ORLANDO, Fla. -- Larry Johnson's career at Penn State ended with a complaint.

	Running back Larry Johnson wasn't thrilled with the play-calling from the coaching staff of Joe Paterno, right, here greeting Auburn's Tommy Tuberville before the game.

Held to only 72 yards on 20 carries, the Heisman Trophy finalist criticized his team's play calling Wednesday after a 13-9 defeat against Auburn in the Capital One Bowl.

''They say, 'Make sure you stay in the game plan,' and stuff like that,'' Johnson said. ''But I tried to do as much as I could, or how much they'd let me do.

''But you look at it, I don't think any good back can get off 50-, 60-yard runs against a good defense without getting into a rhythm, and I couldn't get a rhythm besides touching it two times and a bunch of TV timeouts. It's hard to get going.''

Johnson sure didn't impress Auburn.

''He can stay up there and be Penn State's savior if he wants,'' defensive end Reggie Torbor said. ''At Auburn, he probably wouldn't play. He'd probably be on defense.''

Johnson, who ran for a school-record 2,015 yards during the regular season, was kept below 100 for the first time since an Oct. 26 defeat against Ohio State.

It took Johnson seven carries before he got positive yardage, and his longest run was only 17 yards on the last play of the first half. He had just three plays of 10 yards or more -- the same number he had for negative yardage.

''Larry had some problems of his own -- he slipped, he dropped the screen pass,'' Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. ''I won't second guess what we tried to do. And when I point fingers I point fingers at myself. I just think we knew what we wanted to do, we just didn't do it good enough.''

But to hear Johnson tell it, the problem was the game plan itself. If he'd have carried the ball more, Penn State might have won.

''You get 20 carries against a good defense, there's no way in the world you're going to go over 100,'' Johnson said. ''You pound it and pound it and pound it, and that's the outcome. If we'd have done that, maybe the score would be reversed.''

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville credited an active defensive with stopping Johnson.

''What we try to do is get as many people in on tackles as we can,'' he said. ''We're not a big team, but we are a physical, fast team, and I think that's going to win out in most situations when you're playing against a running back such as Larry.''

This wasn't the first time Johnson had criticized Penn State's play-calling. After a shocking 24-6 home defeat against Toledo his sophomore year, Johnson blamed Paterno, saying Penn State's offense had become too predictable.

''Everybody knows what we're doing,'' Johnson said at the time. ''Sometimes I don't even know what the play is, and I can sit back there and guess the play. The system has been around too long.''