The Perfect Season
How Penn State Came to Stop a Hurricane and Win a National Football Championship
232 pages | 28 illustrations | 7 x 10 | 2007
ISBN 978-0-271-03282-5 | cloth: $24.95 tr
Paperback edition is not available
A Keystone Book®
"An engaging story about the people involved and the events leading into one of the most exciting games in college football history." —Joe Paterno
“Missanelli brings to life the 1986 national football championship season, with a great account of the Nittany Lion victory over the combat fatigue-clad Miami Hurricans. The Foreword by D. J. Dozier is a delight as are various vignettes of the participants such as Jerry Sandusky, Shane Conlan, Bob White, and the unfortunate-in-life John Bruno.” —Ronald A. Smith, author of Big-Time Football at Harvard 1905
"Jan. 2, 1987. It is at once the most profound and significant dayof the nearly 15,000 Joe Paterno has spent as Penn State's football coach. On that night, in the spotlit Arizona desert, Paterno's Nittany Lions defeated Miami in a national championshipmatchup whose contrasts were as vivid as the personalities involved. In The Perfect Season, Mike Missanelli carefully dissectsand recreates this memorable game, one that would serve as aperfect little morality play, a showcase for all that was rightand wrong with college football." —Frank Fitzpatrick, author of The Lion in Autumn
"It's been 20 years since that night in the Arizona desert when Penn State and Miami clashed in a battle of football and philosophy in the Fiesta Bowl. It was the last national championship for Penn State, won in dramatic fashion with a goal-line interception in the final seconds to preserve a 14-10 win. It was, in the eyes of many, the zenith of the program. And many of the players, now middle-aged fathers, remain icons in the history of the sport at Penn State.
Mike Missanelli does a masterful job of recreating the game, reconnecting with the key players for both teams and rekindles fond memories of a night when no star in the college football galaxy shined brighter than Penn State's." —Ron Bracken, Centre Daily Times
The 1987 NCAA championship football game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the University of Miami Hurricanes is often considered the most memorable championship game in all of college football history. Both teams were undefeated going into the game, but the Hurricanes were heavily favored, as they had demolished each of their opponents during the regular season. Penn State pulled off one of the most surprising upsets on January 2, 1987, by handing the University of Miami team its only loss of the season. In The Perfect Season, with help from the Penn State players involved, Missanelli retells the story not just of this championship game but also of Penn State’s entire season.
Beginning with its Orange Bowl loss in 1985 (Penn State’s only loss that year), Missanelli recounts the glorious 1986 season through the eyes of those Penn State athletes. The book also focuses on the media’s buildup of the national championship, explaining why the University of Miami team was considered the villain in this battle. Numerous anecdotes stories are included, such as the incident where the University of Miami team arrived at the Fiesta Bowl wearing combat fatigues in an attempt to wage psychological war on its opponents. But such tactics appeared to have little effect the Penn State Nittany Lions, whose tenacity resulted in victory in the final minutes of the game.
Drawing on interviews as well as his own recollections, the author relates the vivid story of one of the most triumphant seasons in the history of Penn State football. Anyone interested in college football, the Nittany Lions, or Joe Paterno’s legacy will find this book impossible to put down.
M. G. Missanelli Penn State Class of 1977, is a well-known media personality in Philadelphia who has worked for more than twenty-five years in the area of sports journalism. He is also a 1986 graduate of the Delaware Law School of Widener University and is a licensed attorney. Currently a co-host of a daily sports radio talk show in New York City on ESPN radio, he also teaches a class on sports and entertainment law at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
Contents
Foreword by D.J. Dozier
Preface and Acknowledgments
How They Finished 12–0
1. Deke
2. Shane and Linebacker U
3. The Quarterback
4. A Case for the Defense
5. The Season Reported
6. Penn State vs. Miami, The Plays
7. Fallen Heroes
8. The Broadcast
9. Hurricane Fallout
10. Where Lions Landed
Epilogue
Notes
Index