Sunday, November 09, 2003

By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Penn State Nittany Lions have had victories within their grasp all season only to have opportunities slip through their fingers. Yesterday, on a cold and blustery afternoon at Ryan Field, it happened again.

	More on Penn State: Penn State Report: 11/09/03

Penn State safety Yaacov Yisrael was going up for an interception near the Penn State goal line with less than five minutes remaining with the score tied against Northwestern.

He had his hands on the ball. But before he could secure it, cornerback Rich Gardner collided with him, the ball popped into the air and into the hands of Brandon Horn, who was standing in the end zone.

For Northwestern, it was an immaculate deflection and a 17-7 victory.

"I couldn't believe it," Gardner said. "When you're in position to make a play and it doesn't work out, it's frustrating. But that's the way our season has gone."

The play was a microcosm of Penn State's season. What can go wrong usually has, and the Lions don't appear to have the answers to overcome what seems to be a terrible streak of luck.

This inexplicable loss was the Lions' sixth in a row and dropped them to 2-8 overall and 0-6 in the Big Ten. With one more loss in the final two games, Penn State will lose more games in a season than it has in the 117-year history of the program.

"This is as low as I've ever felt playing football," senior fullback Sean McHugh said.

It probably shouldn't have come down to a play late in the fourth quarter, though. Penn State led, 7-0, at halftime and had many opportunities to increase its lead.

Place-kicker David Kimball missed field goals from 27 and 34 yards and sophomore receiver Maurice Humphrey dropped a sure touchdown on another possession.

It was frigid and damp, with snow flurries for much of the first half, but neither player said the weather had anything to do with their mishaps.

"It was obviously very tough conditions to kick," Kimball said. "But there's no excuse missing field goals from that distance. I didn't get the job done today. Maybe things could have gone differently if I did."

"I had a chance to make a big play, but I didn't focus," Humphrey said. "I blame the whole thing on me. The pass was perfect, but I dropped the ball. If I made the play we would have been up, 14-0."

The Lions had 14 first downs and 216 yards of offense in the first two quarters. In the second half, they managed five first downs and 118 yards.

Northwestern (5-5, 3-3) came out in the second half determined to run the ball against Penn State's suspect defense.

Coach Randy Walker's determination paid off. Junior running back Noah Herron ran for 123 of his 180 yards in the second half and the Wildcats rushed for 257 yards for the game.

Still, Walker needed a trick play to get the Wildcats on the board. Midway through the fourth quarter, on fourth-and-6 from the Penn State 19, Walker shuttled in what appeared to be his field-goal team.

But place-kicker Brian Huffman stayed on the sideline. The Wildcats lined up in a bunch formation and snapped the ball to holder Eric Batis, who was lined up 3 yards deep in the backfield. He faked putting the ball between the legs of Herron, tucked the ball away and ran left for the first down.

Two weeks ago, Batis tucked the ball between Herron's legs, and Herron ran for a first down to set up a touchdown in a 16-7 victory against Wisconsin. Walker calls that play "fastball."

The play he called yesterday is termed "changeup."

"I have carried that play for 10 years, at least," Walker said. "We have run fastball a bunch of times, but we never got the changeup. I made that one up."

Two plays later, Jason Wright scored on a 6-yard run to make the score, 7-7, with 6:49 remaining.

"Everyone on the sideline was yelling fake," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "That should never happen to you. We certainly were not fooled by it."

That play swung the momentum in Northwestern's favor. The Wildcats forced a Penn State three-and-out on the next possession, and Kunle Patrick returned the punt 28 yards to the Penn State 45.

Penn State had Northwestern in a third-and-13 when Bret Basanez threw into double coverage, and Horn caught the tipped ball in the end zone.

Huffman tacked on a 27-yard field goal for the winning margin after Zack Mills threw an interception with 3:52 remaining.

"We're letting a lot of people down," Mills said. "We're letting coach down. We're letting our fans down. We're letting ourselves down. It's just very, very frustrating."

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