A 20-year time period is hard to put a stamp on. It's not so long that people don't remember what happened during it, but it is also not short enough to seem like yesterday.
It is enough years to introduce plenty of change, and the Penn State football team has seen its share.
Since its national championship in 1982, the Nittany Lions have won one more national championship in '86, had an undefeated season but were denied the Sears Trophy in '94, ended their run as an independent, added more passing to their offense, saw a change in the race for the national championship and saw their coach break the record for most wins in college football history.
The 1982 and '86 teams had more than national championships in common. They also contained players with high-quality athleticism and academic ability. It is a combination that is becoming scarcer nationally.
"I think people are losing sight of the fact that, "Hey, maybe I have to pick a good college,"' says former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. "I think they have to put things more in perspective. They see all of that money in front of them (at the professional level) and the endorsement deals, and they look for the best place for them to excel at football."
That has translated into players leaving college early. In the 20 years since its first national championship, Penn State has still put a high emphasis on education and graduation. The team graduated 70 percent of the freshmen that it enrolled in the last four freshman student-athlete classes studied by the NCAA (1991, '92, '93 and '94).
Overall, the rest of the country's schools have had different results. The average graduation rate for student-athletes nationaly is only slightly higher than 58 percent.
"In (former Penn State running back) Curt Warner and (former Penn State quarterback) Todd Blackledge, you had two very academically motivated people," Sandusky says. "I don't know what Curt might have considered as far as leaving early, but it was not a fad at that point to leave early."
Sandusky is one of many people who believe college football has become more and more like a business as the years have passed. A coach with the Lions from 1969-99, Sandusky says that it didn't seem to be quite as big a business in years past and that the total athletic budget didn't seem as high. Games were not on TV quite as much. Sandusky also says there wasn't quite as much publicity surrounding recruiting, and there wasn't as much pressure to play as a freshman.
The financial focus of the game has made it almost mandatory for teams to play a 12th game during the season, something Penn State football coach Joe Paterno does not like because of the extra stress it puts on the student-athlete. However, he does realize that it would be almost impossible to get rid of the extra game.
"You take our situation where they raised tuition," Paterno says "Do you know what that put on our budget? (Penn State Athletic Director) Tim Curley has to come up with $750,000. The University does not give us one nickel for athletics. It doesn't get subsidized out of state scholarships."
Money may be the most obvious change, but there have also been some more football-oriented areas that have changed since the team's first national championship. One of the most dynamic changes has been in the passing attack. Offense has been bombarded with pass-heavy schemes in recent years and it looks like that will only continue. Even run-minded Penn State has recently relied more on the pass. Two seasons ago they even implemented the shotgun, something that was previously unheard of in Happy Valley.
Take a look at the record books and you will see how much things have changed on offense for the Nittany Lions. Save for Chuck Fusina's 2,221-yard campaign in 1977, the top six single-season passing totals have come after 1981.
This year the Lions are putting another package into their offense that has rarely been seen from the Blue and White. This week, wide receiver Tony Johnson revealed that the team will be using a three wide receiver set in some situations.
"It gives us a lot of options," Johnson says. "It spreads the field and allows us to throw the deep ball a lot and open up the running game as well."
The increase of passing yardage in college football has a lot to do with the new formations and schemes that coaches are implementing.
"You used to be able to focus on a handful of pass patterns," Sandusky says. "You could have a handful of coverages and guess on the rest. The lines are different; the passes are so much different. There's no such thing as coverage any more, unless you have dominant athletes that can shut people down one-on-one."
No matter what changes with money and offense, the ultimate goal in college football remains winning the national championship. But even the race for the title has changed over the years.
In 1994, when the Lions were denied the No. 1 spot, they did not have the chance to play the top team in the rankings, Nebraska. If the current Bowl Championship Series system was in place then, the No. 1 vs. 2 scenario would have been a reality.
The system is still flawed in the minds of many. If the top three teams in the country all have the same record, how can you choose which two play in the championship game without making at least some people upset?
It is impossible, which still leaves the possibility of another change in the search for a consensus National Champion.
"I don't think anything is absolutely perfect, except maybe a playoff, and even then you're going to have a team that's very deserving get left out of that," Sandusky says.
The Lions had another reason they could not play Nebraska for the title in '94.
The '82 team was an independent; it had no affiliation with a conference. It could be selected for a number of bowls when the season ended.
However, in 1992, the Lions joined the Big Ten, in which the conference champion has to play in the Rose Bowl against the Pac-10's best team. When Penn State won the Big Ten title in '94, it was obligated to play in the Rose Bowl against Oregon instead of in the Orange Bowl against Nebraska.
The program still feels as though it has gotten a lot out of its time in the conference.
"I think the level of confidence in the Big Ten is higher top to bottom," Sandusky says. "All of those teams expect to win every year. I don't think that was the case with some of the teams we were playing in the East [when the team was an independent]."
The changes have been vast but when it comes down to structure Penn State seems to remain the same. Including Paterno, four of the current coaches on staff were part of the program before the 1982 championship, and that does not take into account Sandusky, who retired in '99.
That means that the same people who were committed to "The Grand Experiment" Paterno preached are still making an impact on the program.
As the team goes into another season, it still believes that a championship team constructed of high quality students and ballplayers is a possibility.
"I would like to think it still works," Sandusky says.
Change all you want, but it seems the main philosophy at Penn State will never waver.
-Collegian Staff Writer Dustin Dopirak contributed to this story.
