Penn State tames Texas 38-15

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Texas' celebrated return to its glorious past and its presumed place among college football's elite did not last long. Instead, the Longhorns will remain the underdog that pulled off the stunning upset to crash the New Year's Day party.

Having forfeited its role as role model for the infirm and unlikely, the Longhorns got Penn State's attention enough for the Nittany Lions to slap them back from the Nebraska dream to harsh reality with a 38-15 whipping before 65,106 Wednesday in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

After the stunning upset of Nebraska that had elevated Texas to a second-consecutive "New Year's Day" game, the Longhorns were taken apart in the second half, running their winless streak in such games back to the 1982 Cotton Bowl.

Penn State, which had come into game having outscored opponent 100-37 int he second half of its previous five bowl games, shut down everything that had been working for Texas, solved its own problems, and blew Texas out of the second half.

The Nittany Lions outscored Texas 21-3, in the second half, holding Texas to 101 yards by the time the lead grew to 23 with 5:50 left, while rolling up 283 yards by the time the back ups took over for the final four minutes.

Texas' trouble began when Penn State's Kenny Watson returned the second-half kickoff 81 yards. The Nittany Lions covered the final 19 in just five play, Aaron Harris running five yards to regain the Penn State lead. Richardson passed to Enis for the conversionand just 2:23 into the second half, Pen State led, 15-12.

But Texas' problems began there. Where the Longhorns had controlled the line to run for 92 yards in the first half, in the third quarter, Texas lost eight yards rushing. And the Penn State offensive line began to push around the Texas defensive front.

Texas was able to briefly tie the score when Texas coach John Mackovic pulled a fake-punt pass from blocker Cody Danaher to Bryant Westbrook out of the back of his play book. When the Longhorns could follow that play with just one yard, they settled for a 48-yard Phil Dawson field goal, his third of the game.

But by then, Penn State not only controlled the lines, but began making the big plays, as well. First Penn State methodically drove 65 yards, running the ball six times for 55 yards with Enis diving the final two for a 22-15 lead. And after stuffing Texas' next possession, Penn State struck with the big play, Chafie Fields taking a reverse for a Penn State and Fiesta Bowl record 84 yards to the Texas five.

A four-yard Enis run to the one set up Anthony Cleary for the score, and ot only did Texas trail, 28-15, its offense was suddenly shut down, and its defense was unable to slow the Penn State running game.

A 30-yard punt return by Chris Campbell moved the Nittany Lions in position for a 23-yard Brett Conway field goal, pushing the Penn State lead to 31-15. And from the point Dawson tied the score, 15-15, PennState had not only run off 16 unanswered points, its churned up 192 yards while holding the formerly prolific Texas offense to 22.

And if that had not been frustrating enough, it had come on a night Texas looked as if ready to reenact the ow exalted dream come true against Nebraska.

But there was a problem in the early excellence: Texas spent the first half as if setting up the philosophical half-empty, half-full question, controlling the game, but netting little for all the effort.

The Longhorns had every right to cheer how consistently well they moved the ball and controlled the game. But they also faced the nagging reminder that all that impressive offense, and one of their finest defensive performances of the season had netted only a 12-7 lead.

The Longhorns had done far more than would normally indicate a five-point lead. They had outgained Penn State by 147 yards, while controlling both lines of scrimages, and with Brown on his game nearly as completely as against Nebraska.

But the Longhorns started the game by handing the Nittany Lions' their lone touchdown of the half. Brown hung up a pass for Mike Adams long enough for cornerback Mark Tate to intercept it, on the game's second play, at the Texas 38-yard line. Tate returned the interception to the 26 and four plays later, Richardson flipped a four-yard pass to Enis for the score.

But Texas never seemed to have trouble moving the ball again in the half. The Longhorns drove to the Penn State six on the next drive, and to the 11 on the possession after that, ending both drives with 28-yard Phil Dawson field goals.

And after one drive ended with a completed pass short of a first down and another on a Shon Mitchell fumble, Texas smartly drove for the go-ahead score, covering 69 yards in 1:44 of the half's final 1:56 with Ricky Williams sweeping in for the final seven yards. Brown completed three of four passes for 51 yards on the drive.

But leading by five, Texas went for the two-point conversion and Brown was unable to find a receiver, forcing Texas to leave the field having done as much as it could have hoped, but wondering if it was enough.


Penn State      7  0 21 10 -- 38
Texas           3  9  3  0 -- 15

Penn St  Enis 4 pass from Richardson (Conway kick), 2:13.
Texas    FG Dawson 28, 8:30.
Texas    FG Dawson 28, 4:22.
Texas    Williams 7 run (pass failed), 14:48.
Penn St  Harris 5 run (Richardson pass to Enis), 2:33.
Texas    FG Dawson 48, 8:10.
Penn St  Enis 2 run (Conway kick), 11:37.
Penn St  Cleary 1 run (kick failed), 14:59.
Penn St  FG Conway 23, 4:37.
Penn St  Enis 12 run (Conway kick), 9:10.

A--65,106.
                        Texas         Penn State
First Downs             19            19
Rushes-Yards            30-73         44-330
Passing                 287           95
Comp-Att-Int            27-43-1       12-20-0
Return Yards            64            169
Punts-Avg               6-37.7        5-35.6
Fumbles-Lost            2-1           0-0
Penalties-Yards         8-57          4-49
Time of Possession      33:03         26:57

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
    Texas - Williams 11-48, Mitchell 7-24, Holmes 6-11, J.Brown 6-(minus 10).
    Penn State - Enis 16-95, Fields 1-84, Eberly 7-54, C.Mitchell 6-45,
            Cleary 5-31, Harris 4-13, Sload 2-7, Nixon 1-3,
            Richardson 2-(minus 2).

PASSING
    Texas - J.Brown 26-42-1-254, Danaher 1-1-0-33.
    Penn State - Richardson 12-20-0-95.

RECEIVING
    Texas - Davis 5-72, M.Adams 4-73, Westbrook 1-33, Fitzgerald 2-31,
            McGarity 3-27, Williams 9-24, Holmes 2-15, White 1-12.
    Penn State - Cu.Brown 3-32, Jurevicius 2-22, Eberly 2-19, Enis 2-15,
            Harris 2-5, Campbell 1-2.