Super Bowl Monday_ From the Persian Gulf to the Shores of West Florida - Adam Lazarus [10]
“Jeff Hostetler isn’t quite ready to run the show by himself,” observed one Penn State beat writer. “It is quite revealing, though, that Paterno considers this young freshman capable enough of doing the backup work only two months after he arrived on campus.”
An injured thumb bothered Tate late in the season, and Paterno switched back and forth between Tate, Rocco, and Hostetler. Rotating quarterbacks partly caused a disappointing 1979 season. Penn State finished 8-4, the single season between 1977 and 1982 that the school did not win at least ten games. Most disappointing was a 29-14 loss to rival Pitt, who the Nittany Lions routinely thumped. That day, Hostetler saw his most extensive action of the season, completing six of sixteen pass attempts for seventy-two yards and an interception. Another freshman quarterback from western Pennsylvania, Dan Marino, completely outplayed Hostetler that day at Beaver Stadium.
Both Penn State and Jeff Hostetler opened the next decade optimistic. A great spring convinced the coaching staff to give him the job for the 1980 season opener against Colgate, even though Paterno refused to announce his starter until the Friday before game day.
“At this stage, Jeff can do some things that will help us win the game,” Paterno declared. “[But] any one of them could start and do a great job for us. It’s going to be a long year and as much as we’re going to ask the quarterbacks to do, all three will see plenty of playing time.”
As Paterno hinted, the quarterback carousel continued throughout 1980. Although Blackledge posted better numbers against Colgate, and Rocco was not relegated to third string—“There’s a lot of things about being a head football coach that you don’t like. . . . I don’t know if we’re being fair to Frank,” Paterno said on his weekly television show—Hostetler retained the starting job.
While Penn State fans booed during a late September loss to third-ranked Nebraska, Hostetler did not play well, completing just one pass, fumbling two snaps from center, and being sacked four times. After the loss, Paterno selected Blackledge to run the offense. The move seemed ingenious from the start, as the redshirt freshman accounted for all three touchdowns (including a forty-three-yard fourth quarter scamper to clinch the game) during Penn State’s 29-21 road victory over ninth-ranked Missouri.
But Blackledge struggled with incompletions and interceptions during all but one of his starts. In early October, with the Nittany Lions behind 7-6 against Temple, Blackledge fumbled near the goal line (a few series after throwing an interception) and Paterno turned back to Hostetler. He rewarded the coach with six scoring drives. Hostetler accounted for two rushing touchdowns and completed seven of his ten pass attempts in the 50-7 comeback.
“I played extremely well and was told that I would start the next week against Pitt,” he said, “and practiced that way until a day or two before the game and then was told that I wasn’t gonna start but that I was gonna play a lot. And I never ended up taking a snap that game.”
Penn State lost 14-9 to Marino’s Panthers. A last-minute Nittany Lion drive ended when Blackledge, attempting to throw the ball out-of-bounds, was intercepted by Pitt’s Carlton Williamson. Again, Hostetler expected a return to the lineup in the team’s next contest.
“For the bowl game, I was told I was gonna start and practiced that way, and a day or two before the game, I was told I wasn’t gonna start but I was gonna be playing an awful lot and the same thing happened: I didn’t get to play.”
Penn State defeated Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl 26-10, largely because of clutch passes and runs by Blackledge. Watching virtually the entire game from the sidelines of Sun Devil Stadium, Jeff Hostetler decided it was time for him to leave.
“Joe had to make a decision, and he made it,” Dolly Hostetler remarked a few years later.