His teary-eyed wife wasn't there to cling onto him as she shook with emotion.

He didn't address the crowd in a midfield ceremony honoring college football's winningest coach among Football Bowl Subdivision coaches.

Three young children weren't around to use the stage of Beaver Stadium's media room as a platform to climb around their joyous grandfather like they were seven years ago when Joe Paterno first broke the career wins record among Football Bowl Subdivision coaches.

This time, the scene was much more subdued. On the same fall afternoon Paterno's mortality came into sharp focus, the 81-year-old subtlety regained the coaching title.

No fanfare and much angst surrounded Paterno as Penn State cruised past Temple, 45-3, Saturday afternoon to push the coach to the top of the wins list among major college coaches.

Paterno now has 376 career wins and is one ahead of Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, his colleague and friend. Bowden missed the chance to share the record after the Seminoles lost, 12-3, to Wake Forest on Saturday night.

Paterno's feat became a footnote after a right knee injury sent him to the coaches' booth in the press box for the second half. He took an awkward step and had a pronounced limp as he walked to the locker room at halftime.

When he emerged from the locker room, Paterno gingerly took a seat in a golf cart parked outside the locker room doors. Director of football operations Tommy Venturino navigated the cart past applauding fans lining Beaver Stadium's concourse.

Venturino parked the cart outside the elevator and Paterno put his left hand on the top for balance. When Paterno stood, he placed his hand on his right thigh before heading into the elevator.

"My leg's OK," Paterno said after the game. "I just stand on it too long, and it aches. But, you know, I'm probably babying myself."

Paterno sat at the right edge of the coaches' booth beside offensive line coach Dick Anderson, offensive coordinator Galen Hall and quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, who joked afterward that Hall switched the order so the head coach would be next to Anderson.

Jay Paterno felt his father's hands on him a couple of times despite the head coach's seat being at the opposite end of the coaches' booth.

"He is getting around better than some other people who are a lot younger than him," Jay Paterno said. "He is fine. No one needs to get panicked or anything. Trust me, if you were sitting next to him in the second half like I was, you would know he was OK. He was not real happy with what he was seeing."

Paterno spent the first half on the sidelines, but his pregame routine was atypical. Instead of running onto the field, Paterno walked with a slight limp behind the Blue Band's trumpet line around the 10-yard line, then made his way up the sideline.

He was in obvious discomfort but dodged questions with playful jabs at reporters and dashes of humor.

"I don't know," Paterno said when asked how he injured his knee. "I've probably got a picture of you in my room and tried to kick it."

Later on, Paterno said his disinterest in talking about his knee stems from being bothered his status takes away from the team.

"Absolutely," he said, his voice rising. "I've got a bunch of guys out there fighting all kinds of adversity with different lineups, hanging in there together, all right? And you're worried about my leg. Now, if you were a bunch of good-looking girls, I'd feel better about it."

Unbeknownst to the rest of Penn State's coaches, Paterno tweaked his right knee when he demonstrated an onside kick in practice before the Nittany Lions played Coastal Carolina, Jay Paterno said.

He attempted to jog out of the tunnel when Penn State played Oregon State before walking the rest of the way. His mobility lessened even more after he spent an afternoon walking on artificial turf inside Syracuse's Carrier Dome, and his limp was more noticeable.

Paterno spent time at practice this week in a golf cart.

"He's still there," running back Evan Royster said. "He's still doing what he does. He'll drive the cart right up to somebody and start yelling at them."

Paterno's full return to the sidelines is uncertain.

"We all get our little nicks and bruises here once in awhile," Athletic Director Tim Curley said. "He's trying to deal with that right now."