Fourty-eight hours on the button, he weighed his loyalties, he debated what to do, but let's face it, this was a wave of frustration Doug Skeggs never had a prayer of dodging.

There was dread, sure, because Skeggs knew what he might face when he called for Joe Paterno's retirement. But, well ... Skeggs had just burned his Saturday and boiled his senses watching Penn State lose a football game, 6-4, and maybe the waves had long been building, but Saturday was the moment they crashed.

This 27-year-old decided to make a small case for the team he loves, for the school from which he had graduated in 1999. He never told his wife. He never wanted to make it a big deal. Because, yeah, he felt a few pangs of sacrilege. But Monday, from the computer in his office in Lake Ozark, Mo., where he manages a mortgage company, Skeggs created an online petition urging the dismissal of a legend.

An hour before he left work, Skeggs became the first to sign his self-made petition, as he punched these words into his computer: "Please retire, so we can resurrect our once-proud program." Three days later, almost 400 people had signed the petition.

This week, following Penn State's fourth consecutive loss and perhaps its most demoralizing of the season, support among fans for Paterno seems to be withering. Even some of Paterno's long-time supporters -- thankful to the 77-year-old coach for building decades of victories and pride -- now believe Paterno won't be able to meet his final challenge: re-building the great things that once came so routinely.

There is a fickle element to this, naturally, because fan support generally comes in spurts -- thicker in winning times, thinner in losing times. That makes this story not about a trend for eternity, or even a trend for the year. This is a trend of the moment, possibly reversible with a few wins.

But that alone ought to spark attention, because fan support for Paterno was once never fickle; it was unwavering, it was steadfast. Paterno guided Penn State, over 39 seasons, to 341 wins and two national championships. Waves rolled with pride, never frustration.

"After the 6-4 debacle," Skeggs said, "it seems like a lot of fans want change. That sent people over the edge. I think [Paterno's] got to take into consideration the state of the program he built -- that's his legacy, that's his test of time. In the last couple of years, that's started to diminish.

"The program is almost a laughingstock. I just think it's time to go. It's true. And it's sad."

The loss Saturday to Iowa dropped the Lions to 2-5, still winless in the Big Ten. And after the game -- PSU's 15th loss in its past 20 games -- frustrations surged.

Just minutes after the loss ...

Fan message boards throbbed with anger and disgust. Lions' Web sites had more than double the usual activity. Some Penn Staters demanded Paterno's dismissal. Others wrote, with resignation, they'd lost faith in the head coach.

Less than an hour after the loss ...

Stuck in post-game traffic, Steve MacCarthy drove home from Beaver Stadium, bracing for what awaited him at work Monday. He already knew. E-mails. A sea of them. As PSU's vice president of university relations, MacCarthy would read, just two days later, every anti-Paterno letter sent by hundreds of Penn State fans to the office of university president Graham Spanier. MacCarthy would respond to most of them. "Except the obscene ones," he said.

"Obviously, we pay attention to what people are thinking," MacCarthy added. "Out of the deluge of e-mails, occasionally we might even get a good idea."

Days after the loss ...

A 73-year-old fan, Roger Dietz, sat at home in Devon, Pa., alongside his dalmation while speaking on the telephone to a reporter. A calender year earlier, Dietz, a 25-year member of the Nittany Lion Club, had penned a letter to The Philadelphia Inquirer supporting Paterno as the Lions neared the end of what would become a 3-9 season. This week, Dietz continued in the same tone, lauding Paterno -- Dietz reverently called him "Mr. Paterno" -- for his values and honor and service to the university.

"However," Dietz said. "However." A PSU graduate from 1955 and a holder of 10 season tickets, his next words were tinged with pain. "I think the time has come for Penn State to make the decisions that would let someone else come in and take charge."

And so the opinions surge. A Web site, www.joepamustgo.com, has been in service for 1 1/2 years, and the site webmaster said Paterno's critics never have been louder or more numerous. This week, one fan bought a "JoePa Must Go" T-shirt designed for a medium-sized dog. Meanwhile, Paterno's future was discussed on national television programs and argued by newspaper columnists. Hundreds of fans sent letters to friends and to PSU administrators. Numerous e-mails were sent to the Post-Gazette.

One e-mail: "Joe is ruining the team ..."

Another: "What is it going to take for JoePa and PSU to realize the game has passed Joe by?"

Another: "[Joe] was good in his time, but now he's terrible."

Those in the Penn State administration recognize the fans' frustration, but lack the same desire for immediate reaction. After all, Paterno has long stood for stability, and what's to say those same values aren't Penn State's solution? Even this week, Paterno spoke at his weekly news conference about sticking with it, about working through the tough stretches.

His answers were predictable, which fans used to love, as Paterno's stability underwrote his success. Now, fans call him stubborn and suggest his unwillingness to change has become something to bemoan, not something to applaud.

When asked this week about waning fan support, Paterno acknowledged only those who have supported him, saying graciously, "I think the fans have been absolutely super. You would be amazed how many letters I get telling me to hang in there."

Said athletic director Tim Curley: "Our fan support has been wonderful. Our last two games, we had two of the best crowds we've probably ever had."

Those same fans, though, booed loudly at times Saturday. They booed after several of PSU's five turnovers. They booed after two failed red-zone attempts. More than 108,000 fans attended the game. Many left believing, despite their wishes to think otherwise, that their beloved head coach might be nearing a sad endpoint.

Just last year, Paul Morrison, another member of the Nittany Lion Club, became one of the first voices to speak out against Paterno. He said the Penn State program likely would struggle until a new coach was in place. When Paterno signed a four-year contract extension last May, Morrison again expressed disappointment.

He has seen, since then, how his friends' viewpoints have changed.

Then?

"You're treasonous."

Now?

"You're right."

NOTES -- Penn State senior QB Zack Mills, who had a minor concussion last week against Iowa, remains doubtful for the game tomorrow at Ohio State, coach Joe Paterno said last night on his weekly radio show. Mills took a concussion test yesterday morning to determine if he'd be able to play against the Buckeyes. Those results were still unavailable last night, said Jeff Nelson, Penn State's associate athletic director for media relations. If Mills cannot play, junior Michael Robinson will start.