2006 Penn State Football: Stabilizing After The Comeback
Penn State football came into 2006 looking to sustain a comeback. After going through four losing seasons in five years from 2000-04 and raising questions over whether the legendary Joe Paterno was finished, the Nittany Lions won a piece of the Big Ten title in 2005 and finished third in the nation. Was that comeback real or would they recede back into the shadows?
While the 2006 edition of Penn State had their shortcomings and frustrations, they were a winning team that ended the year on a good note and signaled that the Lions weren’t going back.
A DEFENSE BUILT THE OLD PENN STATE WAY
Defense was the key and true to the Nittany Lion heritage under Paterno, it was built around the linebackers. Paul Posluszny was an All-American. Sean Lee and Dan Connor both had NFL futures ahead of them. Tim Shaw was a good pass rusher on the edge and finished with seven sacks.
This linebacking group got support from defensive lineman Jay Alford, who recorded eight sacks. In the secondary ball hawking Anthony Scirotto intercepted six passes. Penn State’s defense finished ninth in the nation for points allowed.
AN OFFENSE THAT COULDN’T QUITE CATCH UP
The defense was good enough to be in the national elite, but the offense held them back. The Lions had a good running game, with Tony Hunt rolling up nearly 1,400 yards and five a pop. Levi Brown anchored the line, although the third-string All-American did miss some games with a knee injury.
But Anthony Morelli, a highly touted prospect, couldn’t get it going. Morelli completed just 54 percent of his passes for a meager 6.3 yards-per-attempt. With an 11-8 TD/INT ratio, there were a few too many mistakes. It proved to be a perpetual source of frustration that even with a well-regarded receiving corps of Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood and Derrick Williams, Penn State just couldn’t generate enough passing offense against top teams.
EARLY TESTS EXPOSE THE GAP
The Lions were ranked 19th in the preseason polls and tuned up with a 34-16 home win over Akron on the Saturday before Labor Day. A week later, they went to Notre Dame for the first big test. The Iris were ranked #4 and eventually went to the Sugar Bowl. Penn State’s shortcomings were exposed in a decisive 41-17 loss that dropped them to #25 in the polls.
After cleaning up with a rout of Youngstown State, the Lions had another opportunity against a big-time opponent. Ohio State was ranked #1 in the nation and quarterback Troy Smith ultimately won the Heisman Trophy. A trip to Columbus showed the limitations of the PSU offense. They were easily handled in a 28-6 loss and fell out of the rankings.
FINDING STABILITY
A home date with a bad Northwestern team provided a chance to get better and Penn State coasted to a 33-7 win. A visit to Minnesota was next. The Gophers were a consistently competitive team under Glen Mason. This year’s team would get to a bowl game. By this point in the season, it was painfully apparent that this Lion team wasn’t on par with 2005. But were they going back to the 2000-04 era? Games like these were the way to find out.
Playing in the old Metrodome, Penn State ran the ball effectively, with Hunt racking up 144 yards on 31 carries. Morelli played well, going 20/34 for 281 yards with no mistakes. The Lion defense shut down a Minnesota running game that was consistently good.
Problems with pass coverage meant it still went to overtime tied 21-21. The Gophers got the ball first and scored…but missed the extra point. Penn State took advantage. Hunt ran for a touchdown, the PAT was converted and PSU was going back to Happy Valley with a 28-27 win.
HOLDING SERVE
Penn State spent the next two weeks playing the extremes of the Big Ten at home. Michigan was in the national elite, ranked fourth coming into State College for a prime-time game, and the Wolverines would stay undefeated until their season-ending showdown with Ohio State. Which gives away how this game went. The Lion defense was up for the fight and hung in there, but the offense couldn’t get anything going in a 17-10 loss.
Illinois was a terrible team, headed for a 2-10 season. Penn State helped them along the way in a pedestrian 26-12 win.
A trip to Purdue presented a similar test to the Minnesota game. The Boilermakers were a contender for much of the 2000s. Head coach Joe Tiller ran one of the more innovative passing offenses in the country and Purdue churned out competitive teams.
All of this made the performance of the Lion defense in West Lafayette all the more impressive. They held Dorien Bryant, one of the conference’s best receivers, to just five yards on five catches. Penn State intercepted quarterback Curtis Painter twice. They didn’t do much offensively and only led 6-0 in the fourth quarter. But Hunt ran for 142 yards, the Lions were able to grind out an 80-yard touchdown drive in the final period and they won 12-zip.
Penn State was 6-3 going into November. They hadn’t done anything eye-popping, but they were playing consistently. And there were still opportunities ahead.
MISSED CHANCE IN MADISON
A big opportunity came in Madison. Wisconsin had the Big Ten’s leading rusher in P.J. Hill and had only lost to Michigan (while not playing Ohio State). With the Buckeyes and Wolverines headed for either the BCS National Championship Game—the format of the time called for two teams to be chosen after the regular season was over—and the Rose Bowl, that meant the Big Ten’s second prize, the Capital One Bowl in Orlando against a top SEC opponent was still up for grabs. Wisconsin and Penn State were in line for that bid.
The game was at noon EST, meaning it was an 11 AM kickoff playing in Wisconsin. The Lion offense never woke up. The final margin of defeat was 13-3, but it felt worse than that. Another chance for a signature win passed by the boards.
Penn State collected themselves and closed out the year by routing lowly Temple 47-0 and then getting an unimpressive 17-13 win over a bad Michigan State team. They were 8-4 and still unranked. Clearly, they hadn’t receded back into the dark ages. Just as clearly, they weren’t in the national elite.
But there was one more opportunity. A bid to the Outback Bowl in Tampa against #17 Tennessee provided a chance to close the year strong for an early afternoon New Year’s Day audience.
A NEW YEAR’S BREAKTHROUGH
The Volunteer offense was built around running back Arian Foster, who eventually had a nice NFL career. But Penn State was able to get the game settled into their rhythm, grinding and defensive-oriented. It was tied 3-3 in the second quarter, with the defense setting up a field goal by recovering a Foster fumble.
Morelli flipped a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Andrew Quarless to get a 10-3 lead. Tennessee bounced back to tie it by halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Vols were driving. The PSU defense forced another Foster fumble. Cornerback Tony Davis scooped it up and raced 88 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
There were still ten minutes to play. After getting a defensive stop, the Lion running game got down to business. Hunt carried eight straight time, gaining nearly 40 yards. In the conclusion to a day where he rolled up 158 yards, the running back helped Penn State bleed out several minutes of clock and get a field goal that wrapped up a 20-10 win.
Beating the Vols was a nice feather in the cap of this 2006 Penn State team, and it got them to #24 in the final polls. More important, it signaled that, whatever shortcomings existed, the program was on a steady positive trajectory. They had a similar season in 2007, and then in 2008 returned to the top of the Big Ten.