Despite a bowl scenario that is unclear with one week of games left, the Big Ten Conference told the bowls it is associated with to make their selections yesterday and to assume that Iowa would be selected by a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl. The Penn State football team accepted a bid to the Capital One Bowl to play the second selection from the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

After three years of waiting, it's once again time for Nittany Lions fans to break out the suntan lotion on New Year's Day -- maybe.

Larry Johnson likes to downplay any talk concerning the Heisman Trophy.

Where was Brett Favre when you needed him?

Penn State bowl fate in BCS' hands

State College is awash in Heisman Trophy talk. So is the entire Penn State football fan base.

In the huddle, tailback Larry Johnson is silent. He'll usually stand with his hands on his hips, listening to quarterback Zack Mills relay the play. Johnson barely says a word.

Along with the return of the real Zack Mills came the return of the Penn State football team's real receiving corps.

Rising to the occasion is a common theme this year for the Penn State defensive line.

Two different coaches with two different stories, and one play with one result.

The Penn State football team had just completed the Friday meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Ypsilanti, Mich.

By its very nature, football is a grueling game. Even after a win, guys walk off the field bruised and tired.

Last year, Virginia baffled Penn State by dropping eight men into coverage.

Let the speculation begin.

Penn State's overall record: 10-7. Penn State's conference record: 3-3.

Maybe Larry Johnson's on to something.

In his sport, Penn State wrestler Mark Becks grapples with his opponent in hopes of victory. Recently, however, Becks, along with three other prominent Penn State athletes, looked to pin an even greater adversary: tobacco use.

After the last two games, everyone thought it was dead.

Here's some quality bulletin board material for every team Penn State plays the rest of the way.

What separates the 5-3 Penn State football team between being an 8-0 team is gut-wrenching.

The No. 12 Nittany Lions valiantly fought back from a 35-13 deficit in the fourth quarter, but were unable to come away with a win as the Hawkeyes gave Penn State their first loss of the season in a stunning overtime upset, by a score of 42-35.

They won the dangerous opener, dominated in the big game and survived the possible letdown.

Big Ten teams prepare to start wide-open sprint for confernce titles

This year's Penn State football team is so different from every Nittany Lions squad of the past -- everybody's saying it, so it has to be true.

Louisiana Tech coach Jack Bicknell had seen this before. No, he had played it before.

For Penn State safety Paul Cronin and cornerback Rich Gardner, boatloads of scholarship offers did not come with high school graduation. However, both decided that being awarded with a scholarship at Div. I-AA or II wouldn't be as satisfying as taking a chance at proving themselves at a major program as walk-ons.

It was billed as a shootout at the O.K. Corral and Zack Mills and Luke McCown did not disappoint the 103,987 fans in attendance.

The theory behind modern warfare: a high powered air attack with support from a stable ground unit.

There is an old Latin saying that goes like this: Facta, non verba.

In just two games, the Penn State football team's defense has already seen the two opposite sides of the spectrum of offenses.

We know what you want (besides rock 'n' roll).

Apparently the sky is falling in Lincoln.

Penn State junior Rich Gardner has been named the Big Ten Defensive Football Player of the Week for his efforts in Penn State's 40-7 in over No. 8 Nebraska Saturday night.

Penn State's Big Ten Conference opener with Iowa on Saturday, September 28 in Beaver Stadium will be televised by ESPN. Kickoff time for the conference clash has been set for 12:05 p.m. ET.

As a Penn State player, you don't brag, at least not outright.

Michael Robinson, the backup quarterback, trotted onto the Beaver Stadium green behind starting quarterback Zack Mills. The huddle broke, and Robinson lined up in the slot.

If Saturday's Penn State-Nebraska football game was a boxing match, the Cornhuskers' collective head would've started to spin when the Nittany Lions scored on their first drive of the third quarter to make the score 19-7.

Behind outstanding quarterback play from sophomore Zack Mills and a ferocious, swarming defense, the Penn State football team finally exorcised their two year demons by crushing Nebraska, 40-7.

They know it's coming. The Penn State football team knows Nebraska will run the option. There is no mystery. It didn't take hours of film-watching to figure this out.

With two weeks off, the Penn State football team had more than enough time to prepare for tomorrow's showdown with No. 8 Nebraska.

One of the most important players for Penn State this weekend is a freshman from New Britain, Conn., who will not touch the field.

My opinion: Jeff Frantz

My opinion: Jeff Rice

Nothing's good like Thanksgiving leftovers. Unless of course you played football for Nebraska last Black Friday, because someone forgot to tell the Cornhuskers not to get devoured along with the reheated turkey and mashed potatoes.

It tastes that much sweeter when you've got to work for it that much harder.

In his senior year, Nebraska right cornerback DeJuan Groce has arrived as he wanted to, by tormenting offenses and causing wide-spread panic among punt coverage teams.

In the state of Nebraska, boys grow up rooting for only one football team. If that team should ask them to play when they get older, their answer is almost always, "yes," no matter if there's a scholarship being offered or not.

With a traditional powerhouse ranked in the top 10 coming into Happy Valley Saturday night, even Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who has seen virtually everything there is to see in college football, can't help but get pumped up for the Nittany Lions' upcoming game against Nebraska.

Frank Solich is coming home -- sort of.

It is a day that has changed America forever and football, a sport based upon routine, cannot go unaffected no matter how hard it tries.

My opinion: Dustin Dopirak

Coach Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lion football team will be on hand Friday night for the "Rally in the Valley" pep rally in anticipation of Saturday night's Penn State-Nebraska clash in Beaver Stadium.

My opinion: Jeff Rice

As far as college football offenses go, there may be no two that are more different than those of Central Florida and Nebraska.

Time off after not having to do much work seems like a good deal -- unless you're the Penn State football team trying to have its first solid season in three years.

Some talked about it in their opening statements, others waited for questions about it, but it was clear that every coach on yesterday's Big Ten football teleconference had something other than football on his mind.

For most of Joe Paterno's career, the idea of giving a true freshman significant minutes in the season opener would be unheard of. However, a confluence of events, including hero Yaacov Yisrael being lost for the year due to a knee injury and a lack of proven talent, allowed Calvin Lowry to get off the bench and into the game.

Some talked about it in their opening statements, others waited for questions about it, but it was clear that every coach on yesterday's Big Ten football teleconference had something other than football on his mind.

From the time the Penn State football team walked off the field at Virginia's Scott Stadium last December, running back Larry Johnson was preparing to be the Nittany Lions' lone featured running back.

After they finish enjoying their 27-24 win over Central Florida, their first opening game victory since 1999, the members of the Penn State football team's defense will have to ponder a few numbers that will be hard to digest.

Goldy didn't mind it as much as Anthony Adams did.

The Penn State football team fought off a late Central Florida rally to hold on to a 27-24 victory today at Beaver Stadium.

Two seasons. A record of 10-13. No bowl games. That's the bottom line for the Penn State football team since the 2000 season.

For as much as Penn State football coach Joe Paterno complains about the demands TV places on him, television does have its perks.

Back in the day, Penn State tailback Larry Johnson would get so ornery and feisty that the coaches had to kick him out of practice.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea for the 300-pound beasts that man Penn State's offensive line to be jumping on one another during preseason media day two weeks ago.

My Opinion: Dustin Dopirak

He's not Joan of Arc, Moses or a magician. But he is Zack Mills, and that seems to be thrilling everyone enough.

Experience- and talent-wise, Penn State has the best defensive line in the Big Ten.

The Big Ten is caught in a down cycle. Despite placing six teams in bowl games last winter, no conference squad has finished the season in the top 10 since 1999.

Bumps and bruises suffered by his linebackers during the preseason have forced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno to reshuffle his depth chart at the position.

My Opinion: Chris Korman

Some are calling it the best quarterback class ever, and who are we to argue?

Yaacov Yisrael managed to get himself out of Joe Paterno's doghouse, but he will still miss the season because he couldn't keep himself away from the infirmary.

The biggest question for Penn State, as it enters its 125th year of collegiate football competition, has nothing to do with the players on the field or the schedule ahead.

A rookie donning a gold practice jersey symbolic of his newness to the team hustles over to take a few more snaps. Every extra moment of practice brings him one step closer to replacing the gold jersey for a white one, a permanent place on the team.

The knock on Larry Johnson's hotel-room door came at a late hour.

Amidst a frantic scene, obscured by the Steelers' galaxy of stars at the linebacker position, Justin Kurpeikis immersed himself in his second training camp as a Steeler.

Different city, same old Joe.

The blinding rivers of sweat that once trickled down LaVar Arrington's forehead and rolled into his eyes stopped flowing.

Shamar Finney began a walk towards the locker room at Dickinson College past a group of children who had been autograph hunting all morning behind a thin yellow rope. None of the kids asked Finney for his signature to be written on any of their official NFL jerseys, footballs and hats.

The football was tucked away in Kenny Watson's arms as he sprinted up the near sideline during the first day of training in his second year with the Washington Redskins.

My Opinion: Rick Burchfield

My Opinion: Chris Rajotte

Thank you Touchdown Jesus.

Renewal rates for Penn State football season tickets dropped from 98.7 percent in 2001 to 96.5 percent in 2002.

The memories raced through Zac Wasserman's mind every time he logged onto his computer, every time he watched TV on fall Saturdays and every time he heard someone mention Penn State.

Joe Paterno surveyed the mourners who gathered as Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" emanated through the cathedral.

My Opinion: Rick Burchfield

When Fran Fisher learned George Paterno, 73, died Sunday at Centre Community Hospital from a heart attack he suffered last Tuesday, ending a long period of ill health, he initially took the news hard.

B.J. Luke might be R.J. Luke's father and high-school football coach, but even he can't fully explain the tight end's transfer from Penn State.

George Paterno, armed serviceman, police officer, teacher, football coach, administrator, broadcaster and author, held many vocations.

R.J.Luke, a tight end on Joe Paterno's football team, announced his transfer to Western Illinois, two weeks after a Centre County jury acquitted the senior-to-be and Penn State linebacker T.C. Cosby on charges connected to an alleged assault at a fraternity party last summer.

The Nittany Lions will visit Syracuse in 2008 and then host the Orangemen the following season in a two-game, home-and-home series.