Nittany Lions

It's not true that when Joe Paterno started coaching at Penn State, the Nittany Lions traveled to road games by way of horse and buggy. But it is a fact that the trek teams now make is significantly different from the way it was when Paterno arrived at State College 57 years ago. That doesn't necessarily mean it's easier. "Well, you've got to get on a bus, get on a plane," Paterno explained earlier this week. "You've got to check in, get screened like everybody else does these days.

If Penn State is going to snatch first place from the Temple Owls in the Atlantic 10 Conference, the Nittany Lions will have to get help from their buddies at Rutgers and West Virginia. Because after 40 minutes of yanking and tugging until they were Penn State- blue in the face last night at McGonigle Hall, all the Lions had was a 61-53 loss to Temple and another week in second place. Penn State (16-6) is 9-4 in the A-10. The Owls (14-8) are 12-2 in league games. "It's real disappointing," Penn State center Ed Fogell, "to come in hoping to grab a share of first place (actually pull within a half-game of first)

As unaccustomed as Penn State is to bouncing into the Sweet 16, it's understandable how much the players are enjoying the experience. But they haven't lost sight of their mission: beat Temple on Friday night in Atlanta, and advance to the NCAA South Regional final. "We want to enjoy it," senior Joe Crispin said yesterday, "but we don't want to step back and think about what making the Sweet 16 means to the program. We, as a team, have a lot of fun, but there's a focus there. " This is the first time Penn State has won two games in an NCAA Tournament since 1954, when it reached the Final Four.

The suspense at Penn State football games is in the pregame coin toss. Once that formality is over, the blowout commences. Penn State (3-0), fifth in both the latest polls, crushed Iowa, 61-21, Saturday at Beaver Stadium in a Big Ten mismatch. The story of the 1994 Nittany Lions is the first quarter. In three games, Penn State has outscored its opponents, 70-0, in the first 15 minutes. The games are over so fast that you wonder if they are games at all. Iowa (2-1) was down, 35-0, after a quarter and 42-0 less than a minute into the second quarter.

Penn State landed its sixth recruit for the Class of 2009 when Derrick Thomas, a cornerback and wide receiver, committed to the Nittany Lions on Sunday. The 6-foot, 175-pound Thomas, from Greenbelt, Md., became the third high school junior to commit last weekend after attending the Nike Camp in State College. Cornerback Darrell Givens and safety Stephen Obeng-Agyapong gave the Lions their pledges on Saturday. Thomas was a two-way star at Eleanor Roosevelt High last season.

Some observers have long suspected that if the shroud of secrecy were removed from Penn State football, we might all be surprised at what lies beneath. That's certainly the case in the January issue of the glossy fashion magazine W, where a full-page photo of bare-chested quarterback Michael Robinson reveals a liberally tattooed torso that contrasts strikingly with the Nittany Lions' squeaky-clean image. On the left side of Robinson's chest are the words "Mike Rob" above the words "In God I Trust.

Remember the Alamo in 1999? Penn State is going back to San Antonio, Texas, to play in the Alamo Bowl for the first time in eight years after being selected yesterday as the Big Ten Conference representative. The Nittany Lions' Big Twelve Conference opponent will be announced tomorrow evening and is expected to be either 8-4 Texas Tech or 7-5 Texas A&M. Penn State beat the Aggies, 24-0, in the 1999 Alamo Bowl. This season's version will be played at 8 p.m. Dec. 29 and will be televised on ESPN.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno can be very selective when it comes to history. So be certain he spent no time this week telling the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions they've defeated Rutgers 21 of the last 22 times the teams have met. Or that they are 5-0 against the Scarlet Knights at Giants Stadium, where the teams will meet tonight (ESPN, 7:30). Or that State has won 19 straight on artificial turf. Or that Penn State crowds usually turn these road games in swampland country into a home-game atmosphere.

One school looks as if it is destined to become a Top 20 team again by the end of the season. The other looks as if it is destined to go back to the drawing board. When Penn State defeated Temple, 48-10, Saturday in its annual homecoming game at University Park, the Nittany Lions (2-2) sent shock waves throughout the East. Penn State not only dominated the game, but it also unleashed a devastating running game that rolled up 361 yards, two more than the Lions had in three previous games.