Bryan Pata played football for the Miami Hurricanes.

That was, until Nov. 7, when the 22-year old defensive tackle was gunned down outside his apartment, the latest in a series of incidents involving the "U."

Unfortunately, his school's reputation for behavioral misconduct has ruined any chance Pata had of having a decent legacy outside of those who knew him. As his mother buried him yesterday, people around the country have assumed things about him and his personal life that would be considered inconsiderate, at best.

If such an incident occurred at Penn State under Joe Paterno, the architect behind the Grand Experiment -- a doctrine espousing the importance of academics in college athletics -- Happy Valley would quake from the aftershock.

Such tragedies never happen here, university officials would say.

Surely, they would laud the virtues of the institution, perhaps citing Paul Posluszny's grade point average (3.6) and the graduation rate of its athletes (83 percent overall, 69 percent for African Americans in 2004 -- both tops in the nation among public schools, according to Penn State sports information.)

Sports Illustrated named Paterno the Sportsman of the Year in 1986, and its famous back-page columnist Rick Reilly wrote the story.

Penn State is so hard to get to, he said, that Penn State could undergo a transformation, and nobody would know for four, five years.

Reilly also took a jab at the renegade 'Canes. Miami arrived for the week's festivities leading up to the 1987 Orange Bowl up in fatigues, and Penn State got off its plane in dress coats and slacks.

The dichotomy illustrated the chasm between the two schools. As the they awaited a game for the national championship, Paterno's civility clashed with Miami's brash head coach, Jimmy Johnson. While Miami said it was preparing for war, Penn State was taking care of business, and it ultimately won the game.

Over the last few years, Penn State's name has not suffered despite the indiscretions of its football players, and there have been many.

Count 'em up:

One alleged rape, one alleged DUI, one alleged public drunkenness, arrows through an on-campus apartment wall and at least two other alleged sexual assaults.

All for the glory, clearly.

But the university has survived, partly because of its insularity, and partly because the football program's inconsistent play caused it to drop off the national radar.

Miami has not been so lucky and sadly, neither was Pata.

From all accounts he was a decent guy -- a guy using football to escape the trappings of the inner city, as he did when he graduated from Central High School in Miami.

He was rumored to have a NFL future. This season, he moved from defensive end to the interior, because that's what the coaches needed.

But instead of Pata milling over paperwork for April's NFL draft alongside his mother, she had to agonize over his funeral arrangements.

In the two years, Pata started nearly every game, recorded 27 tackles, five sacks, 8.5 tackles for loss. He witnessed a melee at the Superdome with LSU and arguably college football's ugliest brawl in the first-ever meeting between Miami and Florida International earlier this season.

And his life ended in the second gun-related incident involving a Hurricane at an apartment since July.