Ron Bracken looks back on the top PSU football games he covered in his 41 years at the CDT

Editor’s note: With most sports on hold and TV networks left playing replays, Ron Bracken is taking a look back at some of the top teams, players, coaches and games he’s covered in his more than four decades at the Centre Daily Times.

On Nov. 3, 2007, I walked out of Beaver Stadium for the last time. Penn State had just beaten Purdue, 26-19, in front of over 100,00 fans.

It marked the end of a journey that began on Sept. 21, 1968, when the Lions took down Navy, 31-6, to start what became an unbeaten season. More than 49,000 were on hand that day. I was a wide-eyed rookie reporter who, the year before, had been an usher in Beaver Stadium.

It was quite a ride.

What follows is a list of the top games I covered during that time. Some of them may seem as ancient as the Civil War to young readers, others will bring smiles to the older fans.

And instead of saving the best for last, it’s going first.

Penn State 14, Miami 10, 1987 Fiesta Bowl

It was a balmy night in Arizona when Penn State and Miami met in a battle of unbeatens. It was a Hollywood setting with the winner getting the national championship.

Actually, Hollywood would have said it was too contrived. No one would have believed it.

Ranked No. 1, Miami was led by Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde and a whole bunch of future pros, who had a reputation for being badasses, in which they reveled. Penn State, ranked second, was celebrating its Century of Excellence with Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, Joe Paterno, at the helm. The Lions were the good guys in this one. The headline in one Arizona newspaper summed it up best the next day when it read “Class Beats Crass.”

The coaches, Miami’s Jimmy Johnson — yes, that Jimmy Johnson — and Paterno, didn’t like each other, the teams didn’t like each other and the fans loved it. That game drew the highest television rating in history.

And in perfect Hollywood style, it came to a dramatic end with the good guys winning as Penn State linebacker Pete Giftopoulos intercepted Testaverde at the goal line with 13 seconds left in the game. It was the fifth interception of the night for the Lions, who got two from future pro linebacker Shane Conlan.

Later Johnson would say this was the toughest loss of his career.

Penn State 48, Pitt 14, 1981

This is 1-A on the list. The pregame hype for the battle between these bitter rivals was off the charts. Pitt was ranked No. 1 and unbeaten with future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino under center. Penn State, with two losses, had one of its all-time best rosters with Todd Blackledge at quarterback, Curt Warner at tailback, Kenny Jackson at wide receiver and guards Sean Farrell and Mike Munchack. All were first-round draft picks in the next two years.

Pitt grabbed an early 14-0 lead thanks to a pair of Marino touchdown passes and was driving for a third when State’s Roger Jackson, Kenny’s brother, made an end zone interception.

Then Blackledge, Kenny Jackson and Warner took over and stunned the Panthers with 48 unanswered points. The last one came when safety Mark Robins returned a Marino pass 91 yards for a score, losing a shoe on the way.

Two other things stand out in the memory of the game on that cold November day.

One was Lion linebacker Chet Parlavecchio, a brash New Jersey kid, and Pitt coach Jackie Sherrill nearly coming to blows on the sideline. Parlavecchio had criticized Pitt’s schedule as being soft, asking “Who have they played, Thiel?” Sherrill responded by saying Parlavecchio didn’t have enough class to play for Pitt. So when Parlavecchio made a tackle near the Pitt sidelines, he and Sherrill were face-to-face and almost started fighting.

The other came in a postgame interview I had with Lion center Jim Romano, who was a second-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders. (Think abut that, a pair of first-round draft choices at the guard spots and a second-round pick at center). At any rate, I asked Romano about playing head-up on Pitt linebacker Sal Sunseri, himself an All-American. “Worst (bleeping) linebacker I ever played against,’’ said Romano without blinking.

That’s what a rivalry is all about. That’s what has been lost with the demise of the game between these two schools, that kind of heat and passion.

Penn State 24, Notre Dame 19, 1986

Without this win there would have been no Duel in the Desert with Miami in the Fiesta Bowl

And again, it came down to the Lion defense to save the game.

The Irish mounted a late-game drive and were perched on the Penn State 6, first-and-goal. But Ray Isom and Bobby White recorded tackles for losses of 12 yards, an incomplete pass in the end zone and short pass to the Lion 13 left the Irish stranded and preserved Penn State’s season.

Alabama 14, Penn State 7, 1979 Sugar Bowl

This time it was the opposition’s goal line stand that saved the game.

The Lions were inside the Alabama 1 when tailback Mike Guman tried to dive over the top of the line and Tide linebacker Barry Krauss stopped him cold. Photos of that play hang on walls all over Alabama.

The loss was so crushing for Paterno, who never beat Bear Bryant, that it left him in a funk for the entire 1979 season.

Besides the goal-line stand, another play was huge in the outcome. Penn State stopped the Tide on the series subsequent to the defensive stop and forced a punt, which was short and would have given the Lions excellent field position. But Penn State was caught with 12 men on the field, giving Alabama new life and the Tide basically killed the clock.

Penn State 27, Georgia 23, 1983 Sugar Bowl

Penn State finally won its national championship, and did it on the field where it allowed one to slip away four years earlier.

Facing the Lions was a Georgia offense that boasted Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker.

But the Penn State was able to control Walker, holding him to 107 yards on 27 carries.

The most famous play in the game was Todd Blackledge’s TD pass to Gregg Garrity, who made a diving catch that carried him into the end zone. It might be the most iconic photo in Penn State history.

But a play of equal significance came with a little over two minutes to go. It was third-and-3 and in his typical style, Paterno wanted to play it safe, run for it and if the Lions didn’t make it, punt the ball away and turn the game over to his defense. Instead Blackledge talked him into a pass to Garrity for six yards and allowed Penn State to run out the clock.

Penn State 35, Illinois 31, 1994

There was no more at stake than a shot at the national championship when Penn State put the ball in play at its own 6-yard line with 6:07 left in the game. The Lions were trailing 31-28 and facing a wind-driven rain when quarterback Kerry Collins took the first snap from center Bucky Greely.

What followed was a series of plays known in Penn State lore simply as “The Drive.”

It was as perfect an offensive performance as you could draw up. There was no room for an off-sides penalty, an off-target pass, a fumble or an interception. Everything had to be just right, and it was. Finally, Penn State reached the Illinois 2-yard line from where fullback Brian Milne slammed into the end zone for the lead, locking up a trip to the Rose Bowl.

Penn State 27, Nebraska 24, 1982

This one is arguably the greatest game ever played in Beaver Stadium, matching the national champions for the next two years.

In the twilight, the Lions put together a game-winning drive that included a controversial catch by tight end Mike McCloskey along the State sideline. Nebraska fans to this day swear McCloskey was out of bounds when he made the third-down catch.

That kept alive a drive that culminated with a catch by backup tight end Kirk Bowman, who picked a Blackledge pass of his shoe tops in the back of the end zone for the game-winning score.

Penn State went on to win the national championship in the Sugar Bowl. Nebraska won it the next year.

Penn State 15, Syracuse 14, 1969

I had to dig deep into the memory vault for this one but it couldn’t be overlooked.

Penn State was riding a 24-game unbeaten streak when it visited longtime rival Syracuse in ancient Archbold Stadium.

The rivalry with the Orangemen was, like the one with Pitt, a long and bitter one. You could do a top 10 list of just the games with Syracuse. Ben Schwartzwalder was the Syracuse coach, a crusty man who had been a paratrooper in World War II. He regarded Paterno as a sassy upstart.

Once again, Penn State found itself in a deep hole with time running out as the Orangemen had scored twice to take a 14-0 lead at the half. Three long punt returns by the Orangemen had led to the scores and only a blocked field goal attempt by Penn State defensive back

Greg Allen kept the score from being worse

In a bizarre finish, Penn State got a TD from Lydell Mitchell that had been set up by a pass interference call against Syracuse when the Lions were in a fourth-and-six situation from the Orange 15. Penn State ran for the two-point conversion and fullback Don Abbey was stopped. But Syracuse was called for defensive holding and the Lions scored, making it 14-8. On their next possession the Lions scored again when Franco Harris bolted 36 yards up the middle for the game-winner.

Schwartzwalder was so infuriated by the officiating he lodged a protest, which was denied.

Penn State 15, Pitt 13, November 1977

This was without a doubt the coldest game I ever covered.

It was played in Pitt Stadium. The wind chill was minus 7 and the game ended in a snow storm. And it was in the midst of the cold war between the Lions and the Panthers, who were in their first year under Sherrill, who succeeded Johnny Majors.

As if the feelings between the two weren’t hard enough, the Panthers had convinced the Orange Bowl officials that they were going to beat the once-beaten Lions so the bowl bid went to Arkansas, Pitt got a bid to the Gator Bowl and Penn State was able to grab a bid to the Fiesta Bowl, which was an up-and-coming bowl at the time and was played on Christmas Day. It marked the beginning of a long and cordial relationship between Penn State and the Fiesta Bowl that paid dividends 10 years later.

But on this day, Penn Sate was leading 15-7 on the strength of three field goals by Chris Bahr and a 52-yard punt return by Guman, who got the ball on a reverse from Jimmy Cefalo.

Pitt quarterback Matt Cavanaugh took Pitt on what could have been the game-winning drive, hitting Gordon Jones for 17 yards and a score. Conditions were so bad by then that the hash marks were covered with snow.

The Panthers went for the two-point conversion, handing the ball off to Elliott Walker off the left side. But he was stopped by Joe Diane and Matt Millen to preserve the win.

This story was originally published April 19, 2020 at 8:00 AM.