Well, I hope you enjoyed your week off from Penn State football. I would have thought your broken Blue and White hearts probably needed it.

Especially after last week's crushing 20-13 loss to Purdue at a packed Beaver Stadium.

By now, it has to be getting pretty frustrating to be a Penn State fan, watching the Nittany Lions each week, knowing they are going to come up with a new way to lose.

Or, in other words, a new way to add another chapter to this sad story of a crumbling program and discontent head coach in the twilight of his life. The frustration has to come from how hard you've tried to support this team.

You students marched into Beaver Stadium like an army for the Purdue game, decking yourselves out in so much white that the student section looked brilliant.

The rest of the stadium supporters did their part, too, standing and screaming for every third down.

But no matter how hard fans try -- here is the truly frustrating part for you -- they were still, ultimately, powerless. Penn State still lost.

It's always tricky extending sports to the rest of life, but it sort of works here. Sometimes things don't turn out the way you think they should, and there's nothing you can do about it.

And yet, I don't think your hearts are broken. No, there has been a hopeful atmosphere after this game.

(I should have known -- Penn State fans have become really good at finding hope.)

The optimistic belief seems to be this: If the Lions play like they did against Purdue, they will surely win four of their last five games to finish with a 6-5 record.

Then it will be on the road to El Paso, Texas, for the Sun Bowl. That idea sounds pretty good by now, doesn't it? Admittedly, it has its good points.

A fun time in a warm spot on New Year's Eve? Absolutely. A good way to help any bereaved Penn State football fan through the winter? Sure thing.

A spring board for the resurgence of the ailing program?

Not in the least. At least, not in the long run.

Because one bowl game simply isn't going to change everything.

It's unfortunate that you all have to temper your excitement about the team these days, but unless you want to be disappointed later, you ought to be realistic now.

It seems pretty obvious to me that -- best case scenario -- this team is very similar to the 2001 version of Penn State football.

That team rallied -- winning four of its final six games -- to achieve a 5-6 record, playing some exciting and inspired football and giving everyone reason to believe better times were ahead the next year with a boat load of seniors returning for their final season.

But, then, the 2002 team, which had four first-round draft picks, vastly underachieved, and finished 9-4.

And now the Lions, poised to finish near the .500 mark, are seemingly about where they were three years ago.

All that's left to be determined is next season. With 18 starters returning, Penn State should be a decent team.

But will the Lions underachieve again in the 2005 season? Will they stumble in every big game like they have every year since they went 10-3 in 1999?

Frankly, it's hard to believe they won't. Then, who knows what will happen in 2006 after most of the 2004 and 2005 starters graduate.

Eventually, the cupboard is going to be bare. Penn State has recruited remarkably well the past two years, but when you continue to go 5-6 or 5-7 or even 3-9 with what is supposedly 8-4 or 9-3 talent, you're eventually only going to be able to recruit 5-6 or 5-7 talent.

Then what kind of teams do you think Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will put on the field when he has even less talent with which to work.

It appears unlikely that this -- meaning the Paterno era at Penn State -- will end well -- unless Paterno leaves after the 2005 season.

Otherwise, those rabid Penn State fans out there will get their hearts broken eventually, because the program will never leave its funk while Paterno is still here. And getting led on by a few wins at the end of this season is only going to make it hurt even more.