Unable to respond after BC's outburst

Sunday, September 07, 2003

By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- One of Joe Paterno's favorite coaching adages is that a football team shows its most improvement between the first week and second week of the season.

	Penn State freshman running back Austin Scott is wrapped up by Boston College defensive tackle Tim Bulman yesterday. (John Beale, Post-Gazette)

Another is that a team is never as good as it thinks it is after a win and never as bad as it thinks it is after a loss.

After watching his team lose to Boston College yesterday before 106,445 fans at Beaver Stadium, Paterno will be stressing the latter this week.

Boston College (1-1) jumped all over a flat Penn State team and easily handled the Nittany Lions, 27-14. Boston College scored 21 points before half of the first quarter had elapsed, and the Lions (1-1) never responded.

"We can't start off flat," quarterback Michael Robinson said. "We have to be ready from the first kickoff. Some games are like that. It just seemed like we didn't come out with that it, so to speak. Hopefully, we can get our it back this week."

The Lions' offense and defense contributed equally to the slow start. Boston College drove down field and scored touchdowns on its first two possessions, exposing a glitch in Penn State's coverage scheme.

	More on Penn State: Penn State Report: 9/7/03 ... a word from our columnist Chuck Finder: Mills' slump is mystifying

Boston College quarterback Quinton Porter threw three passes down the seam for big gains in the first two drives, including touchdown passes to Grant Adams and Tony Gonzalez.

"It was like we drew it up," said Porter, who was 5 for 6 for 108 yards on the first two drives. "It was exactly how we prepared for them. I hit those big seam routes in practice, too."

Penn State's offense didn't respond to the Eagles' fast start. The Lions went three-and-out on its first series and turned the ball over on the second. On a first-and-10 from Penn State's 32, quarterback Zack Mills tried to throw a screen pass, but tackle Damone Jones failed to throw a cut block on defensive end Tom Martin, and Martin intercepted the pass and returned it to the 1.

A play later, former Penn State player Horace Dodd made the score 21-0 with 7:50 left in the first quarter. By the end of the quarter, Boston College had amassed 206 of its 383 total yards.

"You have to give the coaches credit. They had a good game plan," Boston College coach Tom O'Brien said. "They had an idea of what they wanted to do coming into the game and the kids executed it. We felt we could throw the ball, and we were able to throw the ball early on and that helped us untrack the running game."

Penn State never did get on track on offense, and, by late in the third quarter, Paterno benched Mills in favor of Robinson, who led the Lions to one touchdown in his 18-plus minutes at quarterback.

After the game, Paterno said there was no quarterback controversy. He said Mills would start this week at Nebraska and blamed much of the offense's troubles on the line, which had difficulty picking up Boston College's blitzes and stunts.

"I wouldn't get into that," Paterno said. "Zack Mills is the quarterback, and I think we can use Robinson effectively in a lot of different ways, particularly until we settle on what the makeup of our team is going to be. ... We weren't pass protecting. Obviously, a guy like Robinson gives them a little bit more of a problem as far as the pass rush, so I thought it might help to get Michael in there. Our offensive line will get better, but they had a tough time with those guys. To their credit, the BC people did a nice job of blitzing."

Mills and Robinson were under pressure throughout the game.

"We knocked [Mills] down 15 or 20 times, I think," O'Brien said. "We pummeled him."

Mills, who was 15 for 28 for 144 yards, said the Eagles blitzed more than the Lions had expected. Many times they had more players than the line and backs were able to block, hurrying Penn State quarterbacks into inaccurate throws.

Robinson did not fare much better in the passing game, going 4 for 11 for 41 yards.

"They ran their stunts very well. They didn't tip them," offensive lineman Tyler Reed said. "They did a lot of stunting and blitzing. It was tough to pick up on. ... They blitzed a lot. A lot of times they were bringing one more guy than we could block. That's a case of them guessing right on an occasion. They guessed right a lot today. They game planned us well. They had a good, tough scheme for us."

Penn State played better in the second half, but they never mounted a serious threat to the Eagles. The Lions were down 24-7 at halftime.

They got the ball first after halftime and went three-and-out. After intercepting a Porter pass on Boston College's first play of the second half, the Lions managed one first down before having to punt.

Late in the third quarter on Robinson's first series as quarterback, freshman running back Austin Scott, who scored his first career touchdown in the first half and led the team with 60 yards rushing, fumbled on the Boston College 3.

Penn State was inside the Boston College 30 five times and came away with 14 points. In the second quarter, receiver Kinta Plamer fumbled after catching a pass at the Boston College 28 when the score was 24-0.

"That killed us," Mills said of the turnovers. "We had two turnovers inside the [30]. You can't do that."

Paterno said it is going to take some time for this team to play itself into a winner. He is playing 11 first-year starters, including five new players on the offensive line.

"It's going to take us awhile to be a good football team, until we get some experience," Paterno said. "Unfortunately, last week some guys overevaluated how well they played. And they played some better players today."

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