There might be tears on the field when this game against Wisconsin -- this Senior Day -- is over.

"AZ will cry," senior quarterback Michael Robinson said. "Get a close shot of him. He will cry. Seriously, he will. I'm not joking. He's going to cry."

Senior cornerback Alan Zemaitis said he was not pleased to hear this from his teammate and best friend.

"Man, it ain't gonna be me, first off," Zemaitis said. "It's like this. It's like, this is our last game at Beaver Stadium, but whenever we start something, there's an ending. I've already come to terms with that.

"Closing one chapter of my life and opening another one," he said.

This senior class has been down a rough road of Penn State football, and Robinson and Zemaitis have stayed tight through it all.

In their redshirt season, 2001, the Nittany Lions were a disappointing 5-6. The season before, they were 5-7. Robinson was introduced to Nittany Nation first, when he ran for 56 yards and two touchdowns against Nebraska in 2002. Zemaitis got his first start the following week against Louisiana Tech.

"We were always tight; not to dwell on anything old, but a lot of us seniors got in Joe's doghouse early," Robinson said. "We kind of bonded through it -- living in the doghouse a little bit. We've always been tight. We were tight when we came in."

After a winning season in 2002, everything changed. They were ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press poll going into the second week of 2003. The loss to Boston College was the first of nine.

"It wasn't our team," Zemaitis said. "It wasn't our time."

Last season wasn't the right time, either. The Lions lost seven games, but there was hope in the last two wins.

"You guys will never understand what we had to go through on a constant basis for three years out of the five years here," Zemaitis said. "It's ridiculous."

Robinson bore the brunt of criticism from both fans and the media. Anonymous writers told him he shouldn't play quarterback, calling it a "white" position.

"The slant of them usually is just the white quarterback could do better," Robinson said. "Be a bigger man and just play wide receiver."

"Those kind of people are cowards," Zemaitis said. "I'm a lot more proud because of his play. He's getting to the point now where he can say he's done it ... He could do a lot of things, but his passion is to play quarterback, and he's proving it, and he's just slapping everybody back in the face with his play and that's the best way to do it."

Robinson's team right now is winning -- on its way to a bowl game. He's still the quarterback.

"I'm flattered to be finally considered a winner," Robinson said. "When people think of Michael Robinson 10 years from now, I hope they think of me as a winner."

For Robinson and Zemaitis, this fall is also their last chance to enjoy the college experience.

"I'm not in the house as much anymore," Zemaitis said. "I'll go out to the HUB and get something to eat and take a walk downtown and get a sandwich. I guess I'm just trying to take in all this Penn State pride right now."

Robinson agreed. It's all about the fans.

"I would just want to say thank you," Robinson said. "Thank you for being patient with me all these years. Thank you for continuing to come to these games. Just thank you for everything."