Paterno to coach from Rose Bowl press box

PASADENA, Calif. - All the fuss is starting to bug Joe Paterno.

Still recovering from hip surgery, the 82-year-old Penn State coach plans to run his team from the press box Thursday when the No. 6 Nittany Lions face No. 5 Southern California in the 95th Rose Bowl game.

Paterno had hoped to coach from the sideline, but he realized it's not the prudent way to go.

"I wish we'd all get off this fact of where I'm going to be," he said Wednesday at the final Rose Bowl news conference. "These kids, it's a one time in their lifetime for so many of them, and I hate like the dickens for everybody to be worried about where Paterno is going to be.

"It's the players that we ought to be talking about, not where I'm going to be, for crying out loud. Who knows what's going to happen by Thursday? I might decide to take a boat to Italy."

Don't count on it. Despite his advancing age and inability to move around as well as he might like, Paterno made it clear he's in command of his team.

"I think we're ready," he said. "We ended up yesterday with about 50 minutes making sure everyone knew where they were supposed to line up. We're looking forward to a good football game."

As far as coaching in the press box, Paterno said it was the best for all concerned.

"I don't think I can handle 31/2, four hours on the sideline," he said. "I think everybody will be worried about somebody bumping me. And the staff has been so good and all those guys know me, and they know how to operate without me. I'll be upstairs."

Tongue in cheek, Paterno said he consulted USC coach Pete Carroll.

"I said, 'I think I'm probably going to go upstairs, but if you would agree not to throw the ball more than 15, 18 times, we can get that game over in less than three hours, I might be on the sideline,' " Paterno said. "Pete said to me, 'If I see you on the sideline, we're going to throw it 50 times.'

"I don't think I can win that one. My doctor is a little concerned. He's afraid they'll get some blood problems. I think I'd be a distraction on the sideline."

Paterno coached the final seven games of the season from various press boxes, and he underwent surgery Nov. 23, the day after the Nittany Lions beat No. 19 Michigan State 49-18 to clinch their Rose Bowl berth.

The game is a matchup of one college football coaching legend and another heading in that direction.

Since becoming the Penn State coach in 1966, Paterno's teams have a 383-126-3 record and a 23-10-1 mark in bowl games. The 383 wins and 23 bowl victories are the most in college football history.

Carroll doesn't have nearly the longevity, but his teams have certainly made their mark since he arrived in 2001 to take over a program that had turned mediocre.

The Trojans went 6-6 in Carroll's first season before taking off. Since then, they've gone 81-9 while winning a record seven straight Pac-10 championships. The Rose Bowl will be their seventh consecutive BCS bowl - another record. They've won five of the previous six, with the only blemish a 41-38 loss to Texas three years ago in the national title game.

USC entered the season ranked No. 1, and stayed there until being upset 27-21 by Oregon State on Sept. 25. The loss would keep the Trojans from playing for the national championship.

Penn State can relate, having an inside track to the title game before losing at Iowa 24-23 on a last-second 31-yard field goal.

So both teams wound up in the Rose Bowl - the Trojans for a record 33rd time and for the fourth straight year, the Nittany Lions for the first time in 14 years and third time overall.

"I'm not going to hang my feelings about our work and our body of work during the course of a season on what the poll turns out, and I know coach Paterno feels the same well," Carroll said. "He didn't know if it's the BCS or the BSC. I feel the same way about it.

"So I don't have any frustration at all. Our team doesn't have frustration at all. It would be nice to be in the championship game because we earned our way to the championship game through a playoff system. Other than that, we get to do what we get to do. We get a great matchup and a great game, and who is to say who is the best team?"

Paterno insists this game is no consolation.

"I think it's just a great thing to be here and to play a team the caliber of Southern Cal. I'm not trying to blow smoke. I think Southern Cal is as good as any football team in the country," he said.

"If you told me they were going to play Florida, Texas, Oklahoma tomorrow and you said, 'Which is the best?' I think Southern Cal might be the best team of them all. For us to have an opportunity to play them, I think that's great. Whether we're good enough, that's what we've got to find out."

Both teams appear good enough to win on many fronts. Penn State is averaging 40.2 points and USC 37.5. The Trojans have allowed an NCAA-leading 7.8 points a game, and the Nittany Lions aren't far behind at 12.4

Penn State's Daryll Clark has completed 60 percent of his passes for 2,319 yards and 17 touchdowns with only 4 interceptions, and tailback Evan Royster has rushed for 1,202 yards, averaging 6.5 yards a carry.

For USC, Mark Sanchez has completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,794 yards and 30 touchdowns with 11 interceptions, and Joe McKnight, Stafon Johnson and C.J. Gable have combined to rush for 1,892 yards and 19 TDs.

Sanchez said Penn State is nothing like his team has seen before.

"They just fly around. I've seen their offense on film," he said. "They're explosive. I know that they have speed. We know they are a formidable opponent."

Clark said USC is bigger, stronger and faster than the other teams Penn State has played.

"You can't beat these guys by being tricky," he said. "You just have to line up and play. You have 11 guys get after the ball as soon as it's thrown or handed off. They're really intense. They have speed. The stats don't lie."

The Trojans were listed as 91/2-point favorites to win a record 24th Rose Bowl.

"That doesn't mean that that's the end of the world," Paterno said. "I hope we play with the idea we're going out there to try to win it and not go in there and just keep it close or something like that.

"If there's an implication that we're underdogs and hopefully we can go in there and save face or something like that, I don't believe that's true of this team."