John Walters

Knute Rockne was the coach at Notre Dame.

Babe Ruth was in his prime.

An entity known as the National Broadcasting Company was formed.

The first "talkie" movie, Don Juan, made its premiere.

And Joe Paterno was born.

That was 1926. Nearly 82 full years later, the Penn State football coach is still thriving. Paterno, or JoePa — or JoeGrandpa (he has 16 grandchildren) — has guided the No. 12 Nittany Lions to a 4-0 record this season. Through four games, has any team looked more impressive than Penn State?

The Nittany Lions have been up 38-7, 35-7, 35-6 and 31-0 after two quarters this season. The marching band plays "Taps" at halftime. Sure, the competition has been tepid, but Penn State has scored at least 31 points in the first half of all four of its games. In fact, if the Blank Helmets' first-half point totals alone were used, they’d still be 29th in the nation in scoring.

The Nittany Lions are third in the nation in scoring offense (52.75 ppg) and ninth in scoring defense (10.0 ppg). Only one other school in the nation is ranked in the top 10 in both those categories: USC. Top-ranked USC.

And the Trojans coach, Pete Carroll, was just a sophomore at Redwood High School in Larkspur, Calif., when JoePa began his head coaching career in 1966. Guess who has more gray hair?

By the way, Penn State is doing all of this while its one bona fide All-American, linebacker Sean Lee, sits out the season with a torn ACL.

As No. 22 Illinois heads to State College, Pa., this Saturday for both schools' Big Ten opener, the Nittany Lion in Winter is having the last laugh. Paterno has been written off as old and out of touch from the time of evening newspapers to dial-up modems to internet chat rooms. In fact, this interweb columnist, citing Penn State's arrest record the last few years, wrote such a column earlier this year. Paterno outlasts every medium, a gridiron Gandalf.

Last Saturday, Paterno edged ahead of Florida State’s Bobby Bowden in the career victories mark, 376 games to 375 — and judging from each program’s current status, JoePa may have claimed the lead for good. He has been at Penn State since 1950, longer than most coaches have been alive.

Can you imagine what Paterno's reaction must have been last year when he heard Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy’s rant? "Come after me! I’m a man! I’m 40!"

Seriously? JoePa was 80 when that screed made headlines. Does that mean he's twice the man Gundy is?

Don’t answer that.

Penn State's sternest test this season will likely come Oct. 11 at Wisconsin. The Badgers' third-year coach, Bret Bielema, was born in 1970, when Paterno was in his fourth season as the head coach in Happy Valley. By that stage, Paterno had already put together a pair of 11-0 seasons.

Old? Surely Paterno has coached players who, when he began in '66 were bald as a baby (because that's what they were), and who in 2008 are once again clean-pated. Paterno’s wavy ravenesque mane is surely graying, but it appears as thick as it was when John Cappelletti was getting most of the carries.

That hair. Surely there is a clue in that rich nest of protein filaments whose style and length has changed as much as Paterno's game day uniform (black sneakers, khakis, windbreaker) the past four-plus decades. Which is to say, it has not.

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