FIESTA BOWL : Paterno, Majors: Old Friends, New Rivals

TEMPE, Ariz. — Joe Paterno, Penn State coach for 26 years, was meeting with reporters early Tuesday. Midway through the Fiesta Bowl news conference, Tennessee Coach Johnny Majors entered the room.

Paterno, playing the rumpled professor scolding the tardy student, peered at Majors and said dryly: “Good morning, Coach Majors.”

Majors smiled, bowed slightly at the waist and replied: “Good morning, Mr. Paterno.”

“I’ve seen more of you this week than I’ve seen of my players,” Paterno said.

Majors continued to smile but was heard to mutter: “Lucky you.”

Paterno and Majors are old acquaintances, even if their teams aren’t. Today, when No. 6-ranked Penn State (10-2) and No. 10 Tennessee (9-2) meet in the 21st annual Fiesta Bowl game at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium, it will be only the third time that the Nittany Lions and Volunteers have played one another.

The schools last met in 1972, and Tennessee holds the edge, 2-0, but Paterno has spent his career angling for the upper hand. Just ask Majors.

When Majors was coaching at Pittsburgh, his teams played Paterno’s teams four times, once for the national championship. During that span, Majors maintains, Paterno never spoke to him.

“I think I saw him a total of 15 or 20 minutes the whole time I was there,” Majors said of his years at Pitt, 1973-76. “I didn’t waste a lot of time on small talk. Besides, they were the big kids on the block, and we were on the bottom. I didn’t have a lot to say.”

Paterno was already a legend by the time Majors began to build the Pitt program. Counting 16 years as an assistant, Paterno has been at Penn State for 42 years. He ranks first among active college coaches in victories with 239, and his teams have won four national championships.

Paterno’s wry humor can be intimidating. It is endearing, but it can put people off.

Majors knew little of it until a few years ago, when Paterno and his wife were assigned to share a condo with Majors and his wife at a vacation sponsored by a shoe company. The airline lost Paterno’s luggage, so Majors suggested that his old rival try some of his clothes.

“It was wild,” Majors said. “We had the same shoe size, same shirt size and waist size. He wore my clothes all week.”

According to Paterno, whose floor-length polyester pants are his on-field trademark: “I never looked so good.”

The two now claim to be fast friends, although they seldom meet professionally.

For Penn State, Tempe is a familiar holiday destination. Today’s Fiesta Bowl will be the fifth for the Nittany Lions, who are favored, and they never have lost here. Tennessee is in its first Fiesta Bowl, and all concerned claim to be thrilled to be playing anywhere on New Year’s Day.

The Tennessee players will be thrilled to discontinue practices, which, Majors said, have featured especially heavy contact to prepare for Penn State’s vicious defense.

“Our staff believes that Penn State is the best tackling team we’ve played,” Majors said. “They don’t have a lot of big names on defense, but they are good, hard tacklers. Penn State doesn’t change. They’ve always had good linebackers.”

The Nittany Lion defense will face an offense that Paterno compares to Miami’s--multifaceted and exceptionally quick. Tennessee quarterback Andy Kelly is the school’s most prolific passer, but Majors believes his assets are less tangible. “I’ve never seen anyone who could come back better from adversity than Kelly,” Majors said. “He’s very resilient.”

Kelly’s favorite target is junior wide receiver Carl Pickens, who has announced that he will make himself eligible for the NFL draft this spring. Pickens, a big-play receiver, is averaging nearly 80 yards a game.

Penn State, too, has fine receivers. Gone are the old days of conservative football, much to the surprise of opponents.

“We’ve been accustomed to seeing three yards and a cloud of dust,” Tennessee defensive coordinator Larry Lacewell said. “It seems that forever and ever they’ve been a running team. We were astounded to see that they’ve gained more yards passing than running.”

It’s been that kind of year, mainly because of quarterback Tony Sacca and receivers Terry Smith and O.J. McDuffie.

Paterno laughed at this talk of a “new” style, saying he has always been an advocate of balanced teams. Asked about his game plan, Paterno smiled at Majors, who was standing against a wall, listening and smiling himself.

“Not very exciting, nothing much,” Paterno said.

It was Majors’ turn at the podium. “I just want to thank Mr. Paterno, who has always been an inspiration to us younger coaches.” said Majors, who is 56.

Paterno, 65, laughed. You can take that sort of stuff from an old friend.