Criminal charges 'shock' team

By Jeff Rice

EAST LANSING, Mich. — On the one hand, it was a procedure that had almost become routine this season.

On the other, that didn’t make it any easier to deal with.

After Penn State fell 35-31 at Michigan State in its regular-season finale Saturday, several Nittany Lions were asked about their three teammates — starting defensive tackle Chris Baker, reserve linebacker Navorro Bowman and reserve defensive back/special teams ace Knowledge Timmons — who stayed in State College during the weekend after receiving criminal charges Thursday for their alleged roles in an October fight at the HUB.

The answers varied, but the collective thought went something like this — the Nittany Lions have the depth to overcome the loss of a player or two, but those players were nonetheless missed Saturday.

“Those are some good, good, good, good players and actually one of them is a starter,” said linebacker Bani Gbadyu. “We’ve got good players to back them up, but that was a shock to the team. But we’re a team — not one player creates one team. One person falls, another person steps up. It’s been like that the whole season.”

Redshirt freshman Ollie Ogbu started at defensive tackle in place of Baker, and finished with three tackles. Redshirt junior Tyrell Sales, the usual starter at Bowman’s outside linebacker position, played increased repetitions — Penns Valley native Josh Hull also saw action at that spot — in Bowman’s stead, making eight stops. Penn State’s defense allowed 425 yards and 35 points, the third time it has allowed 30 points in the last five weeks.

“It’s unfortunate that we lost those guys,” safety Anthony Scirrotto said, “but we have to find a way in situations like that to come through.”

None of the Nittany Lions used the absences as an excuse for Saturday’s loss. But some of the veteran players made it clear that it’s not something they want to deal with in the future.

“Obviously, we didn’t play with our best players at every position. I mean, we had a lot of guys step up and they did a great job, but we’re gonna have to eliminate all of that,” wide receiver Deon Butler said. “To be the best team, you’re gonna have to have your best guys out there. Those guys are gonna have to mature.”

Bumped and bruised

Several Nittany Lions missed at least part of Saturday’s game with various injuries.

Redshirt freshman tailback Evan Royster, who missed most of last week’s Temple game with a sprained right ankle, carried just twice for 8 yards Saturday. Penn State coach Joe Paterno said Royster, who did not play in the second half, re-aggravated the injury.

Starting tailback Rodney Kinlaw, who carried 28 times for 125 yards and caught four passes for 22 more, left the game in the fourth quarter after being shaken up — he said later he briefly “blacked out” — but returned later in the series. Redshirt freshman Brent Carter carried three times for 23 yards in Kinlaw’s absence.

Starting cornerback Justin King limped off the field after making a tackle on Michigan State’s Devin Thomas late in the fourth quarter and did not return. Junior linebacker Sean Lee appeared to sustain some sort of injury soon after but stayed in the game despite a noticeable limp. Paterno wasn’t sure about the severity of either injury.

Miscellaneous

The overall series is tied at 12-12-1. The Spartans improved to 8-4 against Penn State in Spartan Stadium and 4-4 since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten. ... Anthony Morelli’s 16 completions gave him 219 for the season, breaking his own single-season mark of 208, set last year. ... Defensive tackle Phil Taylor, who had Penn State’s only sack Saturday, has three in his last four games. ... Butler’s 37-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter was the longest of the season for Penn State. ... Drew Astorino, Chris Colasanti, Eric Latimore and Stefen Wisniewski were the true freshmen who made the trip. Jed Hill, Brennan Coakley and Paul Cianciolo took the place of Baker, Bowman and Timmons on the travel roster. ... The Spartans finished the regular season with 409 points, second in school history.