2003 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

The Cornhuskers running game dominated Penn State, as the Huskers won 18-10. Nebraska rushed for 337 yards on 72 carries and held the ball twice as long as Penn State, who managed only 44 yards on 21 carries.

Kent State

Penn State's special teams broke down as the Badgers won 30-23. The Lions special teams allowed a punt returned for a touchdown, fumbled a punt that led to another touchdown, had two missed field goals and a missed extra point. The defense couldn't stop Wisconsin's running game, allowing 234 yards on the ground, 119 from Wisconsin's third-stringer Booker Stanley. Overshadowed was Michael Robinson's superb performance in his first start at quarterback. Robinson finished 22 of 43 for 379 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. His 379 passing yards ranks second on Penn State's all-time list.

Purdue

Zack Mills regained the starting position, but it wasn't enough as the Buckeyes defeated the Lions 21-20. Mills was 27 of 43 for 253 yards, becoming the school's all-time leader in completions with 406, passing Tony Sacca. He also moved past Todd Blackledge into fourth place in passing yards with 4,973. Mills also moved into second place in total offense with 5,482 yards. Converted cornerback Maurice Humphrey had seven receptions for 64 yards, and little-used Terrance Phillips had his first career reception and finished with two catches for 47 yards. On defense, Alan Zemaitis returned an interception 78 yards for a touchdown. Kickoff specialist David Kimball made the first field goal of his career, replacing Robbie Gould in all kicking roles.

Northwestern

Robbie Gould gave the Lions a 3-0 lead, but it was all Spartans after that en route to a 41-10 victory over the Nittany Lions. The Lions defense could not stop the Spartans, as Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker completed 29 of 50 for 357 yards and four touchdowns. Zack Mills finished 11 of 24 for 114 yards, becoming Penn State's career leader in total offense and also moved into second place on the school's passing yardage list.

Post season

Penn State finished a miserable season with a 3-9 record, 1-7 in the Big Ten, Paterno's worst ever at Penn State. It was the third losing season in the past four, and just Paterno's fourth losing season since joining the coaching staff in 1950. Nine losses were the most ever for a Penn State team, breaking the record set by the 1931 2-8 team, and did not win a road game for the first time since 1936.

Despite the losing record, Penn State claimed second place in football attendance for the third consecutive season, averaging 105,629 through seven home games, ranking in the top four for the 13th consecutive year. The Ohio State game drew Penn State's largest home crowd of 108,276, the seventh largest crowd ever in Beaver Stadium.cite web|url=http://live.psu.edu/story/5552|title=Penn State again ranks second in NCAA football attendance|publisher=Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics|date=2004-02-129|accessdate=2007-01-23]

The team's second-leading receiver Maurice Humphrey, after a promising season at wide receiver was expelled from school and convicted of three counts of simple assault. Humphrey would not play another down for Penn State.

NFL draft

Four Nittany Lions were drafted in the 2004 NFL Draft.

Awards

* Dave Costlow::Second-team CoSIDA Academic All-Americancite web|url=http://www.gopsusports.com/pressreleases/pressrelease.cfm?anncid=5264|title=Dave Costlow Selected To Academic All-America Football Team|publisher=Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics|date=2003-12-01|accessdate=2007-01-23]

* Yaacov Yisrael::Second-team All-Big Ten (conference coaches selection)cite web|url=http://www.gopsusports.com/docs/football03/2003_All-Big_Ten_Teams.pdf|title=2003 All-Big Ten Conference Football Team|publisher=Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-01-23]

* Alan Zemaitis::Second-team All-Big Ten (conference media selection)

All-star games

External links

* [http://gopsusports.cstv.com/ Official Penn State Athletics website]
* [http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/psu-m-footbl-body.html Official Penn State Athletics football subsite]
* [http://www.gopsf.com/ Penn State Football website]
* [http://gopsusports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2003-2004/teamstat.html Season statistics]

References