That was before the football team salvaged the season with a 24-0 victory in the Alamo Bowl against Texas A&M, said goodbye to long-time defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and shook up the coaching staff.
The football team is once again the biggest story of the season. It seems to be a mere formality before Paterno, in his 35 season as coach, becomes the all-time victory leader in Div. I-A football. Paterno is six wins away from surpassing Bear Bryant's mark, but it will be as hard to accomplish as the media blitz expected to follow it.
"It is not going to be a distraction and it is not going to be anything I am going to spend any time thinking about," Paterno said. "It happens if it happens. I am more worried about making it happen."
That could be a realistic possibility now that senior quarterback Rashard Casey's eligibility for the season is uncertain after he was arrested in May.
It does not get much easier now that Courtney Brown and LaVar Arrington have moved on after the Browns and Redskins tabbed the former Penn Staters as the top two picks in the NFL Draft.
And the team once picked to win it all by Sports Illustrated two times in the last four seasons returns 32 letterwinners and nine starters from last year's squad.
Not that all hope is lost with Eric McCoo in the backfield and Justin Kurpeikis as the defensive end.
"It's going to be an exciting season," Nittany Lions mascot Chuck Kimble said.
High expectations abound also for the other 10 teams competing in Happy Valley this fall. After a fall when Penn State boasted a 107-13-2 mark, four NCAA Tournament appearances and a national championship, Athletics Director Tim Curley is optimistic last year's programs can progress even further.
"This past academic year was one of the best in Penn State's athletic history in terms of performance by our teams and the overall success by our programs," Curley said. "It raised the program to another level. We are looking for the same kind of results this year.
"We have a lot of good young student-athletes in many of these programs we are looking forward to a lot of good things this year. And we have a lot of enthusiasm about it."
The most lofty of expectations rest with the women's volleyball team. Super seniors Lauren Cacciamani and Bonnie Bremner have graduated along with starter Carrie Schonveld. Penn State coach Russ Rose is looking for that hole to be filled by the triumvirate of Nadia Edwards, Amanda Rome and Katie Schumacher.
Again, it won't be the breeze it has been in the past for the Lady Lions to defend their crown as national champs as well as their NCAA record of 80-straight victories on their home court in Rec Hall.
"It's going to be a challenge," sophomore Hillary Sexton said. "The expectations are going to be like, 'Oh God.' "
Another team with high expectations is the women's soccer team. Led by sensational sophomore Christie Welsh, Penn State is vying to go two steps further than last year's unit.
In Penn State's six season since its inception, coach Pat Farmer marched his troops to battle in the Final Four for the first time, but the Lions fell short against the Tar Heels.
On the other side of the ball, or more specifically, the other gender, the Penn State men's soccer squad has lofty expectations and high goals for the upcoming season. But, as usual, it comes down to one question for the Nits: Can they beat Indiana?
The national champion Hoosiers knocked off Penn State thrice last season, including a double-overtime win in the Big Ten Championships finale and a 3-0 win in an Elite Eight matchup.
"People will say they have graduated all their stars, but Indiana is always tough," Penn State coach Barry Gorman said. "That is going to be a good game. That's one of many games on our schedule. We are not going to build it up as the be all and end all. We're just going to take it as it comes."
Which is field hockey coach Char Morett's approach for her team's upcoming campaign. The field hockey squad rolled through the regular season, but fell on hard times once the postseason was in full swing.
First, in the Big Ten Tournament, No.-8 seed Michigan knocked off top-seeded Penn State and then in The Big Dance, it was North Carolina who prevailed with a 1-0 victory in the first round. Penn State was No. 1 in the nation, but finished with a 17-5 mark overall.
The Penn State men's tennis team has hopes a new season will bring new promise, poised new freshmen and a new, injury-free team. Last season, the Lions lost their one of their top talents when Marc Dorfman went down with an injury.
Without one of the team's top seniors, Penn State finished the season with a 11-12 mark, but a lowly 1-9 showing in Big Ten action.
"We got bit by the injury bug, but we can't use it as an excuse," Penn State coach Jan Bortner said. "We have to turn that around this year and get a few wins."
Women's tennis coach Buffy Baker is hoping to get a few wins following her first season in Happy Valley. After former coach Sue Whiteside stepped down last summer, Baker mentored her squad to an 8-10 mark. The women's team suffered the same fate as its male counterpart as Baker's troops could manage one win in 11 conference contests.
Beth Alford-Sullivan was another rookie coach to come to Happy Valley last year.
After finishing third in the team's first competition at the Spiked Shoe Invitational, Alford-Sullivan went on to lead her team to a fifth-place finish at NCAA Regionals. Then-freshman Stacie Bouchard was Penn State's lone runner at the NCAA Championships after she received an at-large bid. Bouchard finished the race 94th.
The Penn State men's cross country team, though, comes into this season under the leadership of long-time coach Harry Groves, who has spent more than 30 years in Happy Valley.
Penn State vied for a spot in the NCAA Championships, but had a shortcoming in the NCAA Regionals with a fifth-place finish in a 27-team competition.
The Penn State men's golf team also had a disappointing end to its season. Penn State finished 21st out of 21 teams in the NCAA East Regional Qualifying Tournament after inclement weather ousted six teams from the tournament for the final round of play.
The women's team did not fare much better at its tournament, posting a 20th-place finish out of 24 squads.
"We feel real comfortable with the group we have coming into this season," Penn State coach Denise St. Pierre said.
But the fall sports programs' overall success helped the university garner a fourth-place finish in the Sears Directors' Cups Standings, finishing behind Stanford, UCLA and Big Ten adversary Michigan. Penn State, though, did make strides off the field, finishing the season with 60 All-Conference selections, tops in the Big Ten.
It is this success which garnered Penn State's athletic department as the No. 1 in the nation, as determined by The Sporting News.
"I look forward to an exciting and successful season," Penn State President Graham Spanier said in an e-mail. "I am confident we will have another outstanding season."
Of course, only time well tell exactly what will happen this season.
