Goal-Line Stands Lift Gators Florida Stops Penn St. Two Times At Goal Line

Citrus Bowl

Steve Spurrier’s latest innovation at Florida was learning to play Penn State’s old-fashioned, smash-mouth style of play.

Never mind the razzle-dazzle plays or the alternating quarterbacks. All the sixth-ranked Gators needed Thursday was the powerful running of Fred Taylor for a 21-6 victory over No. 11 Penn State in the Citrus Bowl.

Taylor set career highs and Citrus Bowl records with 43 carries for 234 yards, Jacquez Green caught two touchdown passes from different quarterbacks and the defense twice stopped Penn State on fourth-and-1 from inches away.

“The goal-line stands were the key, our offensive line was sensational and Fred ran the ball well,” said Spurrier, sounding more like a coach rooted in the traditional Big Ten style of play.

“Other than that, it was a run-the-ball, run-out-the-clock type of game,” he said. “We tried to hand the ball off to Fred and not beat ourselves.”

That was exactly what the Nittany Lions could have used. With All-America running back Curtis Enis suspended for taking a suit from a sports agent, Florida’s defense swarmed Penn State and dominated the game from the start.

The Lions finished with only 137 yards, their worst performance of the year, and had only 47 yards rushing on 29 carries. At halftime, when they trailed 14-3, they had minus-1 yard rushing.

Penn State also was without leading receiver Joe Jurevicius, suspended for bad grades. He and Enis accounted for half of the offense and 60 percent of their touchdowns.

“I’m not going to make excuses like that. That’s not fair to the kids who played,” Paterno said.

Instead, he paid tribute to a defense that held the Lions to only two drives longer than 9 yards and twice stopped them on fourth-and-goal from inches away.

“They’re a little quicker than Michigan,” Paterno said. “They play a different style, but they played very good today.”

Penn State (9-3), which gave up a school-record 452 yards to Michigan State in its last game, never could find a solution for Taylor. Although his longest run was only 15 yards, he continually picked up chunks of yardage that wore down the Lions.

“We were playing pretty good at the beginning of the season,” said Penn State linebacker Brandon Short. “Then we leveled off - then we hit a canyon.”

Taylor’s 234 yards broke the Citrus Bowl record set by Jim Gray of East Texas State in 1953, and was the best ever by a Gator in a bowl game. Only Emmitt Smith, who had 316 yards against New Mexico State in 1989, has had more rushing yards in a game for Florida.

“We thought we could run the ball on them the way Michigan State ran on them,” said Taylor, voted the game’s most valuable player. “They came down here to play smashmouth football. They think the SEC is soft, and they just found out that’s not true.”

For the second straight game, Florida rotated quarterbacks every other play. Actually, all three of their quarterbacks figured in the scoring.

Noah Brindise scored on a 1-yard sneak to open the game and Doug Johnson threw a 35-yard TD pass to Green on the next possession for a 14-0 lead just 7 minutes into the game.

Johnson injured his right rotator cuff on a tackle at the end of the third quarter, but Spurrier stuck with the rotation, and Canadian freshman Jesse Palmer threw a 37-yard touchdown to Green on his first pass.

Still, it didn’t matter who Florida used at quarterback or how. Taylor and the defense were more than enough.

Chris Eberly had 53 yards on 14 carries, while Mike McQueary was 10 of 32 for 92 yards and was intercepted three times, one of them on a fourth-and-goal from the 1.

“When they couldn’t run the ball, we knew we had control of the game,” said cornerback Fred Weary, whose interception set up a first-quarter touchdown.

When the Lions had their chances, the Gators’ defense took them away.

Short came on a perfectly timed run blitz, knocked the ball loose on the exchange and then recovered it 22 yards later at the 6 late in the first half. But on fourth-and-inches, Tim Beauchamp stuffed Eberly.

The Lions got one more chance before halftime when Kenny Watson returned a punt 52 yards to the 5. McQueary tried to pass on fourth-and-inches and was picked off by Mike Harris.

“Those stops were actually the plays of the game,” Weary said.

Spurrier ran his assortment of razzle-dazzle plays - a fake double reverse, a flea-flicker for 19 yards, a tight-end reverse - but Taylor carried the Gators.

He carried the ball five times to start the game and had 40 yards, and Brindise finished off the 80-yard drive with a 1-yard run on third down.

Penn State’s longest drive of the half - 8 yards - ended when Weary stepped in front of Titcus Pettigrew for an interception. One play later, Johnson lofted a pass in the corner of the end zone to Green, who tipped it away from David Macklin and came down with the loose ball.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Florida 21, Penn St. 6 Penn State 0 3 3 0 - 6 Florida 14 0 0 7 - 21 Fla-Brindise 1 run (Cooper kick) Fla-Green 35 pass from Johnson (Cooper kick) PS-FG Forney 42 PS-FG Forney 30 Fla-Green 37 pass from Palmer (Cooper kick) A-72,940.

PSU Fla First downs 9 23 Rushes-yards 29-47 59-254 Passing 92 143 Comp-Att-Int 10-32-3 9-19-2 Return Yards 103 26 Punts-Avg. 7-42.1 5-36.4 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 1-5 5-46 Time of Possession 24:53 35:07 RUSHING-Penn State, Eberly 14-53, Watson 4-5, Mitchell 5-2, McQueary 6-(minus 13). Florida, Taylor 43-234, Carroll 9-28, Roos 1-9, Brindise 3-(minus 1), Johnson 3-(minus 16). PASSING-Penn State, McQueary 10-32-3-92. Florida, Johnson 5-12-1-77, Brindise 3-6-1-29, Palmer 1-1-0-37. RECEIVING-Penn State, Brown 3-25, Nastasi 2-26, Watson 2-15, Pettigrew 1-9, Mitcehll 1-9, Eberly 1-8. Florida, Green 2-72, McGriff 1-19, T.Taylor 1-19, Kinner 1-13, Richardson 1-9, McCaslin 1-7, F.Taylor 1-3, Carroll 1-1.