November football games at Beaver Stadium are supposed to be raucous celebrations, particularly in a season that has been so unexpectedly successful.

After a wrenching week that frankly has no precedent, no one knows what to expect, or even how to feel.

What will it be like without Joe Paterno?

SEAN SIMMERS,The Patriot-NewsBryan Cook and Elliot Wunsch of Hamilton, Ontario pitch a tent in Paternoville outside Beaver Stadium. The pair left Canada at 8 a.m. because they are huge Joe Paterno fans.

Will the game have the feel of a memorial service? Will protesters outside the stadium provoke a fresh spasm of rioting?

The faithful who have been attending Penn State games for years admit they don’t really know what they’re getting into today.

Game days in Beaver Stadium offer a reassuring rhythm, with carefully choreographed productions — from the Blue Band’s entrance to familiar cheers to the lion’s roar.

“Normally, if you tell me you’re going to a Penn State game, I could guarantee pretty much to a ‘T’ what you’re game day experience is going to be,” said Steve Burkholder of Lower Paxton Township, who has lived for his Saturday tailgates at Beaver Stadium for many years.

“This week, you don’t know what’s going to happen until you get there,” Burkholder added with some apprehension. “I am not even 100 percent convinced that that stadium is going to be filled to capacity.”

University officials had little to say about their specific efforts to steer through today’s uncharted waters in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno and President Graham Spanier lost their jobs this week when trustees lost confidence in the university leaders. Thousands rioted in protest of Paterno’s firing.

After a week like this, there’s no way today’s game can be normal.

Some are trying to save the day.

A huge collection of former players are expected to turn out for the old school today. Former Nittany Lions receiver and running back Rich Mauti sent emails to hundreds of former players, hoping to get one of the largest football alumni gatherings ever. He said about 75 players had agreed to attend.

Everyone is being encouraged to wear blue to the game in a sign of support for child abuse victims.

Students have been exhorting one another on Facebook to transform the traditional “We are .... Penn State” call and response into “We care ... Penn State,” at least for part of the day.

Still, there comes a time when 100,000-plus are going to write their own script.

Emotional contagion, psychologists call it. And who really knows what that will bring.

“We know that it’s not the same,” said Penn State Blue Band Director O. Richard Bundy. “But what we’re trying to do with our kids in the Blue Band is make it as normal a game day as it can be under these circumstances.”

That means the traditional pre-game show, culminating with the group singing of the alma mater. The use of periodic fight songs to rev up the crowd. Basically, doing everything it can to ensure that the band is a positive factor on senior day.

Penn State President Rodney Erickson said Friday there will be an enhanced focus on fan behavior and security.

And there will likely be more police, too.

“I think it’s safe to assume that, based on last Wednesday, there most likely will be an enhanced police presence across the board for the game,” said Jeff Miller, a former Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner who is now the NFL’s vice president and chief security officer.

A visible police presence, even as the first fans arrive for breakfast tailgating, Miller said, is the best preventive medicine for making a game day go well.

A Philadelphia psychologist who has studied fan psychology said he believes the game will be a good thing for Penn State, especially for the students who have seen their school assailed from all quarters in the media this week.

“I see this game as an important one to get some return to normalcy in student life ... to allow them in a sense to heal and to rally around the team as they have done year after year,” said Frank Farley, a former president of the American Psychological Association.

“My guess is there will be incredible support for the team tomorrow,” he said.

But he also believes that they will be anxious with the eyes of a sporting nation on them to put a better foot forward for Penn State than the over-the-top reactions of last Wednesday night.

Trustee Joel Myers tried to remind everyone of that unique opportunity to begin to rebuild.

“We have a football game tomorrow,” he said Friday, “and I would just ask that we show a new, high level of sportsmanship, civility and class.”

He called for fans to applaud Nebraska when its team takes the field, to root for Penn State as hard as they ever do and “to set a new standard for sportsmanship” at Penn State.

Burkholder, the devoted fan, is not happy with much that has transpired this week, or that has come out about his alma mater in the grand jury presentment. But he has decided to go to this game, like he always does, if only to support the players and the logo.

“Ultimately, it’s about the 125 kids that are trying to play,” he said.

“And I don’t want to take out my frustrations out on the current players,” Burkholder said.

He suspects the day might start as a memorial service disguised as a football game, with legions of alums and fans mourning the sudden end of the Paterno era, reminiscing about the good times and finding comfort in each other’s presence.

From there, Burkholder said, things will just have to take their course. He hopes it does not become “a circus.”

“It’s the end of an era, yes,” he said. “But maybe it will be the baptism [of a new era] too.”

One way or another, Farley expects a day to remember.

“This should be one of those games that stands out in memory,” perhaps like the first sporting events that were played in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. “It has a chance to be one of those things that stands out in their mental scrapbooks of their college years.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.