It was now in the 4th quarter and Penn State was threatening again. The score was now 21-14, with Illinois fighting to maintain a lead. But, those linebackers rose up and stuffed Penn State and made them settle for a field goal, which they missed. MARCO RIVERA: "The night before the game, that hotel, fire alarm, eating pizza and cold food. We were able to figure some things out. Your email address will not be published. Penn State's slow crawl out of the hole continued in the second half, and by the time the fourth quarter started, it was 31-21. The seeds for Penn State's remarkable undefeated season in 1994 were planted late in the 1993 campaign, when the Nittany Lions averaged 35.6 points over the final five games, all wins, including a 31-13 rout of No. ", BRADY: "It certainly didn't start off the way we would have hoped, some turnovers and quick scoring by them. The Boilermakers were not an overly good team in 1994, but they did have an amazing fullback by the name of Alstott that ran for nearly 1,200 yards that season. We were just looking at each other at the TV timeout. Learn how your comment data is processed. They were very confident. They had a really good defense. It was hard to catch your breath in '94.". The Penn State offense was backed up against their own end zone with a 3 point disadvantage on the scoreboard and the clock was their enemy.
That’s a pretty cool stat. The Nittany Lions do the right thing and hand the ball to powerful fullback Brian Milne who runs it in for a touchdown. In spite of the unbeaten records in 1968, 1969 and 1973, plus national championships in 1982 and 1986, the 1994 Penn State team may have been their best of all time. In both 1968 and 1969, the Nittany Lions finished unbeaten, but ranked 2nd in the final standings. BRADY: "That was one of those situations I'll never forget. Penn State struggled almost from the opening kickoff. Illinois' punt bounced to the Penn State 4-yard line with 6:07 left in the game. He was not happy about the entire situation. In 1982, the Nittany Lions finally broke through with a dramatic win over Georgia and their star Herschel Walker in the Sugar Bowl and won their first national title.
Recently, some commentators have opined that perhaps this team should have earned a share of the 1994 national championship. Kerry Collins, the Penn State quarterback, completed 7 of 7 passes for 60 yards during the final drive. With 4th and 15 at their own 35, quarterback Johnson hit one of his best receivers in Jasper Strong for a huge first down in Penn State territory. Next thing they're calling for a kickoff and the defense would be going back on the field. Down by 10 points with about 9 minutes left in the game, Paterno elected to go for it. I can remember times where we would have an 8, 9, 10 play drive and hold them to a punt or a field goal and we would go sit down on the bench and be going over adjustments and things like that and you would hear the crowd go and someone would be running a 60-yard touchdown. The game proved to be no problem for Penn State as they just ran all over the Buckeyes, 63-14. BRADY: "They were the best that we'd seen. About three plays later, talented Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter fumbled the ball on his own 25 yard line, recovered by super man Simeon Rice. 2nd ranked Penn State was fortunate to leave Champaign, Illinois with a win. This page was last edited on 16 October 2020, at 13:03.

", BRADY: "Illinois' defense, they were tough guys. In 1973, the Nittany Lions finished 12-0, but finished ranked 5th because there were a number of unbeaten teams that season. Outside of the two national championship games in 1982 and 1987, the dramatic come-from-behind victory in the evening rain, mist and cold at Illinois in ’94 … And you could see in their eyes that they were losing hope. Penn State vs Illinois 1994. But, there was still plenty of time with about 5 minutes left. I don't remember the exact statistics, but offensively we were showing signs of really coming together and being an explosive offense.

The following season, the 2nd ranked Penn State Nittany Lions pulled one of the biggest stunners of the year by upsetting top ranked Miami to win the national title. The 5-0 Penn State Nittany Lions were then ranked 3rd and had their first real test of the season with a visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan and the 5th ranked Wolverines. 21-0 Illinois. Penn State fought back. CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Slot to Penn State Nittany Lions Newsletter. The Illini put together their own drive after the Penn State score with running back Ty Douthard making some nice runs and quarterback Johnny Johnson hitting tight end Ken Dilger on a couple of impressive passes. Everybody was like 'What in God's name is that? Milne scored again with about eight minutes left to make it 31-28.

He completed 24 of 38 passes over all for 300 yards to overcome a … Simeon Rice and Hardy were both 1st round draft choices, but they all spent some. Douthard did the final honors by scoring and increasing the Illinois lead to 28-14. The team was coached by Joe Paterno and played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. Penn State got on the board with a 99-yard drive that ended with a touchdown run by Brian Milne, then scored a second touchdown when Collins hooked up with Freddie Scott for a 38-yard touchdown pass. TERRY KILLENS: "It was tough. punt returner Mike Archie mistakenly let the ball sail over his head and it rolled all the way down to about their own 3 yard line. Nebraska was number one in the nation and Penn State was obligated to go to the Rose Bowl because they won the Big 10 title. We felt that if we had time on the field, we could make things happen.". This was not one of Joe Paterno and Penn State’s better defenses, but they stopped the Illini on their next drive and partially blocked the punt and got the ball on the Illinois 38 yard line. Best RB Duo College Football 1967 and 1968. The 1994 version of the Wolverines may have been slightly disappointing as a team, but they still had Tyrone Wheatley at running back and they were quarterbacked by Todd Collins and coached by Gary Moeller, who was a former Illinois head coach. The team woke up the next morning to find the power was out, leaving the players without a hot breakfast. Before Penn State takes on Illinois on Saturday, we look back at another game between the Nittany Lions and Fighting Illini 20 years ago. Penn State moved the ball down to the one yard line and from there excellent fullback Brian Milne ran it over for a touchdown. I'll never forget that fire alarm at 2 or 3 in the morning, just blaring through the hotel. Illinois was now up 14-0, and some fans may not have been comfortable in their seats yet. A fumble by Carter and an interception by Collins gave Illinois' offense a short field, and by the beginning of the second quarter, the Fighting Illini led 21-0. However, the following week, Penn State must have been coasting and struggled to beat a really average Indiana, 35-29. They had a swagger about them.

While not the best of his teams, this was still a Hawkeye squad coached by Hayden Fry. The offensive line was also super with future first round draft picks Jeff Hartings and Andre Johnson, plus also future NFL players Marco Rivera, Keith Conlin and Bucky Greeley.

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