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Wednesday, January 01, 2003

By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. -- With a victory today against Auburn in the Capital One Bowl, Penn State can break one of the longest droughts of the Joe Paterno era.

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With a win, the Nittany Lions would finish the season in The Associated Press top 10 for the first time since 1996.

Going six years without an AP top-10 ranking is a long time for Penn State, considering Paterno-coached teams finished the season in the top 10 18 times during his first 30 seasons (1966-95).

Penn State is ranked 10th going into the game.

For all the talk this season about re-establishing Penn State as a program to be reckon with on the national level, a top-10 finish is a status symbol the players covet.

"If you finish in the top 10, you know you're one of the best teams in the country," junior linebacker Gino Capone said. "A couple of plays here and there, and we could be playing in the Fiesta Bowl, so I think it's very important for us to finish in the top 10."

A victory would stamp a memorable season that saw a transformation from a losing team to one that was 19 points away from competing for a national championship. The Lions lost to No. 2 Ohio State by six points, to No. 5 Iowa by seven in overtime and to No. 12 Michigan by six in overtime.

"We feel like we can play against anyone in the country with the kind of team we have," junior receiver Tony Johnson said. "If we get that 10th win, hopefully that will satisfy a lot of players because we didn't get those three losses."

It also would serve as a stepping-stone for a large group of returning starters whose job it will be to keep the program on top.

Five starters on offense and six on defense will return next season.

The players are cognizant that it's one thing to have one winning season after two losing ones, and it's another to sustain a consistently strong program.

"That's why this game is so important, I think," sophomore quarterback Zack Mills said. "We're losing a lot of seniors, guys who played a lot of football. I think the practices prior to coming to Orlando helped us tremendously. Winning this football game will send a message out to a lot of people. It's going to let them know that Penn State is back, and that we're going to be around for a while."

A victory also would cement the program's first 10-win season since 1999, when the Lions finished 11th in the final AP voting. After key players such as LaVar Arrington, Courtney Brown, David Macklin and Brandon Short left for the NFL, the team struggled to a 5-7 record in 2000 and didn't recover until this season.

A bevy of talented players from this team will move on to the next level, and the younger players carry the weight of the program on their shoulders.

"All the underclassmen, this is our coming out party, our step to getting on the right track and having that winning feeling," Tony Johnson said.

And it's an opportunity to give the seniors a grand sendoff. Paterno holds this class in high esteem because it helped to rebuild the Penn State tradition.

This class has a number of players who overcame problems and one player -- Jimmy Kennedy -- who postponed a lucrative NFL career to come back with one thought in mind, to make Penn State a winner again.

"This game is so important," Capone said. "If you have a 10-win season, it's a tremendous accomplishment. This whole season has instilled a lot of confidence back in the younger guys. The older guys have shown how it's done and what it takes, the dedication it takes during the season and the off-season, what it takes to be a good football team. That's what the seniors brought to us."