UNIVERSITY PARK — It has been a long time since the UCLA Bruins visited Beaver Stadium — 57 years to be exact, with the last time being on October 7, 1967, when they beat the Nittany Lions 17-15.
Now, in 2024 and for the first time as a member of the Big Ten, the Bruins will be back in Happy Valley on Saturday, Oct. 5, for a conference matchup with the No. 9 Nittany Lions.
Back then, UCLA was ranked No. 2 in the country and used a third-quarter blocked punt that was recovered in the endzone for a touchdown to finally prevail, 17-15, over the very game Lions and second-year head coach Joe Paterno.
Some of the names of the players in this game still ring heavily in Penn State and college football: UCLA coach Tommy Prothro, All-American quarterback Gary Beban, PSU quarterback Tom Sherman, tight end Ted Kwalick, running back Bob Campbell and defenders Denny Onkotz, Mike Reid and Steve Smear.
The game foreshadowed the emergence of some of Penn State’s most heralded teams, and in fact, the Lions visited UCLA the next season in 1968 and came away with a convincing 21-6 victory.
Times have changed, though, from those years. UCLA will this week come in as a new member of the Big Ten with a 1-3 record and on a three-game losing streak. After beating Hawaii in their opener, 16-13, the Bruins fell to Indiana, 42-13, LSU, 34-17, and No. 5 Oregon, 34-13.
They will face a Penn State team that is now 4-0 after its physical, 21-7 win last week over 4-1 Illinois at home.
Against the Illini, Penn State fell behind early, tied the game immediately after a long drive, and then used its running game and defense in the second to hold off Illinois for the win.
Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton each scored a touchdown in the second half and combined to run for 196 yards, while the defense, thanks to a second-quarter goal-line stand, held Illinois without a point after that first possession.
Penn State held the Illini to just 34 net yards rushing, recorded seven sacks, recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass.
Allen ran the ball 18 times for 102 yards and the clinching fourth quarter touchdown, as Singleton ran for 94 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.
Tight end Tyler Warren ran for the other PSU touchdown when he finished off the Lions’ first touchdown drive in the first quarter.
Quarterback Drew Allar went 15 for 21 for 135 yards with a long of 20 yards to Harrison Wallace III.
There were some drawbacks. Penn State missed two field goals, came up short on a big fourth-down play in Illinois territory and had six penalties for 63 yards, one of which negated a pick-six.
But the Lions nevertheless persevered for the win over a highly motivated and previously undefeated team.
“Our defense is playing really well,” head coach James Franklin said after the game. “Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen, you talk about their second set of teammates with 2,000 career rushing yards since Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell. Pretty good group to be associated with. Pretty cool stat there.
“So overall, I’m really, really happy with our guys. That is a good football team. You’ve got to give Illinois and coach Bielema a ton of respect. That game really played out for a long time the way Illinois wants the game to go. They want one-possession games. They want to keep it tight. Where I think it went different is, I challenged our O-line against their D-line. And I challenged our D-line, against their front, their O-line, and I think that was the difference, really, in the game.
“We rushed for 239 yards. They rushed for 34 yards. And it’s not just 34 yards, that is a team that is committed to running the football. They are committed to running the football. And when you’re able to take somebody and force them out of the style of play that they want to play, then usually good things happen.”
The win for the Lions was its first in the Big Ten, with UCLA coming in for game two.
The Bruins average 14 points per game and are averaging 262 yards in total offense, 205 of which are from passing.
Quarterback Ethan Garbers has thrown for 808 yards and three touchdowns on 67 completions with six interceptions, while TJ Harden is the leading runner with 141 yards on 41 carries with a touchdown.
Rico Flores and Moliki Matavao are the leading receivers.
On defense, UCLA is giving up 30 points per game and 429 total yards with five sacks, a fumble recovery and three interceptions.
Penn State is averaging 497 yards per game with 20 touchdowns and a balance of 1,004 yards rushing and 983 yards passing.
This will be the Lions’ last home game before they travel to USC for their first Big Ten away game on Saturday, Oct. 12. Keeping momentum and cleaning up some of the negatives will be important in this one, as well as remembering the fact that this is UCLA, after all.
And the Bruins won the last time they were here.
