Penn State’s national championship hopes absorbed a serious blow when the Nittany Lions lost a one-point game at Ohio State late last month.

It was a major setback, but survivable.

The kill shot to their title dreams came a week later, in a 27-24 defeat at Michigan State.

Two-loss teams don’t win national championships. They don’t even get a chance to compete for one.

Conversely, losing one game doesn’t disqualify a team from title consideration.

In fact, the past three national champions – Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State – finished 14-1, the two most recent of those because they survived the four-team playoff.

There even is precedent for the Nittany Lions claiming a title in a season during which they finished with a less-than-perfect record.

That’s what happened when Penn State earned the first of its two national championships.

Nearly 35 years have passed since it did that with a 27-23 victory against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1983. A lot has happened to, and changed with, the Nittany Lions since then, and much of it has not been good for the school, the program or anyone associated with either.

But even as memories of that first title begin to drift into history for many Penn State devotees, Bill Contz – a Belle Vernon native and offensive tackle on that championship squad – has refreshed them in his recently released book, “When the Lions Roared.” [Triumph Books, $19.95].

Contz presents information with the objectivity of an outsider, but the passion and perspective of an insider who was in the games and dressing rooms and huddles.

It is not simply a rehash of newspaper accounts of that season; Contz lists 29 players and coaches he interviewed for the book, and they offer insights on a lot of things that only those associated with the team would know about.

And while Contz is understandably proud of that Penn State accomplished during his senior season, this is not a self-serving paean that glosses over the warts of his team, or the guys who played on it.

Contz, for example, notes that Todd Blackledge – the acclaimed TV analyst who was Penn State’s quarterback for that title run – urinated in his pants during the Sugar Bowl.

While standing on the sidelines. In full uniform. Intentionally.

Such a nugget that could come only from someone who was on that team, but it’s not a behind-the-scenes anecdote intended to embarrass a celebrated teammate.

Fact is, Blackledge actually addresses the incident in the book. Not only in the text written by Contz, but in a separate box labeled “Todd’s Take.”

There are dozens of those spliced into the book, with Blackledge offering his candid thoughts on the game or play or issue Contz is addressing at that time.

Subjects covered in those range from facing Southern Cal in the 1982 Fiesta Bowl [“… I also remember sensing that USC wasn’t approaching this game with the same tenacity and focus that we were.”] to being knocked unconscious briefly at Notre Dame [“Had it happened today, I don’t think there is any way I would have been allowed to go back in the game …”] to what happened on the sideline at the Sugar Bowl [“I felt a whole lot better after that].”

Blackledge also wrote the foreword to the book.

Contz rarely mentions, let alone praises, himself, although he does note that in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, he managed to deliver a nasty blow to Terry Hoage, the Bulldogs’ outstanding safety, who was adept at leaping over the opposing center to try to block field-goal and extra-point attempts.

“Let’s just say I discouraged Hoage from jumping over our center,” Contz wrote.

He pays great attention to detail, such as how cigarette smoke hovered near the roof of the Superdome during halftime of the Sugar Bowl, and offers detailed looks at things that transpired far from public view.

Like how linebacker Chet Parlavecchio routinely hurled scout-team running back Jeff Butya into the thorny bushes surrounding the practice field after Butya was the only player who voted against reinstating Parlavecchio after he briefly left the team following a demotion.

Contz quotes former assistant coach Fran Ganter as saying, “I remember seeing Chet throw Butya like a Frisbee,” while Butya said, “I’d always get up smiling, which would make [Parlavecchio] so mad.”

There is a smattering of course language, invariably in direct quotes, in the book, but it is just enough to lend emphasis and authenticity.

One example came when Contz relayed a verbal exchange between Nittany Lions linebacker Rich D’Amico and Pitt quarterback Dan Marino, who had been teammates at Central Catholic, during the fourth quarter of Penn State’s 48-14 victory at Pitt Stadium in 1981.

The book – like that game against the Panthers – will have its greatest appeal to Penn State partisans, but those whose loyalties lie elsewhere could enjoy it, too, because of the insights it provides on college football and how it doesn’t try to hide the blemishes of that history-making team.

Or the players and coaches who made it up.

Dave Molinari: Dmolinari@Post-Gazette.com and Twitter @MolinariPG

First Published: November 6, 2017, 2:58 p.m.