Penn State players Brandon Short and Rich Stankewicz were lounging around their apartment here last weekend when Stankewicz’s girlfriend burst into the living room.
“She said, `Turn on the TV! You guys are No. 1!’ ” said Short, an inside linebacker. “I was like, `Oh, my God.’ I still think it might be a little ridiculous.”
The shock still hadn’t worn off by Wednesday night, when the Nittany Lions met for the first time since spring drills.
“We were sitting at dinner with (coach) Joe (Paterno) and his wife, and we were talking about `The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,’ the albatross being around our neck,” said quarterback Mike McQueary, who may be more concerned about blitzing safeties around his neck.
As the top-rated Nittany Lions open preseason drills Friday, they seem baffled that the media voters have put them on par with Florida, the defending national champions and the No. 1 pick in the preseason coaches vote.
Because they won 11 games and finished seventh in the rankings last year, the Nittany Lions suspected that they’d draw a high preseason rating. But with so many elite teams across the country–nine schools received No. 1 votes in the AP polling–Penn State didn’t expect to be this high.
In all of Penn State’s glorious football history, it has never entered a season at the top of the heap. All it means is that the national title, which has eluded Big Ten schools since 1968, is Penn State’s to lose.
They always look forward to football season in this remote, picturesque campus hamlet, but the anticipation is heightened this year in the cafes and bars along Atherton Street.
“There’s definitely a buzz in town since the rankings came out,” defensive back Shawn Lee said.
A preseason No. 1 ranking may fire up the fans, but it gives coaches heartburn. The Nittany Lions are entering dangerous territory, rarely charted by Big Ten teams. The last conference team to collect a preseason No. 1 ranking was Michigan in 1989. The Wolverines dropped to No. 2 before their opener against Notre Dame, which had leapfrogged them into first place. The Fighting Irish knocked off Michigan and the Wolverines wound up seventh.
Over the years, the AP preseason No. 1 has been referred to as death by adulation. Since the AP began releasing preseason rankings in 1950, only eight No. 1s have gone on to claim the national title. And since 1985, only Florida State in 1993 started and finished No. 1, and the Seminoles needed mercy from the pollsters after losing to Notre Dame late in the regular season.
So it’s no wonder the Nittany Lions warily embrace the supposed honor of being No. 1 before two-a-days have even begun. When offensive lineman Phil Ostrowski’s father showed him the rankings in a local sports section, Ostrowski said, ” `Oh, boy, here we go.’
“I could picture what was coming next. Questions.”
Here are a few of the questions facing the Nittany Lions, who take the nation’s second-longest win streak (five games) into their Sept. 6 opener against Pitt:
– Can McQueary, a fifth-year senior from State College, make the transition to starter after throwing for 519 yards in two seasons as a backup? Six years ago the 6-foot-4-inch redhead was watching games in section EG, about 10 rows from the top of the Beaver Stadium. If he doesn’t perform this season, his former seatmates will be howling for his scalp.
Paterno, who has a reputation for being rough on quarterbacks, can’t seem to make up his mind about McQueary. On Thursday he said, “I don’t have any problems with Mike McQueary,” which seemed a less-than-enthusiastic endorsement.
But in the next breath he compared McQueary to John Shaffer, a captain here in 1986. All that team did was go 12-0, whip Miami in the Fiesta Bowl and win the school’s last national title.
Of course, as long as tailback Curtis Enis, a Heisman Trophy candidate, stays healthy, the Nittany Lions could probably employ Paterno at quarterback.
– Will a smallish defensive front line be able to stand up to the massive blocking walls in the Big Ten? The heaviest starter on the defensive line is nose tackle Mike Buzin, who weighs 266 pounds. The Nittany Lions want to improve their rushing defense, which finished seventh in the conference last year.
– Will Floyd Wedderburn finally make an impact? The much-heralded 6-5, 330-pounder from Upper Darby, Pa., has been moved from the defensive line to offensive tackle, where he’s second-string.
“He’s so big, he can smother people,” Paterno said.
– Will anyone emerge to replace NFL draft pick Brett Conway at placekicker? Sophomores Travis Forney and redshirt freshman Ryan Primanti are battling for the spot. Forney has hit three points-after in college, which is three more than Primanti.
“That’s one of my concerns,” Paterno said.
Those questions, and countless others, will play out when autumn comes to the hills and hollows of Happy Valley. But on Thursday afternoon, cavernous Beaver Stadium was awash in summer sunshine as the Nittany Lions posed for photographs and tried to come to grips with the burden of being No. 1.
“Coach challenged us a little bit, saying that if they ranked us No. 1, we might as well hold onto it,” Lee said.
Paterno, who has won two national championships and coached five undefeated, untied teams, knows there’s little room for error at the top. Some teams are inspired by being recognized as the best. Others react as if someone had slung Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s albatross at them.
“We haven’t done anything to deserve it,” Paterno said. “Either we’re good enough or not good enough for it. We’ll find out.”
