Your team still has to win one game Penn State fans, but we already know that you're thinking about where your beloved Nittany Lions will be bowling during the holidays.

But to be fair, you shouldn't have any reason not to. After all, the Lions have been on fire since the Northwestern game (with the exception of the glitch at Illinois) and Virginia has wallowed in the doldrums all season long.

And when you consider that the Lions have scored over 34 points per game since their victory over the Wildcats while the Cavaliers have surrendered an average of 31 points per contest in their first 11 games, the likelihood of a Penn State victory appears even more eminent.

However, you can't run that kind of stuff past coach Joe Paterno with much success. It wouldn't matter if his team was playing a peewee football team on Saturday. He'd still claim (and he did claim again this week) that it's going to take a valiant effort for his team to just eek out a victory.

Yet the 74-year-old living legend did admit that making the postseason this year would be something nice for his players.

"I think it would be a tribute to them that they had enough confidence in themselves and they stuck together in face of a lot of criticism and hung in there and made some things happen for themselves," Paterno said. "I think that is one of the great thrills of being around any kind of group in any activity. To see a bunch of people who can face adversity, learn from it, stay together and then go on and have some success, that is gratifying."

Now, let's get back to the scenarios surrounding the Lions' bowl possibilities.

If the Lions do indeed knock off the Cavaliers, they will most likely be heading to one of two destinations, both of which are in Texas.

The first, and what is appearing to be the more likely prospect, is the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. That's because of a few factors. First, it's almost guaranteed the Lions will sell their allotment of tickets and it's certain they will contribute with big-time television ratings.

It's no coincidence that 88 of the Lions' last 89 games have been televised.

Plus bowl reps love to give invitations to teams that they know will give a good show. In 1998, Penn State stormed in to the AlamoDome and routed Texas A&M, 24-0 in front of 65,380 fans.

It's not out of the question that if indeed the Lions do wind up in San Antonio that they could face the Aggies in a rematch. But it seems more likely that Paterno's bunch would square off against Texas Tech, which has won four of its last five games including a 12-0 drubbing of Texas A&M.

Iowa State would be the only other possible opponent since the game matches foes from the Big Ten and Big XII.

If for some unforeseen reason the Alamo Bowl opts for another Big Ten team (only Purdue, Michigan State and Iowa are the only other viable options), the Sun Bowl in El Paso would be the Lions' other possible destination.

And it's an intriguing one. Not only have the Lions never ventured to the west Texas desert, their opponent there would be Washington State, who accepted an invitation to the game earlier this week.

The Lions and Cougars haven't played since the Lions won both contests in a two-game series in 1947-48.

Hope you're looking for a Lone Star style vacation folks because that's pretty much it as far as options go. But your team still wants to remind you not to make those travel plans yet because they still have to take care of business tomorrow.

"In order for us to even get to a bowl game, we've got to beat Virginia," wide receiver Tony Johnson said.

"If we don't beat Virginia, we're not going anywhere."

That kind of attitude is keeping Paterno happy.

"If they are talking about which bowl they are going to, they are nuts," Paterno said.

"Right now, I think that they are going to be focused. They know what they have to do."