Paterno gets 22nd bowl win

TAMPA, Fla. – Joe Paterno insisted all along that he needed his players and assistant coaches more than they needed him in the Outback Bowl.

Maybe the longtime Penn State coach was right.

With Paterno watching from the press box while recovering from a broken leg, Tony Hunt ran for 158 yards and Tony Davis returned a fumble 88 yards for a touchdown Monday, leading the Nittany Lions to a 20-10 victory over No. 17 Tennessee.

Anthony Morelli threw a 2-yard TD pass to Andrew Quarless and Kevin Kelly kicked two field goals for Penn State, helping Paterno – the all-time leader in bowl wins – get his 22nd postseason victory.

“They need me like they need a hole in the head,” Paterno said. “But I don’t like it up there. It’s not much fun.”

Penn State (9-4) forced three turnovers in holding Tennessee (9-4) to a season-low point total, and the Nittany Lions improved to 16-6 in New Year’s Day bowls under their 80-year-old coach.

“You play against Joe Paterno’s football teams, they’re going to be tough, they’re going to be disciplined, they’re going to be able to run the football,” said Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, who also lost to Penn State in the 1994 Florida Citrus Bowl.

“I knew that, having been there before. I learned some great lessons from him the last time. If we take care of the football better, at least it’s a more interesting game there at the end.”

Sloppy weather – the game was played through intermittent rain – contributed to Paterno’s decision to join some of his assistants in a booth.

Morelli’s TD pass to Quarless finished an eight-play, 92-yard drive – Penn State’s longest of the season – and gave the Nittany Lions a short-lived 10-3 lead.

LaMarcus Coker countered for Tennessee a little more than two minutes later, using a nifty straight-arm to fend off linebacker Sean Lee before sprinting through a hole on the left side and outrunning the pursuit to finish a 42-yard touchdown run.

It remained 10-10 until Davis picked up a fumble by Tennessee’s Arian Foster and raced untouched up the left sideline to put Penn State ahead for good with 10 minutes remaining. Kelly, who missed field goals of 45, 54 and 50 yards, added his second field goal with 3:29 left.

Morelli completed 14 of 25 passes for 197 yards and no interceptions, and Hunt compiled his eighth 100-yard game rushing this season on 31 carries.