Added Calvin Lowry: "We are different. People are probably tired of hearing us say that. But we play for us -- the blue and white. We don't play for anybody else."

Here begins the walk -- an account of the reasons, increasingly expanding, why this year's Penn State team bears growing similarity to last year's, which finished 3-9 and set several school records for futility.

The 2004 season is only four games old, but tonight, the Nittany Lions (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) might face their toughest test to date. A win can validate their talk. They travel to the Metrodome in Minneapolis, to face the best Minnesota team in recent history (8 p.m., WCWB). They'll do so without their top playmaker Michael Robinson, who is out with a concussion. And perhaps without their starting quarterback, Zack Mills, who has been slowed by a separated right shoulder.

What remains, then, is a Lions team that wants so desperately wants to differentiate itself from last season, but may lack (circle one) the talent, the luck, the coaching or all of the above. With wins so far against two Mid-American Conference teams (Akron and Central Florida) and losses against Boston College and Wisconsin, Penn State has built an unconvincing 2-2 record. But never during that stretch has Penn State been saddling with a losing record.

A loss tonight -- and the Lions are 14 1/2-point underdogs -- will change that. They'll be 2-3, with consecutive games against Big Ten powers Purdue, Iowa and Ohio State immediately ahead. And, they'll be one step closer to the 2003 team, which lost to the Golden Gophers, 20-14, at Beaver Stadium.

"We just have to hang in there and get better," coach Joe Paterno said. "Simple as that."

By many accounts, the 2004 Lions have already improved in several aspects. Coaches love the team's determined attitude. Before practice Monday, Paterno spoke to his players, expressing pride in the effort they had given two days earlier in a 16-3 loss against Wisconsin. Even with third-string quarterback Chris Ganter taking the snaps, even hampered by a slew of injuries, even facing a double-digit deficit, the Lions' desire never diminished.

"I'm proud of how you handled it," Paterno told the team. "Nobody got down. Nobody gave up."

Still, the effort, without the results, yields frustration.

When asked to describe his feelings about the season in an interview this week, senior fullback Paul Jefferson -- usually articulate -- started to stammer. Finally, he settled on this: "I really can't even describe it."

Cornerback Alan Zemaitis feels a similar desperation, especially because his teams faced similar struggles during high school, when, as he described it, he could score three touchdowns and his team would still lose. He said he isn't sure why Penn State remains unable to convert the desire into the results, the talk into the walk.

"I'm sick of losing," Zemaitis said. "Luckily, this is a physical sport, and I can take that aggression out. At least I have that. But I'm just so starving to win. I want to get back to the day when we had [tailback Larry Johnson] and those guys. I was just a young buck. We weren't going out there thinking we were going to lose."

Minnesota has defeated Penn State each of the past three times they've played, dating to a Nov. 6, 1999, game. That day, the Gophers shocked Penn State, which, at the time, was undefeated and looking very much like a national championship contender. Some longtime Penn State followers pinpoint that game as a force that reversed all fortunes in Happy Valley. Since that game -- a 24-23 Minnesota win -- the Lions have a 25-30 record.

Today, the Golden Gophers are the national power. Ranked 18th in The Associated Press poll, they rely on two of the top running backs in Division I-A, Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber III. After four games, Maroney and Barber have combined for more than 1,000 rushing yards.

A Penn State win tonight will translate into an upset, much as Minnesota's win did five years ago.

But that's exactly what Penn State players hope to do. They've spent enough time talking about it. A win would start to paint the differences between this year's team and last year's.

"We can say all we want about this team being different, how this team is going to bring Penn State back," linebacker Paul Posluszny said. "But we have to start getting the W's."