The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 46

i THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER CIO www.philly.com Sunday. October 7, 2001 Lions suffer 20-0 shutout by Michigan It was winless Penn State's first scoreless home game since Joe Paterno became coach in 1966. i 7T'" T3 mwmrn jj i Gilmore said later, shaking his head. "He was right on the money." Of course, there was a long way to go after those muffed catches. More time for the win-less Nittany Lions to trip over themselves, and they did as No.

15 Michigan played efficiently enough to grab a 20-0 victory yesterday in a Big Ten Conference game before 107,879. So for the first time in the 115 years that Penn State has been playing this game, the Nittany Lions have started a season 0-4. They have now lost 14 of their last 20 games, dating to November 1999. This was the first time Penn State has been held scoreless at home since a 23-0 loss to Michigan State in 1965, the year before Joe Paterno became head coach. Meantime, Paterno remained stalled in his fourth consecutive attempt to tie Bear Bryant's Division I-A coaching record of 323 victories.

"We can't make some plays, and then we do the dumbest By Ray Parrillo INQUIRER STAFF WRITER STATE COLLEGE, Pa. Moments after the Blue Band marched off the field to conclude its pregame entertainment yesterday, Penn State lined up against Michigan and ran a few plays, and the groans from the Beaver Stadium crowd came flooding out of the stands. This season's Nittany Lions don't waste time showing everyone why they are in such a mess. On first down, Zack Mills, a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first start, placed a perfect pass in Eddie Drum-mond's hands about 20 yards downfield. Drummond dropped the ball.

On second down, Mills hit wide-open Bryant Johnson in first-down territory. Dropped. Then it was third down and tight end John Gilmore was free down the middle. Again Mills was dead on with his throw. Again, the ball was dropped.

"Zack came out and threw three great passes and we didn't come up with any of them," .1 Penn State coach Joe Paterno can players Eric Dare, Greg Ransom Associated Press only hang his head in the closing moments of his team's loss to Michigan. Behind him (from left) are and David Royer. The Lions' 0-4 start is the first in the football program's 1 15-year history. Michigan 20, Penn St 0 3 10 7 0 20 Pawn St. 0 0 0 0 0 FoTYtqMftW UM-FG Epstein 28, 2:41.

Second cpMftof UM-FC Epstein 41, 13:34. UM-Walker 16 pass from Navarre (Epstein kick), 0:12. ThM quarter UM-Bellamy 53 pass from Navarre (Epstein kick), 13:22. fc 107,879. First downs UM 21 48-147 263 18-33-0 31 7-38 1-1 1-5 33:36 PSU 14 26-25 244 21-38-2 0 10-38 3-1 6-50 26:24 Comp-Att-Int Return Yards Punts-Avg.

Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Time ot Possession INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RinhiiiF Michigan, Askew 27-122, Underwood 8-22, Perry 4-1 2, Bell 1 -5, Cross 2-4, Gonzales 2-2, Navarre 4-(minus 20). Penn Easy 3-17, L.Johnson 4-14, B.Johnson 1-4, McCoo 5-1, Mills 12-(minus 9), team 1-(minus2). Pasting: Michigan, Navarre 17-31-0-246, Gonzales 1- 2-0-17. Penn Mills 21 -38-2-244. Receiving: Michigan, Walker 9-85, Askew 4-56, Bellamy 2-66, Seymour 2-19, Dubuc 1-17.

Penn B.Johnson 5-104, Gilmore 4-44, Drummond 2-48, Hosser 2-14, T.Johnson 2-11, Jefferson 2-6, McCoo 2- 2, Luke 1-13, McHugh1-2. ines' 13-yard line with 3 minutes, 6 seconds left in the half. The Nittany Lions had taken possession at the Michigan 22 after Richard Gardner recovered a fumbled punt by the Wolverines Ronald Bellamy. Paterno ordered his team to go for a first down, and the crowd was on its feet in agreement. But junior guard Tyler Lenda was called for illegal pro lMA kill Associated Press Penn State cornerback Bruce Branch (1) tips the ball away from Michigan wide receiver Ronald Bellamy in the second quarter.

Penn turns the tables on Holy Cross cedure, pushing the ball back 5 yards. Robbie Gould's 35-yard field goal try was wide right. "It's frustrating to get a big turnover like that and not be able to take advantage of it," Mills said. On Penn State's next series, Gilmore caught a pass from Mills for a gain to the Michigan 34. But Larry Johnson was called for a personal foul, pushing the ball back to the Wolverines' 49.

Michigan (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) ran a 55-second clinic, moving 80 yards on nine plays, the last one a 16-yard scoring pass from John Navarre to Marquise Walker, who made a nice leaping grab for a 13-0 lead with 12 seconds remaining in the half. Essentially, that was the game. Although Penn State may have found its No. 1 quarterback in Mills, who completed 21 of 38 passes for 244 yards despite a constant pounding from the Wolverines, the Nittany Lions never again moved inside Michigan's 20-yard line. Michigan needed four plays to go 80 yards and build a 20-0 lead at the outset of the third quarter when Navarre hit Bellamy with a 53-yard scoring pass.

Bellamy was well behind Penn State's secondary after running a simple post pattern. stuffed the pass, and we got them away from what they wanted to do. Once you do that, things start going your way." Holy Cross coach Dan Allen said his players knew that Penn would be fired up for the game. 'This is a different year," Allen said. "When you play this game, you talk about paybacks.

I'm sure it was in the back of their mind. They felt they probably played their worst game against us last year. In my opinion, they played one of their better games this year. The coin was flipped over. We played probably our worst game." things," Paterno said, struggling to explain the inexplicable.

"I mean, they're killing themselves. It's hard for me to be critical of the physical effort because they practice hard, they work hard. But, you know, it's not that they make those mistakes during the games. They're having a tough time in practice. "It's driving me a little nuts.

I'm baffled right now, but we'll work it out." For Penn State followers who haven't quite grasped why the Nittany Lions' offense has only three touchdowns so far this season, all they had to do was watch. Dropped passes have been a trend that began in earnest last season. The running game, which ranked 115th out of 115 Division I-A teams before yesterday's game, solidified its standing by netting 25 yards against the Wolverines' fine defense. Shockingly, Penn State has 163 yards on the ground in four games. Then there are the ill-timed penalties that have given Penn State such an undisciplined look.

Down 6-0 because of field goals from 28 and 41 yards by Michigan's Hayden Epstein, but buoyed by a spirited defense, Penn State had fourth down and less than a yard at the Wolver- Penn's Kris Ryan is brought down in the first quarter. Ryan rushed not Holy Cross (2-2). The Quakers held Holy Cross to just 151 yards. They sacked Crusaders quarterback Brian Hall five times, including once for a safety. They also intercepted a pass and recovered two fumbles.

The Holy Cross rushing attack that had 230 yards last year? It got just 48 yards on the ground this time. "Our defensive kids got after them pretty good," Bagnoli said. "We've been on both sides of it. Once the snowball starts rolling down the hill, it's hard to stop sometimes. That's what happened to us last year.

That's what happened to them this year." It rolled and rolled. Penn padded its lead to 17-0 after Hoff- mmv a "With a tradition as rich as we have here at Penn State, we're the first team to go 0-4," said Bryan Scott, a junior corner-back from Central Bucks East High School who was beaten by Bellamy. "It's disappointing. But I'm an optimist. I still think we can turn this season around." Notes.

Mills became the first freshman to start at quarterback for Penn State since Wally Richardson in 1992. Richardson was a true freshman when he got the start against Temple. Mills is a redshirt freshman. Michigan is the first team to defeat Penn State five straight years since Syracuse did it from 1931 to '35. In their first four games, the Nittany Lions have been outscored by 63-5 in the first half.

Penn State fullback Sean McHugh, who played well in his first start a week ago against Iowa, suffered a fractured right tibia in the first quarter and will probably miss the rest of the season. The Nittany Lions had gone 216 straight home games without getting shut out. Penn State will be idle next week before resuming play at Northwestern. Ray Parrillo's e-mail address is rparrillophillynews.com, Siena hands La Salle its 1st loss, 20-6 COMPILED BY THE INQUIRER STAFF LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -Christian Karolus threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Ryan Hungershafer as Siena stopped previously unbeaten La Salle, 20-6, in the Middle Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Julian Brown rushed for 140 yards on 38 carries as the Saints (1-3 overall, 1-1 conference) got their first win of the season. La Salle fell to 3-1 and 1-1 in the MAAC. The Siena defense held La Salle to a season-low 136 yards and forced the Explorers into three fumbles and three interceptions. Brown gave the Saints a 7-0 lead with a 1-yard touchdown run near the end of the first half, but La Salle got six points back on its initial drive of the second half. Jeremy Crimmel, who finished the game with 43 yards rushing, scored from 1 yard out after a Siena turnover.

But Dan Smacchia blocked Sean Pollard's conversion kick to keep the Saints in front, 7-6. On a day when gusts exceeded 25 m.p.h., the Saints capitalized on a steady fourth-quarter wind to put the game away. Karolus hit Hungershafer on fourth and goal from the 4-yard line early in the quarter to push the lead to 14-6. Six minutes later, the 6-2 sophomore retrieved an errant snap well behind the line of scrimmage and found Hungershafer breaking free for a 30-yard score that clinched the win. Karolus completed 9 of 16 passes and rushed for 67 of Siena's season-best 217 yards on the ground.

La Salle's John Travers completed 4 of 13 attempts, for 56 yards. His replacement, Steve Szydlik, was 2 for 11, for 29 yards. Brian Small caught three passes, for 35 yards. Crimmel led the Explorers in rushing, with 43 yards on 15 carries. vmmmmw am mmui.

iiwMa, mmmmmmm.1 'V 1 Penn 43, Holy Cross 7 Holy Croat 0 7 0 0 -7 10 14 9 10 43 FWrt quarter Perm-Smith 4 pass from Hoffman (Arguello kick), 10:40 Penn-FG Arguello 25, 5:26 Second quarter Penn-Hoffman 1 run (Arguello kick), 9:15 Hoi-Green 23 pass from Hall (Roifert kick), 6:22 Penn-Ryan 1 run (Veidman kick), 1 :40 Third quarter Penn-Safety, Hall tackled in end zone, 6:24 Penn-flyan 3 run (Veidman kick), 1 :55 Fourth quarter Perm-Perskie 1 run (Arguello kick), 4:10 Penn-FG Veidman 29, 0:35 :11,722 HC Ptna Firstdowns 10 29 flushes-yards 24-48 57-228 Passing 103 238 Comp-Att-Int 15X50-1 21-30-0 Return Yards 4 51 Punts-Avg. Fumbles-Lost 2-2 4-1 Penalties-Yards 9-64 8-80 Time of Possession 22:08 37:52 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Ruining: Holy Cross, B. Hall 14-28. Pragalz 3-12, Giliis 2-12, Souder 4-3, K. Hall 1-minus 7).

Penn, Ryan 27-169, Perskie 14-58. Okokwitch 5-20, Darby 1-2, Carpenter 1-0, Phillips 1-0, Hoffman 8-(minus 21). Patting: Holy Cross, B. Hall 15-29-0-103, Grutt 0- 1-1-0. Penn, Hoffman 20-28-0-222, Phillips 1- 2-0-16.

RecaMng: Holy Cross. Green 5-48, Coleman 5-13, Souder 2-15, K. Hall 2-12, Thompson 1-15. Penn, Smith 6-75, Milanese 5-66, Holahan 2-16, Robinson 2- 12, Okolovitch 2-(minus 2), Phillips 1-27, Ryan 1-23, Adams 1-16, Keslosky 1-5. Siena 20, La Salle 6 LaSrlte 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 13 20 Sie-Brown 1 run (ConWin kick), 3:55 TMra' qaartar LaS-Cfimmel 1 run (kick blocked), 13:03 Fourth quarter Sie-rlungershater 4 pass from Karolus (Conklin kick), 12:48 Sie-Hungershafer 30 pass from Karolus (kick blocked), 6:58 US Sit Firstdowns 12 15 Rushes-yards 34-70 54-217 Passing 66 68 Comp-Att-Int 6-24-3 9-16-2 Return Yards 88 70 Punts-Avg.

4-302 6-263 Fumbles-Lost 5-3 3-0 Penalties-Yards 8-65 14-108 Time of Possession 21:25 38:35 WDM DUAL STATISTICS Dashing: La Salle, Cnmmel 15-43, Connelly 1-13, Small 8-9, Travers 1-6, Szydlik 9-(-1); Siena, Brown 38-140, Karolus 13-67. Carter2-3, Levy 1-7. Patting: La Salle, Travers 4-13-1, Szydlik 2-11-2; Siena, Karolus 9-16-2. RectMag: La Salle. Small 3-35.

Petty 2-10, Mumane 1-21; Siena, Hungershafer 3-37, Reese 3-14, Levy 1-8, Prince 1-6. McCormack 1-3. TO SUBSCRIBE, CALL 1-800-222-2765 Mil ByToddZolecki INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Kris Ryan remembered it only too well. How could he forget? Holy Cross embarrassed the Penn football team last season with a 34-17 victory in Worcester, Mass. In that game, Holy Cross ran for 230 yards and built a 23-7 halftime lead.

The Quakers never sniffed the lead after that. Penn coach Al Bagnoli called it arguably the low point of the Quakers' season. Ryan, Penn's senior running back, said that loss was on the Quakers' minds this time around. "We understood how embarrassing it was to basically get our butts handed to us," he said. "At the same time, we knew if we executed, we had a pretty good shot at winning the game." The Quakers did just that.

Ryan ran over tacklers, quarterback Gavin Hoffman completed passes to nine receivers, and the Penn defense whipped the Crusaders in almost every way imaginable as the Quakers rolled to a 43-7 victory yesterday at Franklin Field. "It was kind of a reversal," Bagnoli said. "We learned some valuable lessons coming out of that loss. This year, we were trying to avoid any kind of emotional letdown, any kind of physical letdown." Bagnoli also challenged his skill-position players, who he said have not played well. They responded in a big way.

Ryan seemed to get stronger with each carry. He toted the ball 27 times for 169 yards with two touchdowns. Hoffman completed 20 of 28 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a score. The receivers were led by Colin Smith, who had six catches for 75 yards and a touchdown, and Rob Milanese, who had five catches for 66 yards.

It became apparent early that Penn, 3-0 for the first time since 1995, would be giving out the hits and making the big plays, RON CORTES Inquirer Staff Photographer by Michael Blake of Holy Cross, but not before scoring a touchdown for 169 yards and two TDs yesterday at Franklin Field. man's 1-yard sneak for a touchdown in the second quarter. The Quakers had a 24-7 halftime lead after Ryan scored on a 1-yard TD run with 1 minute, 40 seconds to play in the half. Then the defense had its fun. Penn defensive end Chris Pennington blew by Crusaders left tackle J.T.

Neitzel to sack Hall in the end zone for a safety with 6:24 to play in the third quarter. Defensive tackle John Galan seemed to be around every play. He finished with five tackles, three for a combined loss of 12 yards. That included a sack in the first quarter. "Last year, they kind of caught us off guard with how well they ran the ball," Galan said.

"This year, we stuffed the run, we Todd Zolecki's e-mail address is tzoleckiphillynews.com. i.