The oldest California university -- the one on a bend in the Monongahela River, 2,600 miles from the Pacific Coast -- will be in the national spotlight today.

California University of Pennsylvania and its 13-0 football team are about to give America a geography lesson.

Cal hosts Valdosta State at 11 a.m. today in an NCAA Division II semifinal playoff game that will be broadcast on ESPNU.

The visiting Georgians, with a record of 11-1, may be unaccustomed to the cold weather of Pennsylvania, but they are the more experienced playoff team. Valdosta State won the Division II national championship in 2004 and was runner-up in 2002.

Back then, Cal was a school with powerful women's athletic teams but a so-so football program. The turnaround began in May 2002, when Cal President Angelo Armenti Jr. hired John Luckhardt as his football coach.

Mr. Luckhardt had won 137 games, lost 37 and tied two during 17 years as head coach of nearby Washington & Jefferson College. He led his teams to the NCAA Division III playoffs 11 times. Despite that glittering record, administrators effectively ended his career at W&J after the 2000 season.

"I kind of got pushed out of the last place," Mr. Luckhardt said in an interview this week. "I also kind of missed coaching."

Mr. Luckhardt and Dr. Armenti had become friends while involved in a community project to develop a minor-league ballpark in Washington County. Mr. Luckhardt, now 62, had had stress-related heart problems at W&J. But he decided to take the Cal job because of Dr. Armenti, whom he calls the finest administrator he has ever worked with.

Under Mr. Luckhardt, Cal soon ascended into a contender for conference championships, finishing 8-2 in 2005 and 8-3 in 2006. But the big breakthrough came this season. Cal swept the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and has won its first two playoff games in routs, defeating Southern Connecticut State by 36 points and Shepherd by 20. Cal's closest game all year was a 9-point win over Slippery Rock.

Mr. Luckhardt, though, said his proudest moment might have came off the field, when quarterback Joe Ruggiero was asked by reporters about his diminished personal statistics this season. Mr. Ruggiero, a senior from Livonia, Mich., said he did not care about his passing yardage, only the team's record.

"Before, it was a lot of individuals on this team. Now it's different," Mr. Ruggiero said this week in a locker-room interview.

Though he is the recognized leader of the team, Mr. Ruggiero said he is not and does not try to be the star. Asked how Cal had won 13 games in succession, he answered with one word: "Defense."

Mr. Luckhardt said Cal has 25 football scholarships. It divides them so that the bulk of the starters and top backups receive monetary aid.

Seventy percent of Cal's players come from Western Pennsylvania high schools. But many started their careers at Division I universities such as West Virginia or Akron. Mr. Luckhardt has landed four players who first signed with Purdue, where he played in the 1960s.

Mr. Luckhardt was part of the great Purdue teams that featured Bob Griese and Leroy Keyes, both runners-up for the Heisman Trophy.

"If there were 30 recruits at Purdue, I was 31, just lucky to be there," Mr. Luckhardt said.

Jack Mollenkopf, his coach at Purdue, became one of the most inspirational figures in his life. Mr. Luckhardt said Mr. Mollenkopf took a genuine interest in every player -- the stars, the lesser lights and those struggling to find their way in college.

Mr. Luckhardt said he has tried to run his teams the same way during more than 30 years at five different schools. He worked as an assistant at Purdue, Northern Illinois and Lehigh before getting the head coaching job at W&J.

The Lehigh team he helped coach in 1977 won the Division II national championship. Mr. Luckhardt said this Cal team probably is deeper and better, given today's scholarship restrictions that prevent Division I powers from stockpiling most of the talent.

"I've got six guys now who are looked at as possible professional prospects. That's unheard of at this level," Mr. Luckhardt said.

To much of America, though, California University of Pennsylvania is still an unknown, a mystery school.

Pennsylvania's Cal U. was founded in 1852 in California Borough. At the time, there was no California university on the West Coast. The University of California at Berkeley did not offer its first class until 1873. UCLA opened in 1919.

Now, of course, the West Coast California universities have the higher profile.

A UCLA game at the Rose Bowl can draw more than 100,000 fans.

Adamson Stadium at California University of Pennsylvania will hold perhaps 4,000 for today's playoff game. Many fans, including Cal history professor Michael Slaven, would like to be there but cannot.

"I'll be traveling, but I'm going to follow the game as best I can," said Dr. Slaven, a member of the Cal faculty since 1992. "In the past, we've had some fine players and decent teams, but this season is a whole new level."

Cal's players are a tight-knit group. They pride themselves on pulling for one another.

Junior linebacker Darren Burns, of McKeesport, said the fear of losing to Valdosta State is all the motivation he needs.

"I wouldn't want to see my seniors go out that way," Mr. Burns said. "I don't want this to be their last game."

A criminal justice major, he chose Cal for two reasons: It was close to home and he liked the coaches.

Since Dr. Armenti became Cal's president 15 years ago, the women's softball team and women's basketball team have won national championships. Men's basketball has been consistently strong.

Football was the last of the major sports to rise. A win today would send Cal to the national championship game in the sport with the highest profile.

"I don't think we're overwhelmed," Mr. Luckhardt said.

To a man, his players say their job is to learn, practice and then perform when the whistle blows.

Mr. Luckhardt plans no rousing speech or special message before his team takes the field this morning. Everybody, he said, knows what is at stake.

"Really, probably the less I say now, the better," Mr. Luckhardt said.