Thursday, September 7 Penn State roasted in defeat, now toasted in victory By Jeff Potrykus Special to ESPN.com

Penn State's coaches and players were laughed at and ridiculed for virtually all of November and rightfully so.

	LaVar Arrington, left, is known for his fiery play on the field.

By losing their final three regular-season games, the Nittany Lions plummeted from the Sugar Bowl to the Alamo Bowl in less than a month. They went skydiving without parachutes. But Tuesday night they were spared themselves the painful landing.

Just as they deserved to be roasted in defeat, now they deserve to be toasted in victory.

The manner in which the 17th-ranked Nittany Lions regrouped during the lengthy time off and routed No. 13 Texas A&M was impressive.

And the sight of the Penn State players carrying retiring defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky off the field in victory was touching.

"To see these guys hang in there and hang in there and make plays, well, it'll be a great way to remember them," said Sandusky, who is leaving after 32 seasons as an assistant coach at Penn State. "The shutout? It doesn't get any better than that."

From the NFL-worthy performance of linebacker LaVar Arrington, named defensive MVP, to the marvelous athletic ability displayed by quarterback Rashard Casey, named offensive MVP, to the two interceptions by maligned safety Derek Fox, the Nittany Lions played like the team that was expected to win the Big Ten title and contend for a national title.

By winning, Penn State avoided losing four consecutive games in the same season for the first time in the same season since 1951, long before Paterno took over as head coach.

"This group of seniors was too good to go out with four straight," said coach Joe Paterno, who raised his bowl record to 20-9-1 and broke Paul Bear Bryant's record for bowl appearances with his 30th "It would have stuck in my craw. It would have left a bitter taste."

As uplifting as the night victory was, though, Penn State's fans probably will be left with a bittersweet feeling when they look back at the 1999 season.

For example, they might ask why the defense played so marvelously Tuesday after crumbling down the stretch in those losses to Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State.

Or based on how many big plays Casey after making his first start and playing nearly the entire game, why the Penn State coaches continually juggled Casey and Kevin Thompson, who was injured in practice before the Alamo Bowl.

"We played with tremendous emotion all year long," Paterno said. "At no time this year did this team dog it. Tonight I would say we played with some emotion but more concerned for winning the game first. This team was too good to go out with four straight losses."

That said, the Penn State fans are probably still wondering how this team could have lost three straight.

Arrington, who recorded 14 tackles, caused three of Texas A&M's interceptions and continually reintroduced himself to quarterback Randy McCown is wondering.

"Maybe for the first time this season, we had that killer instinct," Arrington said. "I don't think they understood the magnitude of how hard we were going to come.

"We had a lot of pressure on us. Maybe we should have played with that kind of pressure on us all season."

No Walters, no changes
Only a few hours after learning that they would play the Rose Bowl without senior wide receiver Troy Walters, the Stanford players and coaches shifted into classic spin-doctor mode.

Yes, the loss of Walters, who suffered a dislocated right wrist Tuesday in practice, would be difficult to overcome. But no, it wouldn't hurt their chances of upsetting No. 4 Wisconsin Saturday.

"We've known this has got to be the best game we have ever played," senior outside linebacker Riall Johnson said Wednesday before practice. "Now that Troy is hurt we've got to make sure we're on top of our game even more. I don't know how the offense is going to respond but as a defense, we've got to make sure we just give our offense more time with the ball.

"We're just going to have to step up and play without him. That is why you have 90 players on the team. You've got people to fill in."

Fill in for the Pacific 10 Conference offensive player of the year? A player who caught 74 passes for 1,456 yards, for an average of 19.4 yards per catch, and 10 touchdowns in 11 games?

"It is obviously a tremendous loss for our football team," head coach Tyrone Willignham said. "Our goal, however, remains the same. And that is to win the football game."

The reaction coming from the Wisconsin camp was similar. Several coaches and players expressed regret for Walters, but stressed his absence would not affect their preparation.

"I was looking forward to the challenge," said cornerback Jamar Fletcher, who would have shadowed Walters whenever possible. "But this is still a team game. It's not just about me and Troy Walters. I'm still going to go out and do my thing."

Defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove noted the Cardinal had other excellent receivers and a dangerous running game.

"They didn't make it this far with one player," he said. "He is certainly a very good football player but they have a lot of good football players."

Secondar coach Phil Elmassian reminded Stanford bashers the Cardinal still had quarterback Todd Husak, who passed for 2,688 yards and 18 touchdowns, and a standout backup in Joe Borchard, who threw seven touchdown passes despite attempting just 71 passes this season.

"Now if both quarterbacks are injured, not one, but if both are injured," Elmassian said, "we're going to change. They're going to change.

"We're not going to change."

Big Ten rolls, Pac-10 reels
The early returns in the bowl standings show the Big Ten at 1-0 thanks to Penn State and the Pac 10 at 0-2, thanks to Oregon State and Arizona State. A year ago, the Big Ten went 5-0 in the post-season and the Pac 10 went a woeful 1-4.

This year, seven Big Ten teams qualified for bowls, along with five from the Pac-10.

The two head-to head matchups between the proud conferences take place Friday in the Sun Bowl when Oregon meets Minnesota and Saturday in the Rose Bowl when Stanford tries to upset Wisconsin.

Look for the Big Ten to sweep both ends of that doubleheader and finish the bowl season with a superior mark again.

Aggies in agony
Speaking of poor post-season records...Texas A&M has played in eight bowl games in the last 10 seasons. The Aggies' record during that run?

A woeful 2-6.

The 24-0 loss to Penn State marked the third bowl game of the decade in which the Aggies failed to score a touchdown.

"No question, if we had won half those bowl games we would be seen a lot differently than what we are," said A&M coach R.C. Slocum, who is 2-7 in bowl games. "In all but one of those games, we were underdogs to pretty good football teams and we haven't been able to pull off the big upset."

The only folks upset are the Aggies fans, who must be growing weary of watching their team lose in bowl games.

Happy Days are here again
Actor Henry Winkler, who has adopted Wisconsin as his favorite college team, visited practice Tuesday at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Winkler, who played "The Fonz" on the sitcom Happy Days, has a daughter who is a second-year student at Wisconsin.

He posed for pictures with several players and gave a brief pep talk to the players and coaches after practice.

The theme of Winkler's talk: Stanford is going down.

"It's a real shame that Stanford even packed and came down here," Winkler bellowed, drawing howls of laughter.

Junior nose tackle Eric Mahlik anticipates Stanford will put up more resistance than Winkler anticipates.

"Henry is in his own world," Mahlik said, laughing. "But we appreciate the pep talk. He's the Fonz. Hey!"

Winkler first met the Wisconsin coaches last season in Madison, during the week of the Oct. 10 Purdue game. He later visited with the players and coaches as they prepared to play UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Winkler gave a similar speech then as well.

"It worked last year," Mahlik said, "so it's got to work this year."

Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.