Penn State finished 18-8 the past two seasons, winning bowl games over Tennessee and Texas A&M.

There was still something absent, though, quarterback Daryll Clark said.

Namely, leadership on both offense and defense.

Not this year, Clark said.

"[Joe Paterno] has a great deal of leadership on this team, both sides of the ball," Clark said, "and I think that's something we may have missed the past couple of years."

This time, with a starting group composed mainly of seniors who have played extensively throughout their careers, leadership is in excess on offense and on defense.

When players break the huddle at the end of practice, the singular goal is barked out as the team says "national champs" in unison.

During team meetings, assistant offensive line coach Bill Kenney reinforces the team is

0-0 as it heads into the sixth week of the season.

"The leadership, even though we have five designated captains, the leadership is coming from the entire senior class," senior and left tackle Gerald Cadogan said. "Everybody's pulling their weight, everybody's buying into what we have to do weekly throughout practice and really having our heads on straight and having the goal in mind that we want to win it all."

The opportunity to play for a national title seems more plausible with each passing week as Penn State rises in the polls. After being ranked 22nd in the Associated Press preseason poll, the Nittany Lions have gradually moved up.

Penn State was bumped up six spots to No. 6 in the country after beating Illinois, 38-24, Saturday night in a primetime game at Beaver Stadium.

A.Q. Shipley, one of the team's five captains, acknowledged afterward the challenge in not getting caught up in the hoopla.

"That's probably the toughest part," Shipley said. "That's part of the coaches' job. That's part of us as seniors. We've just got to keep guys grounded and keep them away from getting big heads."

That week-to-week approach, Cadogan said, helps keep the balance. As a senior whose number of Penn State games is dwindling to zero, he said looking too far ahead and having the team lose would cause regrets.

"This season, we want to have no regrets," Cadogan said. "We have to take the week-by-week mentality. Otherwise, we would get licked."

Captains Josh Gaines, Sean Lee, Anthony Scirrotto, Shipley and Williams have helped the team stay the course. Scirrotto spoke up after Penn State defeated Oregon State, 45-14, and gave an impassioned but brief 30-second speech urging the team to keep its focus.

Lee has turned into a pseudo-coach as he recovers from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, and he's been joined as a vocal leader by Gaines, whom Paterno called an underappreciated defensive end.

"Half the people around here don't know who Gaines is," Paterno said. "But he's probably one of the stronger leaders on the team."

Week by week, that leadership has helped the team to a 5-0 start but with a 0-0 approach in the hopes that the Lions will be the last team standing in January.

"We have so many weapons on both ends, we have the opportunity to do it," Clark said. "We just have to tread a level course. Stay level headed."