Off-field Turmoil Darkened Season

Legal woes for a number of players often took team’s attention away from football.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The regular season was officially over — 12 straight weeks of football — and Penn State was still forced to reflect on distractions.
Regardless of what December bowl game that awaits them, the Nittany Lions and their underwhelming 8-4 year will be remembered as much for the team’s problems off the field as it will for the blown opportunities on it.
This week it was three players — Chris Baker, Navorro Bowman and Knowledge Timmons — being charged for their alleged involvement in an on-campus fight at Penn State’s HUB-Robeson Center in October. Baker and Bowman received the most serious charges, including aggravated assault.
None of the three traveled with the team to Michigan State.
“I thought we played a good football game. I don’t think it was a question of that,” coach Joe Paterno said of having to play without Baker, a starter at defensive tackle, and the two others, which wasn’t decided until charges were filed on Thursday.
In truth, the two starters at defensive tackle — Phil Taylor and Ollie Ogbu — handled themselves well against Michigan State’s potent ground game despite having little to no depth behind them.
Taylor had the only sack of the game by either team and he and Ogbu each combined for another stop in the backfield. If anything, it was defensive ends Maurice Evans and Josh Gaines who came up short, as Spartans quarterback Brian Hoyer rarely had to throw under pressure.
But legal problems and bizarre incidents throughout this season have clearly taken their toll on the Lions.
“It’s pretty difficult,” senior captain Dan Connor said of all the off-field news. “With the stuff going on, that’s all you read in the paper. You don’t read much positive stuff about us and that’s tough being a senior, being a leader, that our team has gotten such a bad reputation.
“It’s been hard. It’s been hard for me. But I think the team’s handled it well. I’ve tried to keep my composure through the whole thing, help everyone through everything. It’s been difficult.”
Taylor had his name mentioned often in the 14-page criminal complaint that detailed the October incident, though he is not facing any charges.
He declined to comment on any of it after Saturday’s game.
As for Baker, this is the second time this year he has been charged with a felony, as he and starting safety Anthony Scirrotto are the two players still awaiting trial for their alleged roles in another fight — this one at an off-campus apartment in April.
That trial has been pushed back to either December or possibly January. A preliminary hearing for the charges from the October fight will be held Wednesday.
The HUB incident was the last of a long string of events in the first week of October, in the wake of the Lions’ loss at Illinois, their second in a row.
Starting tailback Austin Scott was suspended from the team on Oct. 5, the day before a game against Iowa. He was later charged with rape, which was reported the night/early morning before.
Later that night, true freshmen Ryan Breen and Joe Suhey were cited for underage drinking. The HUB fight came the next night, following Penn State’s win over the Hawkeyes.
Even Paterno had an unusual weekend, as he made a car pull over while driving on campus after he said he saw the driver go through a stop sign. The other motorist filed a report on Paterno with university police, but nothing else came of it.
But through it all, players say it’s been Paterno who has made the biggest difference in keeping the team’s focus on football.
“We lost a lot of players due to off-the-field issues, but Joe does a good job of getting everybody up,” junior receiver Derrick Williams said. “Everybody is just stepping up and doing what they can to help out the team.”
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For more Penn State coverage, read Derek Levarse’s blog at www.timesleader.com