It was around 5 a.m. when the plan was set into motion.

Defensive end Matthew Rice, well, he was peacefully asleep in his bedroom.

The way cornerback Alan Zemaitis saw it, however, Rice needed to be awake. So he took matters into his own hands -- or, rather, he took an air horn into his own hands.

"I just broke into his window with a hammer," Zemaitis said, unable to contain the devilish grin on his face. "When he was in his room, he had his door locked, and I broke into his window. I took the air horn between his curtains and blew it."

Quite a wake-up call, to be sure. And forget the fact that Zemaitis had no real reason to either be in possession of the air horn or to be awake at that time of day.

"I think it was just to annoy me," Rice said.

Crazy, yes, but that's just the way things are at their home in Nittany Apartments, where Penn State football teammates Rice and Zemaitis live together, along with utility player Michael Robinson. After being roommates for much of their time here, the three redshirt juniors have built a family -- Robinson is the responsible mother, Rice is the serious older brother and Zemaitis is the playful younger sibling -- and, as tight of a bond as they have, in their house, it's mischief that reigns supreme.

"Most of the time I've been here, I've lived with Michael and AZ," Rice said. "What we do on the field is what we do all the time at home -- just having fun."

AZ is, understandably enough, the nickname by which Zemaitis is most frequently known. And, though Robinson remains without a moniker, Rice does have one of his own.

"Oh, Matt ... Blue, you mean?" Zemaitis said. "We call him Blue. That's his name, really."

Despite living with AZ since his sophomore year, Rice -- er, Blue -- is hardly used to his pranks. He promised he was just waiting for the right time to "return the favor" for the air horn prank, but the problem is, that's not even the whole story.

By all accounts, the air horn trick was among the tamer ones AZ has pulled -- the rest were so conniving, the roommates refused to divulge them -- meaning that Blue has quite a case against maintaining composure.

"[Blue] gets too sensitive about the practical jokes I pull on him; he says I gotta grow up," Zemaitis said. "But the thing about it he doesn't understand is that I never had an older brother. Blue is like my older brother. Blue's never had a younger brother, so I'm like his younger brother.

"He's gotta live and live with it, basically, 'cause I'm gonna be his little brother and he's my older brother."

And Robinson's the mother to both, a fact that Zemaitis wasted no time in declaring. This, of course, irked Robinson -- maternal images could easily ruin the image of a tough playmaker, after all.

"He's airing our dirty laundry to the public," Robinson said. "I'll have to talk to him about that."

An ironic choice of words, without a doubt, because it's Robinson's dislike of much of anything being dirty that earned him his place in the family.

"He's like, 'You guys gotta clean this, you guys gotta do this. Hey shorty, shorty, we gotta clean up the house,' " Zemaitis said. "Mike's the mother, yo, straight up."

And, unfortunately for Robinson, in his lengthy protestations of the label of "Mom," he only served to verify what Zemaitis had already proclaimed: he's freaky about cleaning.

Robinson confessed that there are two issues about which he is extremely particular. First, cleaning the bathroom, which neither Rice nor Zemaitis likes to do. And, secondly, cleaning the kitchen, a chore Zemaitis is especially slacking on, as he reportedly uses the most dishes, but is least inclined to wash them.

"Three years ago, I used to pick up," Robinson said. "Now, uh-uh. I keep nagging them about it. They don't see it, they don't think it's dirty, but I'm like, there's bacteria and stuff.

"It really upsets me when they don't clean up," he continued. "They look to me like, 'Is it time to clean up?' I'm like, 'You're a grown man, you know when to clean up.' "

Of course, the three have far weightier concerns on their minds than simply dirty dishes and disturbed slumber. All not only start for the football team, but are three of the squad's more talented players.

Zemaitis is an absolute shut-down corner, while Rice has emerged this season as a much-needed ferocious defensive lineman. And though Robinson has struggled with changes in position, he remains the offense's top playmaker and the guy who Penn State coach Joe Paterno maintains is one of the most skilled in the country.

They live football, play football, and watch football, so it's only natural that when they get home, they talk football, too.

"Football is what we think of; it's our life," Rice said. "We call our own squad meetings, just the three of us. We talk about how we feel about the offense and defense."

The squad meetings have, without a doubt, become more intense in recent weeks, as the team they put so much of themselves into has slipped to 2-6, and 0-5 in the Big Ten, and there aren't clear-cut reasons why. While Rice and Zemaitis are part of a defense that has been fabulous all season, Robinson has been shuffled around -- receiver to quarterback and back again -- on a generally ineffective offense.

"We just try to come up with answers," Robinson said. "We do, as it's happening. Obviously, we can't come up with any."

Not only do they come together to help when the team is down -- Rice and Robinson were the final players to leave the field after the Ohio State loss -- they also come together when one is down, individually.

In the spring semester of 2003, Zemaitis came back to school far too quickly after being injured in a life-threatening car accident, and too many times the totality of the experience completely overwhelmed him. He remembers a time when he completely broke down, in the upstairs bathroom, crying and punching the wall. It was Rice and Robinson who helped him up.

And earlier this fall, Robinson was knocked out in the game at Wisconsin, sustaining a concussion and frightening his entire team. He made a full recovery and returned after missing two games, but in the days following the hit, he had constant headaches and trouble sleeping at night. He didn't want his roommates to tend to him, but he didn't hesitate to gush about their support.

"I don't like people to try to come back and take care of me, because I feel like I can do it myself," Robinson said on the Tuesday after the injury. "But they've been very helpful, anything I need. They've always been there for me no matter what; I feel like I'm blessed to have friends like that."

See, despite all the annoying pranks or slob tendencies, Rice, Robinson and Zemaitis just love living with each other. They know the bond they have, and, when appropriate, don't hesitate to talk about it.

"We have the best times," Zemaitis said. "The best times of my life have been with those guys. Being on the football field with those guys and being as close as I am is just ..."

But while all the sentimentality is well and good, it has a time and place for these dudes -- and it doesn't change the fact that it's straight up craziness that dominates their home. And if that were ever up for debate, Zemaitis would quickly step in to set the record straight.

"Let's just say if we had Real World in our crib, everybody would tune in," Zemaitis said, allowing his devilish grin to return. "It would be the hottest rated TV show in America, probably in the world. I know it would, yo, because the stuff that goes on in this crib, between us three, we have to take to the grave."