Paterno’s Lions nip Bowden’s Noles to win Orange Bowl

By Hugo Guzman  |   Wednesday, January 04, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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One thing is for sure. The heavily hyped matchup between Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions and Bobby Bowden's FSU Seminoles didn't disappoint. The two team's traded punches all night long and it took three overtime periods to decide the outcome, keeping both men on the sidelines well past their regular bed times.

Paterno and Bowden looked exhausted in their postgame press conferences, but both took a little time to acknowledge that they had just experienced one of the better games of their legendary careers. The Nittany Lions managed to win the contest 26-23 but there was no loser in this contest.

Penn State got on the scoreboard first, when QB Michael Robinson led the team on an 8-play 85-yard touchdown drive late in the first quarter. He did it without the services of starting running back Tony Hunt, who left the game in the first series after suffering a foot injury and never returned. Austin Scott filled in admirably though. He was a major contributor on that first scoring drive and made big plays throughout the game.

The FSU Seminoles managed to even things up in the second quarter thanks to an electrifying 87-yard punt return by WR Willie Reid and then took the lead minutes later when RB Lorenzo Booker took a quick dump off and scampered 57-yards for a touchdown. However, K Gary Cismesia missed the extra point so the Seminoles' lead was just six.

Michael Robinson then hit Ethan Kilmer on a 24-yard touchdown pass with just six seconds remaining in the first half to give the Nittany Lions a 14-13 lead at intermission.

After a scoreless third quarter, Penn State extended their lead to 16-13 with a safety early in the 4th quarter, but FSU evened things up later in the quarter with a Cismesia field goal.

Both teams missed their field goal attempts in the first overtime period. They then exchanged touchdowns in the second overtime period. Finally, in the third OT Cismesia missed his field goal while Penn State kicker Kevin Kelly nailed hit his 29-yard attempt to win the game. Kelly had missed two game winning attempts, one in the fourth quarter and one in the first OT. The 29-yard game winner was drawn up as a fake, but the play was changed just prior to the snap.

The Penn State Nittany Lions improved to 11-1 on the season while the FSU Seminoles dropped to 8-5.

If the Seminoles would have pulled of the win it would have been the first time that a 4-loss team won a BCS game.

The one down note for the Nittany Lions was what appeared to be a severe injury to All American linebacker Paul Posluszny that occured late in the fourth quarter. Posluszny was taken off the field on a cart, but returned later with a heavy wrap on his knee. He sat on the cart and watched his teammates prevail from the sidelines.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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