It was a night game that 109,839 people were going to remember, and Lydell Sargeant was watching from the sidelines as the action began.
The 5-foot-10 cornerback, then an 18-year-old freshman, would eventually make it onto the field for Penn State's 2005 nighttime win over Ohio State, apparently long enough for him to archive the memory of how intense night games at Beaver Stadium can be.
Luckily for him, he hasn't forgotten the details of that evening. Two years later, he'll find himself on the field for another nighttime contest, this time when Penn State squares off against Notre Dame on Saturday.
This time, though, he's projected to be starting at left cornerback.
"I expect it to be crazy," Sargeant said. "This is a game everyone [is] talking about."
Sargeant earned the opening-day start at left cornerback last week against FIU, only the second start of his Penn State career. The rest of Penn State's secondary came into preseason camp with established jobs -- cornerback Justin King and safeties Anthony Scirrotto and Tony Davis all started at least 12 games in 2006.
Sargeant, however, had to fight for the starting role he holds over sophomore A.J. Wallace at left cornerback -- and the competition is just beginning. Even though Sargeant started against FIU, the game didn't cement his place at the position, Joe Paterno said at his weekly press conference Tuesday.
"Sargeant overall played a solid game -- not a great game," Paterno said.
The Nittany Lions employed a nickel defense for part of their game against FIU, meaning Sargeant and Wallace found themselves lining up next to one another on some plays.
Paterno was pleased with Sargeant's ability to play both nickel back and cornerback, but he wants to wait until this weekend to find out how good the Lions' secondary is.
"Obviously we're gonna have a lot more problems put on us," Paterno said of Notre Dame's offense. "We weren't really worried about Florida International's tight end -- Notre Dame's got maybe the best tight end we're going [to] play against all year."
Paterno was referring to John Carlson, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound senior who caught 47 passes for 634 yards and four touchdowns for the Irish in 2006. In last year's game against the Lions, Carlson caught six passes for 98 yards.
Containing Carlson might be one of Sargeant's tasks this weekend as he continues his attempt to cement a starting role in the Lions' secondary. But his motivation to do well lies deeper than just covering Irish receivers.
Since the third grade, Sargeant and King have been best friends. They were teammates at Gateway High School, near Pittsburgh, for their freshman season.
Even though he moved to California for the next three years of high school, Sargeant still returned to the Pittsburgh area for one month each summer to work out with his old teammates.
"I was always there, every summer, and we stayed in pretty good contact," Sargeant said of his relationship with King.
When they were being recruited, the two decided that wherever one went to school, the other would go, as well.
But during the past two seasons, Sargeant had to spend the beginning of many games watching from the sidelines as King patrolled the secondary as a starter.
"It's an honor to play across from him," Sargeant said of King. But, he added: "Once we step on the field, our friendship's out the door, and we just kind of play football."
