Special teams finally bite Nittany Lions

Walt Moody

UNIVERSITY PARK — It’s become like the drip, drip, drip of water torture for Penn State fans and players.

CDT/Nabil K. Mark

Graham Zug is tackled by Kurt Coleman. Penn State lost to Ohio State 24-7 November 7, 2009. CDT/Nabil K. Mark

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It’s that constant. After almost every single Penn State game this season — even the lopsided victories — there always seems to be at least one negative — Penn State’s special teams.

And while it’s easy to gloss over the problems in those blowout wins, they become magnified in the big games.

In a 21-10 loss to Iowa, the Nittany Lions had a blocked punt returned for the Hawkeyes’ go-ahead score.

And on Saturday, Ohio State’s Ray Small’s punt returns set up two touchdowns as the Buckeyes knocked off the Nittany Lions 24-7 before more than 110,000 fans. In all, Small returned seven punts for 130 yards, part of the big reason why Ohio State won the battle for field position in a game that resembled more of a punting duel from the 1960s.

“We didn’t cover the punt today good at all,” said Nittany Lion linebacker Josh Hull, also a member of the punt coverage team. “Penn State is known for running down the field and tackling hard. We did not do that today. The whole team suffered from our performance on the punt team.”

Ohio State never trailed in the contest, mainly because of a stifling defense and Small’s big play on his first return.

With the Nittany Lions kicking from their own 13, punter Jeremy Boone got some pressure and booted a low liner that Small gathered with a head of steam and room to maneuver. The speedy Buckeye receiver cut left down the sidelines, avoided Boone and carried the ball to the Penn State 9 before Navorro Bowman saved a touchdown. Two plays later, Buckeye quarterback Terrelle Pryor scored on a 7-yard run.

“I felt a little bit of pressure and I tried to compensate a little bit,” Boone said of the wobbly kick. “I happen to just hit it across the field and Small made some good plays and I’m not sure what happened after that.

“Whenever you feel a little bit of pressure, you just change your position a little bit. Football is a game of inches and in kicking, if one little thing goes wrong the ball can travel differently.”

And as good as Penn State’s defense has been this year, it makes it tough when the other team needs only nine yards to hit pay-dirt.

“It’s tough,” Hull said of trying to stop the opposition after giving up a big special teams play. “The thing that makes it hardest is the momentum. It puts all of the momentum in their hands and then all of a sudden we’re on our heels. You’re back up against the wall and it’s a hard hole to dig yourself out of.”

Ohio State punter Jon Thoma put the Penn State offense in a hole all most of the game. While Thoma’s 38.8 average on eight kicks looks substandard compared to Boone’s 45.8 on 10 punts, the difference is in the return yardage.

While Small racked up his 130 yards, Penn State returned just one of Thoma’s skyscrapers for no yards. Thoma pinned the Nittany Lions inside their 20 on three occasions and a penalty on a return moved the ball inside the 20 on another.

“We were battling field position all game,” Boone said. “Hat’s off to the other punter, Thoma he did an excellent job pinning us inside our 20. We were trying to punt to a long field and they made some great plays.”

Small’s last big return, a 45-yarder to the Nittany Lions’ set up the Buckeyes’ final score, which turned a tight 17-7 game into a 24-7 rout with just under 10 minutes left. Small broke through a big hole in the middle of the field this time and only a good open-field tackle by Boone saved a score.

The big return came on a 56-yard bomb by Boone, which may have been the reason Small got loose.

“I don’t know if Boone was outkicking the coverage,” Hull said. “He had a couple of real good punts and it seemed like (Small) was catching the ball and we were like 20 yards away from him. I’m not sure quite sure what the deal was.”

The long returns left many shaking their heads Saturday, especially when asked how to fix it.

“It’s personnel, strategies,” said Bowman. “There’s a lot of things that come into play with them, but I don’t know. I’m at a loss for words.”

“I don’t know how to answer that one,” Boone said. “We’re working hard every day. We’ll break the film down on Monday.”

Even coach Joe Paterno was left wondering what the answer might be. “We’ll take a look at it obviously,” Paterno said. “I don’t know whether it’s a question to looking at it to change things, maybe personnel.”

Hull said the answer may be as simple as doing a job properly.

“It’s not a matter of us not knowing what to do,” he said. “It’s a matter of us not executing.”

The frustrated Bowman agreed. “Special teams can go both ways sometimes. It just takes all 11 guys on those teams to do their jobs.,” he said. “I don’t know. … It’s very frustrating. … It’s not too hard to win a football game — 98 percent of it is playing hard and giving it all you have. That’s what we have to give.”