ORLANDO, Fla. — The storyline was all too familiar to the LSU football team.
The Tigers were in another close game and had a chance to win as the clock was winding down. It had happened earlier in the season against Ole Miss and Arkansas.
In this game, the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., LSU had only 57 seconds to matriculate the ball down a dirty, torn-up field to get in range of a game-winning field goal. Penn State senior kicker Collin Wagner had just booted a 21-yard field goal to give the Nittany Lions a two-point lead.
And this time, the ending looked a lot more like the Ole Miss game than the Arkansas game.
LSU couldn’t quite get into field goal range after several plays. LSU tried a short pass with a hook and lateral option at the end of the game, but the play resulted in a fumble by freshman wide receiver Rueben Randle that was recovered by Penn State.
The final score read 19-17 in favor of Penn State on the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium scoreboard.
“The opportunity to go down there and have a chance at a field goal late in the game certainly would have been what we planned,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “It didn’t work out that way. And congratulations again to Penn State.”
Part of LSU’s final drive was a personal foul call on senior offensive guard Lyle Hitt after the second play of the drive. Senior wide receiver Brandon LaFell was at the bottom of a pile after being tackled when LSU was in its hurry up offense.
The Penn State player stayed on top of LaFell for a while, and Hitt rushed over and grabbed the Penn State player to pull him off LaFell. Officials called a personal foul on Hitt, saying he was too aggressive in his efforts to get the player off LaFell.
LSU coach Les Miles was noticeably upset about the call after the game.
“What was happening was our player was trying to help up the Penn State player to get him off the pile so that we could snap the ball and clock the ball,” Miles said. “And that was called a personal foul. I certainly understand the officiating not allowing LSU to take that into their hands, but I don’t know that lifting a guy off the ground could possibly be misconstrued as a personal foul.”
Penn State coach Joe Paterno said he didn’t see what happened with the personal foul call.
“It would be tough for me to comment or gripe about it, whichever way the call is done, because I didn’t see it. I really didn’t see it,” Paterno said. “I’m watching the clock, and I’m trying to figure out how many plays they can get and trying to make sure we keep the — when the quarterback got out of bounds, that bothered me. I felt that was a bad play.”
Neither team could muster much offensively, although Penn State’s final box score looked a good bit better than LSU’s. The Nittany Lions outgained the Tigers, 340-243, while also outrushing them, 124-41.
The two teams combined for a whopping 15 punts in the game for 549 yards, both Capital One Bowl records.
The field was ravaged before the game even started and only got worse from there. The bad conditions took a noticeable effect on the game, with dropped balls and slipping players becoming a common theme in the contest.
“Towards the beginning of the game guys were concerned about that,” LSU junior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard said about the field. “You had to get a feel for it. But as the adrenaline started pumping and game started going and guys started hitting, that went all away.”
Special teams played a big part in this game for Penn State aside from just the punts. Wagner booted a career-best four field goals, including the late game-winner.
“Wagner is a good kicker,” Paterno said. “He’s not a 50-yard field goal kicker, although we’ve tried a couple with him, and it really just, it fell short on him in the ball game. But he’s consistent.”
Penn State broke an early offensive drought for both teams with 1:54 left in the first quarter on a 37-yard touchdown pass by senior quarterback Daryll Clark, the game’s MVP. Clark finished the game 18-of-35 with 216 yards and one touchdown.
Nittany Lion junior wide receiver Derek Moye slipped behind the LSU defense, and Clark connected with him near the left sideline about five yards from the goal line. Moye ran into the end zone untouched from there.
LSU responded with a 20-yard kick return by junior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard on the ensuing kickoff. Senior wide receiver Brandon LaFell then brought the Tigers to the Penn State 11-yard line after he shook off a Nittany Lion defender for a 36-yard catch.
But the LSU offense stalled from there, settling for a 25-yard field goal by junior kicker Josh Jasper about two minutes into the second quarter.
LSU had several big drops in the game, including several interceptions attempts. One particular drop by junior wide receiver Terrance Toliver in the second quarter landed in the hands of Penn State senior cornerback A.J. Wallace at the LSU 23-yard line.
Penn State immediately followed the pick with a 17-yard run by senior running back Evan Royster.
“We did have some drops in the offensive side,” Miles said. “Ball goes to a completed ball, ends up being an interception. And that was — and certainly there was a long pass in the first half, if we could have put a handle on it, could have been a big-time play.”
Penn State looked like it was ready to score as it had first and goal at the LSU six-yard line. But the Tigers mustered a goal line stand that forced an 18-yard field goal by Wagner with four seconds left before the half.
Things went back and forth for a while early in second half before a fumble by LSU sophomore running back Stevan Ridley led to yet another Penn State field goal.
But LSU finally found some momentum on an amazing touchdown catch by LaFell with 13 seconds left in the third quarter. LaFell caught the pass over the shoulder catch after turning around at the last second, and then trotted into the end zone for the score.
More than seven minutes later, LSU took its first lead of game on a one-yard Ridley touchdown, which was set up by a 39-yard catch by junior wide receiver Terrance Toliver.
LSU held the lead from that point until the late field goal by Wagner.
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]