STATE COLLEGE — After every practice, the Penn State Nittany Lions gather together with hands raised and yell in unison, "Rose Bowl!"

Seemed like a far-fetched goal when they first started drilling in August.

Not as much anymore, though No. 5 Penn State still would need a lot of help to get a spot in the national title game at the Rose Bowl.

The Nittany Lions (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) are fourth in the Bowl Championship Series standings behind Southern California and Texas, which are both undefeated and are a solid 1-2. Miami, at 8-1, is third. The top two teams in the final BCS standings go to the Rose Bowl.

If Penn State defeats Michigan State on Saturday, the Lions would need at the very least either USC or Texas to lose — and it wouldn't hurt if Miami took another loss, too — to even think about getting into one of the top two spots.

It's a long-shot scenario at best.

That wasn't lost on Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who has never been a BCS fan in the first place. He told reporters earlier this week that he wasn't paying attention to the BCS chase.

"We have absolutely no control over anything but our business," he said.

For Penn State, that means beating the Spartans (5-5, 2-5) in East Lansing Mich. on Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Paterno abides by the "one-game-at-a-time" philosophy, and his players have followed that lead all season. They don't appear to be veering from that now, even with bowl stakes on the line.

"A little bit, but I'm not consumed with it," guard Charles Rush said when asked if he was mindful of the BCS chatter.

"I know we're No. 4 in the BCS," he said. "If we lose this game, we'll drop to whatever, so we know we have to go out there and take care of what we can take care of and that's playing the game this weekend and winning."

Still, Penn State's mere appearance in the BCS standings is another testament of their rags-to-riches story this year.

Coming off two straight losing seasons, the Lions came to preseason practice with what was expected to be a good defense. But there were question marks on an offense that had to rely heavily on a fleet of fast but inexperienced freshman wideouts and fifth-year senior Michael Robinson, who is in his first year as a full-time quarterback.

AP media poll voters were skeptical. Penn State didn't enter the Top 25 until early October.

Now, the high-scoring offense is just as much a threat as the stingy, senior-laden defense.

"Going into the season, I didn't think they'd be as good as they are. I don't think anybody expected it," said Spartans defensive back Eric Smith, who has a team-leading 94 tackles and two interceptions.

Michigan State coach John L. Smith said Penn State's resurgence started at the end of the 2004 season. The Nittany Lions won their last two games then, including a 37-13 rout of the Spartans at Beaver Stadium.

"I'm a big believer you're only as good as your seniors," the coach said. "And they have a good group of fifth-year seniors."

Penn State's seniors said the team is focused on the Spartans and not the BCS talk.

"Like Joe (Paterno) said, we have a very mature team," cornerback Alan Zemaitis said. "We understand what we need to do. ... We are very focused right now."

His coach would be proud.