Current Conditions
31°F - CLOUDY
(308) (69) (26) (4) (4)
"I got Michigan State to play this week," he said during his weekly media teleconference Tuesday.
The plan, acknowledged by Penn State officials Monday, will call for seat position in the stadium to be factored into season-ticket holders' contributions to the Nittany Lion Club booster organization.
Some season-ticket holders are expected to have to pay as much as $600 to retain their current seats, although they will be permitted to opt out of the fee and have their seats moved to a less desirable location.
The plan, which will take effect in 2011, is expected to shift the student section so that it will surround the west end zone, and increase it by about 800 seats, according to Associate Athletic Director Greg Myford.
There is no evidence that JoePa has anything to do with this, and he does have a game Saturday, with a Michigan State club at East Lansing (3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN) that may be more formidable than its 6-5 record suggests.
"I think Michigan State is a fine football team. I thought Indiana was a good football team," Paterno said. The Lions slid past Indiana 31-20 Saturday.
"The one thing about this league right now is we got more good, young coaches than I've seen since I've been in the league. Michigan State is obviously a little further along than Indiana. They're on the verge of being a really good football team. I hope they're at least 10 days away."
Paterno did talk, in general terms, about Penn State's long-stated position that it needs to extract as much revenue as possible from the football program to fund the University's 29 intercollegiate sports.
"All I've ever said to (athletic director) Tim Curley is, 'Tim, you're doing one heck of a job,' all right?" Paterno said.
"You just look around at the facilities, at all the things that have been done. (I asked) 'How're you paying for it?' (Curley) said, 'Well, it's tough.'
"How much are we charging compared to other people? I think we're probably at the bottom of the list. I saw what Michigan charges, and I saw what Ohio State charges.
"We don't get a nickel from the university for anything. Completely self-supporting. So they've got to do something or we got to cut back sports, and we don't want to do that."
Although donation structures and ticket plans vary from school to school so much that direct comparisons are difficult, in season-ticket prices alone Penn State is third-highest in the Big Ten, behind Ohio State and Michigan, according to figures on the conference's Web site.
A win Saturday would apparently clinch eligibility for a BCS bowl for the Nittany Lions (9-2, 5-2 Big Ten). Penn State went into last weekend 18th in the BCS standings. The top 14 are eligible. Nos. 14-17 lost Saturday, and the Lions are now 14th.
In the least surprising news item of the day, Joe didn't want to talk about that, either.
"You guys speculate all you want," he said.
"If we don't beat Michigan State, none of that makes any… none of it's important. So I don't waste time with it."
There was some hard news. Brandon Beachum, the sophomore running back who helps Penn State in a variety of ways, is out for the year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Beachum sustained the injury on a kickoff return in the second half of Saturday's game. He's a Paterno favorite.
"He was a kid that played on special teams as well as played fullback, tailback, a great kid on the practice field," Paterno said.
"Beachum is all over the place for you. Anything you ask him to do, he does well. He's one of those guys, he's a coach's player."
A.J. Wallace, a starting cornerback, suffered an apparent head and neck injury in Saturday's game. Chaz Powell, a starting wide receiver from York County, injured a shoulder Saturday.
Paterno suggested Wallace was likely to play at Michigan State, Powell not.
"Powell I doubt will make it," he said. "In fact, we're not really counting on him for this week."
