"I think there would have been a lot of fifth-year seniors who would not have stayed if there was a successful Orange Bowl [the year before]. You know? And because ’85 fell short, we certainly had that drive of, we didn’t want to go out not winning. Now, we had no idea what ’86 would bring us. When we found out we were playing Miami, we were excited. We got the scouting reports, and I’m reading about Jerome Brown, and Dan Sileo, and the Blades brothers, and just everybody on their team. We were a little awestruck by all of their ability. We came off the plane in our sport coats and ties. And they came off in their camouflage fatigues. Then we go to the joint dinner, and Jerome gets up and says, ‘We’re not here for this, we’re here for a war!’ Boom! We were furious. We were about to tear them apart right there and then. And the coaches are pushing us back, and we’re like, ‘OK, we’ll handle it on the field.’ But they came with disrespect. And we came with a goal—to not be what we were the prior year. We wanted 12-0. We didn’t want 11-1 again. I can remember both touchdowns. John (Shaffer ’87 Bus) came out to the right, I was chasing right behind him, he scored, I jumped on top of him. On the play before the other touchdown, I had fumbled the ball to John. And the next one, Joe sent that play—a 42 dive—right up my butt. I take a step, and then go straight up to the linebacker, D.J. (Dozier ’01 H&HD) comes right behind me and we score. Winning your first title is like your first child; you’re never gonna call it ugly. But I would like to think ’86 was just a little bit of a step above.”

Keith Radecic ’86 Bus was a part of the Nittany Lions’ 1982 and 1986 national championship teams. He is director of finance for the Lancaster (Pa.) Parking Authority.