PASADENA, Calif. -- There was no question in the minds of the Nittany Lions who the 1994 National Champion was.

Following Penn State's 38-20 victory over the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2, several Lions wore shirts with the words "national champions" emblazoned across the front in blue and white. Others wore hats whose brims proclaimed the Lions as the 1994 National Champions.

"This is as good as a football team as I have ever been around," Coach Joe Paterno said of his 1994 squad. "I don't know if there's any football team that I've coached that could beat them, and I don't know any football team in this country today that could beat us."

Similar sentiments were expressed by the players, who worked through a perfect season only to be told by the media and the coaches' polls that they were No. 2 in the nation.

"It's kind of a shame . . . for college football that the two best teams in the country didn't face each other and didn't play for the national championship," quarterback Kerry Collins said. "And until it happens, if you have two undefeated teams at the end of the season, I don't think you can crown one of them the outright national champions."

Collins adopted Paterno's attitude toward the polls. He said he would not let the polls diminish what the team had accomplished. Collins said the team would celebrate with rings that have "a big, fat '1' in the middle of it and a lot of diamonds."

Other members of the squad felt the same.

"I'm not even going to look at the polls because I know we're going to be No. 2," cornerback Brian Miller said. "We're No. 1 in our eyes and in our fans' eyes. We know we're the best team in the country."

But Miller added that the season did end on a bit of a sour note because of the No. 2 ranking. It is a feeling of hopelessness that many players felt. After all, the Lions had been denied something they felt they deserved by forces outside of their control.

"They're saying (the pollsters) feel sorry for Tom Osborne," co-player of the game Ki-Jana Carter said. "But I haven't gotten a championship and my teammates haven't."

"We're 12-0, too. (Nebraska) can't say they're better than us, they never played us. They didn't beat us. We didn't beat them, so we're the national champions no matter what."

A solution to the debate would be a playoff system Paterno has supported. A playoff would undoubtedly end any speculation as to who the national champion is in years when there is more than one undefeated team.

Miller, though, had another suggestion.

"The only thing to do is to bring Nebraska on and let us play them," he said. "Everybody knows Nebraska can't compete with us on the field. They just couldn't handle us."

Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said his team had been defeated in the Rose Bowl by the No. 1 team in the country, and said his ballot in the coaches' poll would back that statement.

"I'm going to vote for Joe Paterno and Penn State," he said. "I voted for them coming into the game, and I don't see any reason to change my mind."

Nonetheless, the Lions will go down in history as the No. 2 team in the country. It is not hard to take, Paterno said, but it remains frustrating that the fate of his team rested with a group of coaches and media representatives who may not have seen Penn State play as often as they should have.

"The system is what it is, and we can live with that," Paterno said. "But nobody is going to take away the fact that I've got a national championship football team."