16 -The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 16, 1998 Paterno focuses on Pittsburgh, STAT: COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Penn State coach Joe Paterno stood on the footbal field aiter winning his 300th game Saurday. Fans chanted "Jbc-Pa! Joe-Pa' and the school presi- dent presented a watercolor portrait of the coach. Uncharacteristically choked-up, Paterno thanked eceryone. Then he said something that might have seemed out of place were this not a man always fret- ting about the next game. "Now we gotta beat Pitt!" he screamed above the crowd's roar. Pitt? Yup. Penn State's intrastate rival has managed only one winning season this decade, but no matter. This one is important because of a 105-year historv that includes close ganes played by guys named Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett and Mike Ditka. "1 really do feel that this is a big game, a meaningful game," Paterno said yesterday about No. 9 Penn State's first road test. "It's one that brings back a lot oflrnemories.' Memories may be all that Penn State has to look back on soon. The schools, located 2 112 hours apart, first met in r9h but their last scheduled game is in 2000. And with both teams locked into conference schedules, restarting the all- Pennsylvania game could be difficult. "I think it's a shame that we're not playing Pitt on a year-in, year-out basis," Paterno said. The problem: Penn State plays eight Big 10 teams each year, leaving only three non-conference dates. And more and more, Paterno said, the school's far- flung alumni groups want to see their Lions visit Nebraska, Miami and Alabama. "Those schools are back on, so it makes it difficult to plug Pitt in - as competitive as Pitt is." Paterno said. "It's going to be tough." University of Pittsburgh athletic director Steve Pederson said Monday he'd willingly sign a 30-year extension to continue playing Penn State - a far cry from the days when Pitt would only meet in Pittsburgh. Now, Penn State is having the success and, in reality, the Nittany Lions hope this game will be one more warm-up for the big one that follows: Oct. 3 at No. I Ohio State. Penn State is a four-touchdown favorite against Pittsburgh, but this game has been a hotly contested one in all but eight times since 1900, and memories of tough Pittsburgh games of the past make Paterno and his staff more intense in practice before -- no matter howI Panthers are. "All the coaches get up fo safety Shawn Lee. "Som younger players, especially from out of state, don't know, rivalry and how it was renewe Pi:NN SrrE PRI"SIDMNT A FN: Among the crowd of we who squeezed into Joel postgame news conferenceN State President Dr. Graham Sp The more Patcrno's voice c he discussed becoming th major-college coach to reach3 ries, the more Spanier thou JoePa's career at Penn State. "I checked the records rec he has the longest tenure of an State's 25,000 employees." Sp of Paterno's 48-year run a Valley - 33 as coach. "You can't measure how imp is to the university. I feel very to be the president of PennS time when we have someon such a leader nationally, bri integrity to the program, win and contributes virtually ever not milestone coaching makes financially back to the university. the week How can you ask for anything more?" good the You can't, especially after Paterno and his wife, Sue, recently gave the r it,' said school S3.5 million to endow faculty e of the positions and scholarships. the ones Spanier, a former Penn State faculty about the member who was chancellor at :d." Nebraska from 1991-95 before return- ing to State College, also was surprised PAFERNo to see the 71-year-old Paterno become llIshers so emotional. Paterno's "In the last couple of weeks he'd been was Penn saying it was just another game," panier. Spanier said, "but I think it would be racked as hard for anyone not to get caught up in ie fourth the emotion of the day and having near- 300 victo- ly 100,000 people staying after the ght about game to express their thanks." Paterno is heavily involved in ently. and fundraising and, Spanier says, often sits iy of Penn in on strategy sessions with the school's anier said top brass. Spanier, in fact, said that's at Happy one of the reasons Paterno is still coach- ing. portant he "One of the main reasons he contin- fortunate ues to coach into his 70s is not so much State at a because of football," said Spanier, who te that is was on the Penn State faculty from ngs such 1973-82,,"but because of the opportun- ns games, ties football gives him to help the rest of ything he the university." AP PNOM Penn State coach Joe Patemo celebrated his 300th last week, but the 71year-old 0 knows the storied history between his Nittany Lons and Pittsburgh, who meet Saturday. Vols try to end streak against rival Florida KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - There'll be no drastic measures taken by coach Phillip Fulmer to end Tennessee's five-game losing streak against Florida. "I'm not going to stand on my head and eat bugs and shave my hair or anything like that," Fulmer said as the sixth-ranked Volunteers (1-0) prepared for their annual Southeastern Conference showdown against the second-ranked Gators (2- 0). Any of those might be tempting options for a coach who is 54-6 against the rest of the world but just 1-5 against Steve Spurrier's Gators, but Fulmer believes in treating all games alike. "You recruit well, you coach em hard, you play as hard as you can play, and hopefully you win," he said. "That's been an awfully good formula for us in the rest of our games." It worked against Alabama, the Vols' nemesis before the emergence of Florida, but so far it hasn't been too helpful against the Gators. "I think it's really important for us to get over this hurdle of Florida," Fulmer admitted. "We're in the same division, and all the consequences puts a special emphasis on this game. "Certainly there's a passion to win this game, but there's a passion to win every game. If you look at our consistency over a period of time we've gotten that done except for Florida. Obviously that turns the knob up a little bit more." Tennessee last year and Florida in 1992 proved it is possible for the loser of this game to win the SEC Eastern Division title. But that requires at least two sub- sequent losses by the game winner and an undefeated run through the rest of the league by the loser, and nobody wants to count on that hap- pening. "I know it's been somewhat of a frustration the last five years, and * know our team is looking forward to working diligently to change that," Fulmer said. "I like the way our kids have gone about preparing." As was the case during Alabama's nine-year non-losing streak against the Vols (there was one tie), Fulmer gets asked every year if the Gators simply have Tennessee's number, if the Vols are too psyched out to pla* well. "I don't think we've been uptight," Fulmer said. "You've got to give Florida credit." There are three significant differ- ences in the Tennessee team that will play Saturday in Knoxville and the one that lost 33-20 a year ago in Gainesville. One, tailback Jamal Lewis was still so green last year that he carried the ball only five times for I11 yard* He has since gained 1,442 yards. He may not add anything to that total against the Gators, but it's a safe bet he'll get more than five chances to try. "Our ability to run the football certainly gives the head coach a lot more confidence," Fulmer said. Two, the offensive line is more set- tled and experienced than a year ago when the Gators held the Vols to 4 yards on the ground. And third, Peyton Manning is gone at quarterback. As successful as Manning was in his career at Tennessee, he never led the Vols to victory over Florida. Now it's Tee Martin's turn to try. "Tee gives us a dimension we haven't had here. It's not a bad thought for Tee to pull it down and try to make something happen," Fulmer said. "We don't want to gec him hurt, either, so we'll limit the number of times he carries it, but he has added a dimension to our offense we haven't had the last three years." -.90 114k WNWRAXI 1;1; EAsAmil 2