Long Time Coming For Paterno, Lions

Penn State 26, Florida State 23

MIAMI, Jan. 3 -- As his team prepared for Tuesday's Orange Bowl, Penn State Coach Joe Paterno fretted and second-guessed and groused. Had his team arrived in South Florida too early (the day before Christmas)? Had he prepared his bowl-inexperienced players properly? Why did the team look so flat in practice? Would it be unseasonably hot on game night?

As it turned out, Paterno had every reason for his myriad concerns and irrepressible grouchiness. It was warm. His players looked lifeless much of the night. The team punted 11 times in the first 45 minutes. His kicker missed not one, but two game-winning field goal attempts.

Of course, he did nail his third try.

Paterno's statistically superior team, the No. 3 Nittany Lions, sputtered and fumbled against the No. 22 Florida State Seminoles but ultimately won, 26-23, in a thrilling, triple-overtime contest on a 28-yard field goal by freshman Kevin Kelly in front of 77,773 fans at Dolphins Stadium.

Kelly's kick, which followed a miss from 38 yards by Florida State's Gary Cismesia, capped a game that lasted 4 hours 45 minutes, ending just after 1 a.m., and featured the electrifying -- an 87-yard punt return for a touchdown by Florida State's Willie Reid -- and the stultifying -- 20 punts.

"It's past my bedtime," Paterno said to television cameras as he walked to the postgame ceremony.

With the score tied at 16 after regulation, Florida State got the first chance in overtime, but a holding penalty and two incompletions forced a 44-yard field goal attempt from Cismesia. Cismesia, who nailed a 48-yard field goal to tie the game at 16 with 4:08 remaining, this time missed barely wide right.

It didn't much matter because on Penn State's first overtime possession, Kelly, who had missed a 30-yard attempt with 32 seconds left, missed another game-winner, this one wide left from 38 yards out.

Both teams turned their second overtime possessions into touchdowns. Penn State backup running back Austin Scott, who collected 109 yards on 26 carries in his most productive outing of the season, punched it in for the second time from the 1 -- his first touchdown came nearly four hours earlier in the first quarter. For Florida State, a pair of nifty throws from Drew Weatherford set up a two-yard scoring plunge by fullback B.J. Dean that tied the game at 23.

Florida State's offense stalled quickly in the third overtime, and Cismesia missed again, giving Penn State an opportunity it would finally seize. Cismesia flailed his arms helplessly when his 38-yard attempt struck the right upright and fell to the turf.

After three rushes for 14 yards, Paterno called upon Kelly for the third time. The Nittany Lions erupted in a wild celebration when the attempt finally sailed through.

"It was a great football game played by two teams that played about as well as they can play," Paterno said into a microphone. "I'm delighted and proud that we won it."

Before the late-game theatrics, what was billed as a matchup of two coaching legends disintegrated into a circus of penalties and punts and offensive inefficiency. Aside from the brilliance of Reid -- who returned seven punts for 182 yards and a touchdown -- mistakes and brutal defense characterized the night. There was little evidence of the wisdom one might have expected from Paterno, 79, and Bowden, 76, who have more than 700 college victories between them but have faced heavy criticism recently.

"Coach Paterno's gone through a lot of criticism," Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson said. "People wanted him to leave. I can't believe people wanted him to leave this great team right here. We definitely finished it like we wanted to finish it."

Just more than a minute into the fourth quarter, Penn State inched ahead by three after Weatherford was called for intentional grounding in the end zone -- an automatic safety. Minutes later, the Nittany Lions seemed ready -- finally -- to put the game away. Robinson led a rare steady drive that churned time off the clock and seemed to reestablish the Nittany Lions' dominance. Except that Robinson fumbled on the Seminoles 5, and Florida State recovered with 9:05 left. The Seminoles had reason to celebrate, as they did, hysterically: The score was still 16-13. Weatherford then marched his team down the field for the first game-tying field goal.

If Penn State gained any momentum from a last-second touchdown at the end of the first half, it apparently fizzled during the lengthy halftime show. Looking to take command of the game, the Nittany Lions instead gained just 29 yards during a third quarter in which nobody -- aside from the almost unstoppable Reid -- did much of anything.

For 25 minutes, Florida State struggled to move forward -- let alone score. Its opening five drives netted a grand total of 14 yards. By the time Reid fielded a punt at his 13 with just more than four minutes remaining in the first half, the Seminoles had no points and had made little progress. Reid, though, juked and feinted through Penn State's defense, nearly matching the Seminoles' offensive output to that point (90 yards) on one dynamic touchdown sprint (87 yards).