a stubborn defensive struggle against Colorado but most importantly shut them down. IMO the 1994 Buffaloes are comparable to the 1994 Buckeyes, loads of NFL talent but couldn't have competed with Nebraska or Penn State. But one thing people forget is just how good PSU's defense was, the starters just didn't play for the second half usually.

[MVillani1985]

@dpinzow Actually, the backups played one series at the end of the Rose Bowl, but overall you're right. Illinois was really underrated BTW, best 7-5 team of the 90s IMO. All of their losses were close and all but one win (over Ohio State) was a total blowout. Michigan was weird since PSU had a big lead early. People underestimate PSU's defense too, for example they say we gave up 27 to Rutgers beating them 55-27, but they forget that we led 55-0 midway through the 3rd quarter.

[mongoose704]

@dpinzow Every team has a tough game. You had a tough game against Illinois. Only one of those games you listed were close at the end. Nebraska was also down to their 3rd string QB and RB during that stretch and run first offenses typically start slow. K State was #16 and on the road. They smothered #2 Colorado. Destroyed #13 UCLA and #24 West Virginia. Came from behind at #3 Miami with two of their best players sidelined. Penn State beat 3 ranked teams.

[mongoose704]

@dpinzow So what I'm saying is 1994 Nebraska vs Penn State would have been a game for the ages. The '94 Nittany Lions might be the greatest team to not win so much as a piece of the national title. Nebraska flat out had a terrific defense, better than Illinois. Their offense struggled with injuries. Your defense struggled when it had injuries. Both still won. Both had days where they were pushed to the limit and nothing went their way, and still won.

[MVillani1985]

This game shows that Penn State had a better than advertised defense.

[mongoose704]

@MVillani1985 Our Hawkeyes felt a bit better after this game. We only lost 61-21! Moral victory for us, lol. I remember before the game Hayden Fry said the best scheme he could find to shut down your offense was to cancel the game. Good grief was he right. I honestly felt you could have scored every posession if you wished. We actually outgained you and got 455 yards but you collected 4 turnovers and blocked a punt. Classic bend don't break PSU defense against a decent offense.

[MVillani1985]

@mongoose704 I think PSU had a great offense that year, best offense I'd ever seen, but so many forget how good the defense and special teams really were, but the backups on both sides played the second half of most games. Best example I can think of is Illinois getting a 21-0 lead from dumb mistakes, and then PSU's defense shuts down an underrated Illinois offense to come back to win 35-31. Imagine how many points PSU could have scored on everyone that year if JoePa wasn't such a sportsman.

[mongoose704]

@MVillani1985 If Joe Pa wasn't a sportsman and ran it up ala Bobby Stoops, you and not Oklahoma would hold the NCAA scoring record.

Don't forget that Illinois team had Simeon Rice, Kevin Hardy, Dana Howard and a host of other all conference and all american players on the then nations #1 defense.

[MVillani1985]

@mongoose704 Yep, the fact that Penn State put up 35 on that defense is just amazing. So many forget how good that Illini defense is. Did you know that if they weren't unlucky they could have contended for a Rose Bowl berth? Best five-loss team EVER. But I think PSU could've scored 100 on Minnesota, 80 on Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, 70 on Northwestern, 60 on Temple, 50 on Indiana, USC, Oregon, 40 on Michigan, etc. Only team where PSU could've maybe gotten only one more score was Illinois.

[mongoose704]

@MVillani1985 Of course how would their defensive stats look with their 1st teamers in and playing as intense as they would in a 10-10 game?

[MVillani1985]

@mongoose704 I think we got a small taste of that in the final 3 quarters of the Illini game. But I think the fact that Ohio State's mighty offense only managed six first downs against the first team defense in the first half really says something.

[theceohimself]

thank you soooo much for this footage!

[tagryn]

Thanks for this! This was actually a reasonably close game through the 1st quarter, but OSU lost star RB Eddie George to injury during their second possession and didn't have the firepower after that to keep up with the '95 PSU offense, which was one of the greatest scoring machines in modern college football history.