Joe Paterno has never pushed for a guy like this.

"When you guys sit down [to vote for the Heisman], it's spelled L-A-R-R-Y J-O-H-N-S-O-N, senior tailback, coached by the oldest guy in the history of football. You got it?" he said after his team beat Indiana 58-25 and Johnson ran for 327 yards.

The Old Guy was all smiles after the game as he was bombarded with questions about Johnson and his Heisman status.

Thing is, Paterno would rather not mention individual awards at all. He's only doing it because Johnson has forced the issue.

"Anytime he gets his hand on the football he can turn the game around," Paterno said. "That's the way he's playing right now. He's as explosive as anyone right now that I've seen play."

But Paterno knows that winning awards nowadays is much different than it was in, say, 1973, when John Capelletti won it. Since then, the introduction of ESPN has changed the way all sports are covered. Today, winning the Heisman trophy is as much about advertising and politics as it is anything else.

"I think whenever an award is given to a guy, he ought to earn it, and deserve it," Paterno said. "Blair Thomas was this far away from winning the Heisman Trophy. We were playing Alabama. We gave him the ball eight straight times, nine straight times. He thought the goal line was here, and it was there, and he ducked and he dived.

He came up and they blocked the field goal. If he scores there and we win that football game, he would have won the Heisman Trophy."

What hurts Johnson most is that one of the big reasons Penn State lost the three games it did is because the opponents shut him down. Those three losses are the only times this year he hasn't rushed for 100 yards.

He did, however, average 57 yards receiving in those three games. Add that to his 67 yards average running in three losses, and it's easy to see he was still a main focal point for the Penn State offense.

Problem is, nobody's sure what the Heisman stands for.

If it's a Most Valuable Player trophy, there's no way Johnson can be denied a seat at the ceremony in New York.

Ditto if it goes to the best player in the nation.

Day to remember

Offense -- There's simply no choice. Larry Johnson is having the season to remember.

Defense -- Jimi Mitchell. The talented athlete finally got into the game and played his first meaningful snaps of the season. Mitchell is slightly undersized to play linebacker (226 pounds) but has better quickness than anyone currently playing the position at Penn State.

Day to forget

Offense -- Thing is, Zack Mills doesn't need to win ballgames for Penn State like he once did. But Paterno and his crew have to be a bit concerned because, come bowl time, opponents are going to force the Lions to win through the air. Mills has been too good in the past to totally loose faith, but he's not nearly as sharp now as we was at the beginning of the season. Defenses may have adjusted to him. Now, he must do the same.

Defense -- Michael Haynes admitted after the game that he was sloppier than usual. That had a lot to do with the field conditions, but still, only one sack? Haynes is much better than that.

Statistically speaking

Larry Johnson led Penn State in rushing last season with 337 yards. Saturday, he ran for only ten less than that in a single game ... On the game notes handed out before the game, it prominently boasted that Tony Johnson and Bryant Johnson had each caught a ball in 20 straight games. Then, Tony Johnson's streak ended.

Quotable

"I'm just glad they picked 14 guys instead of 13." -- the ever-humble Zack Mills, on being named one of the semifinalists for the Davey O'Brien Award.

"I'm surprised nobody asked me why I didn't use him more often last year." -- Joe Paterno to the media about Larry Johnson.

"I wanted to keep you guys guessing." -- Paterno's response to his own question.

Did you notice?

Mills sprinting 60 yards to catch Buster Larkins after Larkins picked off a tipped pass in the first quarter. Mills' gutsy effort came up just short ... An unsuspecting cheerleader getting in the way of a football that bounced waist-high after a David Kimball kickoff. Let's just say it looked like it hurt -- a lot ... Mills ducked just before it looked like he would be blind-sided on a sack just before the end of the first half. Just more proof of Mills' almost preternatural field sense ... The IU marching band doesn't march onto the field, it simply scrambles into formation ... The Hoosiers run onto the field out of a cheesy plastic blow-up helmet.

Finally

What's life like in the alternate universe where Penn State has all the luck and Ohio State doesn't?