You can't blame some of them for saying it.

Simply because condemning them for it would be inappropriate.

In this dreary week for Penn State football, any sign of hope and optimism has to be, instead, commended.

But you still have to question it. You have to wonder how it's still there and how much longer anyone can believe what is always said but never seems to be proven.

But the Penn State football players certainly are not yet ready to give up on it. It's the anthem they've sung throughout this season of miniscule highs and abysmal lows.

"I know people are probably tired of hearing us say it," junior safety Calvin Lowry said Wednesday, "[but] we are different."

Ah, a different team.

Yes, I have heard that a few times since this football season started -- probably even more than you think I have. I would estimate that for every five times someone on the football said, "this team is different," we've printed it once.

This sentiment resonates in many different ways, too. It can also take the form of something like, "We're a better team than how we are playing."

And yet, here we are, heading into the fifth game of the 2004 season. The Nittany Lions are, again, 2-2, the two wins are, again, against mid-major conference scrubs and the two losses are, again, to BCS conference foes. On the surface, little appears different at all.

Though this is not at all suggesting that the players are necessarily foolish or wrong to say optimistic things.

But I do wonder how much longer we can all expect ourselves to believe them -- and that includes the players.

"Well, yeah, it's tough," fifth-year senior safety Andrew Guman said when asked if it ever gets harder to believe this team is different. "It's not something that's easy -- especially when we haven't found a way to win our games on the road against quality opponents. We can say we're different all we want..."

Guman went on to another thought, but what he meant was clear. " ...but we have to prove it" is how that quote should have finished. And Guman is bright and astute enough to understand Penn State's situation.

Others -- fans included -- may not be so astute with their wait-until next season mentality. The Lions have been waiting for "next season" during too many bowl-gameless winters lately.

At some point, Penn State fans have to start worrying that people aren't being honest with themselves about what the problems are. The longer it takes for people to admit that Penn State football has wholesale problems -- if there are, in fact, wholesale problems -- the worse off the program will be.

Penn State fans would do well to come to terms with a harsh fact: right now, if you were to break college football into three tiers of good, mediocre and bad, Penn State would have to be in dubious category two, mediocre.

Consider that fact that 50 to 70 teams could easily be considered better than the Lions and now realize a harsh truth: the Lions are not different -- not in the least.

They arethe same team as they were this time last year.

And you can go right ahead and say, "oh, but they can run the ball and they can stop the run."

Both of which are true. But they are merely technicalities, because we still have no idea if this Penn State team can get the job done when it really matters.

It's going to be tough for Penn State to do that this weekend with its offense in such a state. The Lions lack a premier playmaker without utility player Michael Robinson -- who is, thankfully, recovering from a concussion but out for three to four weeks. They will have to rely on a still unproven running game to hold the ball and keep Minnesota from wearing down the Penn State defense.

Because no matter how good the Lions' defense is or how much it is improving, Minnesota's running game will still pound and demoralize Penn State's defenders if they get anywhere near tired.

If that does happen, it could get very ugly for the Lions -- fast.

Unfortunate circumstances have made it a dark road ahead for Penn State. Logically, I suppose, this has to be a better team than 2003 since they have a year's worth of experience.

But the schedule, among other things, is not in their favor. They have to face two very good football teams in the next two weeks in No. 18 Minnesota and No. 15 Purdue.

But with all that said, don't be surprised if the Lions somehow emerge with a win over Minnesota tomorrow night.

After all, I hear this is a different team this year.