For One Angry Lion, Victory Was Revenge Ohio State’s Final Touchdown Following A Psu Player’s Serious Injury In 2000 Has Burned In Some Ever Since.
By JERRY KELLAR [email protected]
Sunday, October 28, 2001 Page: 6B
UNIVERSITY PARK – Michael Haynes took it as an insult, so much so that he
carried the document into the post-game press room.
Penn State’s defensive end produced a copy of a story published in the
Columbus Dispatch newspaper last year. The article, headlined “Kicking Lions
When They’re Down Isn’t An Issue For OSU,” detailed how Ohio State’s players
weren’t about to apologize for running the score up against the Nittany Lions,
just moments after freshman cornerback Adam Taliaferro was carried from the
Ohio Stadium field on a stretcher.
Already leading by 32 points, the Buckeyes punched it in one last time
against the demoralized and shaken Nittany Lions to make the final count an
embarrassing 45-6.
“That was a slap in the face,” Haynes said Saturday after Penn State
exacted a measure of revenge, beating Ohio State 29-27 at Beaver Stadium. The
victory made Joe Paterno Division I-A’s all-time winningest coach, with 324
victories.
“We thought it was kind of disrespectful,” linebacker Shamar Finney said.
“We had just lost a player.”
Even though the Lions tried to downplay the matter all this week, Haynes
said the memory has stayed with the players throughout.
“I took that personally and I tried to take it out on everybody I could
find (Saturday),” he said.
Haynes registered two of Penn State’s three sacks of Buckeye quarterback
Steve Bellisari, and helped lead a defense that forced a pair of turnovers and
produced several clutch plays.
None was more important than tackle Jimmy Kennedy’s block of a 34-yard
field goal try in the game’s final minutes.
“We are playing like a team now,” Kennedy said. “We know we can make big
plays. We expect somebody to make big plays.”
Haynes was so pumped up for the game that he once was warned by the
officials to settle down.
His response: “I said I’m not getting intimidated by anybody.”
Haynes said Paterno was upset by the incident last season, even though the
“I’m sure Joe was (bothered by it),” he said. “That’s just common
courtesy. To run up the score after a serious injury like that.”
Acting like an efficient sports information director, Haynes handed his
copy of the story to a reporter.
“Here, look at it,” he said. “They should have known it was going to get
back to us. Coach told us what they said, and we read the article for
motivation.”
Finney, who had six stops on Saturday, said the Lions were to blame for
putting themselves in the position to be embarrassed last season.
“It really has nothing to do with Ohio State. It’s all us. We allowed that
to happen and we looked at ourselves and said we won’t let that happen
again.”
Whatever their motivation, the Lions accomplished the most important thing
of all this time around.
“We wanted to prove we weren’t as sorry as we have been playing,” Kennedy
said. “We just wanted to get Joe this win.”
