Brackett's touchdown catch, however insignificant it might have seemed at the time, became just the momentum grabber the Nittany Lions needed to go from zero to 100—on both sides of the ball.
Or perhaps, better still, ol' Joe Paterno might have delivered one helluva halftime rally cry to his guys. Might he have told them they were better than their play showed? Perhaps he let them know that the play they had exhibited to that point was unacceptable and sub par?
Maybe he just said, "win this damn game, I don't need the press stretching out this 400 nonsense".
Whatever he told his players in the locker room, it worked, because the Penn State team we saw in the second half was very different than the one that was overrun in the first half. They came onto the field and lit up the third quarter with 21 unanswered points and stymied the Northwestern offense the rest of the way.
It was a win befitting of a coach that so many have come to love and respect, not only for his longevity in a game that has become more about "lately" than "history", but for his honesty. Paterno has always been a straight-shooter. Perhaps the Brooklyn boy in him wouldn't allow him to be anyone else.
Joe Paterno is now the winningest coach in FBS history and, quite frankly, it's an honor that no other coach is ever likely to have again anytime soon.
Congrats to Joe Paterno!
