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player, reinjuring his index finger. Forced to undergo surgery, he missed spring practice and was still rusty in preseason drills. Four days before the historic Big Ten opener against Minnesota, Paterno named Sacca his starter. The pollsters had soured on the Nit- tany Lions after 1992, picking them 16th and 17th in the respective preseason rankings, with third-ranked Michigan predicted to win the Big Ten. But Paterno and his team were optimistic. After a self-evaluation following the 1992 debacle, Paterno reorganized the way he communicated $# " $%" with the players, meeting frequently with team leaders from each class. "You could see a change in the whole program," Collins said after spring practice. Aside from Collins' injury, the biggest negative was the absence of Anderson, who turned pro despite having another # !$ ! | OHIO STATE, 1994 For Penn State, which had lost to the Buckeyes in Columbus the year before and endured taunts about its readiness for the Big Ten, this was a satisfying moment indeed. No. 21 Ohio State never knew what hit it. Penn State scored on five of its first six possessions and never took its foot off the gas pedal even after jumping out to a 35-0 halftime lead. Final score: 63-14. It was the Buckeyes' worst loss in 48 years. @ ILLINOIS, 1994 Maybe you made the trip to Champaign. Maybe you were in Rec Hall, which was packed to the rafters for an impromptu pep rally when Kerry Collins, Ki-Jana Carter and company returned to campus late Saturday night. Maybe you just watched it on TV. Whatever the case, you'll probably never forget seeing Brian Milne plunge into the end zone to cap the 96-yard drive that secured a 35-31 comeback victory and kept the Lions pointed toward the Rose Bowl. OHIO STATE, 2001 It was Joe Paterno's 324th career victory, one more than Bear Bryant amassed in his legendary career at Alabama. But much of the buzz after this game centered on redshirt freshman quarterback Zack Mills, who finished with a school-record 418 yards of offense in leading the Nittany Lions to a 29-27 comeback victory over the Buckeyes. ILLINOIS, 1998 The game was a snooze, but you can still find its one memorable moment – the LaVar Leap – on YouTube, where it looks just as dazzling as ever. LaVar Arrington jumps over a couple of offensive linemen and lands on Illinois tailback Elmer Hickman just as he takes the handoff. Arrington had been expecting a QB sneak on fourth-and-short, but he played the gap rather than the man and tumbled right into a spot in Penn State football lore. MICHIGAN STATE, 2002 Larry Johnson needed 264 yards to become the first Penn State rusher to surpass 2,000 for a season, and the talk heading into the Nittany Lions' regular-season finale was whether he'd get them. That talk ended quickly once the game began, because he got them before halftime. Johnson ran for an incredible 279 yards and four touchdowns on just 19 carries and watched the second half of Penn State's 61-7 victory from the sideline. @ NORTHWESTERN, 2005 Despite winning their first three games, the BWI file photo Nittany Lions hadn't re-established themselves nationally after four losing seasons in five years. Their 2005 season seemed like it could still go either way, and after they fell behind 23-7 in Evanston, it seemed to be going in an all-too-familiar direction. But they rallied in the fourth quarter and put together a desperate 80-yard drive late in the game, with BRIAN MILNE

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