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Penn State coach Joe Paterno prowls the sidelines at Neyland Stadium during Tennessee's 28-21 win over the Nittany Lions in 1972, the first home night game in Tennessee history.

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Before 1972, night games were not part of the Tennessee football experience. There were no lights at Shields-Watkins Field/Neyland Stadium, and the Vols played infrequently under the lights in games away from Knoxville.

There were night games at Florida and against Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl in 1971, at Memphis State in 1969, at Rice and against Auburn at Legion Field in 1968, against Oklahoma in the 1968 Orange Bowl, at UCLA in 1967, against Mississippi State in 1964 at Crump Stadium in Memphis, and the debut game under the lights at LSU in 1944. That's nine night games in the first 75 years of recorded Tennessee history.

That all changed in 1972 as Tennessee and Penn State kicked off under the lights Sept. 16, in a rematch of the 1971 contest, a 31-11 Tennessee win. Coming into the game, Tennessee was ranked No. 7, Penn State No. 6. Kickoff took place at 7:30 p.m.

The game was not televised, nor was there an ESPN in those days, so precious few other folks than the 71,647 present for the history-making encounter remember exactly what it was like.

"It was just an electric situation," said UT coach Bill Battle. "That's the only way I can describe it. The players just looked faster and quicker."

Lights or not, the Vols got the capacity crowd into the game in a big way with interceptions by Eddie Brown and Art Reynolds, fumble recoveries by David Allen and Carl Johnson, and touchdowns by Haskel Stanback and Steve Chancey to build a 21-0 halftime lead. Condredge Holloway was dazzling the crowd by gracefully eluding Penn State defenders, and Vol defenders were keeping the Penn State offense bottled up.

Penn State is nobody's pushover, however, and the Nittany Lions roared back in the second half. Quarterback John Hufnagel tossed a 69-yard pass to Jimmy Scott for the Lions' first score. After a Vol fumble led to another score, it was 21-14, and the battle was on.

On its first drive of the fourth quarter, heading southward, Tennessee moved 80 yards in 13 plays to another score, widening the margin to 28-14. Holloway showed senior-like poise leading the drive, extricating his team from a number of tight situations.

With the ball at the State 33, Holloway got loose up the middle on one of his trademark "now-you-see-him, now you-don't" runs that had the crowd on its feet, wondering what he could do for an encore. It was first down at the 19. Two plays later, he found wideout Stan Trott for yardage that was barely enough to move the chains.

On second-and-goal from the nine and under enormous duress, Holloway rolled to his right and made a late pitch to Stanback, who grabbed the ball with his left hand and somehow made it to the two. He scored on the next play, and the Vols had some breathing room at 28-14.

Ever resilient, State had an immediate reply, as Hufnagel moved the Nittany Lions 79 yards in nine plays, cutting the margin to 28-21.

Moments later, when Penn State grabbed a fumble at the Vol 34, it looked as if the Nittany Lions might be poised to tie or go ahead.

After Hufnagel was sacked, taking away six yards, the Vols stopped three passes and took over on downs.

Penn State had one last chance, as Hufnagel made the requisite plays as Vol defenders clawed at his jersey. The drive was stopped at the Vol 20, and that was the game.

"This was a big game for us, but losing it doesn't mean the end of our season," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said after the game. "Our kids came back from what could have been a disaster game. They showed their poise."

He was right, as the Nittany Lions reeled off 10 straight victories on their way to a Sugar Bowl matchup with Oklahoma. They finished 10-2 after losing 14-0.

After the game, Battle praised his coaching colleague, still at Penn State 36 years later.

"I was never a great Joe Paterno fan," Battle said, "but I became one after the two games we played. After the game, he asked me if he could speak to our team.

"After taking care of his team and the media, he came over and congratulated our players. His classiest line was, 'I told the people in State College I was not leaving Knoxville without being in the winning dressing room, but I didn't envision it being this way.' From that point on, I became a believer in Joe Paterno. He coaches the way it's supposed to be done."

Any doubts that the Neyland Stadium faithful would not respond to football under the lights were quickly dispelled.

Taking everything into account, it was a memorable evening.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), to be published in second edition in 2009, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). Thanks to Lou Prato, author of the "Penn State Football Vault" and "The Penn State Football Encyclopedia," for his help with the story. Tom may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net . His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.