1989 HOLIDAY BOWL : HOW THE TEAMS COMPARE

OFFENSE Line

Penn State--Going into the season, the offensive line was one of the biggest question marks because of the loss of Steve Wisniewski, a two-time All-American guard. But Dave Szott (6-4, 267) was plucked from the defense and inserted into the long guard (strong-side) position, and Coach Joe Paterno was able to mold a unit cohesive enough to allow just 16 sacks. Center Roger Duffy (6-3, 270), called by Paterno the best center to ever play at Penn State, is the anchor. Short tackle Tim Freeman (6-5, 270) and short guard Sean Love (6-3, 270) are the only juniors. The long tackle is Matt McCartin (6-5, 270).

Brigham Young--It would be enough if all BYU had was Outland Trophy winner Mohammed Elewonibi. But the thing that makes opposing scouts’ jaws hit the floor is this line’s sheer size. From tackle to tackle, BYU averages 286 pounds. On the right are tackle Mike Keim (6-8, 290) and guard Bryan May (6-7, 290). The left side is shorter but weighs more: guard Elewonibi (6-5, 290) and tackle Neal Fort (6-6, 295). The center is Robert Stephens (6-3, 265).

Receivers

Penn State--The passing game accounted for a bit more than 35% of Penn State’s offense in 1989. Dave Daniels, a red-shirt junior split end, led the Nittany Lions in all of the major receiving departments with 22 catches, 362 yards and four touchdowns. Flanker Terry Smith averaged 18.6 yards a catch, senior tight end Dave Jakob 11.4. Jakob started slow with just two catches in Penn State’s first four games but finished with 17 and two touchdowns.

Brigham Young--Tight end Chris Smith was an All-Western Athletic Conference selection and led BYU with 60 receptions for 1,090 yards and five touchdowns. Split end Andy Boyce caught 39 passes for 712 yards, and wide receiver Brent Nyberg had 18 catches for 315 yards. These three can usually be found well downfield--Smith averaged 18.2 yards per catch, Boyce 18.3 and Nyberg 17.5. In all, five receivers had more than 30 catches.

Backs

Penn State--Running back Blair Thomas has given his team more than it ever expected this season. After sitting out the 1988 season with a knee injury, Thomas quickly became one of the most exciting runners in the country. A top-10 finisher in the Heisman Trophy balloting, Thomas collected 1,341 yards on 264 carries. He averaged 121.9 yards a game, finished with six consecutive 100-yard rushing games and had a total of eight. And despite carrying the ball on 49.3% of the team’s rushing attempts, Thomas didn’t lose a fumble. All this pretty much swiped the spotlight from fullback Leroy Thompson, Penn State’s most valuable player in the 1988 Florida Citrus Bowl with 201 all-purpose yards; Thompson was the team’s third-leading rusher with 184 yards. Tailback Gerry Collins was second with 293. At quarterback, sophomore Tony Sacca will start, but senior Tom Bill likely will play as well. Sacca started nine games this season and passed for 694 yards. Bill started twice, shared time with Sacca during the final three games and passed for 605 yards. Bill’s completion percentage was 48.9%, Sacca’s 40.9%.

Brigham Young--Get this: Quarterback Ty Detmer passed for more yards this season (4,560) than Penn State gained passing and rushing (3,658). Add Sean Covey’s 172 passing yards, and BYU passed for just 69 fewer yards than Penn State had in the past three years combined (4,801). Detmer hit on an impressive 63.4% of his attempts and threw 32 touchdown passes. He passed for 300 or more yards in each of BYU’s 12 games (with a high of 537 in a 46-41 loss to Washington State), broke 11 NCAA records and tied two others. A red-shirt sophomore, Detmer had more than 400 yards passing on four occasions and is the national leader in passing efficiency. BYU also gained 1,753 yards rushing, led by fullback Fred Whittingham’s 582 yards and eight touchdowns. Tailback Matt Bellini had 389 yards and six touchdowns, and halfback Stacey Corley had 457 yards and six touchdowns. Corley’s yards came on just 53 carries, an impressive 8.62-yard average.

DEFENSE

Line

Penn State--Like BYU, the Nittany Lions run a three-four alignment. The final piece of the three-man line fell into place during spring practice when Jim Deter was moved from defensive tackle to the nose, in between Rich Schonewolf and Frank Giannetti. Schonewolf led the down linemen with 43 tackles, 21 solo. Penn State was fourth in the country in scoring defense, allowing an average of 11.8 points. Notre Dame was the only team to score more than two touchdowns against the Penn State defense.

Brigham Young--The Cougars’ problem: Left tackle Budd Orr, team co-leader in sacks with nine, injured his back against San Diego State and will not play. Senior Craig Patterson (6-5, 295) will start in his place. Tim Adams is the nose guard, Rich Kaufusi the right tackle. Kaufusi had 55 tackles and was first-team All-WAC.

Linebackers

Penn State--”Linebacker U.” has a good group this season. Senior inside linebackers Andre Collins and Brian Chizmar averaged nearly 22 tackles between them. Collins, a senior, finished in the top five in the balloting for the Butkus Award. He had 16 tackles in the season finale against Pittsburgh, giving him 130 for the season, third best in Penn State history. Junior outside linebacker Mark D’Onofrio had 11 sacks and forced a team-best five fumbles.

BYU--Bob Davis in the middle is BYU’s best defensive player, and be careful if you run into him. The BYU media guide says Davis “likes to ‘bonk’ heads off the field with teammates who don’t wear helmets.” He led the team with 137 tackles, had six sacks and was first-team All-WAC. Weakside linebacker Chad Robinson is also pretty good at bonking opposing quarterbacks. He tied Orr for the team lead with nine sacks.

Secondary

Penn State--With Detmer throwing at every opportunity, the Penn State secondary will be among the busiest units on the field. But it might be up to the challenge--the Nittany Lions intercepted 18 passes this season, the most since they picked off 20 in 1986. Safety Sherrod Rainge overcame early-season injury problems to lead with six interceptions, most in a season for Penn State since 1978. He also had a personal-high 58 tackles and recovered three fumbles. Cornerback Hernon Henderson, a first-year starter, intercepted four passes and broke up 15 more.

BYU--The pass defense was 104th among 106 Division I-A teams this year, but two members of the secondary--cornerback Brian Mitchell and safety Eric Bergeson--were named first-team All-WAC anyway. Mitchell had 71 tackles and a team-leading five interceptions. Bergeson had 63 tackles and three interceptions, and strong safety Norman Dixon 59 tackles and three interceptions. Cornerback Tony Crutchfield rounds out the secondary. Only Bergeson is a senior--Mitchell and Dixon are juniors, Crutchfield a sophomore.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Penn State--Because Holiday Bowls have this funny tendency to come down to the final seconds, the kickers could steal the spotlight. With Ray Tarasi’s foot, Penn State should do just fine. Tarasi beat Pitt, 16-13, with a 20-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining and connected on 82.6% (19 of 23) of his field goal attempts. Doug Helkowski averaged 38.2 yards on 57 punts, O.J. McDuffie 14.6 yards on 19 punt returns and Richie Anderson 22.3 yards on seven kickoff returns.

BYU--Jason Chaffetz was successful on 10 of 14 field goal attempts this season but pulled a ligament in his kicking leg toward the end of the season. He has been kicking in practice this week and should be OK tonight. Chaffetz is dependable from 39 yards or less (eight of nine) and not so dependable from 40 or more (two of five). Earl Kauffman averaged 42.0 yards on 44 punts, Mitchell 7.7 yards on 30 punt returns, and Crutchfield 22.8 yards on 18 kickoff returns.