On Sept. 4, 1993, a new era began in the Big Ten conference. More than 95,000 fans packed Beaver Stadium in State College to watch Penn State beat Minnesota 38-20 in the Nittany Lions' first Big Ten game as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

Penn State had been a member of the Big Ten for four years already, after the presidents of the conference formally invited the school to join in 1989. Amid concerns of unbalanced scheduling and unnecessary travel eastward, the Nittany Lion football team had a lot to prove in that inaugural season. Not in its competitiveness - Penn State came from a strong group of independent schools that included Miami (Fla.), Notre Dame, Florida State, Pittsburgh and Syracuse - but in whether the inclusion of the Nittany Lions was worthwhile to the league.

That year they went 6-2 in the conference and represented well in the Citrus Bowl, beating No. 6 Tennessee 31-13. The following year Penn State won the conference title (the first Big Ten team to go undefeated since the 1968 Ohio State Buckeyes), and beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl to finish second in the country. Through last weekend, Penn State is 50-24 against Big Ten opponents since joining the league.

But the football team's initiation was just a small part of what was happening to the school and to the conference. Penn State's other programs have excelled as well; the Nittany Lions have won 21 regular season championships and nine Big Ten Tournament titles. Penn State volleyball has won the Big Ten in six of the 10 years it has competed. There have been 52 All-Big Ten selections out of State College and 209 Academic All-Big Ten honorees. Field hockey, women's soccer and women's basketball are all sports that have become significantly more competitive in the Big Ten in the past decade, thanks to Penn State.

"I thought at the time that Penn State could make us a better conference at all levels," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told Penn State's student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. "And 10 years later, I think that's exactly what happened. I don't think there's any one single thing that they've helped us with more than any other. They have made the Big Ten a better conference."

On the playing field, the addition of Penn State to the conference has been undeniably successful. The Big Ten is a more talented conference, and is better represented nationally in many sports. But some intangibles have been worrisome, and the question as to whether to add a 12th team for the sake of a balanced schedule has persisted since the addition of Penn State.

"There has been a great deal of speculation about expansion," Associate Big Ten Commissioner Mark Rudner said in 1993. "But we would not expand unless we found as good a fit as Penn State was. We would not expand just to make scheduling easier."

That mentality has remained even as the other major independents were courted and signed by various conferences. Notre Dame is the only major independent left, and nary a year goes by without some talk of it joining the Big Ten. But as most leaders around the conference will attest, Penn State was a perfect fit - its size, tradition, location, academic history and status as a land-grant public school make it particularly similar to the other schools in the conference.

Beyond the scheduling imbalance and pressure for a 12th team, the results of this decade-old union are overwhelmingly positive, and mutually beneficial.

"I think Penn State has made a tremendous addition to the conference," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "I think the direction college football is moving, it has done all of the things that we have talked about through all the years. It has opened the East to television markets, which has increased the interest in Big Ten football and all Big Ten sports. It has changed recruiting a great deal. They know how to do things at Penn State and they do a great job. They are first class the way they run that program. I respect them tremendously, and I am glad they are in the conference."

Carr's sentiments apply to other sports, particularly insofar as recruitment. The existence of a competitor east of Ohio has forced the former "Big Ten of the Western Conference" to travel to the Atlantic in search of talent. Penn State - which has traditionally recruited primarily in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey - felt the pressure to expand in all directions in its recruitment efforts, especially to the west.

"Sometimes you can't find what you need in State College, Altoona or even New Jersey," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said. "So then you start to branch out a little bit. Fortunately, with as many people and as many high schools as we have in the area that is close to Penn State, we have access, most of the time, to some kids we would need. But there is always some guy that pops out that is just better some place that has an interest in you.