At 5 a.m. on Saturday, Melissa Ballantyne had her fold-up chair parked next to a window at Beaver Stadium's ticket office.

It was about 34 degrees outside, and Ballantyne (senior-animal bioscience) thought at least a few diehards would line up for a seat at the Nittany Lions' Alamo Bowl matchup against Texas A&M. But she was still alone after two-and-a-half hours passed.

When the ticket windows opened at 10 a.m., there were about 75 people waiting in line. The Alamo Bowl could announce a sellout of its San Antonio-based game at the end of the day, the quickest in the game's 15-year history, but Ballantyne still wondered if students at Penn State really cared about the postseason this year.

"It's not that good of a game; it's not in Florida," Ballantyne said.

After watching their team complete two consecutive 8-4 seasons, Penn State students' thirst for bowl tickets has waned a bit. This is not last year, when the Outback Bowl was played on New Year's Day in Miami. This is no longer 2005, when a lottery was necessary to distribute Orange Bowl tickets.

"With the Orange Bowl, being that it was the first big bowl in a while, there was a lot of pent up demand that was unleashed," said Greg Myford, Penn State director of marketing. "Just because interest is down a bit this year doesn't mean there is any less interest in Penn State football."

Regardless, Myford would say the Lion faithful always travel well. In the 1999 Alamo Bowl, the Lions played the Aggies in front of 65,380 fans in the Alamodome.

But after preseason national championship talk, a trip to Texas is quite a haul. George Beatty (sophomore-business), who expects to roll into San Antonio in a RV with seven others from his Paternoville crew, said the Lion faithful have become a "fickle fan base."

Whether it be students filing into Beaver Stadium after halftime, or those who scalped regular season tickets for hundreds of dollars, it has been disappointing to see some fans silenced. They expect the Alamo Bowl to be a home game for Texas A&M.

"Penn State has developed a culture where if the team is not winning, you don't need to be supportive," Beatty said.

On the other hand, there are 7,000 Penn State alumni in Texas, who will wait to see Joe Paterno and Co. for the first time in eight years. Ruchi Messick, president of the Central Texas Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association, knows of about 75 members who will attend the game.

Messick has to miss the game because of prior family obligations, just as in 1999, when she missed the Alamo Bowl in favor of spending Christmas with her family.

But would Messick like to see Penn State play in the Alamo Bowl next year?

"For me personally, yeah," Messick said with a laugh, "but for everyone else, I'd definitely like to see Penn State make it to the national championship ... obviously."