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didn't bother him in the game, crediting the LSU defense instead. With the victory, the 1973 team became the first in school history to win 12 games. In the locker room, Paterno said, "This was the best team I ever coached." Bristling at the lack of respect from the pollsters, Paterno said, "We have as much right to claim the top place as anyone else. ... I have my own poll – the Paterno poll. The vote was unanimous – Penn State is No. 1." Shuman is still disappointed the team never had a chance to play for the championship. "I wish there had been a playoff," he said. "And to this day, I am not a fan of the BCS. We would have given anybody more than they bargained for that year. We were very underrated and not given the recognition and respect nationally that we deserved. "We had a tremendous lineup of players. John was very gracious in giving accolades to the team when he won the Heisman Trophy, and rightfully so. When you look at that team on both sides of the ball and you count our punter, Brian Marsella, and field goal kicker, Chris Bahr, as the starting 24, 20 of those players were drafted or went [into the pros] as free agents. It was an unbelievable team of talent." In his senior year, Shuman led the Lions in total offense, and they finished 10-2 with a 41-20 victory over Baylor in the Cotton Bowl and a national ranking of No. 7 in both the AP and UPI polls. That spring, Shuman was drafted in the sixth round by Cincinnati but was cut just before the season when the Bengals went with just two quarterbacks. He then spent three weeks with the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League before the league folded. The next year, he was cut by New England on the eve of the NFL opener. So Shuman joined the Canadian Football League and played three seasons for Hamilton and Montreal before deciding to "get on with my life." That became a long career in the bottling and soft drink business, and Shuman wound up making his home in the Dallas suburb of Plano. He still lives there with his second wife, Kelly, and their two young children. He also has a son and daughter from his first marriage. Shuman is now an entrepreneur, and he and his wife have developed a 100calorie margarita called SmarteRita that is being sold in four states. The drink already has received national publicity in the trade press and on Fox News, and the Shumans' plan is to distribute the drink nationally in the near future. "You can order a bottle or two over the Internet if you're interested," Shuman told this writer. Perhaps he can persuade some of his 1973 teammates to become customers, too. That's the least they can do for their one-time "inexperienced" quarterback who took them to the brink of the national championship. I Welcome Back to Penn State - You earned this! You t 15% discount lioncount lioncountrylodging.com trylodging.com Lion Co untry L odging .c om PE ParentNN STATE Discoun t Plan

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