I-AA national championships and was
getting set to enter the Football Bowl Sub-
division as a member of the Sun Belt Con-
ference. He said he would have turned
down the job even if his boss at Vanderbilt,
James Franklin, had decided to keep every-
one in Nashville for a fourth season with
the Commodores. But when Franklin chose
to accept the head coaching position at
Penn State, Pry was even more excited
than before to be a part of this dynamic
young sta;. Well aware of Penn State's
past – he was born in Altoona, Pa., and
got his start in coaching at East Stroudsburg
University – he began to think optimisti-
cally about the Nittany Lions' future. How
optimistically? More than a little. "The
one thing we felt very con:dent in," he
said, "was that if we came here, we would
win a national championship."
Ten months later, the Nittany Lions are
a long way from national championship
contention. They clearly have a ways to
go before they can realistically hope to
vie for the Big Ten title, especially with
Ohio State looming on the immediate
horizon. But signs of progress are visible,
and one of the most encouraging of those
signs has been the team's success at slow-
ing down opposing o;enses. The Lions
are :elding one of the nation's better de-
fenses this season, and in the process,
they are doing their predecessors proud.
Through six games, Penn State was
ranked :=h in the nation in scoring defense
(15.2 points per game), second in rushing
defense (60.8 yards per game, 2.0 per at-
tempt) and 25th in pass-e
