Filed under: Iowa, Penn State, Big 10, CoachingIOWA CITY - This was a mess. It was mass confusion. People want to say nice things about Joe Paterno because he's a legend, and has meant so much to college football. I agree with all of that.
But on Saturday, Penn State was crushed by Iowa, 24-3, and the sideline, Paterno's sideline, looked out of control. There is Paterno, frantically running down the sideline, yelling and signaling at one of his coaches to call timeout.
The timeout never happened. There is Paterno taking his team into a huddle on the sideline, while the play clock ticks down and ... runs out. There are players running in and out of the huddle, unsure of who is supposed to be where and when.
"Right before the end of the half, we were supposed to have five seconds left," Paterno said. "The officials got that all screwed up."
Here is some cold truth about a legend: It was Paterno who screwed up.
Penn State finally busted a play, 49 yards down to the three. Six seconds left in the half. And the coaches were completely unprepared.
Paterno had one timeout left to call, and should have done it then, allowing his offense to take one shot at a touchdown. If that didn't work, kick the field goal. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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