STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The player who helped reshape the image of Penn State football and give legendary coach Joe Paterno one more shot – probably his last shot – at a national championship was at the heart of a streak-busting victory over Michigan yesterday.
Derrick Williams’ one pass attempt was so badly underthrown that he almost turned a near-certain touchdown into an interception. He had a mere two catches for just 16 yards. But when his Penn State teammates saw Michigan take an unnecessary shot at Williams, it unleashed a Nittany Lions attack that turned a 17-7 deficit into a 46-17 blowout.
The Nittany Lions (8-0) trailed a Michigan team that was coming off a home loss to Toledo by 10 when the Wolverines’ Andre Criswell leveled Williams a good 5 yards and three seconds away from the play with 2:01 left before halftime.
“Everybody said that was unnecessary,” Williams said. “And everybody was ready to take off.”
Take off? The Nittany Lions exploded for 39 unanswered points to snap a nine-game losing streak to the Wolverines (2-5) before 110,017 on Homecoming Day. The first BCS standings will be released today and Penn State should be third.
Fired up by the foolish hit on the player whose decision four years ago to choose struggling Penn State over Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee, the Nittany Lions beat Michigan for the first time since 1996.
“We’re Penn State,” said right defensive end Josh Gaines. “We’re not going to play dirty. I felt like that was a dirty hit. They didn’t have to come at him. He wasn’t around the ball.
“The type of football we play here, we’re not going to go after their star player. We’re going to hit him on the field when he has the ball. We’re going to gang tackle. We’re going to run to the ball. We’re all going to play hard. If we were to do that, or do anything like that Coach Paterno would be all over us.
“That’s not the type of football we play here,” Gaines added. “It’s not acceptable. Seeing that stuff, it makes you mad, but it makes you play hard.”
Almost as hard as Williams’ decision. Penn State was coming off a consecutive seasons of 3-9 and 4-7 and his father had said the program seemed like it was stuck in the 1960s.
But Williams said he picked Penn State because it had been the most loyal and trustworthy in the recruiting process.
Loyalty and trustworthiness have always been trademarks of this program. Paterno, in his 43rd season as head coach, has five undefeated seasons, two national titles and two bad knees and a bad hip that have forced him to coach from the press box.
He also has a senior-laden team, led by talented players such as running back Evan Royster (174 yards on 18 carries), who chose Penn State over Florida, Maryland, Nebraska and Virginia Tech, and Williams, whose signing helped return the Nittany Lions to national prominence.
“It showed some people that a player of that kind of caliber had faith in the program,” Paterno said of Williams’ signing. “It showed we can still recruit some people.”