1990 Notre Dame vs Penn State

year or two but his preparation his teaching his coaching has been just superb the linebackers that come out of penn state are so well schooled they step right in and start in the pros yes i've noticed so many linebackers now as you say come straight out of penn state they make an impact in the big league and they do it and do it immediately and year after year they have this outstanding defense don't they whatever happens with the nittany lions they've always got a tough defense i think the reason they lost the first two ball games is probably because they had a couple starters as sophomores and that's tough to do you they always say if you got a sophomore starter you're going to lose a ball again wayne let's bring you in briefly how do you see today's game going well certainly they've got to redress the situation about last week andy kelly passed for 399 yards and they lost uh lou holtz has got to do something about his secondary because uh he can't keep giving up over 400 yards in passing and uh nick a win in the end so i think that's where he's got to improve he's good against the run he's got to do something about the pass as we see a telling stat there the lions are sick in the nation in stopping the run i wonder what lou holtz will have to say about that john well it does say what they've got to do is contain like what we call contained football they got to keep the rocket inside if they let him outside which happened in that one run against tennessee the cornerback game came up to support got caught inside and that's all all it takes for him to go down the sideline and score now wayne and i are big fans of the rocket and we think he should be the heisman winner what about what about you how do you rate him well there are some outstanding players all over and you give it to a junior i don't know whether that's a good policy i tend to think the seniors should get it the game is now underway let's go and join our regular commentary crew of paul horning and ted robinson those kenny spears and notre dame will get good field position after the opening check from craig fayette and joel paterno trying to use a little trickery there they came right out of the huddle and just kicked it as quick as possible kicked it to kenny spears and then once again look where the football is the ball rests at the 37 yard line that's pretty good field position to give up because you don't want to kick it to the all-american back there the rocket ricky waters starts at tailback behind rodney culver and waters gets the ball on first down and he is wrapped up at the 40. frank giannetti 85 at the bottom of that pile he's the best defensive lineman for penn state going against this offensive line for another day that has been the unsung hero of this year's team [Applause] there's your offensive backfield same as usual with ricky waters getting the started tail back off he's great week last week against tennessee 170 yards plus russia [Applause] jerome bettis the freshman is the fullback leading the blocking here for waters and a good tackle in the open field there by darren perry stops waters at the 44. defensive line for penn state they're not very big but they're quick yeah the outside linebackers are quick they're givens and mckenzie darren perry that hero back number nine made a good open field tackle on the left but deanna frio 38 is their best linebacker penn state in a 4-3 four down lineman and three linebackers with the safety up close and they're changing it i think rick meyer is changing on third and three he's gonna give it to tony brooks and brooks has a first down with a good at the 50-yard line a six-yard pickup and he got three extra with determination oh brooks in his final game look at the cutback watch this he broke a tackle right here and then he gets hit watch the legs they keep churning and he got three extra yards well i'm afraid that's what penn state's going to see today paul it's not going to be pretty it's going to be a lot of smash mouth football well we've been talking about it all year long if blue hulk can control the pace of a football game with the running attack that's what you're going to see [Applause] that's double receiver right the rocket is slotted and the ball to brooks and there's not a whole lot there good defense penn state stood that up and those are the inside linebackers gianna frio and goganus that stopped tony brooks and they'll give two yards it'll be second down and eight see lake dawson 87 the freshman wide receiver in the game splits the bottom of your picture in this fail in the slot two inside linebackers will keep the tail back in this formation the option here is what really killed penn state last year tony rice 140 yards running and of course the option not as much of a threat this year so it's gonna be third down and this is definitely the first passing situation we've come to pretty good block right there by rodney culver rick meyer cuts back inside but the pursuit was right on target two inside linebackers will be the key for that penn state defense now third made it to penn state 48. fire with time drills it out tony smith is open 30-yard line first down good downfield throw over the middle that's the same pattern other team's been doing another day and you know what they actually uh look big number 86 right there gary brown he went out in the pattern that time he did a little sideline pattern and he was open for a minute and rick meyer went back now look i think he's looking at him right here you see look to the left good pass protection right in the pocket and paul that's the pass meyer has not been comfortable throwing this year from the straight drop position lew holtz likes him meyer likes to throw rolling out rocket on a reverse misdirection gets about two yards [Applause] and it'll be second down and eight at the 28 at penn state nobody has scored more 21 points against penn state this year that was syracuse and boston college each got 21 against it well the matchups speed notre dame with the speed on the offense and penn state's defense not known for speed so that sometimes like right here look at that oh there's another good tackle i think state did a nice job tackle so he got eight yards before anybody was around for the tackle that was darren perry again number nine he was an option quarterback himself when he came to penn state with a good hit on waters it'll be third down at two irv smith one of the tight ends checks in now they go into a double tight end tony smith comes out full house with betis in the middle sean davis and waters on third and two and it's going to be topped off good cut back by waters touchdown notre dame was that a hole off the left side or what ricky waters 404 yards and that big game against tennessee he picks up just where he left off his eighth touchdown of the year 22 yards off the left side and one notre dame tradition that they wish would stop curry now they've done this for a long time here throwing oranges out of the student body now onto the field symbolizing the orange bowl bid that notre dame is poised to accept next week and coach hulks is on the field now yeah that's really bad and he and he's telling the students that lou doesn't realize they've been doing that a lot for a long lot longer he's been here so hendrick will kick the extra point now it's a good thing they don't play in the steel ball [Applause] good so notre dame takes the opening kickoff goes 63 yards waters with a touchdown and notre dame leads seven nothing as we pause now for a regional break sports channel america's coverage from the fighting irish they lead seven nothing uh let's have a look at some of the action here's tony brooks first of all john well they missed that uh tackle there in the hole but uh two players got caught inside and then they take to the air as well this is uh myra looking for tony smith well he looked off real well to the tight end got single coverage back over here and able to hit a common uh slot pattern this is just great running actually the play entry wasn't too bad defensively by the 11 people but he just made a great cut well we just uh just saw there we've just missed the kickoff let's have another look at that uh way yes he's making an excellent cut back against the scene there and the linebacker came in on a stunt but he just waters just so random and just a great play by waters now john this has got to be superb news for coach holtz because as we all know it is so tough to run on the nittany lions more or less done what they wanted in that opening drive there they they certainly did only one pass that's right anyway let's see if penn state can respond this is a first down pass that just goes over the head of the receiver so penn state coming up with an overthrow there as we just go through their offensive alignment let's go over and rejoin ted and paul oh if you're a little bit slow and you're not big then you're really in trouble tony saca junior quarterback from delray new jersey heavily recruited by notre dame but he has had an inconsistent three years at penn state pointing out his junior year second and ten a little blitz show give to lee right back how about that huh did you tell the coach on the show last week that harding wants you to push every [Applause] there's your defensive line which has been there all year long chris is on the nose tackle now he's not a hundred percent but you just can't keep him out of the lineup ted uh he's the kind of kid that uh you know just if he can walk he'll play third and ten four receivers had a lot of time and now sack in a try and run and scott kowalkowski who's lining up as a down lineman on this first series makes the tackle and that was good coverage down field by the pass defense which is uh if anything that's been the achilles heel for that notre dame defense everybody was covered and a four-man pass rush and that's very key i think kid they got kolakowski and devon mcdonald he'll be in a four-point three-point stance rushing to quarterback today now doug helkowski to punt it rocket is deep and a low line drive you better be careful here actually that punt was solo the blocking couldn't set up and rocket got to the 41-yard line still a 12-yard run back and notre dame will start at the 41. early first quarter irish lead at 7-0 favor of the irish now john penn state have a very balanced attack but uh they weren't given a chance at an opening session there now the overthrow on that initial pass but the fine field position that uh notre dame has gotten on the opening kickoff and now again the 37 the 41. that's right wayne they certainly look fired up don't they both sides of the ball the irish yes uh certainly defensively it's unusual to see them go out blitzing in the first series and it was uh unusual to see a young quarterback overthrow his wide receiver terry smith there on an out pattern but it's good to see scott kolkowski i mean we we talked so much about zorich and stonebreaker but here's a guy that i think played 37 consecutive games we never talked about the guy but he came up with a big play there yes he did good tackle they had a stunt going inside on that pass rush on third down and and forced the quarterback to run with the ball his uh he's your old pal yeah joe you know we were in the hulu bowl at one time together in fact my children were babysitting on his children remember it well you don't look old enough yeah so it's 7-0 to notre dame against penn state that's just the start they wanted penn state a very tough proposition as we can see a staff on the irish they lead their 11th in the nation scoring 34 points a game and they've made a solid start here with seven from their first possession and they take over on their own forty-one let's watch a replay here he's in the slot and here's what happens now he's trying to go down he slips and then of course forced the quarterback out he's still open but he didn't see the free safety over there really had him uh covered quite well and that's gary and perry second and ten with waters the tail back full back is culver just got tripped up at the line and fell forward to gain a couple goganus 42 inside linebacker for penn state nade to hit and it's going to be third down and six for the irish and this male comes back in it's interesting paul to listen to the controversy and not controversy so much as discussion all week long from different parts of the country about his heisman hopes some people think they won't vote for because he hasn't touched the ball enough [Applause] i don't know if that is a good reason at all [Applause] and meyer dumps it out nice catch by derrick brown look at here the tight end to the 32 of penn state is he something or what he's like a big runaway truck when he gets ahold of the football you're looking at a number one draft choice i don't care if he catches three three catches a year gary brown the big tight end is a definite threat when he catches the football he just runs over people there's a little delay over the middle look at those hands right here breaks a tackle two perry's just trying to bring him down he drags him another eighth 23-yard pick and a nice play because i think that was a secondary receiver he's looking at culver running down the near side here's palmer running up the middle and that's going to be about a 9-yard game notre dame looks good offensively today early going they haven't had too much problem offensively offensive line blocking well and seems like everything's working in every game this year except michigan state the notre dame offense has not been stopped they stopped themselves against stanford michigan state's the only defense that has stopped notre dame this year boy culver's putting together a great year statistically 630 yards he's averaging five yards of pop that play is not going anywhere as meyer dives forward he's going to be just a bit shy of the first down stick third [Applause] first quarter notre dame leading seven nothing and trying to add to it uh this is a situation here where the defense wants it measured they know it's not a first down just gives them a little break and you can see it's about a foot ball is about a foot short of a first sequence here he hopes it's not that's right [Applause] one of the great man in college football history right there joe paterno what a great coach winningest active coach with the retirement of moshe eckler after last year quarterback meyer keeps it looks like he got enough for the first down and it is first down for notre dame watching this game today also forces you to think about fact this series that's been a very good one during the 80s is going to end in 1993 penn state has joined the big ten conference and they're going to start playing conference football games in 93 and the first game they dropped to get in the big ten was notre dame was gracious enough to discontinue the series early there's waters on first down getting outside look at the speed again and waters despite the fact that penn state strung that playoff fairly well cuts eight yards down to the 13. i tell you perry's all over the place karen perry the safety you see him right there he's been in on almost every tackle this kid is a good football player now watch the speed here look he just throws it in a little high gear here with the hash step there's perry on the pursuit he's been the defensive savior here in the first quarter that's still another name with second and two at the penn state 13. and that's the key second two you pick up eight on first down you're going to beat somebody you usually beat him look at the hall brooks touchdown notre dame they look strong today this is the best they've looked i think in the first two series of any football game i mean they uh look powerful today don't you think ted the offensive line has been superb and they look ready they look happy to be home and they powered the ball down on the ground ex almost exclusively on the ground for two touchdowns and seniors scoring both 12-yard pickup tony brooks 59 yards on the drive and here is hendrick jim sexton jim sexton is the holder and craig hendrick moves another extra point through so 14 nothing to the irish and here's tough penn state the team you can't run on not if they were running on them they're sure doing a great job of blocking up front there isn't any doubt of it but the running backs waters and culver are outstanding and picking that initial hole and then having the quickness to get through well let's take a look at some of the key plays in that scoring drive and first of all i think we're going to see big derrick brown and john you were talking about poor tackling here yes it's a delay pattern a very simple play the tight end sets up as if it's a blocking assignment and then they dropped it to him but uh that tackling wasn't very good he's a big man but uh he should have been brought down and his rookie water show this is containment again you can't let the the cornerback in coming up to force has got to be sure he doesn't get outside that was eight yards there for ricky walters and here's tony brooks yeah just a nice hole and a quick break and into the end zone yes that is just great blocking up front now last year the irish racked up 425 yards on the ground against uh the uh disney lions and that was the most that penn state had ever conceded has lou holt seen something do you think well they they're playing a lot of gap defenses up front and that uh that'll create some daylight if you can see it and of course the backs are hitting the halls beautifully talking of daylight i mean uh tony brooks has got all the daylight he yes he seemed that beautifully and it was a very very good play by brooks who's a senior who's trying to make his impact in here behind culver and he's certainly making his way there today john you've been in this situation at this level coach to this level what would you do in joe paterno's position now well you just got to play your uh your own game but they've got to control the ball better of course when you don't make a first down and then give up the field position of the 31 even though it's or the minus 37 minus 41. you can't give up that kind of field position allow them to start at midfield starting off the second possession for the nittany lions as we see the kick and it's a low line drive it causes some problems but uh penn state managed to fall on the ball it's really a feature of the uh the game so far these strange kicks there's confirmation of that last run the 12-yard run eight plays 59 yards just took two and a half minutes extra point of course was good and uh tony brooks going in on our 12-yard run the kicking the kickoffs are not as consistent as we see uh as you can see brooks going in again the kicking is not as consistent as you see in the pros at this level is it oh no they're not trying to kick deep for some reason they're trying to keep the ball away from somebody i don't know who penn state has that it's been a breakaway runner on the kickoff but they're kicking the ball flat state getting a pass off this time and completing the pass as well that's al golden making the reception anyway we've got quite a half time package for you to look forward to as well this game at the halftime interval we'll have the first half highlights then we'll be taking a nose around and see what's been going on elsewhere in the nation as well we've got a profile of todd light and then uh letting you know what we've got coming up next weekend as well so plenty to look forward to and a times show here which uh should come up in an hour and a quarter or so so anyway the nittany lions up and running for the first time let's rejoin ted robinson and paul horny thompson is to the notre dame 45. see if you're at penn state like we were talking about ted you're on the offense and you watched notre dame's game films last week against that tennessee uh against the game of tennessee you know you're sitting in the film room and you're looking at that notre dame defense tennessee got what 525 yards in offense you got to start licking your chops you got to say say listen this may be the number one team but we could move the football on this defense notre dame is playing freshman willie clark is the free safety in this game he's starting in that position rod smith starting at a cornerback four-man rush pass out is caught that's david daniels and he has a first down of the notre dame 34. correct that sam gash who made that catch the fullback it's the fullback you say free safety he's watching willie clark as you mentioned he lands up about 12 to 13 yards dave to snap the football he goes back watch it there he is 32 i mean he is way deep and of course they go right underneath in that soft zone sam gash easy first down he only needed a yard first down at the notre dame 34. you'll see that again i'm sure that's daniel's up top against rod smith and sakai runs a little quarterback draw and says hello to chris sorich jose zurich last week you know he wasn't really a force in the game but for a guy playing on one leg anytime a guy shows that much guts determination he's out there playing hurt you don't think that helps your teammates you look over and you say look at this guy he shouldn't even be out here but he's got so much heart and he's the kind of guy that inspires the people around him and that's what chris search he is a determined football player second and eight notre dame 32 hannah blitz and that ball is skipped in though to terry smith let's see that that little blitz causes the quarterback to hurry the throw a little bit i didn't get the quarterback here comes the blitz over the left guard you'll see him show up right here now this was the play before that this is called a quarterback draw and uh not for chris oh it's gonna be third and eight for penn state now the irish 32. now here's the down that's destroyed notre dame all year they get teams in third and eight and can't put them away but they're in a blitz here faker reverse and sack has got smith open downfield he's got him and he is in for a touchdown on a great catch by terry smith it was just a great individual play by saca they faked the reverse notre dame was in a blitz putting pressure on the quarterback and saca puts it right there 32-yard touchdown pass beautiful pitch and a great catch he beat todd light down the sideline he made a sensational catch kept his balances sprung into the end zone we'll take another look in a minute well i tell you third and eight third and ten third and twelve another name just absolutely snake bitters they can't stop anybody and hayek picks the extra point for penn state craig feyek a freshman and at 4 29 to play in the first quarter it is now notre dame 14. penn state seven more offense galore another 32-yard pass and john we've seen it all year teams can beat notre dame in the air the fake reverse uh really held the defense the receiver started across and then broke back to the corner and got open great catch what a smart player as well yeah well executed very timely they had to come up with a score uh given you can't spot notre dame 14 points not come back and get something is that straight out of joe patono's play vocal would that be one of his assistants no that'd be a standard play a fake reverse pass i think everybody has it in the playbook somewhere no they do have this vulnerability uh in the air we've seen it all year we saw stanford of course experiencing it to perfection what do you think the problem is well you're not getting a rush on the quarterback in that particular case he just had a lot of time and when he stepped up and avoided the single rusher that was in there yc see how much time he's got to throw this bomb that allows that receiver to go down in the secondary and really go to work that's a great play great effort i'm not so sure he wasn't down just before he got in the end zone but it's still a great play we'll give you the benefit of that it's terry smith by the way we uh we believe not to tony smith but let's see if the rocket is gonna launch himself another dame leading by and once again if uh they're scared of the rocket aren't they well you know sometimes you're better off to go ahead and kick it deep because look at this they they're just giving up a terrible field position you can't allow that first first down to be given up on the kickoff and it's happened all the time let's just have a look at this touchdown pass from another angle here with all the time in the world see how he went across and then broke back normally wouldn't get that much time not often you see light i mean he was down wasn't he good you're right he was he was a good yard away anyway it doesn't matter it's 14-7 to the irish ricky waters the ball carrier on first down that's richard mckenzie 99. he's the key man there on the hit darren perry also man perry again can you talk about those kickoffs paul i think the world changes made a lot of difference he's moving the kickoffs back to the 35 in college football he's a prevented kicker she was booted out of the end zone that's right we've seen that so much i don't know and it's psychological with kickers they move it out of the end zone they say if you move back to 35 you ought to kick it five yards deep but that doesn't happen option pitched to waters and he's brought down good defense waters wants to play willie thomas piled on late there but no flag and it's going to be third long for the irish [Applause] ball just shy of the notre dame 42-yard line derek bona of true freshman starting at cornerback for penn state he's lined up against lake dawson at the bottom of your screen [Applause] knew he was going to get crushed and he did and he still hung in there and delivered that ball i'll tell you it was good coverage that time leonard humphries had the coverage on the rocket watch him here he is right here coming over the middle good coverage at times he's hit good good catch by the rocker you can't cover him in that just failed his catch ball last week the meyer knew he was going to get hit by richard mckenzie and he stood in there through the pass 250 to go in the quarter throw another one go down the field the rockets out there just overthrow oh he wants that one we knew that was six the rocket randy's pulse pattern nobody's going to keep up with him he caught him in a perfect defense man-to-man now watch the rocket he's licking his chops right now he knows he's just going to run right by him that was leonard humphries again he covered him last time set him up with the little hook pattern and he ran a pulse right by it and look at rick meyer he knows this is six cannot believe it was a little overthrown [Applause] second and ten at midfield quick head off to brooks and nice job by brooks darting and dancing through the middle of the line and he gets the ball to the 44 penn state golden is on the hit third and four coming up that's kind of funny well i remember back to our first game here two months ago sitting in this stadium wondering about rick meyer that ended pretty quickly didn't he sure did he's had a wonderful year he's quarterback notre dame to eight victories and one loss and he's just been sensational they've shown a great poise and i want to tell you something i think the rock will win the heisman and i also think as ricky waters gets the first down i also think that rick meyer wins the heisman poison how about that wow do you think the rocket's gonna win the heisman this year absolutely [Applause] it's funny we finished the point we talked about earlier i've heard some voters rent some things voters around the country saying they they're going to hold it against this male that he doesn't run the ball 30 times a game like the enemy in colorado he's not a running back and that's a lot of people forget that he's a flanker nobody changes the game like this [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 38 makes the hit for penn state u.s sprint presents the u.s olympic showcase on sports channel america the soviet national basketball tour and wraps up at the carrier dome in syracuse on monday night exclusive coverage live at 7 30 eastern on sports channel [Applause] now america is second and six the penn state 34 trips left and meyer changing at the line [Applause] a little movement nobody no flags look like offside meyer takes a hit deanna freo nails him as meyer is looking down for william holler that's what happens when you change the play a lot in college a lot of people miss it they just they're not used to picking it up and you see meyer over the sideline here's your linebackers here richard johnson on the outside here comes your inside linebacker makes a spot on rick meyer it was with mark gianafrio you want to hear something he's a kid who's been benched by joe paterno earlier this year because he's too exuberant on the field he's got late hit penalties usually don't usually like to curb that in your football players third down and 11. everybody out down the middle and meyer to the 35-yard line is it and it's gonna be a tough choice now for lou holtz because a field goal here would be better than 50 yards and they need about seven for a first down you don't really want to punt when you're 35 either but lou holtz will get a quarter break to think about his decision and as notre dame changes ends to the field they'll have the wind at their back which may affect the way that boltz chooses to approach it also after one quarter notre dame 14. end state seven will return to notre dame stadium after these messages the fighting irish at the top of the second quarter let's have a look at some of the action that's got them to this situation first of all it's the rocket he held that ball very nicely on here and then delivered it late and took a real hit that's that's well thrown but a slot cleared it out and as the wide van he came underneath now they jump into single coverage they probably sent the safety over to the tight end side and he had uh had him beat oh gosh i'd hate to be the cornerback playing him man for a man but uh here's one occasion where it uh didn't quite go according to playing no that's this was a great play by the linebacker got outside the tackles block so that brings up an interesting fourth and seven and as we've said it's uh almost a waste of a play to punt it from there but it's a long field goal john what would you do in this situation oh i tend to pooch the punt just kick it up high and see if we couldn't recover it inside the 10-yard line i i'm more inclined to be a little conservative here and then just forced penn state to make a long drive but obviously coach paterno must be a little bit happier now he's seen his offense get on track and he's seen his defense start defense finally uh stopped them but i think they're weren't they lined up for a long field goal though it could be a little bit of blue holt's trickery i'm not sure it does look indeed as if they're getting ready for what would be a hefty 53-yard field goal that's going to be let's go over and uh find out what's happening [Applause] [Music] and that one's got the distance just off he got it there but just off so penn state holds and they'll take over with good position in their 35-yard line caught it a little bit low ted usually when a kicker comes up chart like that the ball doesn't explode off his foot so i think he kicked it a little bit lower than he wanted to as we take a look at the first quarter statistics and without that one play for penn state a great catch by terry smith that was all notre dame from heaven's sakes he only had the football [Applause] terry smith go in motion pitch to leroy thompson whoa leroy thompson has a first down so suddenly penn state getting its offense on court and thompson you know where he's from knoxville tennessee how do you get away from the balls here's the pitch out of the eye the fullback does the job up in front right there everybody's controlled the line of scrimmage big bad leroy got a first down for penn state and it was willie clark freshman free safety made the tackle first down shift laparca in motion and they'll try thompson this way stone breaker got blocked and there's more good yardage for the better name 45 before clark has to come up again now when your tailback is running and the free safety is making tackles you know he's right you're not doing the right job stone breaker had a force on the inside got hooked bone breaker wanted and you'll also see todd light both of them in the running with some of the great awards in college football todd light for the secondary award jim thorpe award and of course stone breaker i think's in the final of the butkus award sorge is not in on this series eric jones playing up front for another name four down line second and three and it's sam gash running and reversing and andre jones makes a big saving tackle or else cash might have been able to get back to the short side [Applause] watching this series a lonely figure now notre dame doesn't have great speed with those third down linemen either but what happens gas tries to come back against the quickest of those down men and that's andre jones you're not going to outrun him now it's third down and four at the notre dame 46. so the defense here looking to come up with a big play in a stop no pressure and that one's caught by thompson out of the backfield and he has a first down stone breaker [Applause] [Music] andre jones is on the outside and you'll see stone breaker come back with the block to get the tie [Applause] and state and throw the ball a lot to running backs but neither at tennessee before last week's game that's obviously a play that's hurt the irish there's one way overthrow that's the first ball thrown to david daniels in the game and it's way overthrown daniel's their top receiver [Applause] they played a lot of football tennessee ran 92 plays from scrimmage last week and uh any coach will tell you if you run 92 plays on offense you're usually come out on top just a number outside good play by greg davis splashing up from his strong safety spot continuing what has been an awfully good tackling year for craig davis likes to hit and he's the real sticker in that secondary too greg davis watching you see willie clark he's playing the free safety right here good time whoever takes greg davis's place next year that secondary has got to be tackled because notre dame has spent the only guy back there it's been a strong sound tackle third and 11 now at the notre dame 40. terry smith in motion three-minute [Music] out there a sophomore big guy 6-3 213 running the pattern so notre dame does get a stop on third long yardage well i didn't like the choice of plays there for penn state he got third and ten he went for the home run and notre dame of course back in that zone defense everybody kind of playing a zone back there deep and anywhere where they're soft they've been software over the middle and about in the 15 yards zone doug helkowski will be back to punt rocket is back deep but if helkowski does his job here rocket would not get a chance [Applause] yard line so notre dame will be pinned back deep when we return notre dame leading 14-7 irish here at notre dame stadium and a little bit of evidence perhaps that uh defenses on both teams parts are starting to uh make a bit of an impression on this game but let's take a look now at one of the danger men four penn state leroy thompson in action the delay pattern has they indicated the wide receiver just clearing it out allowing the back who's in a set position to delay and cross over the middle now you were wayne you have a lot of time for leroy thompson don't you reckon he could be a danger man today he certainly can uh outrun people and run over people at the same time so he's a double threat when it comes to penn state and so often you see a player that can outrun people but it doesn't guts it up the middle but that player he will take on anybody but john we've got a situation here where the irish are deep inside their own territory on around about their own seven or eight yard line so it's a vital series coming up for the uh nittany lions defensively isn't it yes if they could hold them here why they'd have excellent field position at least at midfield do you get the impression well obviously we'll uh we'll we'll come back and talk about that later john because it looks like the irish are ready to take the snap first down deep in their own territory and he gets the ball good tackle nice play on the penn state front by eric outside linebacker as the rocket could not get outside he gains about a yard tennessee found out about the rocket last week though because they really stopped the entire game three minutes to go one sweep which tennessee said they played on defense exactly the way they wanted to and he still scored a touch let's see those two punt returns that he two 40-yard punt returns one was called back with the clip you know if they put some points on the board there the game's over [Applause] that's not a bad job there very little room waters danced for three and it'll be third and six under these circumstances down here with the passing game third and six here we got a throwing situation but will it be in holtz's offense normally he don't throw the football since tony smith's foot wide left ishmael's slot left waters the tail back fennis the fullback the rocket yes sir and he's got it first down notre dame 25 yard line and meyer did a nice job there waiting for rocket to really cross the field that's perfect that's exactly the key he waited for him to clear the linebacker and then he put it right there beautiful beautiful weight on and a great read i guess we should say for rick martin and so the irish out of the hole to 25 with a first down 10 20 to play in the first half 14-7 notre dame waters really playing that tail back they had reggie gibbons about five yards deep before waters really got his hands on the football in the pitch it was just a read he's playing outside he sees the pitch to the tailback with water comes right up and that'll be a loss of a yard to make it second down and 11. waters 56 yards already after 174 last week career high at tennessee play fake to brooks welcome to time and the underneath ball is dropped by jerome bettis coming out of the backfield now he had a couple of people open here derrick brown was open about down at the 40-yard line and he saw his back wide open that would have been a first down there goes derrick brown good fake good pass protection he sits in that pocket picks him out looks it over so third down will be the call here third and 11 for the irish in there 24. i like to see him get it for that big [Applause] the strength of that arm too teddy he rolled out to his left put it right on the money 25 yards down field a little back against the grain too there's the rocket that's his third catch today there it is it's a deep now he's double covered there you there you see it look at the respectful how much they backed up sure and that's why he's going to be open underneath all day long now when you catch him man-to-man that's the time when he can run by him and they give it to ismail and the play goes for about five so another name has had the ball four times and they've gotten it into penn state territory on each possession [Applause] running into the 45 of penn state rockets got three catches for 48 yards bill slot now left with ray griggs wide left waters the tail back see they put perry over there remember he'll be one man [Applause] not much and short of a first down notre dame is just patrolling the football with these sustained drives penn state hasn't had the football over six minutes this whole ballgame [Applause] so another name will have third down and two here at the penn state 42 with ismail split right here you'd get him in a man-to-man situation if you put the tight end down the field you would have the rocket at a man-to-man on the outside [Applause] 36-yard line at penn state willie thomas out of the secondary made the attack off of the nittany lions notre dame gets inside for 20. there you see penn state doing all it can just a great hole off the right side needed a couple of yards recover got it so first down at the penn state 36. and let's see i don't know if meyer got that ball back meyer tried to fall on it penn state says it's theirs and the officials say no it is notre dame football [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] rick meyer got it back but the aaron exchange loses six yards so this drive's been kind of a backwards and forward squad [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that's one of the best pitches he's had all year long right there he's rolling left on the run rolling through his left perfect pitch sean davis caught it in full stride watch us out of the trips he'll cut to the sideline here he's in the slot sean davis there he is going by the 25-yard line paul is right on the money 23-yard pickup and the irish have first down now at the penn state 19. [Applause] culver getting almost nothing got a funny thing paul watching this game we focus so much on ismail as a wide receiver but all year long notre dame is used anywhere from six to eight different players as wide receivers have thrown the ball to wallaby they really have they've got great receivers they've got great speed in the receivers they also have great running backs and great speed in the running back so that's where they'll knock the dead right there and his offensive line has just gotten better and better each week now derek brown splits wide up to the top of your picture we haven't seen this all year second and nine inside waters and waters first and goal for the irish he's pumped up too this is last game here take a look at joe paterno over the sidelines he's not too happy and i'm sure this guy was recruited heavily about penn state that's why he's pittsburgh pennsylvania that's why he's not happy there it is a little roll out draw almost good blocking up front tim ryan merkel jerk of vic mike in the middle of that line doing the job winston sanders in their right tackle first and goal to set it on a sweep good cutback the second one a third one petrol [Applause] ricky watters comes in he's not excited watch it might just cut back to the end this is great instinctive running rodney culver missed his block there but the rocket almost gets in he got hit by two men at the two-yard line full house backfield on second and goal and culver just down inches shot [Applause] sean davison now with the play from holtz and they'll be culver in front of brooks two tight ends and meyer keeps it and he's in touchdown and that is a 92-yard drive for a touchdown well i showed you a little something right there they needed a good long sustained drive a couple of key third down there it is right there you see the guy playing on the nose went to his left and opened up a little crack in that defense rick meyer snuck right in behind it there it is and the linebacker just couldn't get there in time that was keith gaganis [Music] it's through the extra point he is perfect this year so with just five minutes left in the in the first half it's a nice healthy scoreline for the irish they lead 21-7 and a very impressive 92-yard drive there john well some key third down passes when you get a team on the eight-yard line you've just got to keep them right there and make them punch well let's have a look at some of the action from the drive here's the here's the pass reception first of all from number 17 davis he has that single coverage on this slot and they just hook up the outside receiver and send the other one to the flag this is great running isn't this uh something look at that cutback and you can't arm tackle him even though he's a small guy he's got a lot of power it's just a little fella but uh he knows what to do when he gets the ball and uh i think john before the uh the play there you said quarterback sneak didn't you oh yes if you're that close you always don't take a chance on handing the ball to anybody you just go behind your offensive line we usually pick a spot either outside of the guards or perhaps in the just depending on what they've shown a tendency to do in that shortest situation i've been listening to you during the broadcast john and unfortunately some of our viewers can't can't hear what you're saying but you're calling the offensive play and then you're calling the defensive play is it that you know the two coaches that well that you're sort of guessing what they're going to do yeah you're right more often than not well no it's probably just instincts on the part of a coach who's been doing it for 40 years it's not so much a question of you know the minds of these two guys yeah have they done anything that surprised you so far uh no uh not really uh i've been impressed with the fact that notre dame hasn't made any mistakes they got one bad snap the quarterback fumbled it but outside of that why uh they've been just flawless yes and when you stopped to think uh wayne there hadn't been a penalty has there no it's been a very clean fought game and good hard tackling and everyone's played by the rules and as we see the kick there down for a touch back and wayne what do you think of it so far i think it's a good typical eastern seaboard game with penn state uh playing their game plan smash knows football they're going to run the ball and they're going to pass the ball and they're going to play to their game plan notre dame are not going to get them out of that but lou holtz is doing a great job i wonder how important that drive that we've just seen is going to be when we look at the final analysis of this game because we both said here's an important series for penn state it was instead the irish that went 92 yards but can penn state respond they've done it once let's see if they can do it again with saka looking to complete a pass and he does there that's good for a first down a nice 15-yard pickup there on the first down sam gash the senior big fullback picking that up and this is the summary of what happened on the last drive 16 plays 92 yards best part of seven minutes that's the way to win the game control the ball for seven minutes oh yes it is take it in and the one-yard run from the quarterback so anyway the uh lions now have another first down on their own 35. in on that tackle andre jones as well stone are out here notre dame consistently and you see sorry sorry it's not 100 percent cut that leg and notre dame's defense again giving up four or five yards of pop as we take a look at tony thompson stone breakers out here donnie grimm and jim flanigan are the inside linebackers notre dame consistently been a four down lineman where we haven't seen that too much and a that pass is caught by thompson that'll be a first down flanigan was blitzing there and he was picked up by sam dash the fullback and the tailback thompson caught the pass i don't think lou holtz is too surprised nor is gary darnell by this because again they've seen teams week after week throw to the backs of the tight end underneath you look at the yard he's given up by the notre dame's pass defense all year you know a lot of teams have thrown for over 300 yards but usually and that's a key statistic also usually the team that goes for the most yardage loses those are always behind underneath again and that will be a good run he put his head down there and really pulled forward he's inside another name 45. the irish didn't he'd give that pass up but they didn't surround the receiver very well once he caught the football it seems like the defense guys are so cognizant of getting beat deep that they you know give a little bit too much ground everybody's opened up in that soft zone underneath and i'm sure paterno uh after watching the film said look dump it off to your your you know your hotbacks dump it off to the guys if they're not open downfield you're going to see a lot of blue jerseys down field if you happen to see it looks like you're covered look underneath but somebody's going to be open [Applause] well that's a first down by inches at the notre dame 44. eric jones up front on this set freshman bryant young is playing he's 97 on the down line javon mcdonald up defensive left hand out there he's a linebacker [Applause] and it was a big tackle there by davis again greg davis maybe save six but the ball's inside the notre dame 30 as we pause now for a regional break sports channel america's coverage of notre dame football continues after these messages are threatening although michael stonebreaker's just come up with a big play there that's put a take the smile off joe paterno's face but uh these important moments now as we just take another look at this last play and there we see nowhere to go it's michael stonebreaker he fills a hole but uh there's a flag down and uh stone breaker just letting everyone know which way it's gone so uh we were talking about there's been no penalties and uh we put a jinx on the game yeah i think we did but it has been a fast-moving first half the running game and and in addition no injuries you always knock on wood there and no penalty important that they are that penn state get into this series it is very important they need to get within one at half time so time running out for joe paterno's nittany lions but they do have the ball and they've got enough time to punch it in at the moment notre dame of course leading 21-7 and uh here comes tony sacca coming back out as we can see the ball is uh well pushed almost back to midfield now after that 15-yard penalty and uh it's those 15-yarders especially late on in a quarter or in a half rather can really hurt you just look at the state of that third 29. could be a passing play coming up john even though i could that one it'll be a pass but you don't want to try to get it all just get half of it and see what you can do on the final play oh you can't throw it any better than that you've got to catch that ball that was al golden the big tight end of the senior let that one go and uh so demoralizing and frustrating what do you do to a player in that situation when you're the coach i mean do you feel like kicking him out the back side or do you just pat him on the back and say hello oh we got it saying you don't critique the performance during the performance we'll talk to him the following day about why he uh dropped that ball and it can't happen again but he'll know of course so the punt fourth down the nittany lions punting and looks like oh they got a bad break on the bounce yeah so where they could have used timeouts and gotten the ball back perhaps now they're probably not going to touch the ball again with two minutes 13 left maybe notre dame can stick some more points on the board before the half time we'll find out in just a moment we're going to take a break we'll be back into more importantly they've got the ball in pretty good field position with just over two minutes left now these could be important two minutes today oh yeah so i don't i don't think notre dame will uh get careless with the football if they can get some form of a good run in here and get close to midfield then they'll try to take advantage of it and go down and score otherwise they'd be content to run out the half what's coach holt's got in his mind at this stage just to try and maybe get a field goal or go for six oh no i i think he's thinking 21-7 is a good halftime score i i don't want to make a mistake down here by being careless he's got the ball where on the uh 25 26 yard line yeah they didn't get a very good punt there penn state no i i look for him to stay with a running game if they did break a run for a good solid first down then he might go after it you like to be out around that 35 to 40-yard line before you open up your game as we just see the comparative play selection there penn state passing a lot more and the irish running the ball let's see if coach ralston is correcting his assessment with all three of its timeouts remaining notre dame has plenty of time here to do something offensively [Applause] letting the clock run here as it's about a minute 55 but this is not a two-minute drill as you've heard sometimes on television if it is they'll start to rush it up they get another first down you know to get the ball up around the 45-yard line second down in short yardage and brooks gets about six more here's a point now or if you're at the 41-yard line you only need to complete two passes to being a chance to kick a field goal jim dieter the nose tackle made the play for penn state of course the clock will stop till they move the chains up they set now that here they go fox running now notre dame quickly out of the huddle tony smith and ismail both go wide left waters the tailback behind culver the ruckus got two men on him tough throw there and tony smith the intended receiver humphrey's on the coverage that's the same ball meyer through to sean davis on the last drive and so it'll be second down and 10 now at the 41 of notre dame at 121 to play in the half [Applause] they're going to the blockbuster bowl which is headed by an old domer bob kuchenberg all right bob here today [Applause] with the ball look at the moves look at the moves by ismail and he's out to midfield he got 10 yards and he juked about three people on the way [Applause] he is something i tell you i've said it before he's he's the best football player i've ever seen here at notre dame in my time by far i tell you this kid's the number one draft choice this year next year doesn't matter when he comes and he has mentioned before that he will stay blue holt stays he says i will stay i certainly hope that that's the case but you wonder what pressures will come into his mind if he does win the heisman third down and one a minute 12 to play here the ball's in midfield and notre dame just gets the first down culver runs it straight ahead they pick up the first down which they know will stop the clock for the move here it is again we're gonna take a look let's catch him there's one he got by one there's two there's three of course that guy had no shot at all there's four and of course they knock him out of bounds there made four pretty good moves didn't he i made those four moves like that it took me three four four years yeah let's splice that together for your highlight pressure from the backside but still now meyer is going to eat the football they never had anybody breaking over the middle he didn't have it [Applause] davis went to the outside where everybody was and i think rick meyer was looking for him to hopefully go back to the weak side a lot of time burned off there before another game stops the clock with a timeout 36 seconds they have two timeouts left this is the holt's tutelage though whether there's any question meyer just eats the football he will not throw it up there you know we we've talked at times this year about the rocket the choice he's going to have at the end of the season lou holtz made it pretty plain early in the year he said he told ismael before the season started if you're thinking at all about leaving school early then don't play this year he said i want you i don't want anybody who's not totally focused to notre dame in this football team and that's a you know it's a it's one way of looking at it i don't know if it's uh completely realistic but it's the way lou holtz has chosen to address the problem well it depends on the individual and it depends on the school it depends on the type of team he's stated flatly he will be back and certainly notre dame what notre dame represents in college athletics graduating athletes in four years and you would hope that ismail would continue in that tradition you see where he ranks alongside tim brown in tim brown's heisman here but i think that's a little misleading tim brown by all accounts didn't have as good a year and a senior as his junior year exactly and you know another thing nobody has been defensed at notre dame in the history of this school like this kid i mean you you each team that comes against notre dame they prepare their whole defense to stop this guy i mean you know and each coach realizes this guy gets the football in his hands 15 times you're dead you know he's going to break a couple i honestly believe if he played tailback the whole season he'd gained close to 2 000 yards you know if he were in a tailback orientated offense or they let him play you know they let him run the football 20 25 times in this offense here he'd be the leading one of the leading rushers in the country he's that tough [Applause] 36 seconds remaining in the half at notre dame stadium and notre dame leading 21-7 will have second and 15 from their 47 after utilizing their first timeout blake dawson and ismail will split wide right and brooks will be out there as well culver the only back and he's going out left [Applause] the screen here to ismail over the middle great play he's outside on an outstanding tackle by willie thomas to save a touchdown that was six what a tackle that's almost like a little delay screen over the middle with that inside flanker now he's lined up on the inside in the slot here here it comes there's your screen everybody's up in front 28-yard pickup watch this move right now look at that great straight arm now right here just by the ankle that was six points notre dame's not doing a good job here the clock's running if timeouts here this is not a good job of clock management at all [Applause] well they may lose they might even get a field goal off here and meyer throws it away wisely that was just absolutely horrendous management of time and time outs by notre dame because now you're down to seven seconds notre dame still has two timeouts yeah they could have had an incomplete deposit it would have been 30 at least 30 seconds still left they ran off 30 seconds as kim said now in college football we reiterate this they do stop the clock till they move to chains but if you're not ready at the snap of the football as soon as they say you know let's go you still got timeouts left you're absolutely right you could have called one of the biggest differences between college and pro football right there school like notre dame they don't work on two-minute drills and clock management right and here you're gonna have a half end with notre dame holding two timeouts no reason for that hentrix field all attempt is no good that's just a shame notre dame had no excuse at all for not coming out of that drive with points and they got nothing as hendrick misses the field goal but it is again this is part of the game they don't work on on when to call timeouts and running the clock down in the final minute and as a result you get a drive that should have had points come on nothing you're gonna have two more players two or three more [Applause] they can't improve on their position that's right they're on the post position running on the rail at number one saka dumps it out and it's caught by jerry collins coming out of the back field and he'll get a good gainer up near midfield as the first half ends picked up about notre dame had three touchdowns and missed two field goals on their five possessions in the half dominant offense they lead 21-7 at halftime at notre dame stadium will have the second half in a moment seems to have done a number on this occasion doesn't he yes certainly he's got them geed up and playing well but penn state get their hands on the ball first here in the second half shelly hammond's third string tail back out to the 34 yard line but he's the young man that ran for 208 yards against boston college this year very important offensive drive here for penn state they're only trailed by two touchdowns notre dame had the football for over 20 minutes in that first half penn state only had it for like nine minutes and 35 seconds they come right down the football field put some points on the board notre dame's in for one tony sacca 9-15 penn state not much of a running game in the first half just 30 yards on the ground that's what notre dame wants and it's the four-man front he comes right out with a pass to terry smith got by todd light and he's out to the 44-yard line that's going to be right at the first down stick before devon mcdonald made the hit [Applause] here's your first half stash notre dame will own the stats look at that though that's the most important one time of possession 20 35 for notre dame nine and a half about nine and a half for penn state bring the sticks all the way across to measure tony sacca knows he can throw the football on this football team and move it you just can't get greedy and the thing a couple of times on third down situations you can't throw 45 yard passes right against the notre dame defense you got to hang in there and trying that 15 yards home it's a big big game psychologically for penn state they've had a good season but they have yet to beat a ranked team they're going to a bowl game what a boost it would be to be a team that's number one for a penn state team it's been uncharacteristically down the last couple of years shacka being flushed to the sidelines and run out by todd light he's actually going to pick up a yard or two and it will be second and long tony saca who is a great three sport athlete in high school in new jersey he played so so well in basketball paul he broke his school's scoring record in basketball you know who set the record his older sister who is a player at fairfield university now tony sacco broke his sister's school scoring record [Applause] second down and nine whoa fumbled snap saka got it right back in his hands but they lose the play bob dahl wraps him up for no game we have been given word and we don't know why yet well we'll watch the replay first there it is just a miscommunication with the snap there just didn't get it pulled out a little bit too early was a little bit too hard [Applause] you know when that happens the quarterback says it's the center's fault and the senator always says it's quarterback's fault well we've been given word that ismail is not going to play the second half we don't know why that's the word we've received this male has been bothered by some turf toe problems last couple of weeks but we are told he will not play in the second half third and nine oh over the middle tight end is open but he's short of the first down rick sails the tight end stumbled as he caught the ball lost his balance and he goes down about a yard and a half shy of the first one any excuse either the pass was there he just lost his balance poor look at zorrich even with that bad leg he put some pressure on the quarterback here there's sales over the middle in that soft zone again now look i don't understand that they just got a little bit too anxious [Applause] notre dame has nobody back deep here they do have 11 players on the field but nobody back deep and helkowski will get if he gets a good help he doesn't get the good bounce again and notre dame gets a break not a very good punt that goes out of bounds shy of the 20-yard line so notre dame takes over has because now the irish managed to blunt the challenge of penn state there in that early drive and i think it was really important that uh the lions in the alliance got themselves a little bit of momentum there in that first drive yes they had to get a drive and get better field position they didn't get a good punt and their punter isn't doing a particularly good job for them today but here we see notre dame out on the 21 and let's see what they can do going to lose two yards nothing there for waters lou gerfati on the defensive line for penn state made the play and it's gonna be a loss of two tony brooks now checks in so without ismail who we do not we do not even see him on the sidelines at this point see probably a lot more of sean davis as a wide receiver in the second half fire rolling left again throwing it long for davis and again they don't overthrown too many deep patterns all year long uh i think we can count on both hands how many really deep flat patterns or pulse patterns we've seen all year long amara's got a very very strong arm he can throw at 65 70 yards if he needs to most of those have been overthrown this year except most underthrown well we've had two touchdown passes overthrown today rick rick has had the rocket open for six and right there sean davis was open oh it is third and 12. notre dame from the 20-yard line now you come back in that soft zone right over the middle right there derek brown can't hang on running up the field at the 45 trying to make a good grab with the hands and could not another name will go three downs and out and this will be the first notre dame punt of the game and that good penn state defense on the first down play but here again the man's wide open the pitch is just a little bit off er there's big jerry brown coming from out you don't get too many opportunities to catch a football and when you do get it you hit in your hands you better catch it [Applause] it is a great tight end hendrick back to punt in the first time today oh and he launches one way back goes thomas inside his 30-yard line and he's back to the 40 and brought down there so penn state will take over with good field position as paul mentioned it's still very much a ball game 21-7 notre dame no turnovers in this football game and we'll come back with penn state so penn state defensively they too hold firm so with just three minutes gone here in the second half both teams have had a chance of doing something and both teams have finished finishing up hunting the ball which is a little bit frustrating a little bit disappointing for those of us that love offensive football but uh certainly defense the order of the day here in the early stages of the second half right now you have another chance to win some goodies in our competition as you can see here's the array of prizes you can win if you can answer these two questions who beat miami in their opening game of the 1990 season what a cracker that was you've got a choice of three was it the team we're seeing today penn state was it kansas was it the jayhawks or was it the brigham young cougars at question two which current notre dame player is nicknamed the rocket and even john ralston reckons he can answer that one let's have a look at the three choices ricky waters ismail or rodney culver and if you know the answers put them both on a postcard together with your name and address and send them to screen sport american football competition number two po box 48 london w1v4ta make sure they get here by december the 21st that's when you've got to get them in and we'll be making the draw for the lucky winners during our coverage of the new year's day college bowl games and a lot of talk that the fighting irish are going to be um going up against colorado for the national championship in the orange bowl and what a game that would be john we've uh we've talked about you've been watching games in europe what brings you to europe well the world league of american football is committed to globalizing our game and we're going to have teams in europe this next year we're just pleased to have a team in london going to have a team in frankfurt going to have another one in barcelona have our own division here in europe that means a division winner will be in the playoffs we'll talk more about that later but right now penn state take over in excellent field position stone breakers showing blitz he's picked up ball goes to leroy thompson and a good run out of the 50-yard line before stone breaker and todd light stone breaker blitzing over the center has to come back nine yards down the field to make that tie [Applause] state has had a little more success running the football today than i think they expect they expected right now i'm surprised they haven't run it more well they haven't had the football they don't had it for nine minutes in the first half notre dame controlled it you know for 20 minutes and if that turns around it's going to be a tough one full back sand cash there's a great tackle by kolkowski george williams as well but kolkowski really made the play and they lose a yard boy's father was a tough football player with the detroit lions bob koala tough kid he's one of the seniors playing his final game scott kowalkowski both outside linebackers kolkowski and andre jones in their final game it's third down here third and two and a quick pass oh and andre jones almost was off to the races oh good coverage there's the quickness of andre jones shows up and almost good enough for six points he could have held on that was six and there you can see a little uh coaching by the great one over there all the time in the world it's just good defensive play by jones he had six points in his hands [Applause] notre dame now sends ray griggs back as the deep man in the absence of ismail it's fourth down and two and they punt it yeah that's a good one that's a good punt by helkowski this is the one he's been looking for another name is going to be pin deep he should have made a fair catch at the 15-yard line he has inexperience there he just got away from it notre dame this year they've tried a lot of different people back there catching punts and that time the ball gets down they're gonna mark it at the nine yard line so the irish will be pinned back deep in their own territory and here's where i guess they would like to say let's line up like we did early in the football game run the ball at him punch it out 92 yard drive is what they'd like here they'll start off running the football down here four and a half minutes into the second half the teams have exchanged punts three times in the quarter notre dame's starting deep in their territory and ricky waters goes up the middle for a very short game 21-7 notre dame with paul horning ted robinson at notre dame stadium in the last four years underneath only lost a couple of home football games penn state beat the irish here the last game of the 86th season and until stanford won the game here early this year that's the last home lost notre dame suffered home cooking everybody likes it second and eight now from the 11th and it's waters again there's the hole they smell six ricky waters out near the 45. now putting close to 100 yards rushing back that is right on the button for ricky waters boy i tell you he saw a little crack watch us out of the eye this is where he runs best look at the guard pull beautiful hole right up the middle look at ricky waters with two great straight arms that was gene mcguire on the tackle pull good block 101 yards now for water that gets notre dame out of trouble here's brooks and a tough yard play strung out nicely by penn state leonard humphreys in the secondary yeah this is what this is this is kind of game though right teddy just loves to control the pace of the game with the run if you can't stop it you start giving up first downs with the rush you're in for a long night because you're just running down your throat surprise notre dame for 12 passes in the first half that surprised me second and nine now the irish are there 46. and it's brooks and it's going to be third and long here as brooks goes down shy of midfield loop and fatty on the tackle and it's going to be third down and six [Applause] now they'll throw it or they run the draw we haven't seen the draw off of a little play action yet here it is 102 yards officially for ricky waters passing situation here but out of the eye though so we've seen notre dame run the football in this situation also should be a pass derek brown has split wide here and meyer is going to be sacked the man who got there first was eric rivetti the outside linebacker and he was the man who really made the play and notre dame will be forced to punt these kids today are so big and so quick when you blitz with them uh you know blitz with the linebacker either inside the outside of different holes it's just so hard for to teach the offensive line at this stage of the game pick up a certain person good snap to hendrick you blast this one out and it's taken by thomas at the 20 up the middle good run nice return tyson thomas sophomore york pennsylvania to the 35-yard line 21-7 notre dame so we pause now for a regional break [Applause] 21-7 the real big play there in that drive the ricky waters runner once again you've got to question the tackling here john yeah this is that counter tray that the washington redskins make so popular it's the guard and tackle pulling back to the tight end side and open up a nice hole now what about the world league of american football which you're obviously associated with what kind of quality of player are they looking for well the regular 40-man squad will be made up of predominantly nfl cuts so it's nfl caliber type of player playing there victor ebu is one of the players that we're we think can play on a regular squad otherwise we're going to have four additional players we call it operation discovery we want to get some national players and then we expect to be able to teach them and these could be players with or without football experience we're just fine athletes that's what we're looking for there's gonna be british players on the british team in other words yes there will be all right okay we'll come back to that later penn state back on the move and uh again of all maybe maybe a yard there if he was lucky there for penn state number 44 the ball carrier built a bit like john riggins as well but uh penn state getting off to another drive and uh they're still in this game are they john just 21-7 no the penn state's still in it now this is an important drive they uh they got a good punt return and they've they've got to make a couple first downs get it down into notre dame territory they're dropping back to pass on second down the quarterback sacker does a good job buys himself a bit more time and the pickup that's another first down so uh penn state now on the march midway through the third period the score remains notre dame 21 penn state seven and just looked the field over and came back and saw thompson watch this i mean this is a sack i'll tell you devon mcdonald on the outside there's stone breaker now he's forced to go outside and he looks bad he knows he's going to get hit too hangs right in there zach is not playing like a young man as the pulp of a couple of games this year replaced by tom bill for wins as recently as two weeks ago in west virginia he's going to get another first down inside the 40. demetrius dubose and his stone breaker another first down for penn state now the offense is sitting out over on the field they're watching their defense here's this four-man rush for notre dame and i don't know that almost looked as if it was a quarterback draw type of thing he just went back and he planted his right foot i don't think he was looking over their secondary s4 but as the pass was concerned i think that was automatic with a quarterback draw good for 12 yards thompson bob dahl wraps him up thompson gets three [Applause] stayed with willie clark the game the entire game is the free safety and rod smith almost the entire game at that quarterback spot whether they might start feeling a little pressure now ted you know especially your offense you haven't put together any sustained drives here in the second half you've had a couple opportunities you haven't played well and you're sitting there watching penn state moved the football they put some points on the board we've got one and penn state moved there pat duffy the right offensive tackle move very few penalties today no turnovers that's been one of the nice things especially after last week we've had very well played games joe paterno a lot of people thought he might be winding down right now but i think getting back into or getting in the big ten and trying to get this program back to its normal what for them has been a normal top ten status keeping his competitive fuel going second down and 12 now back at the 40-yard line of notre dame 5 50 to go in the third quarter there's that corner pattern wide open again with the tight end rick sales that time but the ball was thrown high and sailed through his arms dubose i'll tell you about this quest got to kill you see if you're joe paterno now he's looking over the films he said look here's the down with his second long third long we're gonna go with the tight end on a corner pattern now you're going to be wide open now this has happened twice now see right there george williams may have caused this pass to be incomplete it just goes off his fingertips he forced him to throw a little bit high he's been open that play is open and here we go third down and 12. at the 40. [Applause] her name rushes four sack of buying time flag down is right him caught and that is caught foreign that's first down yardage wow and there's a flag down about the 35 yard line i think this is going to be against notre dame i'm not sure how that ball was completed third and 12 and again penn state converts and looks like it's going to be a first down pass is good for first down yardage let's see what the penalty is oh well it is definitely a first down they'll decline that penn state golden finding the open spot actually notre dame has had problems with this all year ted when they do force the quarterback out of the pocket on third down and second long against the defense against an eligible receiver before the ball was strong this penalty carries a 10-yard penalty and a first down that penalty will be declined [Applause] absolutely it took the play completion to out but anyway we've watched it all year long it seems as if when the quarterback the opposing team gets town has to rush out of the pocket he usually finds somebody open and that's really uh it shouldn't happen as much as it does first and ten at the notre dame 26 for penn state sacka barks the signals sends everybody out and fires to the tight end again and that's rick sayles and he is at the first down stick at the 16-yard line they picked it up in the film they said the tight end is going to be open against this notre dame defense let's go to him here it is again there he is on the inside now he's got to beat the linebacker hey makes a good move here back to the inside but you know you hit it right on paul they haven't thrown the ball to the wide receivers in this game it's been to the backs and the tight end excellent tight end a little bit soft over that middle they come with the linebacker short for the first time it's just shy of a first down so now you're in a situation where joe paterno was staring at the face of hey i could be out of this game in the first quarter now we're coming down near the end of the third quarter his team is driving again within a touchdown notre dame has had a hard time putting the teams away they should have all year long you know they always let people off the mat but they've gotten this far let's see if they can keep it up it's almost a free player you're second down in inches blitz with stone breaker run with thompson and it's down inside the 15. zorich and dubose you know it always sees it even up a little bit doesn't it i mean here the first half of team controls the football for 20 minutes second half it goes on the other side just seems as if everybody will get their shot when the two teams are are matched somewhat evenly third quarter time remaining they've taken about five minutes off this clock in this drive again wrapped up in the middle after a very short game uh doll and dumos in there they give him three at this point that's what penn state can't afford they haven't had too many chances down deep but they need to take them in [Applause] well the thing with penn state is they can't get greedy ted we talked about it if they just handled the sharp passing game and hope salt zones over the middle they move the football second down and eight dash and thompson the backs they've gone distance little short lob oh that was thrown poorly for david daniels and the reason was stone breaker he was in on the blitz and he forced him to throw a little bit early so it is third down and eight from the notre dame 10 at 3 59 to play in the third quarter notre dame's problem has been when they rush three-man or they give the quarterback a lot of time or when the quarterback has is forced out of the pocket he usually finds somebody open after he's harassed let's see if they blitz again watch the linebackers that's the key david daniels and todd light man coverage bottom of your picture from stonebreaker that's what saga wants to go but frank davis on a safety blitz and they blitz stonebreaker on the inside he took care of the back that freed up somebody if they couldn't get over to get davis watch it there it is here comes the back and the fullback sam gas missed his man completely now fair lining up he's 11 for 16 is your freshman craig faye 39 yards away and that one is no good he missed and wide and penn state killer comes away heartbroken a long drive and they get nothing they break for notre dame for three minutes left here in the first quarter they dodge a bullet penn state got it down to the 10-yard line they come away empty notre dame stays up by two touchdowns late in the third quarter [Applause] [Music] [Applause] get the feeling that penn state needed something even three points out of that yes uh that was a a play that was destroyed by a bad read by the uh wide receiver uh on a blitz like that he's on a fade pattern to the corner and he just didn't run his route that could have been a touchdown if he had to play the ball so notre dame would get possession with rodney culver but he doesn't get an awful lot but it's the irish the takeover leading 21 to seven time running out here in the third quarter and i get the feeling if they score here they've got a touchdown in here they could have put the game away yes uh certainly uh penn uh had a chance to uh tie the score or bring the score closer and uh with the defense stiffening i think notre dame will go down now and if they put a score in i think that'll kill off the drive and they're gonna have to do something because rocket is uh injured and uh they're gonna have to put the game under ice now they're missing the rocket second and along for the irish and state blitzes and meyer will not even get away from center dianna freyno makes the play [Applause] i don't know psychologically what kind of impact losing ismail has but it hasn't been the same offense it really has it just looks like they're a little bit flat they need a play they need somebody to come through with the play ricky waters had great success in the first half and he's really been the only one who's had success running the football and he made a big play on the last drive and then notre dame couldn't capitalize 34-yard run got the ball out near midfield third down 10. [Applause] sean davis with a catch and a first down at the 43. now shawn davis was covered i'll tell you there was good coverage that time by sean davis darren perry had good coverage but it was just the rocket arm of rick meyer who delivered the football just before he could react now watch this isn't bad coverage here he lets him go in the deep zone now watch perry he's right there and normally you'll be able to react that far but with that arm that ball got there in a hurry 135 to go in the quarter first down blindside blitz coming and meyer throws it away and it's almost caught oh and a great play by meyer to get rid of the football and derrick brown almost caught it at midfield that time the home crowd helped meyer heard this blitz coming derek bonna right from behind right here now he's feels it look at this pitch just got rid of the football save the sack 8 out of 16 today for 161 yards is rick meyer and second down and 10 now in a minute 30 exactly to play third quarter 21-7 notre dame i set behind meyer that one is intercepted that may be six deanna freya running and he is brought down inside another name fifteen mark diana frio and the kid doesn't throw many interceptions i'll tell you that that's only five on the year and a couple of those were deflections but this one was just a good interception by diana frio he was trying to drill it in there as he rolled to his right watch number 38 now he's not even looking at that quarterback just a great move there was the open man sean davis just couldn't get it over that linebacker and penn state he's got the pressure on so with one minute and 19 seconds to play the third quarter it's right back at it for the notre dame defense penn state will start at the notre dame 11 yard line first turnover to this football game jerry collins is the tailback and he gets the pitch and collins is hit right there and that was eric jones who made the first hit a sophomore from portage indiana that is playing much more since zorich's injury several weeks ago a little tougher defense against a run down here sacko go upstairs and i don't think joe paterno is going to try to run against this defense now they stopped him for no gain he'll throw it brian o'neill is the fullback jerry collins the tailback daniel split right against light and coverage here's the blitz with craig davis again but saga gets away once and then throws the ball away to avoid the set alert footwork by sacca as mcdonald was about to bring him down and greg davis a little bit hotter himself he had a dead aim at the quarterback and that quarterback is not that good a move davis should have had this one here watch him coming in from the right he just got the quarterback and he just moves up a little bit he just lost control and then zorich got him around the knees and caused the incompletion well this may be the play penn state looks back at as the play of the game third and ten they blissed almost every time with success and here they come again stone breaker but he's picked up and that is a toe yes he caught it for a touchdown rick sails juggling bobbling and got it at the last second for a penn state touchdown jeff burris number nine over there had a man to man [Music] they got beat on the corner pattern mr sales rick sales the tight end again for this has this been a game for the tight end for penn state or not and penn state coming away with heartbreak a few moments ago but the interception by deanna freya won a big third down pass for the touchdown third count and 10 again penn state converted for seven points this time and with 32 seconds to play in the third quarter it is now notre dame 21 and penn state 14. and once again the notre dame's defense against the pass there it is third and then that's jeff burris he puts it there watch the bobble here there it is there now there's the referee right there right on he was right on time we'll take another look from about the 40-yard line where the camera is there bobble bobble bobble bobble left left left left good call he had it look at zach 199 yards now for saka and we got a whole quarter to go i tell you notre dame's defense has really made great quarterbacks a lot of quarterbacks this year throwing to football a lot of quarterbacks have thrown for a lot of yardage but this third quarter you'd have to say the notre dame offense had to let down exactly that's really the defense made a great stand last time [Applause] this time first turnover look notre dame looked like they dodged the bullet and came back with the turnover now you got to come up on the bit offensively if you're notre dame move the football it's a new football game now as far as they're concerned jeff burris the freshman tailback by trade but now playing corner back the last couple of weeks and he is the deep back in place of ismail rocket ismail has not played in the second half to work he received a bruised thigh 32 seconds to play third quarter here's the quick approach by fake and he'll kick it deep this time so give jeff burris a chance nope it's going to be rod smith instead rod smith is out near the 30-yard line and now we'll see how another names offense takes up takes its approach after a key interception you know the only thing i don't like about the heisman trophy voting is they've already sent out the ballots and i think a lot of people have already voted i mean you could vote a couple days ago tim i really don't think you should vote till after the whole football season is over and he's out near the 35 that'll be the last play of the third quarter i agree with you wait to the whole scene is over with have the banquet later what's the difference we've never understood that while they get all the ballots out this early big games coming up next week and this week we've got 15 big minutes to play here notre dame has started so strong in this game but they are hardly in the clear a late touchdown in the third by penn state it's just a seven-point notre dame lead with a quarter left at notre dame stadium 21-14 and here's rick myra throwing what proves to be a costly interception dionna freya returning the ball to the 11 yard line and then it was almost as if uh almost as if the titan didn't want this one john oh boy wasn't that something he juggled it a long way but there's no question he had both freed in bounds when he uh claim possession it's a nice time to score just as the third quarter is coming to the end to bring yourselves from two within seven we've said this so often about notre dame this year they get themselves into a good position early on they go off fast and then it's as if they go to sleep well this is uh uh one of those things where myra has been throwing very very effectively he didn't see the linebacker onofrio coming inside out on the on that particular pattern and that's why it was picked off that's so they needed something penn state and they've got it they got the interception and they got the seven points 21-14 now then what else is going on today here's some latest scores virginia trailing maryland 35 30. these are all latest these are not finals but what a shock that would be if it stayed that way bishop michigan beating minnesota 35 18 illinois four indiana ten illinois four how do you get four sounds like a couple of safeties in that game georgia tech 42 wake forest seven florida all over kentucky 47-15 kansas training missouri 34 to 21 auburn and georgia that one not kicked off yet iowa state loses oklahoma state tennessee we saw them of course last week 10-7 over mississippi and uh we'll give you some more later on but now the irish are back on the march fallon stuffed there the penn state defense getting tough there that was penn state getting tough michigan state immediately northwestern 29 22 iowa coming back perhaps 14-3 they were upset last week of course colorado all over kansas state 64-3 and texas who are now very much a contender 38-10 they they are a contender for major bowl honors miami florida boston college you want to know that one well you stick around and you'll see that game right after this one texas a m arkansas 13-10 at the moment well there's the latest scores as myra rick meyer goes down and really what on earth has happened to this notre dame offense as soon as you take the rocket out of there they seem to struggle it's uh it's uncanny job but since we've lost the rocket as we just look at the stats through three quarters but since we've lost the rocket it's as if the notre dame offense has gone right off the boil there's no doubt they missed the big play guy and of course what that means to the penn state defense instead of worrying about that deep speed now they can work their way up and and kind of crowd the whole line of scrimmage and indeed now in a punting situation so with plenty of time left penn state will get the ball in good field position is the return on around about the 32-yard line and he's not going to go too far just corral out of bounds so penn state though take over with best part of a quarter left they trail by seven and they've got good field position 21-14 then in favor of the irish what saved the game in tennessee last week but they needed they didn't take away there were two big interceptions last week in the third quarter they're going to have a chance because tony saca is going to throw the football 21-14 notre dame has been shut out thus far in the second half we have 13 39 remaining and since they got those three touchdowns they've been kind of complacent ted they've tried to sit on this lead freshman jim flanagan is out there on defense so is freshman jeff burris and on a play fake here's a bomb and daniels is out there and jeff burst got back with him step for step good defense and the ball hung up there he got behind burst but of course the long bomb he caught up with he'd watch him watch this i think this kid can't run here's that's six points if he throws the football far enough he just couldn't get it out there then jeff burst makes a nice recovery now just understand we were taught this is the number one team in the country and that kid's playing quarterback and he's been there for two weeks in his life cornerback yes the quarterback for two weeks in his life second [Music] now key here is to watch a linebacker see if they split this is the down that's killed notre dame all year long defensively third and long [Applause] stone breaker getting the defensive signal from coordinator gary darnell stonebreaker and grimm are the inside linebackers four down third and eleven [Music] that's going to be close to the first down oh he's got it thompson if he had gone straight ahead would have had it he veered to his left and he looks like he has it but he made it closer than it needed to be oh he's got the first down they're going to bring out the sticks watch number 44 thompson you see the middle the linebackers are way deep and he's so wide open in the middle he's so afraid of down the middle here that's don grimm trying to come up willie clark makes a stop [Applause] and it is the first down so penn state at their 46-yard line with a first down and the belief that they can win the football game now has got to be on that side belief that wasn't there early the belief was there about five ten minutes ago i'll tell you that when they got that interception that was it see you just play a long play along play along with the team and you can put them away you don't take advantage of it then you give them a little lift there's a fine play as he broke off the block of dave prison check i hate to say it negatively but i tell you i don't know if this is good or bad you know you force him into that long passing situation is where they've been moving the football your notre dame you get you look at notre dame with the second long you say oh oh they're so soft underneath they usually pick up the 10 or 12 yard i tell you they've been open the hot receiver has been open all day long and that's tony thompson here comes the outside breaker and the ball is incomplete he crushed tony saka to the ground and see without the blitz without the force of the quarterback to throw the football early he's got a man-to-man situation over there might have been complete but he wasn't going to be complete because he had to he had to really get rid of the football watch stone breaker here right here nobody picks him up now he feels that he knows he's got to get rid of the football wasn't even close to being completed because of that blitz well it sounds extremely repetitive but here it is again third and 13. watch tony thompson over the middle there with a little delay the tight end four-man rush and a little screen set up and wow that was not a well designed play i didn't like the call either they ran a screen and stone breaker and his nose for the football right there that was a very strange call third and 13. so the screen pass to gash the ball is incomplete here's the punt coming now from helkowski that's about the last play i was looking for well i'll tell you wasn't that bad a call in in this kind of a thinking ted notre dame has been blitzing on third down and if and they didn't blitz that time stone breaker laid off so you know if they catch him in a blitz with the screen oh oh he just got the punt away off the side of the missile bound good penn state bounce inside the 15. sean davis came very close to a punk block notre dame by a touchdown as we pause now for a regional break sports channel america's coverage of notre dame football content a few fingernails being chewed i think in this fourth quarter penn state fighting back and although they had to punt there they're still very much in it just a touchdown behind just a reminder before we go back to the game about the address of where to send your competitions too it's the screen sport american football competition number two po box for ta london w1v40a get them in by december 21st that's what the draw is going to be made and the announcement of who the winners are and the answers if you need to know them that'll be given to you on new year's day where we'll be broadcasting we hope fingers crossed the orange bowl between notre dame and colorado what a game that would be john oh that'll be a great one that colorado football team is just outstanding coach has done a great job there it's been such a topsy-turvy season though one team has really dominated has there who do you think is the best team in college football right now at one time i thought the university of washington was going to be and then ucla went to seattle and beat him up there i just couldn't believe that but it's very difficult to stay undefeated all the way through you're just bound to have a a bad week i think steve spurrier has done an outstanding job with the florida football team i'd say they they're playing very very well hard to say who would be the top team i think colorado might end up the uh the best team do you think they could beat notre dame with the orange bowl i think they can well we shall uh we shall hopefully see that will be a certainly tremendous meeting the two number one number one number two team in the country just as they were last year of course and uh notre dame upset one of the day but i don't think we're number two well i think they were number three and that of course let the hurricanes through when they beat us uh colorado so there's uh plenty of points to prove and old schools to be second if those two teams meet up again oh but uh i don't think the fighting irish guys are thinking too much about the orange ball right now they've got a battle on their hands here time running out but still plenty of time for anything to happen and ricky waters carries and doesn't get a lot this penn state defense the second half been very very tough it's been a real transformation in the second half hasn't it john and i think it because the rockets out of there they just don't have the deep threat that brings the whole defense on up and of course when you're in a two touchdown advantage now one touchdown you're saying hey we can't throw that ball because we threw an interception the last time and it just takes away from the uh the ability to keep your offense wide open and waters gets around seven or eight yards there it'll be just shy of a first down another fine game for ricky waters today he does enjoy playing penn state over 100 last year last year over 100 yards today as well that'll bring up a third down and short big play coming up for both teams king rodney culver here they go outside they would i i think be better off but of course we've seen it all year long usually rodney caller gets the football in this situation they got out of the eye now a time out is called by penn state as the casio clock stops at 10 22 to play and the nittany lions take a defensive timeout here on a third and one play notre dame holding a 21-14 lead 10 22 to play in the game [Music] come back third and one it's a big play coming up defensively for penn state big play coming up offensively for notre dame just 10 22 left in the ball game [Applause] if you're sitting there deep in the fourth quarter with only a touchdown and two-point conversion looking at you you know penn state's going to go for two so it is a first down now this is where ismail might have gotten hurt this is the last time he touched the football on a bruised thigh here right there looked like he jerked his leg in the air buyer saw the blitz coming with deanna freyo kept the ball himself and goes maybe for a yard that's what teams have done now when when they get in their trips and they have the last remaining back going motion most your teams have just throw those two linebackers and there you see it it's almost an automatic meyer has to get out of his way if he goes back nobody else nobody's there to block him well meyer picks up a yard second and nine with 9 40 to play he's gonna run it one more time we'll run a reverse here and it's sean davis get some room oh he should have cut yeah i agree he had the outside and winds up losing a couple of yards he could have beaten him that's lou been a fatty been fatty and he's got a lot more speed and been fatter so there's your time remaining notre dame is faced with third and long here third down and 11. [Applause] see that's where they missed the rocket the rocket right there that was first down he'd have gotten that speed to the outside guys you know in all fairness you know this there are enough weapons on this football yeah that they shouldn't just have the offense to go into hibernation exactly but with the rocket out of there it takes a lot less pressure on and mentally it does you know psychologically here's nobody's left [Music] little delay and that's broken down the tight end derek brown had it broken up and notre dame will be putting again good coverage back goganish he had him man-to-man notre dame stymied again they're just waiting waiting uh almost to get beat in this kind of a situation boy it's a terrible feeling you have just like the stanford game exactly that [Applause] offense not even getting first downs here in the second half hentrick to punt [Applause] oh and he cranks one that's a beautiful kick thomas back inside his 30. tyson thomas good return though and penn state excellent field position starting at their 42 yard line now pence fate is smart they will throw the football and come right out throwing it well if they ever want to pull up a stunning upset what a chance they're getting here in the second half 21-14 underneath we pause now for a regional break [Applause] here in notre dame stadium just a touchdown between the two teams plenty time left and it's penn state that have got the ball and john they do not look like a number one team the irish right now i think that has to be said no they lost their ace and uh and now they're floundering a little bit content to play field position football and play some defense it's a question now whether they can stop penn state you can't miss tackles like that very very big first down straight away coming up there that's terry smith the man who did the damage earlier on when he caught that 32-yard touchdown pass penn state over midfield already plenty of time left and they just trail by seven i wonder what's coming up let's rejoin paul horning and ted mcdonald and clark save six as you said and quickly penn state's at the notre dame 34. they give it to leroy thompson nope not there and that was demetrius dubose who got through to break up the play thompson back to the original line and here's where penn state has not had good offensive games this year against the big teams and they haven't they don't have a lot of yards in this game but they're in a position here where if they can get one or two big offensive plays they have a chance to beat number one i'll guarantee you it's going down there now 7 45 here comes the blitz and this screen to thompson leroy thompson 15-yard line first down penn state you see notre dame's defense has given up a lot of points in fact i don't remember the number one team in a long time has given up this many points 29 against tennessee 31 against navy they gave it 22 to pittsburgh 20 to miami 27 points they gave up to air force 36 to stanford so there's the screen pass down the left sidelines and notre dame is in trouble now sack a roll deep got a man open it's a tight end and he's going to score touchdown penn state al golden so tight in again boy they really give him trouble roll out right and he really drilled it well he did that was across the field that's a great throw and at 7 15 to play penn state's a kick to tie in the game tony sacra just has been sensational tonight it's a career high for tony sack 267 yards in the air three tds freshman craig fayak now for the extra point drive and again the notre dame appeared to be on the verge of blowing out in the first half it's just like stanford and now we've got flags thrown after the conversion kick there was some words going on and an unsportsmanlike conduct flag thrown by the officials which will be enforced on the kickoff but with 7 15 to play we have a thai football game at 21. well what a difference a half makes john it was all notre dame in the first half it's been all penn state here so far in the second half and uh if if you had to put some money down on this one you'd put it on penn state right now yes you would they've got unusual momentum but uh notre dame just making some mistakes that was a well-executed play they had that one set up i'm not sure whether the tight end went behind the line here he is number 89 nope he's just going against the grain let everyone else pass him by and then they threw it across field well the question for the irish is now what can they do to regain the momentum because they've had none really since the rocket went off at the end of the first half i think waters is their best bet uh they've got to be able to run and myra has got to hit a couple passes that's all there is to it what's coach holt's thinking now is he thinking seven minutes left let's just try and bring one for the tie or is he he's going down to get a win uh the best way he can they'd like to get a big play on the kickoff return at least get that first first down by getting it out past the 30. what do you think we're uh we could expect to the next couple of uh plays well i i would believe he'll go back to waters and depend on him to pull the game out of the fire i don't think the passer can do it by himself let me put you on the spot who do you think is going to come out on top of this one because it's so so well balanced doesn't it now yes penn state has a lot of momentum and uh notre dame just has to shake out of a little bit of a lethargy i think they got too conservative in the third quarter well conservative or not they certainly got themselves into a little bit of trouble they led 14-0 they led 21-7 at the half we're now all square here with seven minutes and 15 seconds left penn state kicking off this one's all to play for with just over seven minutes left simply to start from the 20-yard line which is 61 yards of offense in the half they've got very few first downs they've had virtually no spark except for one play see that kickoff from the 35 yard line would have been returned that ball would have gotten about the 9 yard line and it would have been returned probably past the 20. so the cost of field position that penalty there's the passing yards that's not i guess not surprising given what we've seen this year it's just a matter of notre dame with no offensive production in the second half they have ran they have run the football every time on first down here in the second half at least they go outside that was close from breaking it water's got six [Applause] waters well over 100 yards he had the 33-yard run in the third quarter it's the only offensive play of any substance for notre dame in the second half staying in the eye second down and four see those three linebackers have cramped on the inside and i want to tell you something it is tough on the inside of packers he's going to have to go outside and throw the football and paterno is forcing lou holt's hand here by that he's forcing him to throw the football [Music] [Applause] when you have to have your quarterback throwing on third down every time you know pretty good luxury when you can throw it on first down and keep them uh off balance a little bit notre dame's always forced on third down now this is not necessarily a passing situation here third and three 33 they're going to run option nope they're not going to get it and penn state is going to get the football back still six minutes to go and then another name just been smothered yeah and you know i'm going to go back paul i'm going to tell you the play of the game the play that's changed this game was the interception because it's taken its turn it's made notre dame so conservative offensively this was a little counter option and look at the penetration defensively now you almost have to throw the football there they've got seven guys stacked up on the inside and they're just they're just defying notre dame to throw the football and since that interception they just won't throw it fair catch and again good field position at the 41-yard line and joe paterno knows that the game is in his hands to win now notre dame's national championship hopes balance very precariously on these final five minutes and 23 seconds half for notre dame reads like this punt punt interception punt punt and then once again with just five minutes 23 seconds left punt and really everything starting to look as if we could be heading for a maid or upset state could be about to break into the top 10. yes they could very very easily if they can take a concentrated drive here and they've got plenty of time now you let you know lou holtz what's he doing and what's he thinking in this situation right now well he's got to get the ball back as quickly as he can he's still thinking winning the uh ball game but right now the momentum has gone away he needs what we call a momentum changer and he's got to find it very very quickly he's got to reach down for some sort of a trick play or get a big play from someone well they've come up with interceptions when they've needed them so often in the past we've seen him in this situation if ever they needed a turnover i think now is the time penn state take over on their own 41. leroy thompson and he's wrapped a good tackle there by bob dahl played fine game up front out near the 45. yeah the game's uh offensively [Applause] it's in joe paterno's hand now he wants to eat up time off that clock [Applause] second down and six here at the 45 of penn state the nittany lions have operated with great field position this happened they really made the most out of it and here's the bomb for daniels he's out there just off the end of the fingertips leroy thompson is going to go back i say i know you went for the home run down the right sideline got greedy and i tell you thompson on the little delay over the middle had the first down easily right here and here's where you need to oh look how close that comes the rod smith cover yeah you see even though a guy's open you know that's a very tough pass to complete when you're throwing it all out third down a huge play for the notre dame defense they got to keep the pullback here if there's a fake point because he sniffs through and he's wide open that's dash in [Music] and thompson with a catch and a great spin for the first down of the notre dame 45. it's open all night [Applause] i don't know why they just don't have a man keying him at all times you know over the middle you know you got to do is put a man and wait for him of course it's a little easier set up here and the first down is so big because that lessens the chances of notre dame getting the ball back with any appreciable amount of time here thompson running and he got about four and watch him again he's gonna they're gonna go into the pass now and uh you get that where if they get about 10 more yards they'll have a field goal try here you're getting to the point of four minutes and if you don't believe what i'm talking about thompson's caught seven of those little delays over the middle tonight and in the previous season the nine games the entire season coming in he only caught 13 pounds and when they get the eye again if it's play action watch how open he is when he goes over the middle second down and six quick hit to sam dash drives forward and got some yards and it will be third in short yardage for penn state well i don't like penn state's theory here either trying to run the ball inside here they've been very very successful throwing the football now you've put them down to one play but i'm sure what they're doing i think they're playing for three years oh it can't they can't be playing that's a 54-yard field goal right now oh no no i think they're playing to try and burn a little time off here but i don't think joe paterno's thinking enzo yeah but you can't waste a play like that you know to put it in this position 33 when you've been so successful throwing the football kid three minutes to play and it's thompson and he didn't mean it he didn't get it he's going to be close enough that they'll go for it he's only going to be well he'd be about two yards yard to half two yards shy and a fourth down if they don't make it it's a poor selection i don't care if they do make it on fourth down wow look at this joe paterno sending the punt team out with 240 to play and that i cannot believe you're [Applause] fourth down a yard and a half 225 clock is running and they do snap it that is incredible notre dame with nobody back and they'll down this inside the 10. at 2 15 to play now the only thing joe paterno of course with the puck going down there he's got a hope he's got two timeouts left that he uses him on defense and gets the ball back in midfield and now if you're a notre dame you can't think conservative because your national championship hopes you're riding here and that's no matter what lou holt says playing the number one team in the country penn state playing the number one team in the country and they ponder i agree i agree with you at notre dame stadium what a remarkable half and a very very unusual decision by joe paterno and he'll hear a lot about that if this game ends up in a tie but notre dame needs to go here 2-15 tie game from their 7-yard line and meyer standing up throwing it out incomplete up the alley on the sidelines and joe paterno's decision he got a terrific break and his punt was down inside the 10. it may turn out to be all right here because now the clock stops i don't care if they win that way i don't agree with that yeah i'm with you but notre dame he knows notre dame has to go notre dame is not going to be running the ball here because they can't win the national championship tying the football game where was the line of scrimmage i lost packer 37 yards 37-yard line you're punting come on second down and ten and the irish do run it up goes brooks and tony brooks a forgotten man in the second half that should be a first down now notre dame's got to start taking a timeout or two themselves they've got three left and they've got to go all out to get three now bring the chains out you know what i remember when you look at the timeouts remaining here paul i think back to that stanford game after stanford scored the eventual game-winning touchdown though notre dame was back down the field so easily and had the game on the fingertips of derek brown on the game's last play so you know the irish could move it down there by throwing this was a big play right here and it was a good block by rodney culver on just a seal on the outside and brooks did some good hard running now they got to go ahead and go on upstairs and throw it and they've got it while this clock is running they've got to get into this huddle hurry up often this is this is when you say uh ted that they need practice on a two minute warning comes down with the national championship on the line pressure and a dump out is incomplete 10 for culver but the pressure there broke that play up and it was richard mckenzie who has been the big rusher on meyer all day that got in they're not going to beat him with the screen at their own 20-yard line they got to go downfield with the pass 146 remaining notre dame has all three timeouts to get a long way to go they still have to go at least 53 yards tight end down the field now out of the eye [Applause] john davis in motion option adoption hasn't worked yet today and it's good for about a yard they got to take a timeout well if i'm penn state now i'm taking the time out here notre dame's going to let the clock run now this is going to be one of those games that fans are going to be talking about for a long time this is incredible the clock is running from both sides standpoint [Applause] third and nine [Applause] meyer standing in fires it over oh it's intercepted darren perry with the interception and penn state has it at the notre dame 20-yard line kid's been all over the field mr perry he threw it right into his hands he tried to get something open over the middle i don't care i think it was a thing to do to try to get the first down notre dame needed a field goal to win this football game and you can't do it if you don't try to throw the football downfield here it is just good coverage that time everybody's covered their willamette was open up it's just a high pass second interception today another name which has lived on the edge all season is about to fall off it if craig feyek a freshman plays kicker gets a chance still 59 seconds left penn state's at the 20-yard line oh this is going to run it upon notre dame now i'm going to take time out right now get a five notre dame we'll even save him for it they won't gotta take time out but they let they lost about 10 seconds there by not acting quickly enough here notre dame you've got to take all three timeouts right here and hope you get something to get the ball back both of these teams they played in the pros i don't know what would happen with the two-minute drill boy what a great for penny yes in college you tell me that notre dame they don't work on the two-minute drill that much right no they don't lou holt says they really they don't operate in the two-minute mentality they don't run a specific two-minute drill in practice sessions well when you when you've gone 32-2 over the last couple years you probably figured you don't need a whole lot normally but it always comes to time when you need it it's good to have it i would think let's say you've seen obviously you've seen so much football over there i can't ever remember a season like this with a team like this [Applause] early on we talked about it you know look how many points that notre dame's defense has given up now in the second half the defense has not been defaulted well it looks very very bleak now for the fighting irish do you think uh do you think as paul says they're about to fall off the edge no they're about to uh at least they'll get the field goal uh attempt by penn state uh there's no question that they'll find a way to run that clock down to about four seconds and the final play will be the uh field goal now what about that uh punting situation that joe paterno was in which everybody criticized the two uh or two colleagues on sports channel criticized i thought it was a strange call you're the coach not necessarily he obviously can't kick a field goal if you pin him down and have all three timeouts but you got to keep them down there then it's an excellent play i think they were looking for a fake fund at the time no you wouldn't try anything fancy you just pooch it down in there tight and then you say one two three we'll use our timeouts and force them to punt and it does look indeed as if the fighting irish are going to be facing a field goal as the last kick of the game and it's getting close it's inside the 20 now so you're looking at something like if it's kicked if it's kicked from there you're looking at about a 34-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds remaining let's rejoin and we just see coach lou holtz there shaking his head and he never looks happy but i think he's got a good reason to look very unhappy here this is the national championship going up in smoke in front of his face and there's nothing we can do about it and the wiley old fox joe paterno oh no joe what what what do you call it so soon for he's called it with eight seconds left and you never do that so um why do you say you never do that oh no you go always to four seconds he's forced the kickoff now see this play will take approximately four seconds maybe five so there's three seconds on the clock i saw the university of california beat stanford with five laterals and in a ball game out on the west coast so anything can happen why why allow the other team to have a chance to return a kickoff you just don't do it that way well it's been a pressure game throughout hasn't it i mean i'm wondering if you know dare one criticize the coaches of the stature of joe paterno and lou holt oh no you just where joe probably not in as many of these kind of situations where he runs time off the clock but that's exactly what you want to do get it down to four seconds and then the field goal ends again but if the field goal wins it i don't think we can really argue i don't think we can say no today we're unlucky today it deserves a win no not not the way they played in the second half and got careless with two interceptions and those were big plays so the final play what may be the final play of the game coming up and it looks like it's going to be a 34-yard field goal the kick is up it's on its way it's good it is good 24-21 with just a couple of seconds left now penn state the nittany lions they've come from behind they trailed 14 nothing after the first two possessions and they think they're number one thought if you'd agree with that john yes i don't like the idea having to kick off i would rather if i walked in and said i just won the game you never know what will happen on a kickoff well just one decent bit of coverage on special teams there's poor old chris zorich playing through payne and uh a guy that's got a bright future to look forward to but uh you can see him blowing hard there there we go you're absolutely right you call it to the second john there's four seconds left enough time for the irish to do try and do something but uh they look a beating team to me as we see some of these pictures this looks like a team that knows it's blown it yeah yes and of course penn state probably won't kick the ball very much in the air it'll be a one of those uh that they'll roll on the ground well it's uh door die time now for notre dame but what uh if you can just feel a sense of deflation in the stadium there's 59 000 people here it's the last home game of the season they came to cheer their boys onto a national championship they knew it was going to be tough but they expected to beat the nittany lions and the sense of anti-climax and anticipation it's as if the whole season has fallen apart for the fighting irish in one half of play ever since the rocket went off and here we see the kick as we see absolutely no chance for anybody to do anything in the final couple of seconds and this one is history penn state have beaten notre dame 24-21 just look at the scenes of jubilation for the nittany lions we have to say something about joe paterno they lost the first two games of the season and everybody said what's wrong with penn state after this win they're probably a top 10 team oh yes you have to say that it's an excellent job of coaching and bringing a team along and he utilizes every particular player he has in their particular talents now yeah joe is one of the all-time great football coaches and this is one of his great wins well certainly a great win here penn state have beat notre dame 24-21 here at notre dame stadium out of the window go the fighting irish's championship hopes but next week they've got to win again to make sure that they get themselves into the orange bowl and it's another tough one the usc trojans that could be the biggest rivalry in college football one o'clock next saturday or sunday morning to be specific you'll be able to see that here live exclusive on screen sport but the field notre dame belongs to the penn state italy lions who've come to town they've come from behind they trail 14 nothing their trail 21-7 at the half and they've come out 24-21 and winners and really where does this leave lou holds his boys down hard to say yeah of course they've got that big game next week against usc they can't afford a letdown but they're bound to have one well it's all over here penn state have won 24 21 from me and wayne harper and from our special guest john ralston john thanks for being with us it's all over we'll leave you with the highlights bye-bye thank you nick my pleasure with betis in the middle sean davis and waters on third and two and it's gonna be topped off good cut back by waters touchdown notre dame was that a hole off the left side or what waters 404 yards and then big game against tennessee he picks up just where he left off he's eight touchdown of the year still another name with second and two at the penn state 13. and that's the second two you pick up eight on first down you're gonna beat somebody you usually beat him but look at the whole brooks touchdown notre dame oh they look strong today oh it's gonna be third and eight penn state now the irish 32. now here's the down that's destroying the underneath all here they get teams in third and eight and you can't put them away but they're in a blitz here faker reverse and sack has got smith open down field he's got him and he is in for a touchdown and a great catch by terry smith just a great individual play by sack they faked the reverse notre dame was in a blitz putting pressure on the quarterback and sackett puts it right there 32-yard touchdown pass this male didn't catch ball last week the meyer knew he was going to get hit by richard mckenzie as he stood in there [Applause] we knew that was six [Applause] [Music] that arm too is he rolled out to his left put it right on the money 25 yards so this drag has been kind of a backwards and forward stride [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] brookside is [Applause] and that is a 92-yard drive for a touchdown the screen here to ismail over the middle great play he's outside oh and an outstanding tackle by willie thomas to save a touchdown that was six david daniels [Applause] here comes the back and the full back sam gas missed his man completely i set behind [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] yes he caught it for a touchdown rick sails juggling bobbling and got it at the last second for a penn state [Music] [Applause] touchdown [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he did that was across you

Channel: Scott Berrong

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Id: bLW23oU2QX4

Length: 151min 59sec (9119 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 25 2020