Well, sure, Virginia could reuse the strategy that helped it end Penn State's bowl dreams a year ago.

The Cavaliers dropped eight men and forced Zack Mills to throw the ball.

The plan didn't work exactly as planned until Mills fumbled the ball in the red zone and lost confidence.

Penn State was still ahead 14-13 after the fumble was returned for a touchdown, but the Lions were shaken.

"Obviously, it was something I hadn't seen much of," Mills said. "Stuff that was there during the rest of the season wasn't there and I wasn't coming to all my check downs."

Mills came into the game thinking he'd be pressured by Virginia's blitzing linebackers and would therefore have to make a quick decision about which receiver to throw to. But those guys would be open because they were running against man coverage or through a loose zone. Those types of plays had been the key to Mills' success. His wide receivers would easily out-duel the defensive backs. Just catch and toss, that's all it would take to beat Virginia and get to a ball.

What Mills got was plenty of time to throw to men who were being double-teamed or running through an eight-man thick zone. Quite simply, the move caused Mills to short-circuit.

There's the danger in breaking down tons of film: a player can be tricked into expecting another team to do one thing, without ever considering the possibility of something totally different. So when the time comes, it's almost impossible to adjust.

Mills has commented all year about how much that game wore on him during the offseason. He said it helped him mature. One of the marks of a mature quarterback is the ability to prepare for anything the other team gives him.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did something totally different this week," Mills said. "Just remember, going into last year's game we thought they'd blitz a lot because prior to that game that's what they had been doing."

And coming into this game, blitzing is all Virginia has been doing.

Perhaps the most important statistic for this year's Penn State football team is this: it is 6-0 when Larry Johnson runs for 100 yards or more and 0-3 when he does not.

Last year, Johnson was mired in Paterno's infamous three-back experiment and carried the ball just five times for 39 yards against Virginia.

When asked during the week what the biggest change in his game has been this season, Johnson said: "Mostly, just getting the carries I needed. I'm not worrying about getting four or five carries only. It's about being out there and getting comfortable running."

Many blamed Penn State's coaches for not calling more running plays or screen passes last year against Virginia. But none of the three guys could do much damage in the carries they did have.

"Last year we had a trio of good running backs, and they managed to stop them," said Penn State backup quarterback Michael Robinson. "Nothing is set in stone with their defense. For me personally, it worked last year, so why would they change?"

Why? Johnson's why. Johnson is on pace to break Lydell Mitchell's school record for rushing yards in a season. He's second in the country in all-purpose running yards per game.

Plus, he's nasty.

"He makes it a new game, obviously," said Cavaliers inside linebacker Angelo Crowell. "He's one of the toughest backs we've seen on tape. He's doesn't go down."

Crowell and his mates are ranked 106th in the country at stopping the run and are allowing over 200 yards per game.

Johnson has broken the single-game rushing record twice already this season and looks faster with each passing week.

Clearly, Virginia needs to load eight or nine men in the box to stop Johnson, who will get the ball often and early. Watching Johnson carry the team is pure heaven to Paterno, who cautioned against getting too caught up in the gimmickry that was Penn State's offense earlier in the season.

The match up of LJ versus the Cavaliers defense isn't even close. It appears as though Penn State has an incredible advantage, the type that makes it easy to coach and hard to lose a football game.

In other words, it looks a lot like last year.