Penn State wants to avoid ‘99 repeat

Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg

When they returned to practice this week, Penn State players still broke the huddle to the cry of “National Champions,” even though their chances of winning a title are slim at best.

After last Saturday’s loss to Iowa, the Nittany Lions’ biggest concern isn’t figuring out the ifs and maybes of what it would take for them to vault up the BCS standings, but rather ensuring that things don’t go the other way. Fortunately or unfortunately, they have proof of what happens when a season turns sour.

Coaches and players brought up the 1999 season almost immediately after the Iowa game. That year, Penn State started 9-0 before losing to an unranked team (Minnesota) 24-23 on a last-second field goal. Sound familiar?

A Nittany Lions team that had the top two picks in the 2000 NFL draft (defensive end Courtney Brown and linebacker LaVar Arrington) went on to lose its final two games and fall out of the BCS mix. Penn State endured losing seasons in four of the next five years.

“The 1999 team, once they suffered that loss, the guys became individuals instead of a team,” Penn State junior quarterback Daryll Clark said. “We’re using that to make sure we don’t do that. There’s a lot out there for us. We’re going to stay together. We have too much leadership. We’re going to keep fighting.”

Head coach Joe Paterno provided a similar assessment when asked what went wrong in 1999.

“That was a different kind of cast of characters,” said Paterno, who talked about the 1999 season with the team after the Iowa loss. “We had more superstars. … Part of it is personality; the people that played were used to doing a lot of big-time things and big-time players, and I’m not so sure what happened, whether they got distracted by agents calling and all those kinds of things and all that happened.

“I do know we obviously took a real flop, and we’re going to try to prevent that obviously again.”

The current Lions team features several future NFL players, but no sure-fire first-rounders. The leadership provided by five senior captains and players like Clark was instrumental to the 9-0 start and the ability to stem the tide of off-field problems.

Though the players are well-aware of 1999, they’re determined not to repeat it, beginning Saturday against Indiana.

“The biggest thing now is to show our senior leadership and rebound,” wide receiver Deon Butler said, “and know that there’s two games left.”

Go to Source