An open letter to the naysayers:

It all started at the end of spring, shortly after the football team's annual Blue-White game. While Nittany Lion faithful were consumed with questions of who might be the starting signal caller, who would fill Richie Anderson's shoes in the backfield, and which hotel to stay in while in Pasadena over New Year's, more critical observers had other thoughts about Penn State football.

The most prominent critic was Sports Illustrated. The most respected sports magazine in the known universe took it upon itself to tell the world how much deep stuff Joe Paterno and his squad might be in during their inaugural Big Ten season. The article, ominously titled, "Unhappy Days in Happy Valley," was a somewhat scathing piece that offered a bleak picture for the future of Nittany Lion football. Among the observations: the Lions had made a mistake by entering the Big Ten becuase it wasn't a "conference on the rise," like, say, the Big East; that recruiting would suffer; that the offense was questionable at best; and that Joe Paterno was "losing his grip on the team."

The criticisms weren't all that surprising. After all, SI hasn't written a positive word on Penn State football since 1987, when JoePa was hailed as the magazine's Sportsman of the Year and the Lions won their last national championship -- maybe its writers feel they've got to make up for all that good press with an overzealous objectiveness. But not all the questions were unfounded.

Fact is, no one knew how good Wisconsin and Ohio State would be this year, and with Miami in the Big East, it looked like that might be the better league. As for recruiting, it's true that Joe didn't turn many heads in '92 with the crop of high school seniors he harvested. And with the loss of O. J. McDuffie and Anderson, the offense was suspicious at best --the names Carter, Archie and Engram didn't mean a thing to college football in 1992.

But the most biting criticism was of Paterno. Though SI wasn't the first to note that the Lions' 7-5 record in 1992 might be a sign of greater internal problems, it was the first national recognition of the supposed sinking ship that was Penn State football. The fact that SI had so hailed Paterno as an educator and philanthropist only six years earlier made the commentary all the more startling.

Then came the '93 season. The 5-0 start. Then, consecutive losses. Another breakdown, just like last year. Joe's losing touch. He's too old. He's losing control of his team, of the game. Never mind that the guy's won more games than 90 percent of his peers will ever coach. Forget the two national championships. What have you done for us lately, Joe?

Of course, the Lions got back on track after back-to-back defeats, and won their last four games. A 9-2 record for the year, 6-2 in his first ever conference tour. Not bad for a guy who's lost his touch. Still, doubts remained. A 10-point underdog in a bowl game? Paterno?

Well, it's like they say, give the guy three weeks to prepare . . .

The Citrus Bowl win. Convincing. Suddenly, the man who'd lost his feel for the game had just tied Bear Bryant for the most bowl wins ever. A top 10 ranking. The offense was impressive. A recruiting year virtually unmatched.

And so the grumbling has been silenced. For now. But lose a couple next year, and they'll surely be back, wondering, questioning. Maybe SI will write another story about how the program is stumbling again. In case you didn't notice, the magazine didn't utter a word about the Lions' Citrus Bowl upset or Paterno's landmark victory.

Then again, maybe they'll get the hint. Sure, he's 67 years old, retirement age in most lines of work. But maybe he's still on the ball. Just maybe he's still got a firm grip on the game, still knows how to relate to the kids. Just maybe, after all these years, they shouldn't doubt him anymore.