Monday, December 20 Penn State insists it's up for Alamo Bowl
Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The best thing Penn State's coaches
and players can say about facing Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl on
Dec. 28 is that they'll be home on New Year's Eve.
"I've never had any New Year's Eve plans. This is going to be
fun," coach Joe Paterno said Wednesday as the No. 13 Nittany Lions
prepared to head to San Antonio, Texas.
Maybe, but no candy-coating can hide the deep disappointment for
these Lions -- a group that expected to be living it up in New
Orleans at the start of 2000, only to finish the regular season 9-3
and, at 5-3 in Big Ten games, fourth in the conference.
Can they really get excited enough to beat what is sure to be an
emotional Texas A&M team? Can they avoid Paterno's first four-game
losing streak? And can they send retiring defensive coordinator
Jerry Sandusky out on a high note?
"I think this team is going to show a lot of people what kind
of heart we have," Mac Morrison said.
Kansas State said the same thing going into last year's Alamo
Bowl.
The Wildcats were a victory from playing for the national title,
but they gave up a 15-point lead and lost to the Aggies in the Big
12 championship and dropped out of the Bowl Championship Series.
Kansas State never really recovered, losing in ugly fashion, 37-34
to Purdue in the bowl game.
As they did after the loss to Minnesota and again after the loss
to Michigan, Penn State is promising no such collapse.
Penn State is circling the wagons after becoming the first Lions
team to lose its last three games since 1914. Following Paterno's
lead, the players say they're looking on the bright side. With
close calls against Purdue and Miami, they're blessed to still have
a game left.
"We could've been 7-5," Anthony King said. "We're just
thankful to be 9-3. ... I'm not going to be pessimistic about it."
They say they're playing for pride, for the seniors and for
Sandusky, who gave a moving speech at the annual football banquet
Sunday.
"We have so many seniors. We don't want to go out with this
taste in our mouths for the next 30 or 40 years," Derek Fox said.
To do it, they'll need to beat a team that came from behind to
defeat Texas 20-16 just days after the bonfire collapse that killed
12.
The Aggies (8-3) boast 265-pound back Ja'Mar Toombs, who might
remind the Lions of those running backs -- Minnesota's Thomas
Hamner, Michigan's Anthony Thomas, Michigan State's T.J. Duckett --
who factored heavily in Penn State's recent losses.
They have to play in Texas, in what Paterno said other coaches
have called one of the loudest stadiums, even louder than
Syracuse's Carrier Dome.
There are a few promising signs for the Lions. Star linebacker
LaVar Arrington, who missed the Michigan State game with nerve
damage in his shoulder, is expected to return.
And there is history: Paterno's teams are 4-0 after three
straight losses.
The team will practice three or four days in State College, then
meet in San Antonio on Dec. 18 after finals.
