Boston College
Penn St
Peterson Leads Boston College Past Penn State 21-7
September 12, 2004 | Football
Sept. 11, 2004
BOSTON (AP) - Paul Peterson threw for 199 yards and three touchdowns, and Boston College beat Penn State for the second straight year, 21-7 Saturday night.
Backup running back Andre Callender finished with 114 yards on 27 carries for the Eagles (2-0).
After struggling in the Eagles' opener against Ball State, Peterson was 23-of-31. In the opener, he was 12-of-23 for 135 yards with one interception.
Penn State's Zack Mills was intercepted four times. He finished 23-of-41 for 254 yards and one TD.
Penn State (1-1) rushed for just 22 yards in the first half and 53 in the first three quarters. The Nittany Lions ended up with 73 yards overall and lost to the Eagles for just the fourth time in 23 meetings.
BC scored on the opening drive when Peterson rolled to his left and lofted a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end David Kashetta. The Eagles capitalized on two roughing the punter penalties on consecutive fourth downs in their own territory to keep the drive alive.
Boston College started running through the middle of Penn State's defense in the second quarter, moving to the Nittany Lions' 10 before starting running back Jeff Ross fumbled.
But Penn State's fullback Paul Jefferson fumbled three plays later, and BC's Ricky Brown recovered at the Nittany Lions' 26. Peterson threw his second TD on the next play, connecting with Grant Adams down the middle to make it 14-0 with 8:19 left in the first half.
Penn State opened the second half by marching 61 yards in six plays, cutting its deficit to 14-7 when Mills hit Ryan Scott with a 13-yard scoring pass.
The Eagles came right back, moving 74 yards in 16 plays to take a 21-7 lead when Peterson hit fullback Mark Palmer with a 2-yard TD toss. BC converted five third-down plays on the drive, scoring on the last.
That score was set up by Peterson's 24-yard pass to Jason Lilly, a play that moved the ball to the Nittany Lions' 4.
