Jay Paterno isn't fretting about Penn State future

DALLAS - He is the Paterno who won't be missed as much as his legendary father, if his tenure on the Penn State coaching staff really is coming to an end. But quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno insists he is ready for whatever tomorrow brings.

"I've got fourth- and fifth-grade basketball games coming up on Saturday," the younger Paterno said of activities with his children that his job commitments have always obliged him to neglect around this time. "And I'll pick up my dog at the kennel. That'll be the highlight of my next 2 days."

There also is recruiting, and Jay said he will continue to pitch Penn State to high school prospects until a new coach is hired as a permanent replacement for his dad, Joe Paterno, who was fired on Nov. 9 in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.

Although JoePa is the winningest Division I coach with 409 career victories, and his firing by Penn State's Board of Trustees on Nov. 9 sent thousands of students into the streets of downtown State College in protest, Jay has been viewed - perhaps unfairly, in some people's eyes - as the beneficiary of nepotism. Critics complain that Penn State had not developed any NFL-quality quarterbacks since he began coaching that crucial position in 2000.

There is a widespread belief that Jay will not be retained by the new coach, whomever that might be. But if that proves to be the case, he hopes that certain traditions established by his father will endure.

"No matter who it is, I hope Penn State will continue to be what Penn State has always been," Jay said.

"With all those things that have swirled around these last 2 months, it's easy to lose focus that our players still had to go to class, to graduate at a high rate, to have success with honor. That's something I think that's going to continue. That has not gone away. It will not go away."

Jay has been in regular contact with Joe, who is recovering from a treatable form of lung cancer, and he said it was his understanding that the 85-year-old icon watched yesterday's 30-14 TicketCity Bowl loss to Houston on television at his State College home.

"I talked to him [yesterday] morning and that was the plan," Jay said. "I'm sure he was yelling at the TV that we should throw it to the fullback."

Jay said he's been "fortunate" since the Sandusky scandal broke that he had games to prepare for, to take his mind off what might lie ahead.

"It gets tough when you're at home, talking to other family members," he said. "God doesn't always make things easy for you, but this is pushing the limit right about now. Everybody in my family is healthy now, though, and my dad will beat the cancer."

Penn State's All-America defensive tackle, Devon Still, was clearly bothered by a lingering case of turf toe and did not register a single tackle, although he was credited with one quarterback hurry against Houston's Case Keenum.

"He's been limping," interim coach Tom Bradley noted. "Even before the game he was limping. It was painful. He wasn't himself."

Penn State has dropped consecutive bowl games for the first time since losing the 1975 Sugar Bowl and the 1976 Gator Bowl . . . One of the most spectacular plays of the season, what appeared to be a 93-yard punt return by the Nittany Lions' Justin Brown in the second quarter, was reduced to a 26-yard return when the replay judge determined Brown had stepped out of bounds. But Brown did haul in a 69-yard touchdown pass from Rob Bolden in the third period, a career long and the third-longest of the season for the Nits . . . Penn State allowed only 41 first-quarter points during the regular season, but was gouged for 17 by Houston in the opening 15 minutes . . . Senior tailback Stephfon Green's 6-yard scoring run in the second quarter was his sixth rushing touchdown of the season and fifth in the last four games.