This team meeting is all about eating

The Penn State Nittany Lions sported suits and ties Saturday as they gathered for a team meeting at their Century City hotel. The occasion? Beef. It’s what was for dinner later that night.

“To be honest with you, I never heard of Lawry’s,” fullback Dan Lawlor said, referring to the Beverly Hills restaurant that annually hosts a dinner for both teams competing in the Rose Bowl. “It’s going to be good to just have a great meal and have a few laughs with the guys.”

Gerald Cadogan, a 6-foot-5, 314-pound tackle, wasn’t sure how many plates of prime rib he would order.

“I don’t want to overdo it,” he said. “Maybe two. We’ll see what happens.”

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Bowing out

For senior Kevin Kelly, Thursday’s game against USC will be the last time he suits up for Penn State.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” said the kicker, who has 419 points in his career and is fifth on the NCAA all-time scoring list. “I guess that’s a good thing right now. It’s kind of weird because four years just went so fast. I wish I was still playing, but it’s got to end sometime.”

Other seniors view the Rose Bowl as their final chance to leave their mark on college football.

“We’ve just got to come out and play like it’s our last game, which it is,” said Lawlor, who graduated this year with degrees in telecommunications and marketing. “It’s going to be a lot of emotion on that field.”

Though linebacker Josh Hull has one more year of eligibility remaining, he holds a similar mentality.

“[It’s] one more opportunity to prove myself, to prove to my teammates, to prove to the rest of the coaches and everyone in the nation that Penn State’s the real deal,” he said

To keep USC wide receiver Damian Williams and running back Joe McKnight at bay, Hull said, Penn State’s defense must focus on containment.

“It’s going to come down to making very fundamentally sound tackles, low and square,” he said.

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Kids’ stuff

The Nittany Lions made an appearance at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure Park on Friday, engaging in the traditional pre-Rose Bowl team outing with gusto.

“When it comes to stuff like that, I’m really like a little kid -- I wanted to go on everything,” Lawlor said. “I stayed all the way to the last shuttle that came back to the hotel, around 9 p.m.”

Lawlor’s rides of choice were Soarin’ Over California, a simulated hang glider, and Indiana Jones Adventure, a journey through a dark “temple.” For Hull, it was all about the Tower of Terror.

“I was flipping out,” Hull said. “It’s a big elevator that takes you a couple stories and just drops you straight down.”

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corina.knoll@latimes.com