This was the first game in Lincoln for a first-year Penn State assistant named Joe Paterno. Twenty-three years old, he was making $3,600 a year and living in a dorm as he served as Rip Engle's quarterbacks coach. With the ink barely dry on his English literature degree from Brown University, he had an eye on going to law school. As for coaching, he said decades later: "I was only going to do it for a year or two, and then I got the bug." It's a bug he hasn't shaken for 60 years. His first game at Memorial Stadium as head coach came in 1979; his most recent was in 2003. Time will tell whether he'll be back in Lincoln when the Huskers host Penn State for the first time as a conference opponent. Earlier this month, as questions about his physical health and mental sharpness swirled, he rattled off some off-the-cuff details about this long-ago game in Lincoln. — J. Hudson, Aug. 26, 2010 |
Nebraska 19
Penn State 0
Oct. 21, 1950
Lincoln, NE
Penn State 0 0 0 0 - 0
Nebraska 6 0 0 13 - 19
First quarter
NEB - Bobby Reynolds 19 run (kick failed)
Fourth quarter
NEB - Reynolds 26 run (kick failed)
NEB - Reynolds 42 run (Reynolds kick)
PSU NEB
First downs ............ 9 24
Yards rushing .......... 84 371
Yards passing .......... 96 0
Att-Comp ............ 5-20 0-3
Total offense ........ 180 371
Punts-average ........ 6-33 3-32
Fumbles lost ........... 0 2
Yards penalized ........ 65 50
Attendance: 38,000
Penn State LINEUPS Nebraska
Smidansky ...... LE ....... Paynich
Silock Regier
Betts Maxe
Scheetz ........ LT ....... Boll
Godlasky Mullen
Brown Spellman
Barney ......... LG ....... Bauer
Mathers Harper
Bartek Husmann
Millhouse
Bunn ........... C ........ McGill
Schumock Scott
Dooley Schroeder
Pevarnik ....... RG ....... Brasee
Smith Hoy
Barr Strasheim
Prifman
Cripps ......... RT ....... Handshy
Hoover Toogood
Longacre Goeglein
McPoland ....... RE ....... Prochaska
Wilson Simon
Connor
O'Bara.......... QB ....... Nagle
Dougherty ...... LH ....... Bloom
Johnson Reynolds
Shephard Carroll
Shattuck Ponseigo
Orsini ......... RH ....... Clark
Jacob Adduci
Koerber Lehman
Mundell Sommers
Pollard ........ FB ....... Mueller
Leonard Curtis
Gratson Winey
Game recap:
Big day for Reynolds
Halfback Bobby Reynolds did all of Nebraska's scoring for the third time in four games as the Huskers shut out visiting Penn State, 19-0, before a sellout crowd on Band Day.
After Reynolds broke loose on a 19-yard scoring dash around left end halfway through the first quarter, Nebraska spent most of the game clinging to a 6-0 lead.
Penn State had its chances but couldn't capitalize. Early in the second quarter, a botched punt play gave the Nittany Lions the ball at the NU 30, but the visitors could muster only 6 yards. Two other PSU possessions – in the second and third periods – penetrated the Husker 10-yard line, but both times the Lions were turned away, with Husker sophomore center Verl Scott's 10-tackle effort leading the defensive charge.
The Huskers iced the game in the final period as Reynolds scored on jaunts of 26 yards with 12 minutes remaining and 42 yards with three minutes left. The soph from Grand Island finished with 186 yards on 25 carries, bettering Penn State's entire offensive production.
Bill Glassford's Huskers outyarded Rip Engle's Nittany Lions 371 to 180. All of NU's yardage came on the ground, as quarterback Fran Nagle tried just three passes and didn't complete any. Penn State logged 84 yards rushing and 96 yards passing, with most of the aerial yardage coming via connections between quarterback Vince O'Bara and end John Smidansky.
NOTES: Reynolds' exploits earned him a spot in the United Press backfield of the week. Through four games, he had scored all but 18 of NU's 90 points. ... PSU finished 5-3-1. Charlie Toogood joined Reynolds on the Lions' all-opponent team.