Usc Settles For Regrets At Penn St. -- Usc Comeback Ends On Botched Conversion Pass
AP
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State's prevent defense nearly prevented a Nittany Lion victory.
USC scored twice in the final 5:12 yesterday, and 15th-ranked Penn State escaped with a 21-20 victory when Trojan quarterback Rob Johnson threw a bad pass on a two-point conversion try with 37 seconds left.
"Comebacks don't count unless you win," USC Coach John Robinson said.
"What it should do is make us sick and tired of losing. We didn't come to screw up in the first half and come back in the second just to lose."
Penn State scored 21 points in the second quarter, with Brian O'Neal scoring twice on 2-yard runs. USC, limited to 34 yards rushing, passed for 176 yards in the final period before falling short.
'92 heartbreaker revisited
Visions of last year's Notre Dame game danced in Nittany Lion heads. The Irish took a 17-16 victory on a two-point try with 20 seconds left.
"Mentally, we let up," Penn State defensive tackle Lou Benfatti said.
"The first half and third quarter were great, but it was frustrating to have them complete as many passes as they did" in the fourth.
Johnson completed 16 of 21 passes for 176 yards in the quarter, but his final incompletion couldn't have come at a worse time for the Trojans (1-2).
He threw too low to Johnny McWilliams on the two-point try, moments after hitting him on the same play for the touchdown.
"I didn't make the play on the last two-point conversion. So, I
don't know. I think it's my fault," Johnson said, struggling to find the words.
"I'm sorry for the team that it happened. It's not going to happen again."
Penn State (2-0) used fullbacks and pulling guards nearly to perfection to take a 21-7 lead in the second quarter. The Lions had 282 yards rushing for the game, 129 in drives that led to their three second-quarter scores.
USC, with just 11 yards rushing in the first half, scored after Mike Salmon's 30-yard interception return to the Penn State 1 in the second quarter.
With 5:12 left, Ken Grace wriggled free after being trapped at the Lion 25 and scored on a 30-yard pass from Johnson, narrowing the score to 21-14.
Johnson avoided a sack on the first play of USC's final drive and set up the final score with a 20-yard pass to Johnnie Morton as he dove out of bounds at the 2.
On the two-point pass attempt, Tyoka Jackson worked around the Trojan line and Johnson threw low trying to get the ball past linebacker Brian Gelzheiser.
Penn State's Josh Kroell recovered the onside kick, and USC was finished.
Trojans fail to capitalize
"It seemed like the whole game, every time we got a break, we couldn't capitalize," Morton said.
"Sometimes things don't go your way. Today was one of those days."
The Lions lost at USC in 1990 and 1991. Yesterday's game was USC's first at State College.
"We're coming back next year and I'm looking forward to it," Robinson said.
Penn State moved easily for its second-quarter scores, driving 49, 80 and 70 yards.
The first drive ended when John Sacca and Mike Archie rolled right when the rest of the team went left. Sacca hit Archie for an uncontested 4-yard score with 13:32 left.
Johnson scored on a 1-yard sneak with 9:42 left, after Salmon's interception. O'Neal scored twice on 2-yard runs five minutes apart in the second period as the Lions used a three-fullback set.
On both O'Neal scores, Jon Witman and Brian Milne sealed the corners, letting O'Neal go wide.
After an 89-yard drive to the USC 1, Craig Fayak missed a field goal with 3:45 remaining in the third period.
Fayak missed three of four field goals last week against Minnesota.
"Obviously it hurt us," Penn State Coach Joe Paterno said. "We put that one away and the ball game is won. They would have needed three scores to beat us.
"I didn't figure they could get two," Paterno said.
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