East Roundup : Penn State Escapes With a 23-17 Victory

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno said he didn’t have a good feeling going into Saturday’s game against Cincinnati.

His misgivings nearly proved correct, as the fifth-ranked Nittany Lions needed a 75-yard touchdown drive late in the game to beat the Bearcats, 23-17, at University Park, Pa.

Tailback David Clark ran the final six yards with 3:07 left to erase a 17-14 Cincinnati lead.

Penn State added some insurance when linebacker Shane Conlan blocked a Cincinnati punt for a safety with 1:15 left.

Paterno reminded his players all week that Cincinnati, a heavy underdog, had beaten the Nittany Lions, 10-3, at University Park in 1983. “We went in thinking nothing bad could happen, but it did,” Paterno said.

Paterno even criticized himself. With the score 14-14 with five seconds left in the half, Penn State was at the Cincinnati nine-yard line, and Paterno elected to pass up a field goal attempt. A pass fell incomplete, and the half ended before the Lions could call time out.

“It was a stupid call,” Paterno said.

Cincinnati was led by quarterback Danny McCoin, who completed 25 of 38 passes for 254 yards. But the Bearcats were held to seven yards rushing. Reggie Taylor, Cincinnati’s senior tailback from Lynwood, hampered by a hip pointer, didn’t even come close to his 119-yard per-game average with 40 yards in 19 carries.

Penn State’s John Shaffer completed 13 of 23 passes for 165 yards, while tailback D.J. Dozier rushed for 83 yards in 14 carries.

Penn State is 5-0. Cincinnati is 3-3.

Princeton 20, Columbia 14--At New York, Derek Wassink ran 10 yards for Princeton’s first rushing touchdown of the season, Brad Hammond passed for 137 yards and 1 touchdown and the Tigers withstood a rally to send the Lions to their 25th straight loss.

Columbia is 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the Ivy League. Princeton is 1-3 and 1-2.

Holy Cross 48, Dartmouth 7--Gordon Lockbaum, a two-way player, scored six touchdowns to lead the Crusaders (5-0) to a rout of the Big Green (0-4) at Worcester, Mass.

Lockbaum, who plays tailback and cornerback, rushed for 66 yards and caught 7 passes for 88 yards. He ran for four touchdowns and caught two scoring passes.

Cornell 3, Harvard 0--Tom Aug kicked a 29-yard field goal in the second quarter and the Big Red defense made it stand in an Ivy League game at Cambridge, Mass. Cornell is 3-1 overall, 2-0 in the Ivy League. Harvard (1-3, 1-1) has not scored in three games.

Penn 34, Brown 0--Rich Comizio rushed for 118 yards and threw a touchdown pass, and fellow tailback Chris Flynn rushed for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Quakers, 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the Ivy League, shut out the Bruins (3-1, 2-1) at Providence, R.I.

Yale 28, Colgate 23--Kelly Ryan threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Rich Schulte with 11:03 left at New Haven, Conn., to give the Bulldogs (1-3) the victory. Colgate is 0-5.