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Pastimes : College Football: Nits, Gators, Bruins, Vols - Whoever! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JM who wrote (1414)	11/26/1999 1:09:00 PM
From: MythMan	Respond to of 11146

In Today's CDT... >>A season that promised to taste like Sugar or smell like Rose will come to an end at the Alamo. The Penn State Nittany Lions on Wednesday accepted a bid to the Sylvania Alamo Bowl, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 28 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Their opponent, the fourth pick from the Big 12, remains uncertain. It could be Oklahoma, Texas A&M or Texas. "We had no choice" on bowl destinations, said Penn State coach Joe Paterno, whose team slid to fourth in the Big Ten's bowl tie-ins. "There's a pecking order and we found ourselves in a position where we had the opportunity to go to the Alamo Bowl and that was fine with us." Penn State's run of eight straight New Year's Day - or Jan. 2 - appearances has ended. The Nittany Lions' last non-major bowl appearance was Dec. 28, 1990, a 24-17 loss to Florida State in the Blockbuster Bowl. "I hadn't thought of that, really," Paterno said. "We're a little disappointed because we thought we were good enough. We just didn't play good enough." The 15th-ranked Nittany Lions (9-3, 5-3 Big Ten) finished their regular season with three straight losses, including 35-28 at Michigan State on Saturday. That defeat sealed Penn State's postseason fate. Either Michigan or the Spartans will garner a Bowl Championship Series bid - to the Fiesta or Orange Bowl - with the other going to the Jan. 1 Citrus Bowl. The Outback Bowl, also on New Year's Day, opted for Purdue over the Nittany Lions. (Big Ten champion Wisconsin, of course, is going to the Rose Bowl.) Penn State went to the Outback following last season while Purdue played in the Alamo Bowl. This year's Alamo Bowl has a minimum payout of $1.2 million, $700,000 less than the Outback's guarantee and a far cry - literally millions of dollars - from what the BCS bowls pay. Paterno has yet to meet with his players, who are home for Thanksgiving. He said he will talk with his team Monday. "They won't hear (the bowl announcement) from me," he said. "They'll hear it in the press." Paterno said he did not know how his team, which was in the running for the national title and/or Big Ten title just three weeks ago, will react to the news. "I don't know. I really don't know," he said. "I think it's nice to do something different. I think some of the kids will be (disappointed) at first until they realize what a great place this place is and what a tough game they'll be involved in. If they're disappointed, that will fade away in a hurry." In his 50th anniversary on the Penn State staff, including 34 years as head coach, Paterno is faced with possibly his most disappointing end to a regular season. Not since 1935 have the Nittany Lions lost three games in the month of November. The last time they dropped three to end a regular season was 1914. Still, Paterno, the winningest coach in bowl history, put a positive spin on accepting the Alamo. "I've spent some time in San Antonio and it's a wonderful city," he said. "We're really excited about coming down to that part of the country and playing in an exciting football game. It should be fun." Paterno said - despite rumors to the contrary - that his players definitely want to go to a bowl. "I'm sure about that," he added. As he has all season, Paterno praised his team for being "one of the finest groups of people" he's coached. "We let a few games get away from us at the end of the year," he said. "These kids want to prove to people they are a good football team." Penn State's travel plans remain undetermined until Monday afternoon. Paterno said his players, who finish their final exams on Dec. 18, will probably gather in Texas on Dec. 20 or 21. "That way," he said, "we can still get some practice time in before we play on the 28th." <<