The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 39

gunday, October 6, 1996 THE PHILADFXPHIA INQUIRER Cll COLLEGE FOOTBALL Ohio State fans have no cause to hate Lions Nittany Lions prove no match for the Buckeyes ,) rf '1 57 i A 1 i 'It, I JSf 't'' I', hi i if CA A jr -mif HATE from C1 naked bewilderment. It is Year 4 for the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten, and they are still the ugly stepchildren, foisted on the proud conference by those lousy school presidents who spouted some baloney about academics and stuff. can never hate Penn State," said the man who drove the rental-car van at the airport and who wore a scarlet sweater and a gray turtle-neck. "The fans are so nice. And it just isn't Michigan.

And, besides, Penn State is going to have to come here and prove something first. They have to win here." Penn State was beaten in the most elemental way yesterday. The Ohio State lines, offensive and defensive, stubbed out the Penn State lines, smothered them as if they were smoldering cigarette butts. If there are critics today of Penn State quarterback Wally Richardson, they are all wrong, for Richardson never had a chance. Neither did Curtis Enis, the fine Nittany Lions running back who grew up in Ohio and who felt slighted by the recruiting staff of Buckeyes coach John Cooper.

Enis kept getting mail from Ohio State that had his name spelled wrong, and it wasn't a big secret that he would have loved to have gained a couple of hundred yards yesterday. He could hardly gain one. There was no place for Enis to run, so Joe Paterno had his tailback throw a pass. That flopped. Paterno also had his backfield try a reverse.

That failed. When Paterno tries two trick plays in the first half, that is a sign of surrender waved more boldly than any white flag. Last week, Ohio State demolished Notre Dame in the same way by displaying better personnel at nearly every position. The victory had been such a big deal in Colum- There was a first-half snapshot that captured Penn State's frustration and ineptness against the Buckeyes: Curtis Enis was on his stomach, slapping his helmet in anger, after dropping a second straight pass, while celebrating Buckeyes danced around him and red-clad Ohio State fans cheered wildly. The presence of Enis at Ohio Stadium for the first time since he had left the western part of this state for Happy Valley generated much emotion.

The more rabid among the Ohio State loyalists felt that the talented tailback had abandoned them, even though the Buckeyes apparently had botched their efforts to recruit him. Enis felt slighted by the clumsy way in which Ohio State had pursued him. Whatever, the sophomore was clearly juiced for this game. He led Penn State out of the locker room on to the lush field, raced to the closed end of the horseshoe-shaped stadium, and exhorted the Penn State rooters sitting in the corner of the end zone. Then the game began, and Ohio State's physical dominance at the line of scrimmage left Enis virtually helpless.

He finished with 34 yards on 11 carries. "They just played extremely good defense," he said. Passing and running the ball with equal efficiency, the Buckeyes rolled to a 24-0 halftime lead, and they didn't allow the Nittany Lions to cross midfield until the third quarter. As they lost touch with the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lions proved equally inept at throwing the ball and running with it, at tackling and at defending against the pass. Their trick plays didn't work, either.

A reverse to receiver Corey Jones was stuffed for a 10-yard loss. A pass by Enis was overthrown. "When they started all that razzle-dazzle stuff, we knew we had them," Ohio State safety Rob Kelly said. "I don't know if anyone is better than us," Buckeyes coach John Cooper said. "If we keep playing like we did today, we have to move up" in the polls.

for a crash landing on a kickoff return Lions came on the heels of a decisive The Philadelphia Inquirer JERRY LODRIGUSS against Ohio State, whose win over Notre Dame. By Ray Parrillo INQUIRER STAFF WRITER COLUMBUS, Ohio Penn State quarterback Wally Richardson yanked off his helmet and quickly retreated to the only spot inside Ohio Stadium where he was safe from marauding Ohio State blitzers the Nittany Lions' bench. One by one, several of Richardson's teammates stopped by to tap him on the shoulder, pat him on the head. They were offering their leader some comfort. But who will comfort the Nittany Lions now that they've felt the sting of a severe beating? In a Big Ten Conference game that never really was one at all, the third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes yesterday flexed their muscle, imposed their size, flashed their speed and balance, and battered fourth-ranked Penn State, 38-7, before 94,241 joyous fans.

Penn State avoided its first shutout since a 10-0 loss to Pitt in 1987 when fullback Anthony Cleary scored on a 1-yard run with 6 minutes, 3 seconds remaining. For the Nittany Lions, who suffered their worst loss since a 44-7 defeat at Notre Dame in 1984, that was the extent of the good news. The lopsided victory gave the Buckeyes (4-0 overall, 1-0 conference) a leg up in the conference race and further legitimized them as national-championship contenders. They now have crushed Notre Dame and Penn State (5-1, 1-1) on successive weekends. In their four games, they have outscored their opponents by 209-30, and yesterday, they gained an admirer who has seen a few pretty good teams in his time Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

"That's as good a team as we've played in quite a while," said Paterno, who was surprisingly upbeat after the game. "They gave us a good whipping in every which way. It'll take an awfully good team to beat them, and that would only be after they've had a bad day." Pondering the decisive nature of the loss, Paterno smiled and said; "I can't even second-guess myself on this one." While racing off to their easy win the score was 24-0 at hali'time the Buckeyes exposed all of the concerns that Paterno had about his team the undersized defense and the revamped offensive line, which leaked often enough to allow Buckeyes defenders to tee off on the beleaguered Richardson, who was sacked twice but hurried often. "It's hard to play in a game like this," said Richardson, who completed only 14 of 30 passes for 105 yards, none for more than 15 yards. For much of the sunny afternoon, it appeared that Ohio State was competing with twice as many players on the field as Penn State.

The Buckeyes blistered the Nittany Lions from all angles with their diverse offense. Quarterback Stanley Jackson and his backup, Joe Germaine, each tossed two touchdown passes. Dimitrious Stanley caught scoring passes of 42 yards from Jackson and 24 from Germaine, and Pepe Pearson, who has eased the loss of Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George, ran for one TD while exploding for 141 yards on the ground. In the end, Ohio State had amassed 565 total yards to 211 for Penn Slate. Penn wakes up in OT, upends plays later, with 6 minutes, 3 seconds left, Penn State scored.

The Buckeyes looked like a great team last year, too. Then Michigan upset them in the season-ender in Ann Arbor. Eddie George's Heisman Trophy was a poor substitute for a chance at a national title. And, of course, people whisper about how Cooper, the coach, will mess things up this year. But maybe he can't.

Maybe the Buckeyes are an even better team than a year ago. Vote them No. 1 for now. Bucknell with fourth down from the 31, out of field-goal range, and forced Fox into throwing a pass that was inter-cepted by James Finn. Penn Bucknell 1630 7-21 First Quarter BU Fox 1 run (Miller kick), 8:03 Second Quarter UP Scott 1 run (Greathouse kick), 8:59 Third Quarter UP Scott fumble recovery in end zone (Great-house kick), 8:10 Fourth Quarter BU Rockett 13 pass from Fox (Miller kick) 00:03 Overtime BU Wilcox 10 pass from Fox (Miller kick) UP Ricchio 23 pass from Teodecki (Great-house kick) UP FG Greathouse 26 UP Parsons 75 blocked field-goal return A 9,166, By Joe Juliano INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LEWISBURG, Pa.

The story of the first overtime game in Penn's 120 years of football yesterday was one of joy, relief, and two unlikely heroes making the big plays in the, uh, fifth quarter. After four periods of offensive inconsistency against Bucknell, the Quakers put up a touchdown and a field goal in the tension-packed overtime, then were rescued when Roger Beckwith blocked a 25-yard field-goal attempt that would have tied the game again. "Chris Parsons returned the block 75 yards for a touchdown to account for the final margin in Penn's 30-21 nonleague victory over the Bison before a sun-drenched and stunned Parents Day crowd of 9,166 at Christy Malhewson Memorial Stadium. Talk about scary. "There's a sense of finality that your kids have to try and see through, try and overcome," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said of the overtime pressure.

"The game is on the line every single play." In NCAA football overtime, each team gets one possession from the opponent's 25-yard line and keeps the football until it scores, turns the ball over or loses the ball on downs. Nation UP BU 11 20 42-159 51-95 1 13 235 4-59 7-57 3- 25 3-62 2-11 1-13 4-18-1 22-36-2 4- 31 2-11 2-0 2-0 6-47 4-28 39:49 35:11 Penn State's Chafie Fields heads lopsided victory over the Nittany bus that the citizens rioted, burning cars, looting stores and generally acting like drunken thugs. But you have to understand that there is not much else to root for in this pedestrian state capital. This was the second time the Lions had come to Columbus since they joined the Big Ten. In 1993, the final was 24-6.

The game was played in miserable weather, and the Buckeyes dominated then, too, because they had bigger, meaner, nastier linemen then, too. If the game is still tied, they go to a second possession. The Quakers (2-1) scored on both their possessions on a 23-yard pass from Steve Teodecki to tight end John Ricchio and a 26-yard field goal by Jeremiah Greathouse. The Bison (1-3), who led off the extra period with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jim Fox to Cal Wilcox, moved the ball to the 8 on their second drive and brought Rich Miller in for the potential tying field goal. From the Penn sideline came a hobbling Beckwith, who left the game in the fourth quarter with leg cramps.

The 6-foot-3 defensive end, who has a 39-inch vertical leap, had blocked an extra point and a field-goal try against Dartmouth earlier this season. This time, he charged up the middle and got his hands on Miller's kick. "I was sore, but not as far as getting the job done," Beckwith said. "It was real simple. The D-line got a good push and I just jumped as high as I could, kept my hands together and focused on the ball." Parsons, the Quakers' left corner-back, picked up the deflection in stride and went all the way.

He was never touched until his gleeful teammates swarmed over him in the end zone. ference triumph over the Terrapins in College Park, Md. Laureano completed 12 of 19 passes for 175 yards for the Wolf-pack (1-3, 1-2 ACC). The Terrapins (2-3, 0-2) didn't cross midfield until 14 minutes, 50 seconds remained in the game. Elsewhere in the South: Tulane scored on its first three possessions, twice on TDs by Jamaican Dartez, and beat Texas Christian, 35-7.

Mike Cook passed for 306 yards and a touchdown to spark William and Mary to a 31-7 Yankee Conference win over New Hampshire. Ketric Sanford ran 9 yards for a touchdown with 28 seconds left to boost Houston past Southwestern Louisiana, 31-24. Greg Maddox threw for two TDs before injuring his knee as James Madison beat Maine, 31-7. Delaware State rushed for a season-high 389 yards in a 34-12 win over Bethune-Cookman. Marshall, the top-ranked team in Division I-AA, rolled over Tennessee-Chattanooga, 45-0.

East Army 39, Yale 13 Joseph Parker So dominating were the Buckeyes yesterday that in the fourth quarter, the only thing to do was calculate whether this was going to be the worst loss ever suffered by a Pa-terno-coached Nittany Lions team. When the score was 38-0, that would have tied for the worst. Nebraska beat Penn State by 44-6 in 1983, and UCLA beat the Lions by 49-11 in 1966. But then, darn it, the Buckeyes got a big pass-interference call against them that put Penn State at their 2, and only two The other implausible hero was Teodecki, who played a dreadful four quarters. In his first 60 minutes, the senior was 3 for 17 passing, two of the completions coming on broken patterns following scrambles.

However, with the Quakers down seven after Bucknell's overtime TD, Teodecki threw a perfect spiral that hit Ricchio in stride in the end zone for the tying score. "I played like I was in the ninth grade," a subdued Teodecki said later. "I had a horrible day. I started aiming the ball, put too much pressure on myself. No excuses.

"I guess I just had to clutch up. I was not going to let my team down at that point. It was on me. We had to score. I guess I can take something good out of the game, coming back after a bad day." The Quakers made it to overtime with the aid of a controversial call.

With Bucknell facing third and 8 from the Penn 21 with 29 seconds remaining in regulation, Fox threw a pass in the direction of Wilcox while going down from a hit by Quaker defensive end Doug Zinser. Referee Edward Ardito flagged Fox for intentional grounding. The penalty from the spot of the foul and the loss of down left Bucknell kicked three field goals in the first half and unbeaten Army scored four TDs in the second half to beat the Bulldogs in West Point, N.Y. The Cadets (4-0), off to their best start in 11 years, outgained Yale, 430-82, in total yards. Navy 64, Duke 27 Chris McCoy collected three touchdowns and Navy's defense scored twice as the Midshipmen throttled Duke in Annapolis, Md.

Rashad Smith returned an interception 21 yards, Ross Scott went 65 yards on a punt return and Travis Cooley went 22 yards with a fumble as Navy (3-1) ran up its highest point total against a Division I team since a 65-7 defeat of Princeton in 1953. Navy's Omar Nelson rushed for 118 yards. Elsewhere: Shawn Mcllale eclipsed the mark in career passing yardage as Lafayette topped Harvard, 17-7. Colgate won for the first time in 16 games, pounding out a 44-27 victory over Brown. Columbia improved its record to 3-0, its best start since 1946, with a 42-16 nonkiigue rout of Holy Cross.

Jon Aljancic passed for 280 yards as unbeaten Dartmouth dumped Fordham, Penn St. Ohio St. 0 0 0 77 10 14 7 738 First Quarter OS Stanley 42 pass from S.Jackson (Jo.Jack-son kick), 5:48 OS FG Jo.Jackson 30, 11:52 Second quarter OS Keller 24 pass from S.Jackson (Jo.Jackson kick), 5:57 OS Stanley 34 pass from Germaine (Jo.Jackson kick). 8:34 Third quarter OS Pearson 1 run (Jo.Jackson kick), 12:26 Fourth quarter OS Calhoun 3 pass from Germaine (Jo.Jackson kick), 5:17 PS Cleary 1 run (Conway kick), 8:57 A 94.241. PS OS First downs 13 31 Rushes-yards 26-68 58-350 Passing 143 215 Comp-Att-Int 17-37-0 14-31-0 Return Yards 3 80 Punts-Avg.

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0 Penalties-Yards 1-5 2-12 Time of Poss 25:05 34:55 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Penn Enis 11-34, Fields 4-24, Eberly 4-20, Cleary 3-13, Harris 1-2, Jones 1-(minus 10), Richardson 2-(minus 15), Ohio Pearson 28-141, Montgomery 9-86, Je.Jackson 8-54, Jackson 8 53, Hoying 2-8, Keiler 1-8, Calhoun 2-0. Passing: Penn Richardson 14-30-0-105, McOueary 3-6-0-38, Enis 0-1-0-0. Ohio St. S.Jackson 11-22-0-169, Germaine 3-8-0-46, Hoying 0-1-0-0. Receiving: Penn Nastasi 5-37, Enis 3-17, Harris 2-19, Olsommer 2-8, Jones 1-28, Campbell 1-15, Jurevicins 1-12, Brown 1-5, Fields 1-2.

Ohio Stanley 5-105, Pearson 3-14, Keller 2-44, Lumpkin 2-37, Boston 1-12, Calhoun 1-3. Maryland by Isaac Byrd to swamp the Sooners (04, 0-1 Big Twelve). Mutt Johner completed 17 of 24 passes for 172 yards for Kansas (3-1, 1-0). Purdue 30, Minnesota 27 Derrick Brown returned an interception 59 yards for a touchdown to spark the Boilermakers past Min ne-sota in West Lafayette, Ind. Kendall Matthews rushed for a career-high 131 yards and scored twice for Purdue (2-3, 1-1 Big Ten).

Tutu Atwell had a career-high 12 receptions for the Gophers (3-1, 0-1), Elsewhere: Matt Sherman threw two touchdown passes to Chris Knippcr and another to Sednck Shaw, lifting Iowa to a 37-30 Big Ten triumph over Michigan State. West Nevada 54, UNLV 17 John Dut-ton threw for four touchdowns as Nevada (3-2) rolled past the Runnin' Rebels (0-6) in Las Vegas. Elsewhere: Brian Ah Yat threw four touchdown passes, three to Josh PafflK.flsen, as Montana bowlaj over Southern Utah, 44-13. Montana is ranked No. 2 in Division 1-AA.

Georgia throttles Mississippi State? N.C. State races past First downs Rushes-yards Passing Punt Returns Kickoff Returns Interceptions Ret, Comp-Att-Int Sacked-Yards Lost Punts-Avg. Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Time of Poss INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Perm, Scott 29-136, Granata 7-43, Abye 1-3, Teodecki 5-(-23). Bucknell, Peer 34-91, Whitner 5-23, Parham 2-1, Fox 10-(-20). Passing: Penn, Teodecki 4-18-1-113.

Bucknell, Fox 22-36-2-235. Receiving: Penn, Bonanno 2-59, James 1-31, Ricchio 1-23. Bucknell, Lima 4-51, Wilcox 4-49, Kissinger 3-43, Peer 3-27, Bombich 3-11, Myers 2-21, Rockett 2-16, Hurley 1-17. 20-7. Rhode Island handed Massachusetts a 41-21 Yankee Conference defeat behind 151 yards rushing from James Jenkins.

Anthony Swan rushed for 142 yards and a TD to propel Buffalo past Cornell, 41-24. Steve Kives returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown as Northeastern rolled past Richmond, 27-10. Andre Hatcher ran for 207 yards on 43 carries as Duquesne defeated Siena, 28-20. Southwest Missouri 27, Southern Methodist 26 Mustangs kicker Daniel Hernandez hit the right upright on a 35-yard field-goal attempt as time expired, giving Missouri a nonleague victory in Dallas. Kent Skornia threw two TD passes for Missouri (2-3).

SMU is 2-4. Texas Tech 45, Baylor 24 Byron Hanspard rushed for 287 yards, the most ever by a Texas Tech running back, as the Red Raiders outscored the Bears in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Techimproved to 3-2, 2-1 in the Big Twelve. Baylor is 3-1, 0-1. Elsewhere: Quarterback Chad Nel son ran for 101 yards to lift Rice past New Mexico, 38-21.

Texas flattened Louisiana Tech, 63-13, as Albert Connell scored TDs on a 63-yard end-around play and a 40-yard pass from Bran don Stewart Waylon Jones passed for 294 yards and four TDs as Langston defeated Prairie View 37-20, extending the Panthers' NCAA-record losing streak to 63 games. Midwest Illinois 46, Indiana 43 Scott Weaver threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jason Dulick in the second overtime series after Indiana had kicked a field goal as the Illini beat the Hoosiers in Champaign, 111. It was Weaver's fourth touchdown pass of the game for Illinois (2-3, l-l Big Ten). Indiana (2-3, 0-2) had tied the game at 33 with 47 seconds to go on Chris Dittoe's 12-yard TD pass to Dorian Wilkerson and a two-point conversion pass to Ajamu Stoner. Kansas 52, Oklahoma 24 In Norman, Kansas used a 100-yard kickoff return by Eric Vann and a school-record 94-yard punt return ASSOCIATED PHESS Mike Bobo threw two of his three touchdown passes in Georgia's first five snaps and the visiting Bulldogs went on to a 38-19 victory over Mississippi State last night in Stark-ville, Miss.

After Mississippi State drove 86 yards on 17 plays on its opening possession, Georgia (2-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) needed just five plays to score twice and take the lead for good. On Georgia's second play from scrimmage, Bobo threw a 51-yard TD to Juan Daniels, who later was knocked out of the game with a minor neck injury. Bobo's 24-yard TD to Hines Ward, three plays after Greg Bright recovered a fumble by Mississippi State quarterback Derrick Taite, gave Georgia a 14-7 lead. Ward caught five passes for 184 yards and two TDs, including a 65-yarder in the third quarter. Mississippi State is 2-2, 1-1.

North Carolina State 34, Maryland 8 Quarterback Jose Laureano thrcv for a pair of touchdowns, and North Carolina State scored the first 24 points in an Atlantic Coast Con 1.