Nov 24, 2003 4 min read

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) – There is some comfort to be taken in Happy Valley. At least the season is over. On the field, Penn State (3-9, 1-7 Big Ten) couldn’t stop the run on defense, couldn’t find a rhythm on offense. Off the field, an unprecedented number of player arrests provided a constant distraction throughout the season. Even the Penn State faithful can’t all be described as such – as faith implies belief, and many no longer believe in coach Joe Paterno or his system.

A 41-10 thrashing at the hands of Michigan State put an end to a Nittany Lion football season that can only be described as an unmitigated disaster.

“I never imagined myself going out 2-8, 3-8, whatever the record was. It hurts,” wide receiver Tony Johnson said. “You put so much blood, sweat and tears in to it, you expect some great result. This year, we ended up not getting it.”

What they got was one disappointment after another, one ignominious record after another. Nine losses was the most ever for a Penn State team, breaking the record set during a 2-8 season in 1931. And Penn State’s three wins came against teams – Temple, Kent State and Indiana – that have combined for an 8-27 record, a number that was buoyed by Kent State’s 5-7 finish.

Penn State didn’t win a road game for the first time since the 1936 season, and finished below .500 in the Big Ten for the first time since joining the league for the 1993 season. The Nittany Lions finished tied for ninth in a league they expected to dominate when they joined a decade ago.

“Nothing ever quite worked the way we hoped it would work, starting with Casey Williams getting – we put some of that bunch set in and then he gets hurt, and a couple other things went wrong for us early. We were fighting that Phillips thing right up until the end of August,” Paterno said. “We never quite got in that groove and that’s not their fault, that’s my fault.”

“That Phillips thing” was the first, and worst, of a series of off-field distractions. Phillips was arrested last spring and charged with sexually assaulting a female student on campus. A jury over the summer found him innocent, but when the incident was made public in the spring Paterno was vilified for allowing Phillips to play in the Capital One Bowl, two weeks after Phillips had been expelled from the university.

During the summer and fall, half a dozen current and former players were arrested or cited on charges of driving under the influence, underage drinking and harassment. On Sunday, the day after the season ended, freshman Maurice Humphrey, the team’s No. 2 receiver, was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and criminal mischief for an alleged on-campus assault.

Through it all, Paterno and the team made the best of each situation, often refusing to talk about the off-field incidents and playing down the losses on the field.

The Nittany Lions lost by just eight points at Nebraska, had chances to pull even or ahead late in the game against Wisconsin and Minnesota, even came close to upsetting mighty Ohio State. They might be losing, they said, but at least they weren’t getting blown out.

But even that consolation dissolved in the rout at Michigan State, a team that came in to the game on a three-game losing streak, then exposed every flaw in Penn State’s offense, defense and special teams.

“This was a bad season to begin with, and this was our worst showing of the year,” senior offensive tackle Damone Jones said. “You hate to go out like this, but you know, for me, I gotta live with this bitter taste in my mouth for the rest of my life.”

So the Penn State faithful will look toward next year, where there is some promise. The Nittany Lions will return seven starters each on offense and defense, and most of the significant backups. Moreover, freshmen such as tailback Austin Scott, Humphrey and linebacker Paul Posluszny have proven to be among the team’s most explosive players.

“You saw Paul Posluszny today have a huge game. He’s only going to get better,” fullback Sean McHugh said. “We’ve got guys like Derek Wake coming back on defense, the whole defensive line is coming back.

“Offensively, we’ve got some young linemen who are getting better, guys like Levi Brown who has improved so much over this season. Then you have those freshmen running backs, we’ll get Rodney Kinlaw back also, and he’s got a lot of potential. You’ve got a quarterback back, so hopefully you can build on this thing, get rid of these mistakes and move on.”