Penn St. 27
Nebraska 24

Sept. 25, 1982 • 2:45 p.m. Central
Beaver Stadium •University Park, PA • CBS
1st2nd3rd4th F 
Nebraska0771024
Penn St.777627
First quarter
PS: Kirk Bowman 14 pass from Todd Blackledge (Massimo Manca kick) 1:43
Second quarter
PS: Curt Warner 2 run (Manca kick) 8:51
NU: Irving Fryar 30 pass from Turner Gill (Kevin Seibel kick) 0:38
Third quarter
PS: Kenny Jackson 18 pass from Blackledge (Manca kick) 9:42
NU: Mike Rozier 2 pass from Gill (Seibel kick) 3:28
Fourth quarter
NU: Seibel 37 field goal, 13:02
NU: Gill 1 run (Seibel kick) 1:18
PS: Bowman 2 pass from Blackledge (kick failed) 0:04

McCloskey’s controversial catch. | Field diagram | Full game

                       NEB        PSU 
First downs ........... 23         30  
Rushes-yards ...... 48-233     41-210  
Passing yards ........ 239        295  
  Comp-Att-Int ... 16-34-1    23-39-1  
Total offense ..... 82-472     80-505
Return yards ........... 0         13  
Punts ............. 3-38.7     2-37.5  
Fumbles-lost ......... 3-2        3-2  
Penalties-yards ..... 4-35       2-10  
Possession time .... 30:13      29:47
Third-down conv. ... 11/19       6/13
Fourth-down conv. .... 0/1        2/2

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING
NU: Rozier 19-86, Gill 12-52, Fryar 1-45, Roger Craig 7-27, Doug Wilkening 8-23.

PS: Warner 13-78, Jon Williams 10-65, Skeeter Nichols 7-32, Joel Coles 4-20, Todd Blackledge 5-8, Mumford 2-7.

PASSING
NU: Gill 34-16-1 239. 
PS: Blackledge 39-23-1 295.

RECEIVING
NU: Fryar 7-112, Todd Brown 3-60, Ricky Simmons 2-28, Jamie Williams 1-18, Mitch Krenk 1-11, Wilkening 1-8, Rozier 1-2.

PS: Gregg Garrity 5-75, Jackson 5-73, Mike McCloskey 4-68, Warner 3-47, Williams 3-0, Bowman 2-16, Nichols 1-16.

ADDITIONAL STATS

Attendance: 85,304

Coverage

Game recap

Nittany Lions’ late TD drive stuns Huskers

Penn State tight end Kirk Bowman caught a low Todd Blackledge pass deep in the Nebraska end zone with just four seconds left to lift the Lions to a 27-24 win over the Huskers, sending a Beaver Stadium record crowd of 85,304 into a frenzy.

Thanks to a series of Nebraska errors, the Lions controlled the early stages of the game and led, 21-7, just into the third period before the Huskers started to rally.

Nebraska had pulled within 21-17 in the fourth quarter when quarterback Turner Gill, playing before the largest regular-season crowd ever to see the Huskers play and a national CBS-TV audience, guided Nebraska 80 yards in 13 plays in a drive that consumed 6:50, capping the drive himself on a 1-yard run with 1:18 left — only to see Blackledge take the Lions 65 yards in 10 plays.

The winning touchdown was set up by a controversial 15-yard catch by Mike McCloskey on the left sideline with nine seconds left.

Turner Gill TD

Turner Gill’s 1-yard plunge gives Nebraska the lead with 1:18 left. | Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics
Game stories
Retrospectives
Photos/Audio/Video
Pregame & team info
1982 schedule
04/24Red 24, White 9
09/11IowaW 42-7
09/18New Mexico St.W 68-0
09/25@ Penn St.L 24-27
10/02@ AuburnW 41-7
10/09@ ColoradoW 40-14
10/16Kansas St.W 42-13
10/23MissouriW 23-19
10/30@ KansasW 52-0
11/06Oklahoma St.W 48-10
11/13@ Iowa St.W 48-10
11/26OklahomaW 28-24
12/04@ HawaiiW 37-16
01/01LSUW 21-20
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