Penn State’s Title Wave Comes to Crashing Halt

With a miracle play, Minnesota toppled No. 2 Penn State’s national championship aspirations.

The Gophers completed a tipped pass on fourth and 16 with 1:22 left, setting up Dan Nystrom’s 32-yard field goal as time ran out, and defeated the Nittany Lions, 24-23, Saturday.

Billy Cockerham’s pass bounced off receiver Ron Johnson’s hands and Arland Bruce dived to catch the ball at the 13-yard line. Three plays later, Nystrom made his kick and spoiled Coach Joe Paterno’s bid for a third national title.

“They made one play,” Paterno said. “We had them fourth and 16 and then they make a miracle play. If that doesn’t happen, we win.”

Said Bruce: “I seen it hanging in the air, like, ‘Come get me! Come get me!’ I just grabbed it. . . . I don’t know how I did it.”

Watching from across the field, Paterno thought the pass was incomplete.

“I thought we batted it down,” Paterno said after his 400th game as coach. “Then all of a sudden, on the sideline, they were yelling, ‘He caught it! He caught it!’ ”

Nystrom, a freshman who earlier missed an extra point, said he was confident as he prepared for his game-winning field goal. That’s because he had been practicing with a ladder six yards away to stand in for Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington, who had blocked two kicks this season.

“I felt like I was prepared for that in practice,” Nystrom said.

After Nystrom’s kick, the Gophers, 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten, jumped for joy as the stunned players from Penn State (9-1, 5-1) walked off the field.

The Gophers’ sixth victory clinched their first winning season since 1990 and made them eligible for a bowl for the first time since 1986. It was Minnesota’s first victory over Penn State in five tries, and the Gophers’ first victory over a top five team since defeating No. 2 Michigan, 20-17, in 1986.

They defeated a Top 25 team for the first time since upsetting No. 23 Syracuse, 35-33, in 1996. They had been close all season, losing to Wisconsin, Ohio State and Purdue by a combined 11 points.

“The best team wins, and you only have to be the best team for three hours, or in this case, three seconds,” Minnesota Coach Glen Mason said.

The Gophers had scared an unbeaten Penn State team when they visited Beaver Stadium in 1997, losing 16-15 after blowing a 12-point lead. Penn State’s game-winning score came after Thomas Hamner’s fumble with three minutes left.

“I felt like I lost the game in ‘97, so this win means a whole lot to me,” said Hamner, who gained 96 yards in 38 carries and 58 more on three catches. “We went from a losing program to a winning program today.”

Cockerham was 14 of 24 for 277 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 44 yards and a score.

“They were reeling,” Arrington said. “We had ‘em right where we wanted ‘em. Apparently, they had us where they wanted us. They pulled it off.”