Penn State to play old bowl foe

Back in the early 90’s Penn State got real familiar with SEC foe Tennessee in the Fiesta and Citrus Bowl at the end of the 91 and 93 seasons. Both games were exciting and relatively high scoring, but neither game ended up close as Penn State won both games outscoring the Vols by a total of 73-30. The closest margin of victory was 18 points.

On January 1st, the Nittany Lions will get a chance to renew acquaintances with the Volunteers as Tennessee has been named PSU’s opponent in the Outback bowl. With Penn State’s strong defense and lack of anything resembling an offense, it’s easy to believe that this year’s version will not be nearly as high scoring as the past.

On the injury side, Tennessee has been banged up this season and will be healthy after the month off. Penn State has been relatively healthy with the exception of their head coach, but Joe Paterno says he will be on the sideline for the game. Paterno is getting close to the point of starting rehab and the old man wants to get things going.

Paterno was told to stay off his feet for six weeks after the surgery, but with Week 5 coming up, the anxious coach said he's trying to convince his doctors to give him a head start.

I’m guessing that “convince” is not the proper word unless by convince you mean loudly yelling in a grumpy shrill tone that makes ears bleed. Sue probably welcomes the chance to get Joe out of her hair and yelling at someone other then her. All kidding aside, it will be nice to see Joe on the sideline once again.