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STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Ticker) -- Larry Coker always will remember what happened on Saturday night. So will Joe Paterno, but for far different reasons. Proving that superior talent wins out over emotion, second-ranked Miami quieted a frenzied crowd at Beaver Stadium with three touchdown passes by Ken Dorsey and coasted to a 33-7 victory over Penn State. The 53-year-old Coker, a career assistant who took over for the departed Butch Davis, won in his first game as a college coach, stalling history in the process. "That's a good looking football team," Penn State coach Paterno said. "That quarterback is tough to get to." Paterno entered the game with 322 career wins and had a chance to tie Bear Bryant as the winningest coach in Division I-A history. There was consolation for Paterno and the Penn State faithful, and it was delivered by Adam Taliaferro, who is recovering from a spinal cord injury suffered in a game last year against Ohio State. In a touching scene, Taliaferro led the Nittany Lions onto the field before a record crowd of 109,313 at Beaver Stadium. "Before the game I was nervous but once I got out there all the nerves went away," Taliaferro said. "I did just what my body told me to do. It was a great moment." Among those caught up in the emotion was Paterno, who had a huge smile on his face. But the euphoria was quickly erased by the powerful Hurricanes (1-0), who built a 30-0 halftime lead and handed Paterno his worst home loss since a 34-8 setback to Michigan in 1997. Dorsey, a Heisman Trophy candidate, completed 20-of-27 passes for 344 yards and was not intercepted. Dorsey completed a 27-yard TD pass to Ethenic Sands in the first quarter and added scoring strikes of 28 yards to running back Najeh Davenport and 10 yards to Jeremy Shockey in the second. Todd Sievers kicked field goals of 37, 42 and 36 yards in the first half and added a 23-yarder in the fourth quarter. Penn State (0-1) avoided a shutout on a 44-yard TD pass from freshman Zack Mills to Bryant Johnson in the fourth quarter. It was expected that Paterno would have reached Bryant's mark by now, but his Nittany Lions won just five games in 2000 for his first losing season since 1988. Paterno will try again when the Nittany Lions visit Virginia on September 13. The Hurricanes also had a huge game from Clinton Portis, who carried 17 times for 164 yards. A 34-yard run by Portis set up the first score of the game, a field goal by Sievers. A fumble by Penn State's Omar Easy was recovered by the Hurricanes at their own 42. Miami moved downfield with the help of a 21-yard run by Portis that led to Dorsey's first TD pass. Before connecting on the score to Davenport, Dorsey completed a 22-yard pass to Andre Johnson. Miami rolled up 602 yards compared to 323 for Penn State, including just 67 in the decisive first half. Matt Senneca made his first start for Penn State and completed just one of seven passes for one yard before leaving with a bruised elbow. Mills completed 12-of-24 passes for 240 yards.
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