NCAA Football Recap (Penn St-Florida)
Posted: Thur January 1, 1998 at 7:06 p.m. EST
Fred Taylor established career highs of 43 carries and 234 yards
and Jacquez Green hauled in two touchdown receptions as
Florida shut down Penn State, 21-6, in
the Citrus Bowl at Orlando, Florida.
Taylor set Citrus Bowl records in both rushes and yardage as
well as Florida marks for a bowl game. The carries were a
school record, breaking Errict Rhett's mark of 41 set against
Georgia in 1993, and the 234 yards rank second all-time to
Emmitt Smith's 316 set against New Mexico in 1989.
"We thought we could run on them the way ... a lot of teams ran
on them," said Taylor. "And once we got the ball, you just try
to score every time.
"We just had to set the tone with the offensive and defensive
line. The game was going to be won at the line of scrimmage.
They came down here to play smash-mouth football, and they came
down, and they think the SEC is soft. ... They just found out
that's not true."
Three different quarterbacks had hands in scoring plays for
Florida (10-2), which recorded its fifth straight 10-win season.
The Gators improved to 12-13 in bowls in their school-record
seventh straight postseason appearance.
Penn State (9-3) was playing without star running back Curtis
Enis and wide receiver Joe Jurevicius, and it showed, as the
Nittany Lions were held to a season-low 139 yards, matching
their lowest total in a bowl game. Florida also held Penn State
to 139 yards in a 17-7 win in the 1962 Gator Bowl, the only
other meeting between the schools.
Enis was suspended for the game due to dealings with an agent
and has since declared himself eligible for the draft, while
Jurevicius was not allowed to travel because of academic
problems. Without the two, Penn State was held to its lowest
point total since losing to Ohio State, 24-6 in 1993.
"We can't say because we didn't have Curtis Enis we didn't win,"
said Penn State linebacker Brandon Short. "I felt we could
still win with the players we had. I feel a lot of our younger
guys got a lot of experience, and I felt we could win with
them."
The game featured two of only five major college football
programs that have won more than 80 percent of their games this
decade.
Florida scored on the first possession of the game, traveling 80
yards on 11 plays and scoring on a one-yard touchdown plunge by
quarterback Noah Brindise.
Cornerback Fred Weary set up the Gators' next score when he
picked off a pass by Mike McQueary at the Florida 48 and
returned it 17 yards. On Florida's first play, Doug Johnson
connected with Green for a 35-yard TD strike to make it 14-0
seven minutes into the game.
Penn State got on the board following safety Shawn Lee's 33-yard
interception return to the Gators 31. Six plays later, Travis
Forney converted a 42-yard field goal 4:27 into the second
period, the team's only points in the first half despite having
three drives inside Florida's 20.
The Nittany Lions had two golden opportunities to cut into the
deficit later in the second quarter, but could not put it in.
After Short forced a fumble by Johnson and recovered it at the
Florida 6, Penn State advanced to the 1 on a five-yard pass to
Cuncho Brown on third down. Following two timeouts, the Lions
went to running back Chris Eberly, who was stuffed for no gain.
"We played hard, but we didn't play well," said Penn State coach
Joe Paterno. "I think you have to give the other guy credit. We
didn't make the plays. We caught the ball on the 1-yard line
when it should have been in the end zone."
Penn State held Florida to 10 yards on its next series and
forced a punt, which was returned 52 yards to the Gator 5 by
Kenny Watson. The Lions again reached the 1 after McQueary's
five-yard scamper and on fourth down, Florida safety Mike Harris
picked off a pass in the end zone.
"We had to fill the gaps to make a play, and that's what we
did," said Weary of the goal-line stands. "We were put in a
critical position. Our guys stood up the challenge."
Forney's 30-yard field goal cut the gap to 14-6 with 7:34 left
in the third quarter. The Lions marched 67 yards on the drive
after totaling just 43 in the first half.
Johnson, who was 5-of-12 for 77 yards with an interception, went
down with a right shoulder injury late in the third quarter. But
Jesse Palmer came on and finished a 75-yard scoring drive that
was capped by Green's 37-yard touchdown catch 38 seconds into
the fourth period.
Palmer completed his only pass of the game, while Brindise
finished 3-of-6 for 29 yards and an interception. Green had two
catches for 72 yards for Florida, which accumulated 397 yards
and held the ball over 12 minutes longer than Penn State.
Eberly gained 53 yards on 14 carries, and McQueary completed
just 10-of-32 passes for 92 yards with three interceptions.
The Lions had a four-game bowl winning streak ended and lost the
last two games of the season for the first time since 1988. They
still own a 21-11-2 record in the postseason.
"I am really proud of our team and how we played today," said
Florida coach Steve Spurrier. "The goal-line stands were the
key. Our offensive line was sensational, and Fred ran the ball
well. Cuezy (Jacquez) Green made some big, super catches off
pretty good throws from our quarterbacks. ... Other than that,
it was a 'run the ball, run the clock out' type of game."
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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