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Three seasons ago, Penn State football rose out of the mediocrity it was mired in and earned a BCS bowl bid and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
Since then, the Nittany Lions have fallen back to a mediocre level with trips to the Outback Bowl on New Year's Day 2007 and the Alamo Bowl in December.
So picking Penn State to finish tops in the Big Ten isn't really on the experts' radar as the 2008 season is just 47 days from opening at Beaver Stadium.
Ah, but are the experts really in the know?
Because those in the know seem to think Penn State has something special in '08.
National Championship special.
On Monday at Hanover Country Club during the Big 33 Celebrity Golf Outing, former Penn State players shared their thoughts on the upcoming season.
Brad Scovill, who was a tight end in the late 1970s for the Nittany Lions, said he has been doing some poking around State College and is optimistic for the season.
His big tip off - Joe Paterno himself.
"He is all fired up," Scovill said about Paterno. "He feels pretty good. He likes the squad. His energy level is pretty high. He's got the squad back with focus. If they can stay healthy, it's going to be a good year."
Doug Strang, a quarterback with the 1982 national championship squad, also used the word "optimistic" to describe the outlook for 2008.
"They have two good quarterbacks," Strang said. "Both look good. Either one could start somewhere else."
Strang's pick for
The most recent player at Monday's event to join the ranks of Penn State alumni, John Shaw, may have the best perspective of all.
"I'd like them to win a national championship," Shaw said. "There is a lot of talent on that team right now. They can do whatever they want, go as far as they want to go. I feel like every game we've been in the last three or four years, every game we lost, we were in that game. We had an opportunity to win it. This year, I feel like they have the tools to put it all together, take it one game at a time and win a national championship."
Talent is something Shaw, Scovill and Strang threw out and so did Big 33 executive director and former Nittany Lion tailback John Greene.
"My take on this year is I hope they are going to be a sleeper," Greene said. "They've got a lot of talent. I'm hoping they surprise people. I hope they're ranked fifth or sixth within the Big Ten and nobody takes them seriously and then all of the sudden, week 7, everybody says, 'holy cow, we got ahold of something here at Penn State.'"
So the verdict is in from the Penn State alumni. watch out for the Nittany Lions in 2008.
Maybe the rest of us will be surprised at the end of the season and Penn State will be on the national radar.
Dan Graybill is an Evening Sun sports writer. Contact him at dgraybill@eveningsun.com.
