San Antonio -- A Texas A&M cheerleader drew boos from fans in Nittany Lion blue-and-white and Aggie maroon earlier tonight when he unleashed a caustic, tasteless attack on Joe Paterno during a pre-Alamo Bowl pep rally.

"Joe Paterno's on his death bed, and someone needs to find him a casket!" shouted the A&M yell leader, a uniformed male cheerleader, after having his speech interrupted by Lions fans chanting "We are ... Penn State."

The yell leader seemed flustered when a convoluted, fantasy story he was telling was interrupted by Penn State fans who gathered to see the nighttime rally on the Riverwalk. He lashed out with the statement about the 81-year-old coach, which stunned almost everyone in a pro-Penn State crowd that included Sue Paterno. Many in the crowd were booing him and calling the remark "classless"

Penn State cheerleaders took the stage after the shocking sequence with the A&M yell leader and one of them summed it up best: "I'm not sure what happened there," he said.

UPDATE, Friday at 11:24 a.m.: Here's a video of the incident on KSAT.com, the Web site of a local ABC affiliate.

--Mark