Buckeye Plan Is Plane and Simple

Sure, playing at Penn State is tough.

But is it tougher than getting to State College?

Located in the mountains of central Pennsylvania, Penn State might be the most difficult major college to reach in the continental United States.

State College has an airport, but it cannot accommodate large commercial jets. More than a game

plan, you need a map and a pith helmet.

No. 7 Ohio State invades No. 2 Penn State this weekend with an itinerary that dates to the legendary Coach Woody Hayes.

For the 1976 game, Hayes’ Buckeyes descended into State College in two small planes. One craft carried Hayes, his coaching staff, and the Ohio State starters. The other carried backup players and administrative staff.

As the planes neared the airport, a co-pilot emerged to warn Hayes that there were storms in the area and wondered if the coach might want to fly into Philadelphia and bus to the campus.

Told the diversion would delay the team’s arrival by at least four hours, Hayes said, “Send in the second plane. If they make it, then we’ll land.”

Ohio State sports information director Steve Snapp was on the second plane, which obviously made a successful landing.

“I had gotten back from my stay in Vietnam not long before that,” Snapp said. “I was used to that kind of duty.”

Ohio State won, 12-7.

Penn State quarterback Mike McQueary, who was raised in State College, says the ride in only adds to the charm.

“Having to fly into Harrisburg, taking the bus trips, getting stuck in traffic, that might alter the weekend,” McQueary said Wednesday. “But certainly teams have come in here and beaten us. Iowa has. Ohio State has. I don’t think it would alter things that badly.”

Oh yeah?

Ohio State Coach John Cooper is 3-1 against Penn State. The loss was a 63-14 drubbing in 1994.

Granted, that was a great Nittany Lion team, but it was also the year Ohio State chartered a jet into Altoona, Pa., and drove to Penn State.

The following year, Cooper went back to Hayes’ two-plane attack and Ohio State won, 28-25.

The Buckeyes are sticking with the two-plane plan this year.

“I never did like that trip over there, even though it’s called Happy Valley,” Ohio State quarterback Stanley Jackson said. “It’s something you have to to deal with.”

ADD GAME

McQueary turns 23 on Friday, but has already told his family to forget about his birthday. The fifth-year senior doesn’t want anything to distract him from the biggest game of his career.

In three of the four seasons since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten, the winner of Ohio State-Penn State has gone on to claim at least a share of the conference title.

McQueary is one of the year’s great stories. He was raised in the shadow of Beaver Stadium and waited patiently for four years behind Kerry Collins and Wally Richardson to get his chance.

How’s he doing so far?

In four Penn State victories, McQueary has thrown for 1,009 yards and 10 touchdowns, with one interception. His efficiency rating of 180.59 ranks second nationally and he is ahead of Collins’ school-record rating of 172.86 in 1984.

“It took a long time for me to get to this spot,” McQueary said. “It’s been all I thought it would be and maybe more. So far, so good.”

McQueary had thrown only 52 passes entering this season, making him the key variable in the Nittany Lions’ No. 1 preseason ranking and national title hopes.

“It means a lot,” he said of his start. “This is a quarterback’s dream, especially a quarterback no one expected to do well, one that people thought would be on the bench in game four or five of the season. This is a test. I’m ready to take it on.”

Then again, people won’t care what kind of numbers McQueary piled up against Pittsburgh, Louisville, Illinois and Temple if he falls on his face against Ohio State.

“I realize maybe things I’ve been able to get away with before I won’t be able to get away with Saturday,” he said.

BREAK UP THE BIG EAST?

Wouldn’t we like to. Miami of Ohio’s thumping of Big East hood ornament Virginia Tech, coupled with Florida State’s trouncing of Miami, has left the conference in a free fall.

There is a remote but not inconceivable chance the Big East standings could end up: Syracuse (6-6), Virginia Tech (5-6), Temple (5-6), Boston College (5-6), Miami (5-6), Pittsburgh (5-6), West Virginia (5-6) and Rutgers (4-7).

In that scenario, the Big East would not have a school eligible for any of its designated four bowl berths, with six Division I victories and a winning record being the minimum requirement.

GLAD ALL OVER

With more than a month gone in the season, we are thankful that:

* Miami of Ohio knocked off Virginia Tech, sparing a possible undefeated season and the wails of Hokie fans who would have clamored for a piece of the national title. We’ve been down this mountain road before, in 1993, when 11-0 West Virginia descended on New Orleans making similar claims and walked out of the 1994 Sugar Bowl on the short end of a 41-7 defeat to Florida. And that was before Florida was Florida.

* Texas and Florida don’t play this season. Why? The Longhorns have not scored in the first quarter. The Gators have outscored opponents in the first quarter, 91-3.

It has already been a long year for Longhorn Coach John Mackovic, who was asked after last week’s loss to Oklahoma State: “Do you see losses to teams with inferior talent continuing like that?”

* Andy Katzenmoyer came back for his sophomore season. The Ohio State middle linebacker probably could have gone pro after last year, but apparently is intent on leaving his facemask tattoo on every Big Ten quarterback’s chest before moving on. Though Katzenmoyer is 6 feet 4 and 260 pounds, Buckeye Coach John Cooper says he is one of the five or six fastest players on his team, having been clocked in the 40-yard dash at 4.55.

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, the nation’s foremost expert on the position, says Katzenmoyer not only stacks up with some of the great linebackers he has had, such as Matt Millen, Jack Ham and Shane Conlan, “He stacks up with any of the great ones I’ve ever seen.”

HE’S A STEAMROLLER

Georgia is the latest school chasing Florida’s exhaust in the pass-happy Southeastern Conference. Like Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, Georgia has dumped its conservative ground-loving tradition in favor of a wide-open passing attack.

The Bulldogs have obviously come to grips with second-year Coach Jim Donnan’s West Coast offense. Off to its first 4-0 start since 1982, Georgia ranks ninth nationally in total offense, and quarterback Mike Bobo is third in efficiency at 177.5.

The Georgia coach has even taken on some of Spurrier’s quirkiness. Last week, Donnan drove a steamroller to practice.

“Nothing to it,” Donnan said Wednesday. “There was one parked over there beside the field, I was talking to the team about, we’re either going to be the steamroller or the pavement, asked the guy over there running it if he’d show me how to work it, so I wouldn’t run over the players. I rode out there a few feet.

“It was highly overrated.”

COAST TO COAST

* You have to love Washington State’s Heisman campaign. The school mailed out a media release this week that was nothing but a leaf. Good thing the Cougars’ Heisman candidate quarterback isn’t named Ryan Anvil.

* Cincinnati (4-1) leads Conference USA in total defense, has forced 15 turnovers in its four victories and has not given up a first-quarter point in the last seven games. The defensive coordinator’s name is Rex Ryan. Son of Buddy.

* Want to know why Miami is 1-4? Because of NCAA sanctions, the Hurricanes have only 58 players on scholarship (the NCAA limit is 85), of which 40 are either freshmen or sophomores.

* Tip for Texas: If Florida defensive coordinator Bobby Stoops is not a head coach somewhere next year, there should be an investigation.

* Stat patrol: The SEC boasts a 23-1 record against nonconference opponents, but none of those foes was ranked in the Top 25. Conversely, the Pacific 10 is 19-7 against nonconference competition, with five of the seven losses coming against top 10 opponents.

* Running backs Mike Mitchell and Anthony Bookman have run for at least 100 yards in Stanford’s last three games. In that span, the two have combined for 749 yards and averaged 6.5 yards a carry.

* Keeping tabs on the coaching Robinsons: With his 100th victory Saturday, USC’s John Robinson trails Grambling’s Eddie Robinson by 307.

* With 164 completions in five games, Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch has already eclipsed the school season record of 151 held by Bill Ransdell.

* What are the chances of Alabama, Notre Dame, Colorado, Miami and Texas losing again on the same weekend?

* First-year Morehead Coach Doug Williams says he will happily succeed 78-year-old Robinson at Grambling if the school asks him. Williams is a former Grambling star quarterback and Super Bowl MVP with the Washington Redskins. Grambling has sought permission to speak with Williams, who has an escape clause in his contract. This is Robinson’s last season.

* When Oklahoma and Texas play this weekend, it will be the first meeting in 28 years in which neither team is ranked.

* Saturday’s last-second loss to Wisconsin dropped Northwestern to 2-4, but Wildcat Coach Gary Barnett said he finally saw a resemblance to the team that won the last two Big Ten titles. “It’s like we found ourselves,” Barnett said. Let’s hope so. Northwestern’s next four games are at Michigan, Michigan State, at Ohio State and Penn State.

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Bowled Over Only Once

Six major college teams have played in only one bowl game in their history. A look:

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School Date Bowl Opponent (Result) Eastern Michigan Dec. 12, 1987 California San Jose St. (W, 30-27) Kent Dec. 29, 1972 Tangerine Tampa (L, 21-18) Long Beach St. Dec. 19, 1970 Pasadena Louisville (T, 24-24) Memphis Dec. 18, 1971 Pasadena San Jose St. (W, 28-9) Northern Illinois Dec. 17, 1983 California CS Fullerton (W, 20-13) Rutgers Dec. 16, 1978 Garden State Arizona St. (L, 34-18)

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