SAN ANTONIO; December 25, 2007 - The Penn State football team conducted its third Texas practice today in preparation for Saturday's Valero Alamo Bowl clash with Texas A&M.
The Nittany Lions (8-4) practiced today in The Alamodome, site of the contest with the Aggies (7-5). Penn State leads the series, 2-1, and the teams are meeting for the first time since the Lions' 24-0 win in the 1999 Alamo Bowl. The 65,000 seat Alamodome is sold out for the game, which will kick at 7:00 p.m. CT and air on ESPN, the Penn State Sports Network and GoPSUsports.com, the official website of Penn State Athletics.
The Valero Alamo Bowl will be Joe Paterno's 500th game as head coach of the Nittany Lions.
Following completion of final examinations and graduation ceremonies last weekend, the Nittany Lions gathered here on Sunday, practicing at a local high school the past two days.
On Monday night, the team gathered with the football coaches and staff and their families for their traditional Christmas party at the Marriott Riverwalk Hotel. In addition to dinner and dessert, the ballroom was divided into groups to sing the Twelve Days of Christmas, in addition to several other Christmas favorites.
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Abe Koroma (Hershey) dressed up as Santa Claus to highlight the party, delivering presents to the children and one-liners to several members of the audience.
On Wednesday, members of the squad will have an opportunity to visit Sea World after practice. In the evening, the team will attend the San Antonio Spurs-Chicago Bulls game.
Penn State fans in San Antonio are encouraged to attend Thursday's Alamo Bowl pep rally. The event will begin at 6:20 p.m. at the Arneson River Theatre on the Riverwalk. The Penn State band and cheerleaders will perform and the Nittany Lion will be in attendance prior to the team's arrival on barges floating down the San Antonio River. Coach Paterno will speak at the pep rally.
The Nittany Lions will be making their 34th post-season trip under Paterno, who is the all-time leader in bowl wins (22-10-1) and appearances. Paterno was inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame earlier this month, becoming just the third active coach to gain induction.
Penn State is No. 3 in the nation with 25 post-season victories and first nationally in bowl winning percentage (66.7, 25-12-2) among schools with at least 10 bowl wins.
Nittany Lion football fans can begin gearing up for the 2007 Valero Alamo Bowl with the Penn State Football Story Alamo Bowl Special presented by Rockvale Outlets Lancaster, which is airing on stations and cable networks and systems throughout the Mid-Atlantic region this week.
Produced by the creators of The Penn State Football Story, the 60-minute program previews Penn State's Alamo Bowl clash with Texas A&M and include features, highlights and comments from the Nittany Lions. Junior wide receiver Deon Butler (Woodbridge, Va.) is the host and he interviewed Coach Joe Paterno and several teammates for the program, which also will include an analysis of the Aggies and the match-ups by Steve Jones and the Nittany Lions' plays of the year.
In central Pennsylvania, Penn State fans will be able to watch the program on several outlets. The show will air on WPSU-TV (Thursday, 9:00 p.m.), FSN Pittsburgh (Friday, 8:00 p.m.), WNEP-TV (Friday, 1:00 p.m.) and WTAJ-TV (Saturday, 7:00 p.m.).
A complete listing of stations and networks airing the Penn State Football Story Alamo Bowl Special presented by the Rockvale Outlets Lancaster can be found at the official Penn State Athletics website, www.GoPSUsports.com. Click on Athletic Dept. and the Radio-TV link for the listing of the affiliates carrying Penn State football and basketball programming.