Ann Arbor, Michigan. Over 100,000 fans sing "Hail to the Victors" as Wolverine players jump up and touch the "Go Big Blue" sign.

Bloomington, Indiana. Over 17,000 fans jam into Assembly Hall as Bobby Knight storms the sideline and maybe even tosses a chair on the court.

Welcome to the new and improved scenes in Penn State athletics. Well, it's definitely new, but is it improved? With the recent termination of the Penn State-Pitt rivalry in football, many traditionalists probably don't think so.

Penn State will be fully integrated into the Big Ten by 1993. The Pitt series will "be interrupted" after next season's game at Beaver Stadium, and the decision to eventually reschedule the series is just one of many options the athletic department has to discuss. There was also a mutual agreement to end the Notre Dame series after next season. The Lions will see traditional opponents leaving their schedule, and try to start new rivalies with the likes of Michigan and Michigan State.

"With the integration of Penn State into the Big Ten Conference in 1993, we must clear as few as seven and as many as eight dates for conference opponents and still meet contractual obligations already in place," Athletic Director Jim Tarman said.

Assistant athletic director Frank Rocco added, "Commitments have to be kept with contracts that have already been signed."

Contracts, such as those with USC and Cinncinatti, will be met after the Lions are fully integrated into the Big Ten. Some of this season's opponents have also had to revamp their schedules with new conference affiliations.

Pitt and Miami are now part of the Big East and Georgia Tech must now consider Florida State's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference. All this happened after Penn State's move to the Big Ten.

"Everybody is in a state of flux. It's not just Penn State getting into the Big Ten," Rocco said. "What happened to Penn State really was the inertia to have a lot of other things happen around the country."

Other schools have found it easier to get integrated in their respected conferences. Penn State was originally met with some reluctance from some of the Big Ten universities. But that reluctance has subsided, and now the Lions have been whole heartily accepted into the conference.

Potential bowl matchups have had some influence in conference alignment. The Cotton, Sugar and Orange Bowls already have conference champions locked into their respective contests. But now the bowl comittees are trying to get a second team locked into their games. There has been talk of sending Notre Dame and the Big East champion to one of the bowl games. The Big Ten is also trying to get its second-place team locked into a bowl. The Big Ten champion tradtionally goes to the Rose Bowl.

"(The conference realignments) are going to change the whole flavor of bowl games," Rocco said. "It will bring a little bit more stability and structure to how the thing is handeled. On the other hand, it locks everybody in and takes away the spontaneity of it."

And while the football team is dealing with multi-million dollar contracts, the men's and women's basketball programs are having a more difficult time scheduling for this season. The basketball teams and the wrestling team won't be playing a full Big Ten schedule until the 1992-93 season. With their affiliation to the Atlantic 10 being terminated at the end of this past season, the basketball programs face a season of competing as independents.

The men's program has had to scramble to fill open dates. The Lions have two Big Ten teams on their schedule for next season, with games at Illinois and Ohio State. Former A-10 opponent Duquesne will be making a trip to Rec Hall this winter. The Lions will also be making a trip to the Omni in Atlanta to play in the Kuppenheimer Classic on Dec. 21. The Lions will play Georgia, while Georgia Tech will face Kentucky.

"If we go down there and play real well and win, we're going to surprise a lot of people," Lion forward DeRon Hayes said. "Hopefully we can impress the NCAA comittee."

The women's team has received some help from its future and former conferences. Former A-10 opponents St. Joseph's and Temple are on the schedule for next season. The Lady Lions will also face seven Big Ten teams next season, with only Michigan, Indiana and Northwestern not scheduled. They have home and away series with Ohio State and Illinois, home games against Wisconsin and Michigan State and away games with Purdue, Minnesota and Iowa. But two games, Michigan and Kent State, which was to be a home game, have had to back out, and one of the tournaments may be in jeopardy.

"I'm going in the wrong direction," Coach Rene Portland said. "We just keep piecing together a schedule."

The biggest problem is trying to schedule teams in January and February, when most teams are in the heart of their conference schedules.

Assistant athletic director Ellen Perry said, "We've got a fairly good schedule related to November and December, but we're lacking for games in January and February."

Women's volleyball will be the first sport to officially try its hand in the Big Ten conference. The Lady Lions will face a round-robin schedule this fall and will also compete in the post-season tournament. In fact, the volleyball team had a rather easy time being integrated into the conference.

"That group met right away and set up their rotation schedule," Perry said.

"We were implemented very quickly and efficiently," Coach Russ Rose said. "We always had great flexibility in scheduling, so what it has done is cut out my (non-conference) portion of my schedule."

The Lady Lions will keep rivals Pitt, George Washington and West Virginia. The team also has non-conference games against Georgetown, Western Michigan and nationally-ranked Arizona. Rose mentioned that the travel is going to be the hardest transition from the A-10. He also feels success in the Big Ten will have to come from within the administration of Penn State.

"I felt all along that the Big Ten is going to change Penn State, but Penn State is not going to change the Big Ten," Rose said. "We'll need the administration to give us proper direction to achieve the success we're accustomed to."