Not to wax intellectual, but in the field of human adjustment psychology, there are five stages by which people deal with death. They include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Oddly enough, these same factors may just apply to the new millennium of Penn State football.

This isn't to say that Penn State football has died, but the symptoms displayed by fans and others around the program are eerily similar, enough so that to conjecture that the death of a football program may be looming doesn't seem way off.

Consider the following stages.

Denial

How many times have fans tried to justify the shortcoming of Penn State football this year, let alone since 2000?

"We're not bad, we're just rebuilding with a lot of young talent."

Yes Penn State is a young team, yes Penn State is inexperienced but unfortunately, teams don't rebuild for three out of four years. At some point in that time period, players will ascend from the ranks of freshman to upperclassman and, presumably, get better. Not even this has happened.

Last year, the Lions had all the talent in the world, sending off six players in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. If Penn State couldn't win a national championship or a big bowl game last year with that kind of talent, how will they do it this year, much less any point in the future?

The talent was here; now it's in the NFL. It was a coach's dream to have that caliber of players, but for what? A 9-4 season. Not bad for all intents and purposes, but by the standards of Penn State football, unacceptable.

Anger

How many more angry fans pack the stands now?

"Joe must go, Joe must go."

One year of this type of banter is acceptable, because bad years do happen. Two years, maybe. But this is the third year that fans are becoming perturbed about the losing ways of Nittany Lion football. This never happened before. Whenever there was a sub-par year, it didn't take the Lions three years to bounce back.

For example in 1976, Penn State finished 7-5. That record was considered awful for Penn State at that time, but would be considered acceptable by the 2003 standard.

However, in 1977, the team came back and finished 11-1. In 1984, the team went 8-4 but came back the next year to finish at 11-1.

Fans are angry, and for good reason. And, for further proof of anger setting in at Happy Valley, make sure to swing by joepamustgo.com. It's all anger.

Bargaining

How many times have fans tried to find the "rays of light" in the otherwise dismal 2003 season, thus justifying why Joe Paterno should remain as coach?

"Well if we make a bowl bid this year, we're still ok."

Um, no. If Penn State makes it to the Motor City Bowl in sunny Detroit, see how many fans will make travel plans to attend a lower tier bowl game, in a cold, disgusting city on the day after Christmas.

"Three quarters of this team is really young, and in a year or two we're going to be really really good because they'll have more experience. Then Joe Paterno can stay."

Good, then pack it up this season, forfeit the rest of the games, and just wait until next year so that Penn State can say that have more upperclassmen than underclassmen in the starting line up.

Forget about two years from now; think about the season at hand.

Depression

How many fans are now depressed at the state of Penn State football?

"I'm not spending my money just to drive four hours and see my team lose."

Right now, this seems to be the point of transition for a lot of Lions' fans. They're not depressed yet, but be assured that if the 2003 season ends with a losing record, the depression will set in.

Acceptance

If this stage sets in, Penn State might as well implode Beaver Stadium. An apathetic fan base of a once national powerhouse is the last thing the Lions need.

Once Penn State fans accept their football team is not a national title contender year in and year out, nor that they can stay out of the basement of the Big Ten, death of the program will be on the horizon.

When the standards have gotten that low, Penn State football will have died.

The question is, how far away are fans from making that conclusion?