Penn State drops OSU for 1st post-Paterno win

Associated Press

Columbus

The last time Penn State won a game without Joe Paterno as coach was December 1965.

That day, the Nittany Lions used a strong defensive effort to beat Maryland, behind the coach who mentored Paterno, Rip Engle.

On Saturday, No. 21 Penn State earned its first victory since Paterno was fired with a similarly stingy defense.

Stephfon Green ran for two touchdowns and the Nittany Lions held Ohio State scoreless in the second half of the 20-14 victory on Saturday.

“We talked about the last two teams to win here were ’78 and ’08,” said interim coach Tom Bradley, who was promoted after Paterno was fired 10 days ago. “I said to them, ‘I want to know: How are you going to be remembered?”’

They’ll be remembered as at least co-champs of the Big Ten’s Leaders Division.

By clinching a share of the division title, Penn State (9-2, 6-1) set up showdown next week at Wisconsin, with the winner playing Michigan State in the conference’s first championship game on Dec. 3.

Jay Paterno, the Nittany Lions’ offensive coordinator and the son of the deposed legend, was already thinking ahead.

“As I’ve been trained to do my whole life, immediately [I] began to think about next week,” he said of what was going through his head as he walked off the field at Ohio Stadium. “Essentially, we’re in the Big Ten semifinal. I started to think about Wisconsin — and I’ll have some nightmares tonight.”

In what was expected to be a defensive struggle, the teams did all of their scoring in the opening half before the defenses took over.

Braxton Miller ran for a touchdown and threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Jake Stoneburner for Ohio State (6-5, 3-4), but he had an intentional grounding and three incompletions on the Buckeyes’ final possession.

Luke Fickell, Ohio State’s interim head coach, was dogged by questions of his future. There have been numerous uncorroborated reports out there that the Buckeyes have already reached an agreement with former Florida coach Urban Meyer.

“I don’t think this is the time nor the place,” Fickell said. “We’re talking about the game, and we’re going to move on and talk about Michigan [next Saturday]. ... Those are the things that I have no control over. So I’m not going to waste a whole lot of my energy on it.”

Ohio State had one last shot to win the game, taking over after a Penn State punt with 36 seconds left. But Miller was being sacked by linebacker Nate Stupar when he was called for intentionally grounding. Miller then was incomplete on three desperation heaves as a small pocket of Penn State fans ran onto the field to celebrate.

Miller, a freshman, ran for 105 yards on 18 attempts, with Herron adding 76 on eight carries. Miller completed 7 of 17 passes for 83 yards. DeVier Posey, playing his first game after serving two NCAA suspensions totaling 10 games for accepting improper benefits, had four catches for 66 yards.