Blue White Illustrated

coaching career, when many of the current Beaver Stadium faithful began following Penn State football, the Lions had 14 top-10 finishes. Even in the waning years of the Paterno era, when his health had declined and disenchantment was growing both inside and outside the Lasch Building, the Nittany Lions still vied for championships on occasion. It's easy to forget, but they were in 8-1 when everything unraveled in November 2011. How is it possible for a program beset by internal disarray to stay reasonably competitive? It's possible because, despite a string of nonconference upsets that made headlines this past September, college football's pecking order is determined by resources and brandrecognition. It's a game of entrenched power, and schools that have it can ride out the occasional recruiting loss or bad hire. Even when something goes catastrophically wrong – think Jim Tressel's dreary end at Ohio State, Rich Rodriguez's three lousy seasons at Michigan or Mike Shula's flop at Alabama – the course correction that inevitably follows often makes power programs even stronger than they were before. And yet, the whole notion of entrenched power is based on the idea that big-time football schools will deploy whatever resources are necessary to remain on top. It's based on the idea that elite schools have a blank check to, for instance, pay their head coach $4 million a year as Ohio State is paying Urban Meyer, or build a $68 training facility as Oregon did, or outfit the entire team in chrome helmets as everyone seems to be doing these days. The Nittany Lions are going to put that notion to the test. Penn State is facing challenges that go well beyond the scholarship cap that takes effect next season and the bowl ban that extends through 2015. Football attendance has continued to dwindle this season, which means there's less money coming into athletic department coffers. Penn State isn't going to bowls and has been forced to forfeit its share of the Big Ten's postseason revenue pool. What's more, by the end of the year, the athletic depart- ment must pay the second $12 million installment of the $60 million fine that the NCAA imposed in 2012. Once one of the most profitable athletic operations in the country, Penn State is expecting to lose money next year and remain in the red through 2016-17. Finances are so tight that athletic officials have talked about the need for loans of up to $30 million to ride out the sanctions, after which the balance sheet is expected to improve. There are immediate challenges, too, the most pressing of which will be confronted this weekend when the Nittany Lions open their Big Ten season at Indiana. The Hoosiers are the only conference members that have never defeated Penn State, but the two teams look to be more evenly matched than usual. They both have high-speed offenses that are being orchestrated by young quarterbacks, and both have significant concerns on defense. The game could easily turn into an offensive slugfest, with the last team to have possession of the ball getting the win. There's no reason to assume that that team will be Penn State. But consider the big picture: Memorial Stadium may or may not be full on Saturday. It holds 52,929, and the Hoosiers averaged 44,577 for their first four games. Beaver Stadium will be full when Penn State returns home to face Michigan a week later, and it will be fairly close to full even for the less attractive games on the remaining schedule. Athletics officials are projecting the stadium to be at 88 percent of capacity the next few years. That's not great – the estimate five years ago was 94 percent – but 88 percent of 106,572 is 93,743. That would be a pretty good crowd just about anywhere in the country. The two-part challenge that Penn State faces is to maintain that enthusiasm and use it to help fuel recruiting – the hope being that those two factors will ratchet each other up. While the pump-up video always gets a big cheer, the program needs something beyond nostalgia to get people excited. It needs I to get itself on a roll. www.AmericanAleHouse.net 821 Cricklewood Drive, Toftrees State College Now in 2 Locations

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