It is probably safe to say that the first weekend in October was like no other in the 140 year history of Penn State football.

And let’s be clear: other than Saturday’s 27-7 victory over visiting Iowa, it was a very, very bad weekend for the Nittany Lions. As if the program hasn’t received enough negative publicity for a bunch of off-the-field legal and disciplinary woes, what happened in a three-day stretch from Oct. 5-7 was surreal.

Let’s set the timeline:
-- On Friday, the squad was notified that senior tailback Austin Scott has been suspended indefinitely for breaking an unspecified team rule. A week later, Scott was arraigned and charged with six felony counts, including the alleged rape of a woman he met in a bar.

-- And then around lunchtime on Friday, head coach Joe Paterno was apparently involved in a mild case of road rage following a near accident on campus.

-- Later that same evening, freshman Joe Suhey was cited for underage drinking.

-- Early Sunday morning, freshman Ryan Breen became the fourth PSU player in less than two months to be issued a citation for underage drinking.

-- Also early Sunday morning, there was a fight that resulted in at least one injury and allegedly involved some PSU football players.

All of the alleged misconduct listed above happened in a 48 hour span sandwiched around a football game. In retrospect, it is surprising the Nittany Lions had enough time to beat the Hawkeyes. – NEIL GEOGHEGAN.