I think I have the year and opponent correct, anyone remember that game? Believe PSU was #2 at the time, Glen Mason lulled everyone to sleep.
Minnesota 1999
- Thread starter psulongago
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We had a coach at the time that played not to lose, its different now....
It worked 409 times
And one of the worst losses in his career - should have had at least 410 wins...probably more because I think they would have run the table after a Minny win. I was also there for that debacle.
Knock it down Fox!
Tangentially related- Why do players celebrate when they make an INT on 4th down 30 yards downfield... You just gifted tmajor field position. Not a time to celebrate just because you added to your stats.
Tangentially related- Why do players celebrate when they make an INT on 4th down 30 yards downfield... You just gifted tmajor field position. Not a time to celebrate just because you added to your stats.
If that 99 defense took 1/4 of the "risks" that this defense takes, PSU might have been undefeated that year. With the right D coordinator, Courtney Brown and Lavar Arrington, on the same D, would almost be criminal. Instead, PSU sat back in a decades long tradition of "bend but don't break," and also turtled on O against UM and MSU, after the Minny heartbreak, and flushed a potential NC down the crapper.
I feel your pain, I was on the field for the last minutes. Being in the blue band at the time we thought we were going to play for the natty.
That was the game that started the Dark Ages IMO...I have never heard Beaver Stadium instantly go quiet like that everyone was in shock
Pretty sure you had Brandon Short on that D too.
That was a rough 3 week stretch. Lost to Minny, then blew a 10 pt 4th qtr lead to UM and then got spanked out in East Lansing with Lavar injured. Start of the 5 yr dark ages.
Yes, that is the right game.
Derek Fox hit the ball into the air into a receiver's hands.
Then to top it off... his brother went to OSU a few years later and Derek said bad things about PSU.
I disagree about us beating the other teams on the schedule. That was a Tom Brady led Wolverine team and we were refarined hard.
That was somewhat before we realized we were getting refarined but that game with the holding on Courtney Brown literally by his head was insane.
LdN
Yes, along with several others on D who would play in the NFL. Almost too painful to think of at times. ;-(
So let's have another 3 threads about it then?
2017: Team that is together, has soul, has leadership, has teamwork, and has active, coaching assistants
1999: Team that had NONE of that.
Next?
2017: Team that is together, has soul, has leadership, has teamwork, and has active, coaching assistants
1999: Team that had NONE of that.
Next?
Literally?
So they don't play the same game for the same school in the same stadium while wearing the same colors?
Short term memory issues? A few years ago against Maryland and the end of the Rose Bowl (especially bitter) come to mind. I love Franklin. Joe hung on too long. But when taking unsolicited shots, at least be accurate.
If I recall, wasn't there some reference here on the board last year to the 1999 Minny game, this time prior to the regular season ending game vs Michigan State?
And how we couldn't be complacent, upset potential, etc.
I'll put that 1999 loss up there with the worst in my memory. I promise not to start a thread about it, and hope others do the same. Bygones.
True, but I really think Joe missed a shot at the title that year with his philosophy.
As the year went on, he got tighter and tighter with the offense as he assumed he could win every game because of his defense and playing mistake-free football on offense (which is asking too much). If I remember correctly, that philosophy was exhibited when he elected to punt and give MN the ball for their final possession instead of either try a fg (which would have caused MN to need a TD to win) or pick up the first down and put the game on ice. Someone here will know the exact details, but I think we punted from around their 35 yard line and of course, the punt went into the end zone and we only wound up with approx. 15 net yards of improved field position which MN recovered in the first play or two as they went down the field.
Had the same thought. The first thing that went through my mind after the kick was "this was Joe's last shot. It didn't happen." Little did I know he would stick around from another 11 seasons!! I always wondered had he won the NC in 1999 if he would have stepped down sooner.
Was there and right on the line for that Minny hail mary catch and subsequent fg. I believe we were #1? Bochna or Fox?
was that team overrated or under achievers? There best 2 teams they played that year were the Michigan schools and lost both.
Arizona was #4 but didn’t even go to a bowl I think.
Miami was #8 but lost 3-4 more games after PSU including vs East Carolina.
I never thought that team was ever great.
Arizona was #4 but didn’t even go to a bowl I think.
Miami was #8 but lost 3-4 more games after PSU including vs East Carolina.
I never thought that team was ever great.
My recollection of that Michigan game was that in the first half, little known Tom Brady was running (slowly, of course) for his life b/c PSU was bringing pressure. In the second half, the PSU defense turtled, Lavar was covering receivers downfield, and (in a preview of every game he later played against the Steelers), Brady picked PSU apart (it bent, and broke).
Yes this is accurate. And still Minny needed not 1 but 2 long shot plays to win. They went from the 20 to the 50 on a hail mary pass, and then got the deflected pass on 4th down to get into field goal range.
I think you'll need to find some of the pictures of your OL bending Courtney Brown back by his facemask.
Effectively the refs stopped calling holding on your OL.
It was so ridiculously bad I've never since seen anything like it.
I'll search for the image.
LdN
That year I thought Penn State and Florida State were the two best teams in the country. After the opening game against Arizona in which we threw caution to the wind, Joe dummy downed the offense. Witness the close games to inferior teams after the Arizona game. Pitt game close (Lavar blocks FG at the end to prevent them from tying game), Miami (takes a miracle bomb to Chafie Fields to win), Purdue (takes goal line stand at games end by Courtney Brown and company. Note: The defense scored two TD's in that game). Eventually, the Minnesota game caught up with the way they were running the offense when Minnesota hit a lucky pass at the end to set up their winning field goal. As a two touchdown favorite at home the game should have never come down to that one play. After the Minnesota game that team was shot emotionally with their title hopes dashed. They lost at home following week to Michigan and then got hammered at Michigan State.
Exactly. So conservative, so many Travis Forney field goal attempts. We literally had 0 touchdowns in the 2nd half.
Really, in retrospect, that game was the beginning of the end of JoePa as an elite-level coach.
You obviously were not at the game vs. Bama in 89 when they blocked a chip shot field goal for the win.
1999 was a big-time team of under-achievers.
We lost to Michigan and MSU because they beat us in the trenches. 7 yards rushing against Michigan. 7. Yeesh. TJ Duckett than was rather unstoppable the following week in East Lansing.
As you said, Miami and Arizona turned out to be "eh" teams. That wasn't a vintage Hurricanes team.
Purdue was our best win in 1999 - but that required some defensive TDs in itself. It also foreshadowed the Minnesota game in retrospect - the inability to get first downs and yards on our final drive, leading to a long Travis Forney field goal that was missed, thus keeping Purdue in the game.
Also, in a play I still can't believe in retrospect happened, it helped to have a guy (Anthony King) literally come off the sideline to make a tackle on a probable Purdue TD. Purdue wound up getting only a field goal on that drive.
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Fox. Fox was also beat on the previous completed pass for 30+ yards that got them past midfield pretty quickly on that drive.
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