Earlier this month, many Penn State football players were looking at the upcoming season with optimism. A national title, they said, wasn't out of reach.

But now, after State College police levied a laundry list of charges Friday against six Penn State football players for their alleged involvement in a fight that occurred in an off-campus apartment four weeks ago, the Nittany Lions' season could be in jeopardy.

The key word in the previous sentence is "could," because it's too early to even speculate at this point.

Coach Joe Paterno issued a statement Friday afternoon saying his staff was "very concerned," about the charges, but acted correctly when he said he would wait until "due process has transpired" before making any decision on the status of the charged players.

While nobody, not even Paterno, can say for certain at this point how or if the charges will affect Penn State on the field, this situation will linger. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Friday, and Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira said he expects it "to take, literally, all day and then some."

Expect the fallout from this situation to last much longer.

Unless a plea bargain is reached, this case could easily carry though the Nittany Lions' season, which begins Sept. 1 against Florida International -- a school which, perhaps coincidentally, was involved in an
on-the-field brawl with Miami on Oct. 14 that led to several player suspensions on both sides.

But while the fight between the players of Florida International and Miami was caught on tape, evidence of the alleged actions of safety Anthony Scirrotto, defensive tackle Chris Baker, linebackers Jerome Hayes and Tyrell Sales and cornerbacks Justin King and Lydell Sargeant relies mostly on police interviews, making it difficult for Paterno to act decisively at this point.

If charges pan out, Paterno would likely have no choice, at the very least, but to suspend some of the more involved players. The possibility that King and Scirrotto, the two leaders of what was projected to be a very strong secondary, could be missing at the start of next season is there. That possibility is there for all the players allegedly involved.

But this situation can affect the team more than on the field. Penn State is one of the most image-conscious schools in the country. After all, Paterno's name is plastered on the campus library, and this latest incident will certainly lead many Penn State detractors to critique the school.

And those detractors could be correct in their stances.

It seems as if the last remnants of Paterno's "Grand Experiment" are fading, as the program has dealt with its fair share of negative publicity in the past few years.

- In May 2004, former Penn State wideout Maurice Humphrey was convicted of three misdemeanor accounts of simple assault after entering his girlfriend's apartment and assaulting her and her male friend on Nov. 23, 2003. He was indefinitely expelled from Penn State.

- Though no criminal charges were ever filed, Penn State's Office of Judicial Affairs dealt out deferred expulsions to former defensive linemen Ed Johnson and Matt Rice in April 2004, punishments stemming from a fight at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion on Feb. 7, 2004. Former Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson was punished to a lesser degree by Judicial Affairs for the same incident.

- In June 2005, Johnson was temporarily expelled from Penn State for two violations of the University's Code of Conduct, amid allegations of sexual misconduct and
confining another student against her will. Johnson returned to the team for the 2006-07 season after missing 2005, but he was suspended for the Outback Bowl earlier this year for an undisclosed team violation.

And that's not all. Just this semester, former Lion defensive end LaVon Chisley has been charged with the murder of Langston Carraway. And before that, another former defensive end, Scott Paxson, was charged with sexual assault, although the charges were later dropped. The list goes on and on.

Though it may not be fair to say that the charges against the current Penn State players and past offenses are related to a larger problem within the Penn State football program, it does indicate that Penn State is steadily losing its reputation as one of the classiest college football programs.

And that can be deciphered without months of court proceedings.