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ESPN The Magazine broke the shocking details that former Penn State Football Assistant Coach and one time backup quarterback Mike McQueary claims to have been a victim of sexual abuse as a child in addition to being a degenerate gambling. Now one has to wonder if McQueary’s betting on games translated into throwing one specific showdown, that wasn't much of a showdown when all was said and done.
From Deadspin.com:
In 1995, Mike McQueary threw a touchdown late in garbage time of a Penn State blowout over Rutgers. Then-Rutgers coach Doug Graber and Joe Paterno got into a shouting match after the game because Graber thought Paterno was running up the score. The touchdown put the 20-point-favorite Nittany Lions up 59-34. None of this is interesting at all but for a tiny anecdote about McQueary's gambling habit while enrolled at Penn State, buried in ESPN’s profile on the Penn State whistleblower.
One only needs to do the math. 59 – 34 does equals 25. Without that garbage time touchdown, Penn State wins by 18 points and fails to cover.
McQueary was a backup quarterback in this game. Head coach Joe Paterno claimed his backup had to throw to a guy because ‘he was so wide open”.
Deadspin’s response:
This is more than your typical crazy-play-allows-team-to-cover-late story. This is a guy with an alleged gambling problem—including betting on his own team—coming in for mop-up duty and immediately covering the spread with a 42-yard touchdown pass in a game that was over.
Then there’s this from ESPN The Magazine:
One former teammate specifically recalls that Big Red bet and lost on his own team in a November 1996 game against Michigan State at Beaver Stadium. With McQueary serving as a backup on the sideline, favorite PSU won on a late field goal 32-29 but didn't cover the eight-point spread.
McQueary blew the whistle on long time Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky as part of an explosive child sex abuse scandal that landed Sandusky a life time prison sentence.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
