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Win at Nebraska on Saturday, and shock waves from the loss to Boston College recede. Lose at Nebraska, and the doubts from within and beyond the program grow geometrically.

"It's early in the year, but this is sort of a crossroads," linebacker Gino Capone said Tuesday. "If we win this game, we've got things going. We're 2-1. We're coming back home. But if we don't, we're continuing to slide, and we're going to have to continue to try to find ourselves."

Quarterback Zack Mills put it even more dramatically.

"I think it's the biggest challenge since I've been here, coming off a game like we just had, coming into a place like Nebraska, on the road, at night," he said. "I think our backs are against the wall right now."

Or, as coach Joe Paterno volunteered yesterday to a questioner from Nebraska, "We're coming out to Lincoln with some trepidation right now."

Losing 27-14 at home to Boston College, seeing your offensive and defensive lines handled physically, contemplating the sea of red at Memorial Stadium -- which has 258 consecutive sellouts dating to 1962 -- these things will elicit trepidation.

A year ago, Nebraska was the springboard that put Penn State back into the national picture. The Nittany Lions humbled the Cornhuskers, then ranked in the Top 10 nationally, 40-7 in a prime-time game at Beaver Stadium. Nebraska tumbled to a 7-6 regular season, lost to Mississippi in the Independence bowl, and finished outside the national rankings for the first time since 1968.

This year, Nebraska could be the hammer that pounds Penn State further into a funk that some date to the previous Saturday -- and others trace to Nov. 6, 1999, when Minnesota stunned a 9-0 Penn State team on homecoming day, taking a 24-23 win.

That 9-0 start degenerated to a 10-3 final record. Since that game, Penn State teams have a collective .500 record.

Nebraska has much at stake, too. Like Penn State, Nebraska is a program long on history, but with a perceived shortage of present prospects.

The Cornhuskers decline is traced to the 2001 season, when an 11-0 team was blasted 62-36 by Colorado. Since then, Nebraska teams also are break-even (9-9) and have lost five games by 22 or more points.

A Penn State win this weekend not only would revitalize the Lions, it would also inflame nagging doubts about the Cornhuskers and coach Frank Solich. Nebraska's motivation extends well beyond avenging the loss at Penn State last season.

"We've got a lot reasons to want to line up and play well," Solich said. "We need big wins. We need wins vs. quality teams."

Paterno might argue that his is not a quality team. Not yet.

Despite the 2-0 start, the jury remains out on Nebraska, too. A 17-7 win over Oklahoma State and a 31-7 victory over Utah State have not inspired comparisons to past Nebraska juggernauts.

Paterno put his team through a tough practice session Monday, according to Capone, with plenty of hitting where ordinarily there would be little or none.

The message was sent that this is a huge game, and an effort on par with those against Temple and Boston College earlier this season won't get the job done.

"I think the program's in pretty good shape," Paterno said, responding to the latest round of criticism and doubts raised by losing to Boston College.

This weekend in Nebraska could prove illuminating -- for both programs.

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