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In the Summer of 1999, the airwaves were dominated by Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. The top movie at the box office was The Phantom Menace. A gallon of gas cost $1.17.
And Penn State had itself a hell of a football team.
The Nittany Lions had some intriguing talent on offense, with big-play wideout Chafie Fields, running backs Omar Easy and Eric McCoo, and a sometimes perplexing but usually productive QB tandem in Kevin Thompson and Rashard Casey. And the defense was absolutely loaded. Defensive end Courtney Brown and linebacker LaVar Arrington, who would go 1-2 in the NFL Draft the following spring, were terrors for opposing offensive lines and ball carriers but also benefited from playing alongside future pros Brandon Short, David Macklin, Bhawoh Jue, Bryan Scott and Justin Kurpeikis. They entered the season as the No. 3 team in the Associated Press rankings and quickly rose to No. 2 by utterly embarrassing No. 4 Arizona 41-7 in Beaver Stadium in the season opener.
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