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Hello and welcome back to Tressel Tales!
We continue our look back at Jim Tressel’s first season as the head coach at Ohio State with the help of the Buckeye Sports Bulletin archives. Today we recap a trip to State College, Pa., that made history — but not the kind Tressel or the Buckeyes were hoping to be part of.
The Buckeye Sports Bulletin front page from Nov. 3, 2001.
Game recap: Penn State 29, Ohio State 27
At 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, Ohio State traveled to Penn State to take on a Nittany Lions squad that was just 1-4 overall but coming off a win that allowed Joe Paterno to tie legendary Alabama head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for the most wins for a Division I-A coach.
The Buckeyes jumped out to the lead as Steve Bellisari hit Michael Jenkins for a 66-yard touchdown pass less than three minutes into the game.
The Buckeyes went to halftime leading 13-9, and the second half started out great for the visitors, too.
Jonathan Wells broke loose for a 65-yard run on the second play of the third quarter, then Derek Ross picked off Penn State backup QB Zach Mills and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown to put Ohio State on top 27-9 with more than 12 minutes left in the third quarter.
The Buckeyes looked primed to coast to victory at that point, but the Nittany Lions had other plans.
Mills started the rally with a 69-yard option keeper on the following Penn State possession, a wild play that saw him hurdle one of his own blockers and evade Ohio State safety Mike Doss on a run that changed the momentum of the game.
Later in the third quarter, the Nittany Lions got the ball at their 41 following a Lydell Ross fumble and needed only two plays to find the end zone again. First Mills hit Bryant Johnson for 33 yards, then he found Tony Johnson on a post pattern for a 26-yard touchdown.
That made it a five-point game with nearly 20 minutes left in the game, but Penn State would not need long to go out in front.
Ohio State’s next possession was a disaster with Wells being thrown for a 3-yard gain then Bellisari getting sacked for a 10-yard loss, though Andy Groom salvaged it somewhat with a 60-yard punt that was downed at the 10.
Penn State responded with an efficient 10-play, 90-yard drive that started with a 5-yard run by Larry Johnson. Mills kept it going with an 11-yard run on third-and-4 at the PSU 28. Two plays later, they reached midfield with a 13-yard pass from Mills to fullback Omar Easy. Then Mills found R.J. Luke for 31 yards, and a minor face mask penalty gave the Nittany Lions five more yards for a first down at the Ohio State 14.
On the next play, Mills found tailback Eric McCoo for a 14-yard touchdown to put the Nittany Lions on top 29-27.
Nearly the whole fourth quarter was left to play, but Ohio State wasn’t able to recover.
Bellisari threw an interception on the following possession, and the Buckeyes went three-and-out on their next drive.
After Ryland missed a field goal that could have given Penn State a five-point lead, Ohio State got the ball at its 31 with 6:59 left.
The Buckeyes drove to the Penn State 21, but Michael Haynes sacked Bellisari for a 9-yard loss and they had to settle for a field goal attempt three plays later.
Nugent lined up for a 34-yard kick that could have given Ohio State the lead with just under three minutes left, but mammoth defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy blocked it and the Nittany Lions recovered.
They took over at the 20, and Johnson immediately ripped off a 15-yard run. Three plays later, Ohio State had a chance to get off the field, but Mills converted a third-and-8 with a 34-yard run to clinch Paterno’s record-breaking win.
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Notes from the game:
Ohio State lost despite rushing and passing for over 200 yards. The Buckeyes averaged more than 5.1 yards per carry and 10 yards per pass attempt, but the defense collapsed after the Ross pick-six.
“I don’t know if I’d put a phrase like ‘killer instinct on it or whatever, but we have to do things all the time that you need to do to win,” Tressel said.
Penn State entered the game last in the Big Ten in rushing and total offense. Mills, a southpaw freshman from Maryland, threw three interceptions but passed for 280 and ran for 138 more. His 418 total yards were a single-game school record.
Bellisari, a senior third-year starter, completed only 8 of 21 passes, but they went for 209 yards. He was also sacked three times. Michael Jenkins caught four passes for 172 yards in what amounted to a breakout game for him.
Safety Mike Doss had 13 tackles, including two for loss, and broke up two passes in defeat while nose guard Tim Anderson had three tackles for loss and linebacker Joe Cooper had 2.5.
The blocked field goal was a continuation of a disastrous season for that unit. In fact, going 2 for 4 on the day actually improved the unit’s season percentage as the Buckeyes entered having made just 6 of 16. After the Penn State game, Nugent was 3 for 6 on the season while Josh Hustom, who missed a 52-yarder against the Lions, was 3 for 10.
Two weeks after blowing a 17-0 lead against Wisconsin, Ohio State blew an 18-point lead at Penn State. “What’s disturbing is that there are things in both games we could have done to have won,” Tressel said. “That’s the most disturbing thing. It’s not that we were ahead. We’ve played seven games, and with a couple of plays here and there we could have won seven games. But we haven’t, and it’s real and we have to answer that.”
Players hoisted Paterno on their shoulders when the game was over, and Penn State celebrated his 324th win by presenting him with a commemorative ring and announcing they would build a statue of him outside Beaver Stadium. “I’m awfully fortunate to have the experience I’ve had in my coaching career,” Paterno said. “To be at an institution like Penn State has been great. I’m just going to go home and relax, sit down and give a lot of thanks.”
Joe Paterno on the shoulders of his players after beating Ohio State in 2001 (Buckeye Sports Bulletin archive)
For Penn State, the win was a cathartic experience as it not only represented a milestone for Paterno but came amidst a down period that had started late in the 1999 campaign when the Lions were ranked No. 2 in the nation but lost their last three regular season games. They followed that up by going 5-7 in 2000 then lost their first four in 2001 before a wild rally to beat Northwestern 38-35 the week before Ohio State came to town.
Prior to the game, Tressel recalled interviewing for a graduate assistant job at Penn State in 1974. He wanted to accept, but his father ruled that out for him. It turned out Lee Tressel, the legendary Baldwin-Wallace coach wanted his son to accept a position at Akron instead because it would involve more responsibility.
Joe Paterno (left) and Jim Tressel shake hands prior to the 2001 Ohio State-Penn State game (via Buckeye Sports Bulletin)
Today’s perspective:
If you weren’t alive in 2001, it might be hard to fully comprehend what a disaster this game was.
I suppose you could picture something like this season’s Texas game — except Penn State was terrible so losing at all was surprising, let alone the way it played out.
Another mistake-filled loss led Mike Wachsman of Buckeye Sports Bulletin to start to sound an alarm about the way Tressel’s first OSU team was losing — similar to the way John Cooper’s last team lost games:
“Tressel has been on the sidelines for seven games now, and with the exception of the an electric night win over then-ballyhooed Northwestern, there hasn’t been much difference from the Cooper era. The Buckeye have played flat. The Buckeyes have blown leads. The Buckeyes have committed penalties. The Buckeyes have missed opportunities.”
For the second time in the Tressel Tales, I was also struck by something Tressel said sounding similar to a quote from first-year Michigan coach Kyle Whititngham.
This very week, Whittingham noted his 4-3 Wolverines could be said to be a play away from 6-1 or 7-0, though I’m not sure the message was quite the same. He might actually believe they are on par with the Indianas of the world — he pretty much said as much Saturday after Michigan lost to the Hoosiers in overtime — while I think Tressel was more acknowledging the Buckeyes had really earned their 4-3 record even if they were not many plays away from having a much better start.
After all, “You get as your works deserve,” was a favorite refrain of his we would hear throughout Tressel’s tenure.
Of course, it worked out for Tressel and the Buckeyes in the long run, so does that mean Michigan is in good hands long term? Time will tell.
To find out what it meant for this Ohio State team, well, you’ll have to check back next week.
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