With two weeks off, the Penn State football team had more than enough time to prepare for tomorrow's showdown with No. 8 Nebraska.

While the Nittany Lions used that time in an effort to eliminate some of the early-season kinks that showed up against Central Florida, the team didn't alter its standard practice routine for the 8 p.m. game time.

Much like last season's bye week before the Northwestern game that helped salvage the 2001 season, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno kept his team's nose to the grindstone but spared the squad scrimmaging.

"We didn't scrimmage at all," tailback Larry Johnson said. "Joe gave us enough time off to recover."

Last Monday through Wednesday, Penn State worked on skill drills designed to give some of the younger players more experience before shifting to preparation for Nebraska later in the week. Aside from watching game film on the Cornhuskers' three games this season, the Lions also invested large amounts of time viewing Nebraska's two losses last season to Colorado and Miami.

Paterno is confident the Lions are ready from a practice standpoint, but he's still worried about the lack of experience at certain positions.

"There are some spots that we have a little better background and more experience, but at other spots we are not," Paterno said. "Our linebackers are still as green as grass. They are going to have their hands full."

Not only did Paterno keep practices in the afternoon, but the Lions will also go through their standard pregame ritual of spending tonight at Toftrees hotel after the pep rally at Rec Hall following the 7:30 p.m. volleyball game.

"I don't really like night games a whole lot," Penn State center Joe Iorio said. "I like to get up and get going, unfortunately that's not the case. Normally, I wake up at a reasonable hour, watch some films and walk around with the team and talk about the game, rehearse some stuff in your head."

However, instead of waking up ready to play and leaving for Beaver Stadium, the players will now have to find ways to fill their idle Saturday hours.

"We'll just be sitting around the hotel, watching a lot of football Saturday afternoon," Penn State tackle Tyler Lenda said. "That gets you pretty anxious."

At most schools, a late start wouldn't be a big deal; however, at Penn State, such games are rarities. Still, the Lions, and even their ultra-traditionalist coach, are looking forward to the game as an opportunity to gain what they view as much-needed respect.

"I think this is a game that Penn State can really make a statement in," Johnson said. "A game like Nebraska is what every college person dreams about."

With that in mind, most of the players see spending hours cooped up in a hotel room as a worthy tradeoff for playing under the Beaver Stadium lights on national TV.

"I light up when we have a night game because it reminds me of Monday Night Football with the lights on," Johnson said.