Saturday, September 13, 2003

By Ray Fittipaldo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Nebraska junior linebacker Barrett Rudd remembers the shock he felt immediately after Penn State put a major-league whipping on the Cornhuskers in last year's 40-7 rout at Beaver Stadium. In the days after the loss, those feelings turned to embarrassment.

Rudd said the Cornhuskers' 2002 season reached a crossroads with the 33-point loss to Penn State.

At the time it was Nebraska's worst loss in 12 years. And it came in front of a national television audience in prime time.

	More on Penn State: SCOUTING REPORT Matchup: Penn State (1-1) vs. Nebraska (2-0), 8 p.m. today, Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb. Nebraska is favored by 9 1/2. TV, radio: WTAE, WEAE-AM (1250) and the Nittany Lions Radio Network. Penn State: Coming off a 27-14 home loss against Boston College. ... Leads the series, 7-5, and has won four of the past five meetings, including last year's 40-7 victory at Beaver Stadium. ... Playing in Lincoln for the first time since 1981. ... Freshman RB Austin Scott leads the team with 129 yards rushing. ... The defense is allowing 200 yards rushing a game. Nebraska: Coming off a 31-7 victory against Utah State. ... Beat Oklahoma State, 17-7, in the opener. ... After losing at Penn State last season, the Cornhuskers lost six of their next 10 and finished 7-7, their worst record since 1961. ... Owns the No. 8 rushing offense in Division I-A with 270 yards a game. ... Head coach Frank Solich, a Johnstown native, is in his sixth season and has a 51-16 record. Hidden stat: Penn State is 4-9 against teams ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 since the beginning of the 2000 season.

"Going into the Penn State game last season our confidence was high," Rudd said. "That game was the turning point in our season. We got humiliated. That was the downfall of our season."

Nebraska went into the game with a 3-0 record and a No. 8 national ranking. The Penn State loss was the first of seven in its final 11 games. The Cornhuskers finished 7-7, their worst showing in 41 years, and fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 after 348 consecutive weeks of being ranked, including 54 consecutive weeks of being a Top-10 team.

Things got so bad that by the end of the season Kansas State trumped Penn State's 33-point shellacking with a 49-13 victory against the Cornhuskers.

One year later, the tables are turned. Nebraska is the home team with an undefeated record, and Penn State enters the game 1-1 and with a boatload of question after last week's 27-14 loss to Boston College.

During the week, it was Penn State's players who were calling this game a crossroads game. If the Nittany Lions go into a tough environment and win, they have an excellent chance of entering the Big Ten Conference schedule with a 3-1 record because Kent State is next on the schedule. But if they lose, or worse yet, get blown out, it could signal another long season in Happy Valley.

"This is a huge game," senior linebacker Gino Capone said. "It's early in the year, but it's very important. We're at the crossroads. If we win we're 2-1 and we go home for a stretch. If we lose then we're on a downswing and trying to find ourselves."

Capone's teammates also said this game could be a turning point for the team.

"I would agree," junior quarterback Zack Mills said. "We were expected to win against Boston College and we got our butts kicked. We expect to come out and play well. A lot of guys feel the same way Gino does."

But given Penn State's circumstances, is such an outlook the best way to approach a road game against a ranked opponent? Especially the way the Lions played in the first two games of the season?

The Lions are struggling to find an identity on offense and defense and enter the game as 9 1/2-point underdogs. They haven't been consistent running or passing and are allowing 200 yards a game on the ground. Nebraska has the No. 8 rushing offense in Division I-A and an improved defense from a year ago.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno seemed to play down the comments of his leaders this week. Either that, or he is trying to sandbag the Cornhuskers.

"We are not a particularly good football team right now," he said. "We have a chance before it's all said and done to be competitive, anyway. We're going down to Lincoln with some trepidation right now. We've struggled. We struggled against Temple and won, and we struggled against Boston College, obviously. We have a bunch of young kids. We don't have any false expectations going down there.

"It's a crossroads game in how people handle the trip. We have not been very consistent. If we can come away better ... Nebraska will be a very difficult team to play with. We need to just feel like we made progress. We're going to play against a really good team in a great stadium. If we can come back and look at ourselves and say we can be pretty good ... when we talk crossroads, I think that is what Gino means."

While the Lions' coach doesn't seem confident heading into the game, Mills sees it as the perfect test for the team.

"It's the ultimate challenge," he said. "I'd rather go down there and play them than play them up here. Our backs are against the wall. It seems like everything is going against us right now. It's the perfect situation for us to go out and play a good game."

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