Maybe the new era at Nebraska is "On any given Saturday... ." Maybe a hint came when some Nebraska delegates at the Republican National Convention were not sure who the season-opening opponent was.

The 70-10 annihilation of Nebraska by Texas Tech, yes, Texas Tech, not Texas or Texas A&M, was a shocker late Saturday night that did not waft east until breakfast Monday morning at the Millennium Diner in Smithtown, N.Y., a couple first downs from here.

It was incredible to read Chuck Culpepper's column in Newsday. I thought I had woke up from a coma. It had to be a misprint. The fact-checkers got it backward. Nebraska giving up 70 points and losing? It's had to be the other way around.

Lincoln, we have a problem. Maybe firing Solich, after he went 10-3 last season and 58-19 in his short-circuited six-year career at his alma mater as Osborne's successor, was not such a good idea. It was like changing commanders-in-chief at halftime of a war of independence.

Maybe trying to teach the West Coast offense to a bunch of Cornhuskers, who only know weightlifting and powerball, was not such a good idea. Maybe they thought it was pre-Calculus. How else do they explain five passes completed to the Texas Tech defense?

Maybe hiring Bill Callahan from the Oakland Raiders was not such a good idea.

The 70-10 blowout certainly made a Temple alumnus feel better over his scrambled eggs, hash browns, toasted bagel and coffee. His Temple Owls got clipped by Bowling Green, 70-16, a week earlier, prompting a fellow alumnus to send a frantic e-mail in 30-point type. Is Temple now as good as Nebraska? Or is Nebraska tumbling to Temple's ranking, which is below several Division I-AA teams?

And whatever happened to defense at Nebraska? Is it on a sabbatical? Nebraska was collegeBLITZ.com's team of the decade in the 1990s, which ended only three and a half years ago.

Texas Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie, whose name that sounds like a sugary dessert, threw for 436 yards, 19 above his nation-leading average, and 5 touchdowns. Cumbie completed 44 of 56 passes, including 14 in a row during the third quarter, with one interception. Texas Tech (4-2 over all, 2-1 Big XII) struck for 28 points in the fourth quarter and for 49 in the second half.

Needless to say, Nebraska's loss was the worst in its 114-year history. The most points previously allowed by Nebraska came in a 62-36 loss to Colorado in 2001. The largest margin of defeat had been 54, in a 54-0 loss to Minnesota in 1943, a 54-0 loss to Indiana in 1944 and a 61-7 loss to Minnesota in 1945.

All of which gives consolation to Penn State -- which hammered 3-0 Nebraska, 40-7, in 2002, beginning Solich's slide to a 7-7 finish in his next-to-last season.

Last week Joe Paterno was convinced his Penn State team would upset unbeaten Purdue. He guaranteed the victory while wearing a white tuxedo like Elvis at the Friday night pep rally. The fans wore white to the game to "whiteout" Purdue. But, by 20-13, Purdue dealt Paterno "one of the most disappointing loses in my coaching career."

He was angry after the game. "Hey, I don't know what to tell you," he said he told his team in the locker room in a three-minute meeting. "Right now, anything I might say I might regret that I would say. You guys go home and take the weekend off." He did not allow any players to meet the press, and he met it briefly and abruptly ended the interview.

Walking home with his son, Jay, through the lingering tailgaters, he heard people saying, "Great game," and bit his tongue. His agita boiled, and he wanted to say, "You don't know what ... you're talking about!" Instead, he said later, "When you get to the point that when you lose and people say, "Good game,' that is not Penn State."

He felt uncomfortable about how he short-circuited the postgame press conference, and Sunday night he made plans for a Tuesday news media meeting that was not scheduled this week because Penn State is idle until Oct. 23.

"We did everything we wanted to do and we didn't win the football game," Paterno said Tuesday. "I don't feel any better; I would be dishonest if I told you I feel better about it."

He said he and his staff needed to find "what it is going to take to get us over that little inch that separates success from failure."

He was unhappy with the offensive line, especially its right side. "I thought our offensive line was horrible. I thought we were terrible upfront. The offensive line didn't give Zack much time. He took an awful licking Saturday,and it takes an awfully tough kid to hang in there. I thought he did a great job."

Mills played courageously, completing 29 of 51 passes for 293 yards. The running game produced 18 yards on 17 carries, the lowest number of rushes ever in a Paterno-coached game, against the 8-in-a-box defense. That meant a net 39 yards in the last two games. And four late red-zone penetrations resulted in only 3 points.

Paterno was especially upset with the fake field-goal failure with Purdue leading by 17-13. "The guy that has the easiest block on the team forgets he has to block," Paterno complained. "If we make one block on the fake field goal, we score."

Is he at the breaking point? "I am sure that is going to come in maybe 2030 or something like that," Paterno, who would be 103 then, said to laughter. "I have too many guys fighting their guts out. I'm not used to losing. I'm getting -- I won't use the words the kids use -- P.O.'d."

He recalled a painful 15-13 loss in 1967, his second season as the coach, on a blocked punt at U.C.L.A. Tommy Prothro was the U.C.L.A. coach and Gary Beban was the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback. A couple days later Paterno went to a Penn State Quarterback Club luncheon and received a standing ovation. "I chewed them out and I said, "If you are giving me a standing ovation because we got licked, I am in the wrong place."

Now, with time to relax after his toughest loss in years, Paterno took a walk around the campus on a gorgeous fall Monday, with leaves changing colors and new dormitory buildings he had not seen gleaming. "It was nice to be able to take a walk," he said. "It was my first walk I have been able to really take without worrying about having to look at my watch."