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Friday, September 17, 1999 By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Fullback Aaron Harris grabs a bottle of water every time he walks past the refrigerator. Tailback Cordell Mitchell started carrying an extra bottle of Gatorade to class three weeks ago. And the Penn State defense is swilling, of all things, Pedialyte.
Yeah, that's the stuff used to rehydrate babies who are having, to put it delicately, gastronomic distress. Said defensive end Justin Kurpeikis, "It's got the teddy bear on the label and everything."
The Nittany Lions supposedly can choose from two varieties of Pedialyte, orange and fruit punch. Middle linebacker Brandon Short said that's not quite how it works. "Well, really only fruit punch. The orange color is supposed to be fruit punch."
Said Kurpeikis, "Oooh, it's horrible. It tastes like drinking sweat."
Confirmed outside linebacker LaVar Arrington, "It's not too good."
But it is necessary.
The No. 3 Nittany Lions simply aren't used to playing in the kind of heat and humidity they are expecting to find tomorrow, when they play No. 8 Miami at 3:30 p.m. Especially after so many players -- most notably Arrington -- cramped during the Pigskin Classic against Arizona, everyone is making sure he is as hydrated as possible heading into this showdown.
"We're trying to be as smart as we can," Short said.
Actually, Hurricane Floyd may prove to be an advantage for Penn State, and not just because it disrupted Miami's usual practice schedule. Post-hurricane weather is generally rather pleasant.
"I don't think the weather is going to be a factor for the weekend," Miami Coach Butch Davis said. "Most generally, when a hurricane comes this close then leaves, it's 95 degrees with 95 percent humidity, which is probably perfect weather for Saturday."
Sure, Davis' tongue was firmly in cheek. But the forecast for tomorrow's game is for high temperatures in the upper 80s, partly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms.
And some would say that although everyone talks about how hard it is to play in Miami in Indian summer, others don't think the weather is that big a deal because both teams are coming off preseason practices and it's hot just about everywhere in August.
Count former Miami Coach Howard Schnellenberger as one who thinks Miami's advantage actually increases as the season wears on.
"Teams that come down here early in the year have been practicing in it," he said. "But you get into October and November, they're up there trying to put on as many clothes as they can in practice to keep warm, then they fly down here and the plane door opens and, as they step off even into the jetway, the heat and humidity slap them in the face. There's a psychological downer right about that time."
Schnellenberger figures that in such situations, the Hurricanes have a seven-point advantage for a 1 p.m. kickoff, a three-point advantage for a night game and "somewhere in between" for a 3:30 start.
The Nittany Lions have had a chance to become acclimated to humidity -- both the Arizona and Akron games were played in heat and humidity, and it was still a bit uncomfortable for the Pitt game. Still, the weather could give the Hurricanes a bit of an edge.
"What I like is that this is normal for us and we practice in it every single day," Davis said. "Our kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. and we start almost every practice at 3:30. So for our kids, this will be typical and just another day for us."
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