Who was the best opposing player/team you remember watching play vs Penn State

[CDLionFL]

2001 Miami is head and shoulders x 3 above any other team that could be mentioned. That was men vs. infants out there that night.

Player...I like Flutie...I'd also throw a nod at Ty Detmer. He had just about any pass he wanted in that bowl game. But I can still see Gary Brown stealing the ball from him and running it back for 2 points.

 

[PSUinCali]

Eddie George and or drew Breeze

If I recall, I don't think Drew Brees ever beat Penn State.

 

[N&B4PSU]

Player was Dallas Clark of Iowa

Team was 2001 Miami, they just manhandled us.

Randy White... totally outmuscled and manhandled us. Best? Certainly in the mix.

 

[lein]

Herschel Walker

Hershel is a walker, Warner is a runner

 

[lein]

So many great Rutgers teams. So many great Rutgers players. I just cannot pick one of either.

No love for Scott Ernie?

 

[LemonEars]

Dave Rimington, the Nebraska center, pancaked Greg Guttoso on nearly every snap in the 1982 game that featured McClosky's corner. Rimington was dominating.

 

[Lion78]

Hugh Green was the best I ever saw.

Pitt still sux

 

[PennStateNate]

Derrick Thomas, 1988 at Birmingham, 8 solo tackles, 3 sacks and a safety on Tony Sacca. Not to mention that he disrupted almost every play that day.

Best team - I agree. 2001 Miami was as good as advertised.

Totally forgot about that. I think the official score went to sleep in the 2nd quarter. Thomas had way more solo tackles then 8. He was in on every PSU offensive play.

 

[mn78psu83]

Totally forgot about that. I think the official score went to sleep in the 2nd quarter. Thomas had way more solo tackles then 8. He was in on every PSU offensive play.

Part of the issue for PSU in pass blocking was that John Greene, a great team player and no disrespect intended, was undersized and overmatched against him. That does not take away from the fact that he blew up the PSU offense for the entire game. As you say, it seemed like he was either in on very play or caused every play to fail. Relentless.

 

[mn78psu83]

Hugh Green was the best I ever saw.

Pitt still sux

In my mind I had Derrick Thomas as 1 and Hugh Green as 1A. Overall, as a college player Hugh Green would rank higher for me, but for that one game Derrick Thomas was a superhero. I also went for the D side of the ball.

 

[PSU Mike]

A few other notables that gave us fits...
Derrick Ramsey, UK, 1977
Mike Hart, UM, ??
Bobby Humphrey, Bama 1987
Tim Dwight, Iowa, 1996
James Hardy, IU, ??

 

[PennStateNate]

No Tom Brady mention?

 

[LemonEars]

A few other notables that gave us fits...
Derrick Ramsey, UK, 1977
Mike Hart, UM, ??
Bobby Humphrey, Bama 1987
Tim Dwight, Iowa, 1996
James Hardy, IU, ??

I vividly recall Tim Dwight. One of the fastest players I ever saw. He drove us nuts on special teams.

 

[jppsu1]

Ted Brown

Ted Brown. I agree!!

 

[Nittanyplayer#12]

Randle El

I'm with Norm on this Randle El was a nasty against us.

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

So many great Rutgers teams. So many great Rutgers players. I just cannot pick one of either.

Ha. I remember a game at home against Rutgers. Somebody can help me, it was a long time ago. Early '90's. I want to say it was a night game back when they were very rare. In fact (too lazy to look it up), for some reason I want to say it was a Thursday night TV special - maybe the only Thursday nighter we ever played.

Anyway - the player was TE Marco Battaglia. Dude wore us out. We hammered Rutgers right on schedule, but he was a great player and had a terrific game. Battaglia lasted for a while in the NFL although he never tore it up. But he was a great college player - first-team All American IIRC.

 

[MarkinMadison]

Derrick Thomas linebacker for Alabama.......man amongst boys when they played us....he tackled whomever and whenever he felt like it.....ironically, one of the most dominating games I ever saw a Penn State player have was Blair Thomas against Alabama (different game)

 

[mn78psu83]

I vividly recall Tim Dwight. One of the fastest players I ever saw. He drove us nuts on special teams.

He stole the 1996 game from PSU. Overshadowed a great performance by Aaron Harris - 11 carries for 152 yards.

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

Erasmus James from Wisconsin in the early 2000s (2004?).

That dirty cheap-shotting bastard. Blatant late hits on MRob and Mills to knock them both out of the game. We should have ran a high-low and crippled that sonofabitch. That POS got his later in the NFL. First off, spent most of his career suspended for violation of SA policy, then blew out a knee and it was curtains.

Nobody but nobody ever deserved a career-ending injury more and when I heard about it, I poured a double to celebrate.

James was last seen collecting shopping carts in the parking lot of a K Mart somewhere. Good for him.

 

[THEEHMANN]

Player was Dallas Clark of Iowa

Team was 2001 Miami, they just manhandled us.

Ted Brown. NCS

 

[mOOse_44]

I remember no one could tackle Tyrone Wheatley from UM. He was a stud in college.

 

[PennStateNate]

I just watched a bit on the 2001 Miami game. Coker had such great respect for Joe he pulled his starters in the 2nd quarter up 30-0. They seriously might have scored 80 on us that day.

Their team was amazing. I think they won by a 34 point margin that year which is still a record and they beat 5 top 15 teams by Like 245-48 or something.

 

[Howie'81]

Player: Doug Flutie
Team: '86 Miami Hurricanes (Even though we skunked 'em)

 

[PennStateNate]

Player: Doug Flutie
Team: '86 Miami Hurricanes (Even though we skunked 'em)

For as good as that 86 Miami team was, their 01 team would have stomped them IMO.

 

[dmdpsu]

No question about it. Curtis Dickey single handedly defeated PSU in 1979.

 

[NitNE73]

Miami's Mad Stork, Ted Hendricks

 

[manatree]

My vote is for the 1997 Michigan State Offensive Line. They made Marc Renaud & Sedrick Irvin look like Jim Brown & Walter Payton when we were ranked 4th. 49-14. Ugh.

 

[lionroar88]

The 2001 Miami squad would have given our 1994 squad one hell of a game. In a 5 games series it probably would have ended 2-2-1.

 

[PennStateNate]

I hate to say it, but I honestly think that 2001 Miami team is the best ever in college football. They scored almost 600 points, only averaged giving up like 9 a game and destroyed every rank team they played, even #2 Nebraska.

I think they would beat our 94 team. Our 94 team was great, but that 01 Miami team had so much talent and NFL Speed on both sides of the ball.

 

[Sandinista!]

In recent memory, I would say that Blake Bortles beat us single handily.
He made some passes I couldn't believe.

 

[mn78psu83]

In recent memory, I would say that Blake Bortles beat us single handily.
He made some passes I couldn't believe.

The sideline throw he made and completed on third and long for first and goal on the opening drive was scary good. I looked at my wife and said something like, "this is going to be a long day for the D." It didn't hurt the UCF cause that their receivers made some ridiculous catches too.

 

[Sviatoslav]

These are all good answers. I have a defense mechanism that blocks out most of these performances, only have vague memories of our losses and those who perpetrated them. I recall sulking, throwing things, entire Saturdays being ruined by a game played by younger men in a distant magical land... but the details are fuzzy. Maybe I'm just getting old.

 

[GuStHeCaT]

Chuck Long, Iowa, 1983. Still the most points an opponent has ever scored at the Beav, I think. Vividly recall my dad just shaking his head and repeating 'Chuck f-ing Long' on the entire four-hour drive home.

 

[LemonEars]

My first Penn State game was the Michigan State game in 1965. We lost 23 - 0. Bubba Smith controlled the game. Our OL had no chance to block him and our backs had no chance to get by him. Bubba had a sidekick name George Webster. He helped throttle all our offensive plays. Bubba and George were dominating that day.

 

[psuno1]

2001 Miami- that team was loaded at stated above.
Randle El- almost beat PSU by himself a couple of times.

 

[Judge Smails]

Correct. Thanks to Macklin running off the sidelines during a play to tackle our WR running for a TD and then the back judge swallowing his whistle as Randal Lane is blantantly held in the endzone with 20 seconds left in the 1999 game. We had a great thread reliving Penn State mystery calls a couple of weeks ago on our board. Check it out. You guys certainly don't hold a monopoly on bad officiating.

Purdue has a football message board?

 

[harbest]

The 2001 Miami team had more talent than some NFL teams had that year.

 

[psu1969a]

Player was Dallas Clark of Iowa

Team was 2001 Miami, they just manhandled us.

Easy: Jim Brown, Syracuse!

Could go for quite a while naming players from Army, Navy, Maryland, NC State, Miami, Alabama, USC, UCLA, Michigan, Ohio State, etc.

 

[Roar More]

Pete Johnson from Ohio State was an unstoppable bulldozer.

 

[Jerademan74]

Of the players or teams I saw in person over the years, the best player was definitely Randy White from Maryland. He was all over the field and was in on almost every play to get the PSU ball handler!

As far as best opposing team I ever saw in person, that had to be Nebraska's team that beat us in the Inaugural Football Classic in the Meadowlands when they had Turner Gill and Mike Rozier running all over us to start that season. I think the final score was 44-6!