Centre Daily Times from State College, Pennsylvania • 17

Centre Daily Time! Friday September 13 2002 Skirmish with crew member won't dampen Rudd's enthusiasm See Page B7 NASCAR Sporti Editor Ron Bracken ibnKkrnftxntrrditilycom Phone: 231-4641 wwwxontrwlailyxonitport Bellefonte keeping it simple for Bearcats COT file photoCraig Houtz Nebraska fullback Roger Craig (21) waa among the many future NFL players who played In tha Sept 25 1982 game against Penn State The game waa won 27-24 by Perm State which went on to beat Georgia In tha Sugar Bowl to win its (list national championship A real classic 982 clash between NebrasWftHd Penn State has stood the test of time iwii A quick look at the people MMnt cporta news Allentown RB commits to Penn State Austin Scott a tailback from Falkland High School in Allentown has given a verbal commitment to Penn State his high school coach Rob Melosky said Thursday Scott plans to make a formal announcement at the school this morning The 205pound Scott has rushed for 652 yards on 63 carries in two games this season with six touch- -downs Scott also had a scholarship offer from West Virginia and was being recruited by Michigan Virginia and Pittsburgh Scott missed last season with a patella tendon iqjury in his right knee after rushing for more than 2000 yards as a sophomore "He has great size and Melosky said "He's not a finesse kid from a standpoint that he look to bounce everything right away stay in there and run hard in die holes and put a little punishment on the defense too also a nice receiver out of the backfield that can catch the ball and do things with it after he catches Scott is Penn Stale's fourth known commitment and second from a running back joining Jason Evans of KennesawGa WMAJ switching to ail-sports format STATE WMAJ 1450 AM will switch to an allsports programming format on Sept 18 theistatjon -announced Forever Broadcasting owner and operator of the station said the station's new lineup will be anchored by local sports programming and ESPN Radio The new weekday lineup will feature the nationally-syndicated Jim Rome Show from noon to 3 pm Blue White Illustrated a local sports talk program which airs from 5 to 7 pm and Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA from 10 pm to 1am die enthusiasm by residents of Happy Valley in local as well as Ptnn State sports only natural diat we make this programming available" said Tom Yourchak vice president and general manager of Forever Broadcasting 1 By the numbers Running backs Kevin Jones and Lee Suggs combine for 322 yards rushing and five touchdowns to lead Virginia Tech past Marshall 47-21 on Thursday ITodaylnspoHsft Sept 13 1992 Buffalo's Jim Kelly and San Steve Young throw for more than 400 yards and neither team punts the first time in NFL history as the Bills beat the 49ers 34-31 On Television 7 pjn: High school football Altoona at State College CNET On Radio 3 pm: Pennsylvania Football Friday WRSC 1390 WBLF 970 5 pm: Blue White Illustrated WMV 2450 7 pm: High school football Altoona at State College WKSC 1390 WMAJ 1450 7 pm: High school football Bishop Guilfoyle at Bald Eagle Area WBLF 9 70 Sl'wnrrl SMl? 1 was just hoping we had enough trainers for all the injured Andy Fox Florida Marlins infidJer after a pitch by Marlins hurler Julian Tavarrz hit Richie Sexson catcher Ramon Castro and plate umpire Greg Gibson By Todd Miner tcelsnerftcentredailycom Tom Gravish admits he has no tricks up his sleeve this week And why should he? The Bellefonte football coach says foe keys to getting past defending District 6 Class AAA champion Huntingdon 6) tonight wont be anew exotic defense or a spread offense "We dont have any wrinkles or anything new this said Gravish whose Red Raiders are also 2-0 and have yet to allow a point "If Gravish going to beat a team like Huntingdon going to have to make plays and be physical no litte fancy schemes going to be able to beat What could topple foe Bearcats is the type of defense Bellefonte has displayed so far Bellefonte is allowing a miniscule 08 yards per carry and has yielded just 35 yards passing What wont cut it is another turnover-prone showing by the Red offense which has given foe ball up nine times including seven fumbles On top of those turnovers Bellefonte has been flagged for 17 penalties had enough turnovers to last us about six games" Gravish sad "Maybe we got them all out of our The winner will emerge as the early front-runner in the Big Eight Huntingdon has victories over Laurel Highlands (35-7) and Big Eight foe Tyrone (29-2Q) and is led by tailback Jon Riley who has run for 173 yards and four touchdowns Riley had 119 of 302 rushing yards against Tyrone Bearcats quarterback Geoff Kozak can also scamper running for 145 yards and a pair of scores "They're tough just like foe Huntingdon teams of foe last three or four Gravish said of the Bearcats ranked fifth in this week's state AAA poIL Expect Huntingdon to see a steady diet of Red Raiders tailback Corey Mislinksl who tore through P-0 for 204 yards a week ago Mislinski has rushed for 238 ydrds and caught two passes for 97 more Sec Monnties Page B3 Iverson cleared of all charges By Michael RuMnkam The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA The last two counts against NBA All-Star Allen Iverson mil be dropped because his accusers want to pursue the case District Attorney Lynne Abraham said Thursday Iverson originally was charged with 14 counts including four felonies for allegedly barging into an apartment with a gun and threatening two men while looking for his wife All but two Iverson misdemeanors were dismissed by a judge July 29 after foe two accusers Charles Jones and Hakim Carev gave conflicting testimony including whether the Philadelphia 76ers' guard was carrying a gun carryings her office could have compelled Jones and Carey to testify but decided that it would be a waste of resources Carey has since moved to Maryland ana Jones is in New York "1 dont think the taxpayers want to spend that kind of money on this kind of case" she said Iverson's uncle Gregory faced the same charges and also will not beprosecutea In a statement Iverson said 1 want to sincerely thank Lynne Abraham for having the courage to do the right thing and notbe caught up in the media frenzy that accompanied these false accusations against game And here was Curt on the verge of breaking every major rushing record (at Penn State) "We (the offensive line) had a meeting after watching the film of the Temple game and we decided we had to do a better job collectively We had to become a more cohesive unit We knew that teams would get used to us throwing the ball and force us to go to the running With Warner Jon Williams Joel Coles and Skeeter Nichols available Penn State certainly had the backs to run the football when the time came And with Blackledge throwing to Kenny Jackson Gregg Garri-ty Kevin Baugh and Mike McCloskey the passing game was exceptional As it turned out later Warner Blackledge and Jackson were all first-mnid draft picks On the opposite sideline that night Nebraska could match the Lions star for star and even trumped them with Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier He had Outland and Lombardi Trophy winners Dave Rimington and Dean Steinkuhler blocking for him Roger Craig was his foil-back Turner Gill was die quarterback and Irving Fryar was a wide receiver You couldn't swing a dead cat on that field without hitting an All-American a high draft pick or a trophy winner There may never beat a greater collection of talent on the turf at Beaver Stadium than there was that September evening And if into trivia that game marked the first game played under the lights at Beaver Stadium Musco Lighting a company based in Iowa brought in portable lights for the game which started at 3:45 and was televised by CBS Lights camera kickoff Before the Huskers could adapt to the time change Penn State was up 140 and it could have been worse Penn State scored on drives of 83 and 71 yards and could have had more except a pair of Blackledge touchdown passes were nullified one by a man-in-motion penalty called against McCloskey a tight end StiU Bowman a guard-turned-tight end caught a 14-yard pass from Blackledge for the game's first score and Warner began asserting himself on the ground getting away for runs of 31 and 15 yards before scoring from the 2 But Nebraska cleared its head and behind Gill's passing drove 80 yards in the closing minutes of the quarter Gill hooked up with Fryar for a 30-yard touchdown pass with 38 seconds to go in the half to make it 14-7 See 1982 Page S2 season against Temple Maryland and Rutgers unveiling a passing game that saw Todd Blackledge throw 12 touchdown passes and had people describing the new offense as "Air That was the upside The downside was that tailback Curt Warner saw his Heisman Trophy dreams vaporize as the Lions went to the air for yards and points In the locker room following the opening game romp over Temple in which he carried 13 times for 49 yards Warner was visibly distraught The offensive line wasn't all that thrilled with new attack either even though it was a work in progress trying to replace guards Sean Farrell and Mike Munchak and center Jim Romano Both guards were first-round draft choices while Romano went in the second round That was arguably the forest interior trio the Lions have ever suited up "You can imagine how the 0-line said tackle Bill Contz one of the holdovers from the 1981 unit all that Air Paterno stuff we felt like Joe was abandoning the running By Ron Bracken rhrackenOcentredailycom No sooner had Kirk Bowman cradled the low pass from Todd Blackledge to his midsection along the back line of the South end zone than the 1982 game between Penn State and Nebraska was anointed with classic status what you might expect given the fact that the pass was caught with four seconds left on die clock and came at the end of a 65-yard drive that began with 1:18 remaining in the game and Nebraska holding a 24-21 lead Any time a game ends in such dramatic fashion it gets a temporary promotion from ordinary to extraordinary or even classic And it lasts until the following Game of the Year But the 1982 battle between Penn State and Nebraska has stood the test of time It remains even now a classic Even ESPN said so televising it this week on ESPN Classic The undercard The Nittany Lions were 3-0 and ranked eighth Nebraska was second having outscored its opponents 110-7 Penn State had opened the You ruin our dream season min yours the game could have gone-either way" The next year team got a rematch and blasted Penn State 446 in the inaugural Kickoff Classic Many of the same players who had lost that game in Beaver Stadium were anxious for another shot at the Lions The nucleus of the Penn State team including NFL first-round draft choices Todd Blackledge and Curt Warner were gone Still there was a measure of redemption and it had to feel good Now flash ahead to 1994 Penn State had its best team since the 1986 national championship bunch and the best offensive team since foe Blackledge-Warner days The lions did not score less that 31 points any game that year But on Nov 5 when their reserves were giving up two late touchdowns to Indiana in what became a 3529 win Nebraska rolled over Kansas 45-17 Penn State had been No 1 but the closeness of the Indiana score was enough to knock the lions out of the top spot Nebraska moved in and stayed there Through the rest of tiie season through foe final polls Nebraska finished 130 and No 1 Penn Sate finished 130 and No 2 That decided foe folks in foe Heartland was for 1982 And while Osborne was not about to cut foe trophy in half and ship one half to Pater no he did recognize foe injustice in foe poll system "The only thing I regret about 1994 is that we get to play each Osborne said "We were a free agent we could have played anywhere but foe Rose Bowl But Penn State was locked in to the Rose Bowl "1 said We ought to tell foe Big Ten that Nebraska would go to foe Rose Bowl and play Penn That was not an option This was before the BCS system was in place and the lions having won their first Big Ten title and Subsequent trip to the Rose Bowl went out and beat Oregon 38-20 The night before Nebraska had beaten Miami 2417 in the Orange Bond and went to bed pretty much assured just won a national title Which they did "It came down to a vote at the Osborne said "It was a little bit of a reversal of 1982 We beat Iowa Stale and Penn State beat Notre Dame on foe same day and they moved ahead of us and stayed there in 1982 Things went their way In 1994 they went our way The only thing I regret is that in 1994 we get to play each other" Ron Bracken is the sports editor of the Centre Daily Times He can bt reached at 231-4641 or rbrackencentredailycom For two guys who were supposed to be friends Joe Paterno and Tbm Osborne spent a lot of time spoiling each other's plans In 1982 Penn State beat Nebraska 27-24 in the fourth game of the season Nebraska lose again Penn State lost the next week But by the end of the year the Lions had worked their way back to the top of the polls got a shot at No 1 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl and won that game 27-23 for its first national title The Lions finished 11-1 Nebraska finished third with a 12-1 mark "It was just the dynamics of the said Osborne earlier this week from his office on Capitol Hill where he is a member of the House of Representatives "Penn State lost to Alabama a couple of weeks after we played them and we moved ahead of them They kept winning and we kept winning But at the end of foe year they beat Notre Dame the day we beat Iowa State and they pulled ahead of us we win the national championship I was pleased Joe got it I felt they were the best team we played that year and Ron Bracken 5 ft ti i a I.