COLLEGE FOOTBALL: THE BOWL GAMES : What Becomes Nittany Lions in Aftermath? : Rose Bowl: After top-ranked Nebraska’s victory, will Penn State go for broke or go flat against Oregon?

Even though the national championship is probably beyond his team’s grasp, Penn State Coach Joe Paterno protests--too much?--that his unbeaten, untied Nittany Lions have no difficulty taking today’s Rose Bowl opponent seriously. If so, that makes them unique among those outside of Oregon who have more than a passing interest in the 81st edition of college football’s most famous post-season game.

Perhaps one problem is with Oregon’s nickname, the Ducks. They’re not even Mighty Ducks, just Ducks, and they have turned otherwise dignified headline writers and sports reporters throughout the country into Groucho Marx wannabes. So let’s get this out of our system early. Dead Ducks, Sitting Ducks, Daffy Ducks, Ducks of Hazard.

It is more likely, however, that the lack of respect for the Ducks (9-3) as they approach today’s 1:50 p.m. kickoff is due to their hardly intimidating football tradition. After Oregon clinched its first outright Pacific 10 championship, Coach Rich Brooks was delighted that the national media found their way to Eugene, Ore. They usually go there only for track meets. This is an athletic department that has more association with the Penn Relays than Penn State.

“We were born underdogs,” Brooks said. Certainly, none of Brooks’ players were born the last time Oregon played in the Rose Bowl, in 1958. And the Ducks’ welcome to Pasadena then was roughly the same as it has been this time.

When the game ended in a hard-fought 10-7 victory for heavily favored Ohio State, Oregon Coach Len Casanova thanked L.A. sportswriters for inspiring his team. “No one can be humiliated the way we were down here and take it,” he said.

So Casanova, who at 88 is Oregon’s athletic director emeritus, probably smiles when he reads that Penn State can lose only if its bus gets stuck in traffic, which happened the last time the Lions played in the Rose Bowl game, in 1923, causing them to be 45 minutes late for their 14-3 loss to USC. Or if Cal Tech hackers get cute with the Rose Bowl scoreboard, as they have in the past. Or if the Nittany Lions were so focused on Sunday night’s Orange Bowl game between Nebraska and Miami that they did not concentrate on their game today.

Paterno promised that would not happen, although he knew that his players would at least be watching the Orange Bowl game. The No. 1 Cornhuskers’ victory probably eliminated the No. 2 Lions from national championship contention no matter how they fare against Oregon.

If any coach is an expert at preparing his teams for bowl games, it is the 68-year-old Paterno. He not only is looking today for his 16th bowl victory, which would break a tie with Bear Bryant, but he could become the only coach to win all four of the traditional major bowls--the Rose, Cotton (1972), Orange (‘69, ‘70, ‘74) and Sugar (‘83).

Oddsmakers say Paterno will get his historic victory, by three touchdowns.

“We’re fighting the false impression that Oregon is not a really good football team when, in reality, they’re an excellent team,” he said. “They’re the most underrated team in the country.”

Brooks agrees.

“We think we’re a pretty good football team,” he said. “If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be here. We didn’t sneak in the side door. We burst in through the front door.”

Indeed, No. 12 Oregon won seven of its eight conference games, losing only to Washington State, 21-7, on Oct. 8. The Ducks’ only other losses came in their second and third games, to Hawaii and Utah.

But here is what the oddsmakers are looking at: Undefeated in their last 16 games, the Lions, the first Big Ten team to finish the regular season without a loss since Ohio State in 1979, won eight of 11 on this season’s schedule by 24 points or more with an offense that averaged 47.8 points and 520.1 yards per game.

“Their offense may be the best I’ve ever seen in college football,” Brooks said. “It looks like a pro offense. They should be playing on Sunday.”

Many of them, including highly publicized skill position players such as quarterback Kerry Collins, tailback Ki-Jana Carter, wide receivers Bobby Engram and Freddie Scott and tight end Kyle Brady, no doubt will graduate into the NFL.

But equally impressive is an offensive line that is as effective blocking for the pass as the run. That has allowed the Lions to employ a balanced offense that averages 250.9 yards on the ground and 269.2 in the air.

Raising Oregon’s hopes, its strength is in its “Gang Green” defense. It has allowed an average of only 13.3 points in its last six games, all victories.

Two individuals who stand out are cornerbacks Herman O’Berry and Alex Molden, who are so trustworthy in single coverage that the safeties and linebackers are turned loose to blitz.

“If we just stay vanilla, I don’t know if we’ll be able to hold up on the line of scrimmage,” Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. “So I think we’ll take more chances.”

That is likely to be the opposite of the Ducks’ offensive approach. They figure to score against Penn State’s defense as long as they do not commit turnovers. They are good at protecting the ball, with no interceptions or lost fumbles in their last 3 1/2 games.

But although Penn State’s defense has not lived up to its Linebacker U. reputation, Paterno said he believes it will play better than it has since the beginning of the season. One reason is that this will be the first time since then that most of the defensive starters have been healthy.

“I think we’ll play just about as well as we can play,” Paterno said.

Brooks did not want to hear that.

“It concerns me a little that Joe says they’re ready to play as good as they can play,” he said, “because they’re really good.”

ROSE BOWL

TODAY’S GAME

* Teams: Penn State vs. Oregon

* Site: Rose Bowl, Pasadena

* Time: 1:50 p.m.

* Records: Penn St. 11-0, Oregon 9-3

* TV: Ch. 7

* Radio: KNX (1070), XTRA (690)

* Rosters: C15.