FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- When Penn State University lost its first two games of the season to Texas and the University of Southern California, Nittany Lions senior inside linebacker Keith Goganious saw a team that was on the brink of collapse.
But he still found reason to smile.
"Well, it's like death and taxes," said Goganious. "You know every four or five years Penn State is going to be ranked nationally in the top five or challenge for the national title. This is our fourth season since the school won the national championship in the 1985-86 season. I knew we were due."
In truth, it would take divine intervention for No. 7 Penn State (9-2) to end up No. 1. First, the Nittany Lions would have to upset No. 6 Florida State (9-2) in tonight's Blockbuster Bowl (8 o'clock) at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium.
Then Penn State would have to rely on fifth-ranked Notre Dame (9-2) to upset No. 1 Colorado (10-1-1) in the Federal Express Orange Bowl, No. 19 Nebraska (9-2) to beat No 2. Georgia Tech (10-0-1) in the Florida Citrus Bowl and No. 4 Miami (9-2) to defeat No. 3 Texas (10-1) in the Mobil Cotton Bowl, all on New Year's Day.
"If Georgia Tech and Texas lose, and if we beat Florida State, I'll probably sound like Sam Jankovich [Miami's athletic director] and say we deserve to be No. 1," said Paterno, in his 25th year as Penn State's head coach. "I can't believe there's a better football team in the country than Florida State."
Goganious said: "We're a little ticked that we beat Notre Dame and they are still ahead of us in the rankings. If we don't get a national championship this year, we're going to get even better next year. Penn State has arrived."
True, but slowly. Since that 12-0 national championship campaign in the 1986 season, the Nittany Lions went 8-4, 5-6 and 8-3-1.
"Happy Valley wasn't so happy when we went 5-6," said Penn State senior safety Willie Thomas. "What's the old saying? You're only as good as your last game. In our case, we were only as good as our last national championship. Overall, Penn State fans understand the system."
The system?
"When Coach Paterno recruits, he tells every player that they will get at least one shot at the national title," said Goganious. "And it always happens."
Penn State opened its season with a 17-13 loss to Texas, followed by a 19-14 setback to Southern Cal. Losing to two nationally ranked teams by nine total points may be good for some teams, but not for Penn State.
Paterno took some of the blame for the slow start, saying he wanted to get in a game before going to Southern Cal. He had moved the Texas game from Sept. 29 to Sept. 8.
"I thought we could handle Texas," said Paterno.
But the players -- 36 of the 44 players on the two-deep roster are underclassmen -- offered no alibis. They held a meeting the day after the Texas game.
"We all had to get focused," said defensive tackle Frank Giannetti. "Guys were down and we didn't know what to do. We decided to work harder than we ever did. We decided to do all the little things that added up to big things. We all said we were going to go out and win nine games in a row."
And so they did, including a 24-21 shocker of then-No. 1 Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., on Nov. 17. Penn State now has the longest Division I-A winning streak in the country, and tons of confidence.
"We are the hottest team in America," said Goganious.
The statement has merit. Paterno still turns the cuff up on his pants up, and his team still wears those drab blue and white uniforms with no-frills black cleats. This team, like his best ones, has great defense, a solid kicking game and a conservative offense.
If those teams were of national championship caliber, they had a quarterback who could do a little more than just take a snap and hand off to a tailback.
Enter junior quarterback Tony Sacca, who after a midseason slump this year, has been superb down the stretch. Sacca completed 122 of 249 passes for 1,866 yards during the regular season, including a career high of 277 yards against Notre Dame and 113 yards rushing against Pittsburgh in the Nittany Lions' last two games.
"It's a typical Penn State linebacking group in the sense that they are fundamentally sound and they come to maul you," said Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, a close friend of Paterno's.
Tonight's coaching matchup pits Paterno, one college's best defensive coaches, against one of the nation's best innovators, Bowden.
Blockbuster Bowl
Rosters
Penn State
Head coach: Joe Paterno
No. Player P Ht. Wt. Year
1 Tisen Thomas CB 5-8 158 So
2 Henry Adkins K 5-9 156 Sr
3 Chip LaBarca WR 5-9 177 So
4 Doug Helkowski P 6-0 204 Jr
4 Ben Nichols P 5-9 171 So
5 Bobby Samuels TB 5-11 190 Jr
6 Leonard Humphries DB 5-9 170 Jr
7 Rich Rosa WR 6-1 188 Jr
8 Terry Smith WR 5-8 155 Sr
9 Darren Perry SS 5-10 186 Sr
9 Bill Spoor WR 6-1 191 Jr
10 Corey Jett QB 5-11 195 Sr
11 Sam Gash FB 6-0 225 Sr
12 Tom Bill QB 6-2 210 Sr
13 Jason Gigliotti QB 6-0 190 So
13 Matt Baggett LB 6-1 210 Sr
14 Jamie Dreese P 5-10 189 So
14 John Lucas QB 6-6 1/2 215 Jr
15 Frank Yeboah-Kodie CB 5-11 180 So
15 John Van Allen K 5-10 174 So
16 V.J. Muscillo K 5-8 185 So
17 Mark Graham CB 5-9 170 So
18 Chris Ingraham P 5-11 170 So
18 Troy Drayton WR 6-3 213 So
19 Tony Sacca QB 6-4 218 Jr
20 Richie Anderson TB 6-1 210 So LLTC 21 Shelton Hammonds TB 5-10 185 So
22 Matt Nardolillo QB 6-1 205 Jr
23 Gerry Collins TB 5-8 181 Sr
23 Greg Fusetti CB 6-0 185 Sr
24 O.J. McDuffie WR 5-11 186 Jr
25 Willie Thomas CB 5-10 180 Sr
26 David Daniels WR 6-1 191 Sr
27 Gary Brown FB 5-11 208 Sr
28 Phil Yeboah-Kodie LB 6-1 198 Fr
29 Brian O'Neal FB 6-1 224 So
30 Dan Skrip WR 5-11 187 Jr
31 Greg Filkovski FB 6-0 213 So
33 Brian Moser FB 6-1 225 So
34 John McNulty FB 5-10 184 So
35 Mike Smith S 6-1 193 Sr
35 Bob Oakes FB 5-10 196 Jr
36 Brian Monaghan S 6-2 225 So
37 Ivory Gethers LB 6-1 211 So
38 Mark D'Onofrio LB 6-2 230 Sr
39 Lee Rubin S 5-9 184 Sr
40 Hernon Henderson CB 5-11 189 Sr
42 Keith Goganious LB 6-3 232 Sr
43 Scott Davidheiser TB 5-11 197 Jr
44 John Lucas QB 6-0 181 Fr
44 Leroy Thompson TB 5-10 207 Sr
45 Brian Kurlej FB 5-11 197 So
46 Gregg Norton WR 5-10 188 Jr
47 Brett Wright LB 6-1 223 Jr
48 Chris Cisar SS 6-0 194 Jr
49 Bob Daman FB 6-2 210 Jr
50 Mark Lawn KS 6-0 213 So
51 Chris Mazyck NT 6-3 264 So
53 Rob Luedeke C 6-5 265 Sr
55 Lou Benfatti T 6-3 270 So
55 Dave Brzenchek G 6-3 259 Jr
56 Ronald Fields LB 6-1 222 Jr
56 Mac Gallagher C 6-3 245 Sr
57 Sean Love G 6-3 260 Sr
58 Mike Heller G 6-1 253 Jr
58 Reggie Givens DB 5-11 218 So
59 Tony Matesic DT 6-2 270 Jr
61 Mike Flanagan G 6-3 270 Sr
62 Jerrod Vance G 6-1 265 Sr
64 Matt McCartin T 6-5 274 Sr
65 Pat Duffy T 6-1 275 Sr
66 Greg Huntington T 6-3 265 Jr
67 Todd Burger DT 6-2 269 Jr
68 Mark Flythe DT 6-6 295 Sr
69 Derick Pickett NT 6-5 263 So
70 Gene Duffy SR 6-4 259 Sr
71 Todd Rucci T 6-5 285 Sr
72 Jim Deter NT 6-2 265 Sr
73 Sean Moffitt G 6-2 267 Jr
74 Brian Dozier T 6-2 290 Sr
75 Tom Prawdzik T 6-2 272 So
76 Paul Siever T 6-4 271 Sr
77 E.J. Sandusky T 6-4 1/2 242 Jr
79 Mike Malinoski DT 6-2 1/2 270 Sr
80 John Gerak TE 6-4 250 Sr
81 Jason Oakman LB 6-4 1/2 222 Sr
82 Rob Ruslavage LB 6-1 217 Sr
83 Rick Sayles TE 6-4 215 Jr
84 Rudy Glocker TE 6-5 230 Jr
84 Pat Irwin LB 6-2 217 Jr
85 Frank Giannetti DT 6-2 255 Sr
86 Jeff Anderson TE 6-3 230 Jr
87 Todd Jessup WR 5-10 165 So
88 Eric Renkey NT 6-2 280 Jr
89 Al Golden TE 6-2 242 Sr
91 George Kidwell LB 6-2 215 Sr
93 Tom Wade LB 6-2 250 So
94 Eric Ravotti LB 6-2 234 So
95 Andre Powell LB 6-1 228 Jr
96 Ryan Grube LB 6-4 227 So
97 Tyoka Jackson DT 6-2 250 So
97 Jeff Vanderbush TE 6-4 190 So
98 George Astle LB 6-1 230 So
99 Rich McKenzie LB 6-2 230 Sr
Florida State
Head coach: Bobby Bowden
No. Player P Ht. Wt. Year
1 Shannon Baker WR 5-10 180 So
2 Clifton Abraham DB 5-9 180 Fr
3 Leon Fowler FS 6-2 196 So
4 Chris Weinke QB 6-5 202 Fr
5 Kenny Felder QB 6-3 215 So
6 Grady Ross LB 6-0 211 Sr
6 Steve Gilmer DB 5-11 185 Fr
7 Eric Turral WR 5-11 180 So
8 Corey Sawyer DB 5-10 160 Fr
9 Richie Andrews KS 5-11 165 Sr
9 Dan Mowrey KS 5-10 165 Fr
10 Corian Freeman LB 6-3 221 Sr
11 Casey Weldon QB 6-1 194 Jr
12 Matt Frier WR 5-10 187 Fr
13 Mack Knight CB 5-1 197 Fr
14 Brad Johnson QB 6-6 205 Jr
15 Bill Ragans SS 6-2 206 Sr
16 Richard Coes DB 6-0 197 So
17 Charlie Ward QB 6-1 189 So
18 John Davis DB 6-2 205 So
19 John Wimberly P 6-2 205 So
20 Clyde Allen RB 5-11 190 Fr
21 Maurice Pinckney FB 6-0 209 So
22 Edgar Bennett FB 6-1 222 Jr
23 Bryce Abbott SS 6-0 215 So
24 Felix Harris CB 6-1 206 Jr
26 Errol McCorvey CB 6-0 183 Jr
27 Terrell Buckley CB 5-10 175 So
28 Corey Fuller DB 6-1 190 Fr
29 Lawrence Dawsey WR 6-1 195 Sr
30 Omar Ellison RB 6-2 200 Fr
31 Lavon Brown FS 5-11 200 So
32 Paul Moore FB 6-1 245 Jr
33 Sam McMillon RB 5-10 185 Fr
33 David Dees FS 6-1 204 So
35 Chris Parker TB 6-2 221 Jr
36 Kelvin Smith LB 6-0 235 Sr
36 Kevin Adams LB 6-1 215 Fr
37 Sean Jackson RB 6-2 220 Fr
38 David Bassett SS 5-11 200 Sr
39 Ed Clark LB 6-3 230 Fr
40 David Stallworth LB 6-2 230 So
41 Tommy Henry CB 6-0 170 So
42 Amp Lee RB 6-0 195 So
43 Bill Mason KS 5-10 155 Sr
44 John Wyche SS 6-1 200 Sr
45 Kirk Carruthers LB 6-2 212 Jr
46 Philip King LB 6-1 220 Fr
47 William Floyd RB 6-2 220 Fr
48 Willie Pauldo LB 6-2 218 Fr
49 Jason Peirce LB 6-3 212 So
51 Robbie Baker C 6-3 240 So
52 Robert Stevenson OG 6-3 272 So
53 Dulack Guerrier LB 6-3 230 Fr
54 Scott Player P 5-10 175 Jr
55 Marvin Jones LB 6-2 220 Fr
55 Sterling Palmer LB 6-7 257 Fr
56 Matt Ferguson OG 6-3 258 Sr
57 John Nance LB 6-2 250 So
58 Dan Footman LB 6-5 255 Jr
59 Ken Alexander LB 6-3 240 Fr
60 Mike Morris OG 6-2 287 Jr
61 Eric Gibbs OL 6-4 295 So
62 Troy Sanders NG 6-2 272 So
63 Jason Dillaberry OT 6-5 272 So
64 Robert Williams DT 6-2 270 Sr
65 Hayward Haynes OG 6-3 278 Sr
66 Scott Schilbrack OT 6-8 288 Sr
67 Kevin Mancini OT 6-3 272 Jr
68 John Flath C 6-4 256 So
69 Patrick McNeil OL 6-3 275 Fr
72 Steve Allen DL 6-6 285 Fr
73 Reggie Dixon OG 6-2 278 Jr
74 Henry Ostaszewski DT 6-3 260 Jr
75 Joe Ostaszewski DT 6-3 262 Jr
76 Eric McGill OT 6-5 253 So
77 Eric Luallen C 6-3 284 Jr
78 Johnny Clower TE 6-4 265 Sr
79 Gene Houpe DS 6-3 270 Jr
80 Reggie Johnson TE 6-2 252 Sr
80 Lonnie Johnson DL 6-3 220 Fr
81 Kevin Knox WR 6-4 193 So
82 Brad Lundstrom LB 6-3 228 So
83 Dave Roberts TE 6-4 238 Sr
85 John Donaldson TE 6-4 240 Fr
84 Warren Hart TE 6-2 260 Fr
85 Eric Smith LB 5-11 210 Fr
86 Marvin Ferrell TE 6-6 243 Fr
87 Tommy Fagan LB 6-5 228 Fr
88 Kez McCorvey WR 6-1 180 Fr
89 Howard Dinkins LB 6-2 220 Jr
90 Billy Glenn TE 6-4 245 Fr
90 Scottie McLaren P 6-2 197 So
91 Deondri Clark DT 6-2 250 So
92 James Roberson LB 6-3 225 Fr
93 Chris Cowart LB 6-3 215 Fr
94 Toddrick McIntosh DT 6-3 255 Fr
95 Carl Simpson TE 6-2 262 So
96 James Chaney NG 5-11 250 Jr
97 Reggie Freeman LB 6-1 236 So
98 Oliver Strickland DT 6-3 267 So
99 Anthony Moss LB 6-4 240 Sr