A Not-So-Perfect Finish for Lions : Rose Bowl: Penn State completes 12-0 season with 38-20 victory over Oregon, but Paterno probably will have to settle for No. 2 again.

Unbeaten, untied and uncrowned, even Penn State knew that a victory this big over Oregon might not be enough to win the national championship.

The second-ranked Nittany Lions knew it Sunday night after top-ranked Nebraska’s Orange Bowl victory over Miami. They knew it Monday afternoon in the haze of the Rose Bowl when Ki-Jana Carter broke away for an 83-yard touchdown run on their first play from scrimmage.

And they knew it at the end, when the 38-20 victory was likely too little and too late to change the minds of voters in the season-ending poll, much less the majority of the 102,247 fans packing the Rose Bowl.

The final Associated Press poll will be released this morning, but the verdict is almost certain that Nebraska will be No. 1.

Even perfection isn’t good enough for Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, who has guided five teams to perfect records in his 29-year tenure as head coach. Four of those five times he didn’t win the national championship--1968, ‘69, ’73 and this year. His two national titles came in 1982 and 1986.

“I’m glad we won for Penn State, and I’m glad we won for the Big Ten,” Paterno said. “More importantly, I thought it was a great college football game and I thought college football won today.”

As Paterno was asked by a television interviewer who the best team in the nation was, thousands of Penn State fans roared. “I think I’ll have to agree with them,” Paterno said. “I’ve always wanted a playoff--that’s nothing new with me,” he said in reference to the fact that his team’s fate will now be decided by poll voters.

Paterno could take satisfaction in becoming the first coach to win each of the four traditional major New Year’s games--the Cotton, Sugar, Orange and Rose Bowls. His 16th bowl triumph overall also broke the record he shared with the late Paul (Bear) Bryant.

The Nittany Lions (12-0) became the first undefeated, untied team to win the Rose Bowl since Ohio State beat USC in 1968. The Buckeyes won the national championship over another unbeaten that year--Penn State--as each finished 11-0.

Oregon quarterback Danny O’Neil set Rose Bowl records for attempts, completions and yards with his 41-of-61 performance and 456 yards. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked six times. Carter ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns, and Lion quarterback Kerry Collins was 19 of 30 for 200 yards.

Oregon ran up 501 yards against the Lions, and Penn State, the best offensive team in the nation, managed 430 against the Ducks.

“Our defense played a great football game today under a lot of pressure and our kicking game was outstanding,” Paterno said. “Our offense, when they were being pressured, kept their poise and we wound up playing a good solid football game.”

Carter, the All-American and Heisman Trophy runner-up, couldn’t have given Penn State a more explosive start than he did with his run up the middle the first time he touched the ball. Carter burst through the line, took a hard shot from cornerback Herman O’Berry, slammed Berry back and out of the way, then sprinted to the end zone with no one even close.

Carter’s run was the third longest in Rose Bowl history, the longest of his career and the longest by a Penn State player in a bowl game.

As lame as the Ducks looked in that 13-second score, they responded with poise and the kind of surprise attack that got them this far. It took quarterback Danny O’Neil only 45 seconds to tie the game, 7-7, as he completed all four of his passes in an 80-yard drive, capped by a one-yard pass to Josh Wilcox.

Carter’s run aside, Oregon dominated the opening quarter with 189 yards to Penn State’s 114. The Ducks put as much pressure on Collins as he has seen all year, and had a chance to take a 10-7 lead with 2:30 left in the period when they drove to the Lions’ six-yard line. But Matt Belden missed a 23-yard field goal wide right.

Penn State made it 14-7 with 1:26 left in the half after its running game was virtually shut down. Collins found himself facing third-and-12 on the Oregon 45. He heaved a pass to the 15 to Joe Jurevicius, who had caught only one other pass all season. Jurevicius outran O’Berry down the left sideline and was knocked down at the one. Two plays later, Brian Milne bolted over for the score.

Oregon failed to capitalize on another scoring opportunity when it took the ball from its own 18 to the Penn State nine with 11 seconds left in the half. Rather than go for a field goal, Oregon tried to get in one more pass. O’Neil hit Cristin McLemore at the 5, but McLemore was tackled before he could get out of bounds to stop the clock.

McLemore made up for that in the third quarter when he outjumped a pair of defenders in the end zone to haul down a 17-yard floater from O’Neil two plays after Reggie Jordan intercepted Collins and returned the ball 38 yards.

It took only 61 seconds for Carter to respond with a 17-yard touchdown of his own, a misdirection run that caught Oregon in a blitz after Ambrose Fletcher’s 72-yard kickoff return--the longest in Penn State bowl history.

Chuck Penzenik, playing the strong safety spot that Penn State aptly dubs “hero” position, made the second of his two interceptions--the first two of his career--to set up another touchdown by Carter less than two minutes later that made it 28-14.

Brett Conway’s 43-yard field goal with 5:43 left pushed it to 31-14, then Jon Witman carried it in from nine yards out with 4:24 to play after O’Neil was sacked for the sixth time on a desperation fourth-down play, giving Penn State a 38-14 lead.

The Ducks cut it to 38-20 when Ricky Whittle ran three yards with 2:44 to play.

Oregon (9-4) hardly played the role of an innocent and defenseless bystander against the Penn State offensive juggernaut. The 12th-ranked Ducks, coming off a six-game winning streak, weren’t merely content to be here for the first time in 37 years. They played to win and came close to it, their vaunted “Gang Green” defense giving Penn State fits much of the game.

Penn State hadn’t played in the Rose Bowl since 1923, the inaugural year of the present site, and after arriving late because of a traffic jam on that occasion the Nittany Lions departed under moonlight with a 14-3 loss to Southern California. They left this time in the early evening grayness, victory in hand but the national championship out of their grasp.