PHOTOS: Penn State fans line up to take final snapshots with Paterno statue

The opinion of many -- even many of those close to Penn State -- is that the statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium should have been taken down by the university. And it was, first thing Sunday morning.

But it was never been clearer that that opinion was hardly shared by everyone at Happy Valley than it was Saturday, when dozens of Nittany Lion football fans and recent PSU graduates lined up to have their final picture taken with the State College landmark.

“We were afraid Penn State is going to take it down,” Terry Johnson, the mother of one of those graduates, told the Patriot-News Saturday. “And they will. They're cowards.”

A decision on the statue was expected to be made by Penn State president Rodney Erickson sometime this weekend.

More photos of the Saturday visitors to the statue, from Getty Images: