Paterno has another day to remember

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Penn State Coach Joe Paterno helped a lot of players make it into the College Football Hall of Fame. He counts former Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie among them.

“We made Flutie. I told him that 10 times,” Paterno said Saturday evening at a news conference before the pair and 18 others, including former USC linebacker Richard Wood, were enshrined. “He came to our place and nobody knew who he was and he ended up throwing for 400 yards.

“But we beat them,” Paterno added with a smile.

Flutie got a chuckle out of it.

“He kind of liked me, so I figured he let me throw for a bunch of yards but not beat them too often,” Flutie said.

The Nittany Lions beat the Eagles three out of four times, although in his junior year Flutie passed for 380 yards in a 27-17 win. As a sophomore, Flutie threw for 520 yards in a 52-17 loss and as a senior he threw for 447 yards in a 37-30 loss. He played for the first time as a collegian as a freshman against the Nittany Lions, debuting in the fourth quarter.

“I remember walking out on the field and thinking to myself, ‘I’ll able to tell my grandkids someday that I played in front of 85,000 people at Penn State against Joe Paterno,’ ” he said.

Wood was USC’s first three-time All-American first-team football player and a member of the 1972 and 1974 national-championship teams.

The Trojans were 31-2-2 during Wood’s career.

Flutie said it’s still hard to believe that someone who was told as a 5-foot-10 high school player that he was too small to play Division I football not only won the Heisman Trophy, but made it to the Hall.

“I was believing I wasn’t a Division I quarterback,” he said.

For Paterno, the honor feels strange for a different reason. For most people, it’s a final accolade, but he is getting ready to start his 43rd season as coach.

“I’d rather do it now than when I’m dead,” he said.

Among the others enshrined were Michigan defensive back Dave Brown, Ohio State quarterback Rex Kern, Texas A&I; defensive end John Randle, Oregon running back Ahmad Rashad; and Notre Dame nose tackle Chris Zorich.