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Friday, December 13, 2002
Penn State's offense sputters again
Associated Press
BOX SCORE
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Forget Courtney Brown and LaVar
Arrington. Penn State misses Kevin Thompson and Chafie Fields more.
|  | | Penn State coach Joe Paterno has started 0-2 just three times in 35 seasons as head coach. |
The Nittany Lions again struggled offensively, and lost 24-6 to
Toledo on Saturday to fall to 0-2 for the first time since 1990.
Chester Taylor ran for 141 yards, including two touchdowns, and
Tavares Bolden threw for 140 yards and one touchdown for Toledo.
The Rockets (1-0) hadn't beaten a top opponent since opening the
1997 season with a 36-22 victory over Purdue.
Penn State, which had never lost to a Mid-American Conference
opponent, has lost five consecutive regular-season games for the
first time since dropping seven straight in 1931.
Taylor had touchdown runs of 13 and 1 yards as Toledo took a
17-0 halftime lead. The Rockets made it 24-0 on a 13-yard pass from
Bolden to Lyle Green on the first possession of the third quarter.
Penn State entered the season with questions marks on defense
after losing nine starters, including Brown and Arrington, the top
two picks in the NFL draft.
But the Nittany Lions, who lost 29-5 to No. 12 Southern
California in the Kickoff Classic last Sunday, haven't been able to
produce on offense, and went six quarters without a touchdown.
After gaining just 142 yards, including 6 rushing, against
Southern Cal, Penn State had 166 yards against Toledo - 64 in the
first half.
Thompson, who threw for 1,916 yards and 13 touchdowns last
season, made the Cleveland Browns' roster as a third-stringer.
Fields, a flanker who accounted for 830 total yards in 1999, was
among the final cuts for the San Francisco 49ers.
With Rashard Casey starting his third career game - he led Penn
State to a 24-0 victory over Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl last
season -- the Nittany Lions went three-and-out on their first two
possessions.
Taylor's 13-yard run gave Toledo a 7-0 lead with 10:12 left in
the first. A 24-yard field goal by Todd France made it 10-0 with
3:06 remaining in the first.
Penn State didn't get a first down until Casey scrambled for
five yards on a third-and-1 with 1:35 left in the first.
The play drew mock applause from the crowd of 94,296 at Beaver
Stadium.
The Rockets made it 17-0 when Taylor ran in from the 1 with 32
seconds left in the half. The touchdown capped a 14-play, 83-yard
drive that consumed 6:07.
Penn State finally scored its first touchdown as Casey
improvised a 61-yard pass to Larry Johnson that cut it to 24-6 with
7:27 left in the third. Ryan Primanti missed the extra point.
Casey scrambled right, stopped just before running out of
bounds, jumped and threw across his body and over several defenders
to Johnson, who ran untouched to the end zone.
Casey was 5-of-13 for 98 yards. He was replaced by Matt Senneca
in the fourth quarter for the second straight week.
The Nittany Lions moved inside Toledo territory for the first
time in the second quarter, but the drive stalled at the 29 and
David Kimball hooked a 46-yarder - his first field-goal attempt.
Penn State, which fell out of the Top 25 for the first time in
eight years after the loss to USC, hadn't lost a home opener Texas
beat them 17-13 in 1990.
Joe Paterno remains seven victories shy of breaking Bear
Bryant's Division I-A record of 323.
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| | AUDIO/VIDEO |
 Tavares Bolden throws 13 yards to Lyle Green for the TD.
avi: 787 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Chester Taylor scores the easy TD for Toledo.
avi: 977 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Joe Paterno doesn't know what to say about his team.
wav: 212 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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