STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Sixty-three degrees, clear, mountains in the background. The conditions at kickoff Saturday night at Beaver Stadium were not unlike a typical January night at the Rose Bowl.

That should have been the clincher for No. 2 Miami that Saturday's opener against Penn State was going to be beyond eerie. Earlier in the day, Virginia Tech's Lee Suggs tore up his knee against Connecticut. Time to scratch Miami's chief Big East challenger?

Jeremy Shockey dives into the end zone with a second-quarter touchdown for No. 2 Miami. (AP)

Before the game, the anticipated emotional burst gained from Adam Taliaferro leading his teammates onto the field went pffft. The brave Taliaferro battled back from paralysis to walk again but his appearance on the field was something less than inspiring.

Taliaferro disappeared in a swarm of 50 photographers, some of whom asked him to pose while his teammates were waiting in the tunnel. The Nittany Lions eventually came out alone in more ways than one.

The omens, it seemed, were piling up faster than a multi-car wreck on the Pasadena Freeway. And we all know where that road leads.

Miami's first national championship in 10 years might have been falling into place before kickoff. The Big East became more winnable before Labor Day and Mt. Nittany was looking strangely like the San Gabriels that rise beyond the Rose Bowl.

"I hope to see it in January," said Miami running back Clinton Portis, who ran for a career-high 164 yards on his 20th birthday. "That's someplace we hope to get to."

The Hurricanes backed up the dream sequence with a performance so powerful that seemingly only time and space can keep them from a shot at Pasadena. The time being four months from now, and the space being the 2,500 miles between central Pennsylvania and Southern California.

The Hurricanes not only backhanded emotionally charged Penn State and legendary coach Joe Paterno 33-7, they should have rearranged some national thinking. Sorry Florida, for this week at least, Miami should be No. 1 -- with a bullet, or at least a Ken Dorsey bullet pass.

Can we give last season's BCS victims that much?

"You never know about opening games," Miami first-year, first-game coach Larry Coker said. "Sometimes the special teams are awful, nobody can make a first down but they don't have Ken Dorsey either."

Choose your weapon. When Dorsey (career-high 344 yards, three touchdown passes) wasn't tossing passes to wide-open receivers, Portis was dashing through stuck-in-the-mud defenders.

Meanwhile, Joe Paterno came into the game chasing Bear Bryant. His team played like a bunch of Anita Bryants. Without getting too deep into how embarrassing this season could be for Paterno, it did start out with a thud. The largest crowd ever to see a Penn State game (109,313) in newly expanded Beaver Stadium witnessed the largest home deficit (30-0) of the Paterno era.

"It's going to take a heck of a team to beat Miami," a humbled Paterno said. "We didn't go out there and die. There are a lot of ways you can go when you're down 30-0 at half."

One game into the season, this already looks like one of the best Miami teams in history. The offense scored on six of its first seven possessions. Before the first quarter had ended, Miami had knocked out two Penn State starters -- one on each side of the ball.

Penn State quarterback Matt Senneca bruised an elbow getting sacked, came back, then checked in for the night. Linebacker Derek Wade sprained a knee after turning a complete mid-air somersault while getting blocked by backup running back Willis McGahee. He also left the game for good with 40 seconds left in the opening quarter.

While Miami mostly sleep-walked through the second half, its 602 total yards were only 54 short of the most ever allowed by a Penn State team (656, Boston College in 1982).

"We beat a great football tradition today," Coker said. "We knew we didn't have to beat the crowd. We didn't have to beat the band. The only thing we could control was on the field.

Penn State was a two-touchdown underdog. Coming off a 5-7 season, the Lions weren't expected to do much. But by any measure, this was one of the worst losses in Paterno's 35 years as coach.

Penn State has now lost 11 of its past 17 games and the road to Bryant's record could be full of pot holes. An 0-6 record is not out of the question by the time Ohio State visits on Oct. 27.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes cleared a dangerous hurdle. The only thing to stop Miami is itself. Their 14 penalties were reminiscent of some of Dennis Erickson's old teams. Dorsey threw an interception only because receiver Frank Beard bobbled a perfectly thrown ball into the hands of defender Bruce Branch.

Miami's best player? It just might have been left tackle Bryant McKinnie. Coker wisely chose the first six running plays to go to McKinnie's side. Portis had 93 yards after a quarter and probably needed the rest that McGahee provided.

Dorsey was hardly touched. Miami was so comfortably ahead that he took a seat on the bench early in the fourth quarter -- his Big East, Heisman and national championship hopes still intact.

"There was a lot of questions we had to answer," Coker said. "There was me obviously. Then we have a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator, a new special teams coach. We had some consistency but in reality we had a lot of changes."

But in the end, Coker was practically giddy things had gone so well. His quarterback is still on track toward a Heisman. His defense is quick. His special teams are efficient. Miami looks like it can accomplish anything from sea to shining sea.

"How far am I behind Bear Bryant?" Coker said.