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 Penn State babying themselves to prepare for Miami weather
Posted: Friday September 17, 1999 05:41 PM
By William Kalec
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania (U-WIRE) -- The secret to Brandon Short's success comes in a bottle he carries around campus. It allows him to terrorize the opposition Saturday after Saturday, yet the secret has very little to do with football. It is not a revolutionizing defensive scheme or a natural talent Short possesses. In fact, the secret is intended for infants and children, not for Butkus Award candidates. The secret is Pedialyte. "They give it to (infants) because when they get diarrhea they get dehydrated," Short said. "And what it does is help your body retain fluids and it restores minerals that you lose when you sweat. "I don't feel silly carrying it around. It is something I have to do. But it comes in flavors -- orange, fruit punch. Well, it really only comes in fruit punch but it is an orange color. But it is actually fruit punch." The hot, humid weather the Orange Bowl offers is the reason Short is forced to take that deceptive-colored fruit punch. In addition to the heat, though, weather conditions this weekend could change the style of play. Saturday's predicted forecast for the Miami area is constant thunderstorms, with the high temperature expected to be in the range where a lot of orange-colored fruit punch-flavored liquid will be needed -- 91 degrees. "We have been conditioning all summer and we played in a few hot games already." Short said. "But we need to just drink Pedialyte to stay hydrated and just be as smart as we can about rest." Two people who might get a lot of rest are Rashard Casey and Kevin Thompson. With wet conditions likely, the Penn State quarterback duo might have little opportunity to improve on their numbers. Instead, Penn State's offensive fate very well could be decided by the unit that paved the way for 65 yards rushing last week -- on 41 attempts. "The offense has to aim for perfection. Each week you have to play against yourself and play for perfection," Penn State center Frank Spano said. "It's more or less executing every play, taking it one play at a time and getting it executed. "All you want is 3.5 yards every run play. That's all you want -- four yards. Four plus four plus four is a first down. That's all we have to do." But the offensive line didn't do that against Pittsburgh, averaging less than two yards per carry. When the Lions runners looked up, they saw nowhere to go. Now they might have to try and squirt through holes to run on a hot, wet field.
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