Another Bomb, and More Anguish for Hurricanes

It wasn’t as sick or as sudden as 1984, when Boston College’s Doug Flutie let loose a last-second pass at the Orange Bowl that flickered in the rain and landed in the end-zone arms of Gerard Phelan.

But it was almost as sick, and almost as sudden.

If Penn State’s 27-23 win over Miami on Saturday before a crowd of 72,427 ends up costing Miami something, say the national title, Kevin Thompson to Chafie Fields may respectfully join Flutie-Phelan in last-minute losers’ lore.

You can debate the differences. Flutie’s pass ended the game, in the closed end of the Orange Bowl. The ball left the little BC Eagle quarterback’s hand like a rock from a catapult.

Thompson’s 79-yard scoring strike to Fields with 1:41 to play was completed in the stadium’s open end, where the palm trees sway, and it only proved to be the game winner.

But there was a lot at stake here with Thompson to Fields, and maybe a stake of another kind to Miami’s heart.

No. 3 Penn State improved to 4-0 with the win, keeping its national title march on course. No. 8 Miami, 2-1, probably left its title hopes on the field.

“I was a second away from sacking him and he got away,” Miami linebacker Dan Morgan said of his lunge toward Thompson.

The go-for-the-jugular pass was out of character for plain-wrapped Penn State and, truth be known, that’s because Thompson and Fields sort of improvised from the script.

Trailing by three, and having lost momentum after Miami fought back from a 17-3 deficit to take the fourth-quarter lead, Penn State had planned to take a conservative route toward the end zone, kick a field goal and send the game to overtime.

If Coach Joe Paterno wanted to get crazy, he would have had Rashard Casey, his scrambling quarterback, on the field.

Instead, Paterno raced out the plodder Thompson, who set his team from the 21, looked to the right and saw the Miami cornerback playing loose on Eddie Drummond, then looked left and saw corner Michael Rumph crowding Fields.

Fields was supposed to run a simple out pattern, but receiver and quarterback made last-second eye contact and Fields went out and then turned up field, Thompson laying out the perfect pass.

Flutie clinched the Heisman Trophy with his pass; Thompson only won a measure of respect. The Penn State senior has been booed at school functions by fans who, like many others, felt Paterno should be playing Casey.

“Kevin Thompson has gotten such a bad rap about not being able to make big plays,” Paterno said.

Thompson probably will never make one bigger.

“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Thompson said. “I just want to win. And that’s what we did.”

Thompson to Fields lifted Penn State from what appeared would be a dramatic loss.

After dominating the first half and leading only 10-3, then seemingly taking control of matters with a touchdown drive on their first second-half possession, the Nittany Lions found out how fast a 17-3 lead can disappear.

James Jackson’s 18-yard scoring run in the third quarter cut the lead to 17-10 and then, after a questionable clipping call negated a 71-yard run by Casey, Miami got the ball back and tied the score on the first play of the fourth quarter when Kenny Kelly threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss.

Travis Forney’s 26-yard field goal briefly put Penn State back in front, 23-20, but then Miami marched 73 yards in six plays, taking its first lead, 23-20, with 7:42 to play, kicker Andy Crosland missing the extra point.

Miami tried to run out the clock, and nearly succeeded but, with two minutes left, faced a fourth-and-two at the Penn State 22.

Fearing a field-goal attempt might be blocked, Miami Coach Butch Davis decided to go for the first down, but Jackson was stopped inches short.

“Stop ‘em or we lose!” Penn State linebacker LaVarr Arrington said he screamed at his teammates before the crucial play.

Arrington actually got only a piece of Jackson; the stop was made by inside linebacker Maurice Daniels.

Penn State took possession with 1:59 left, and Thompson connected with Fields.

Miami got the ball back twice in the last two minutes, but both drives were wrecked by Kelly interceptions.

With 1:11 remaining, safety Askari Adams intercepted a Kelly pass intended for tight end Daniel Franks.

“I was worrying about the ball slipping out of my hands,” Adams said of his interception. “I watched it all the way in. I held on to it so hard I almost popped the ball.”

Miami, though, got the ball back at its 35 with 46 seconds left, Kelly firing a deep, desperate pass in the rain to the same end zone Flutie had infiltrated 16 years ago.

But there was no Miami miracle. Penn State safety Bhawoh Jue intercepted Kelly’s pass and that was the game.

The victory was Penn State’s first over a top-10 opponent on the road since beating Michigan in 1994.

Paterno, in his 34th season as Penn State coach, still gets excited about Penn State-Miami.

“I said to the kids at the hotel prior to the game that this is why I stay in coaching, games like this,” he said.