Football was meant to be played in all kinds of weather. It didn't rain, sleet or snow in New Brunswick, N.J., on Nov. 6, 1869 when Rutgers and Princeton met in what is the first official football game. But in the thousands of games that have followed, bad weather has been an accepted part of football dynamics.

There's an old saying adopted by the U. S. Post Office that should be applied to football players.

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds," reads the inscription adapted from a centuries' old Persian quote that is found in hundreds of the nation's post offices. Of course, the advent of domed stadiums in the 1960s has rendered that saying moot.

Still, down through the decades, the games played in lousy weather are usually the most memorable. And the bad weather has often had a major impact on the outcome of the game, neutralizing the competitive edge of a superior team and changing the fortunes of players on a muddy, slippery field that slows down and trips up a speedy ball carrier or causes the fumble of a wet ball.

Penn State has had its share of bad weather games, home and away. In fact, it was undoubtedly an omen of things to come when Penn State played its first game on what would become known as Old Beaver Field on Nov. 12, 1892. That Beaver Field was located in an area just north of where Penn State's Hetzel Student Union Building is today. The snow and mud that day contributed to a rough, physical victory over the school's first major rival, Bucknell, 18-0.

It was the only home game that season and just one was scheduled in 1893 when the field would be dedicated in honor of General James Beaver, the civil war general and Bellefonte lawyer who had been the governor of Pennsylvania and president of the school's board of trustees.

What happened in 1893 was further evidence that bad weather would be an inherent part of Penn State's football historical legacy. A new 500-seat grandstand had been built and General Beaver and his wife were to be on hand for the dedication ceremonies on Nov. 4.

The opponent was new; a school named the Western University of Pennsylvania that would later change its name to the University of Pittsburgh. However, a severe rainstorm inundated Centre County that weekend. So, the game was postponed until Monday and the Penn State players invited the Pittsburgh boys to spend the weekend in their fraternities.

The visitors must have had a great time because when the game was played on Monday, Penn State won easily, 32-0. That was the last time the rivalry was so friendly. The next time the teams played, in 1896, it was a bitter, fist-swinging affair at Beaver Field that Penn State won, 10-4.

More than 50 years later, another Pitt-Penn State game also had to be postponed because of bad weather. This time it was heavy snow. That game in Pittsburgh in 1950 is one of three in Penn State football lore known sometimes as "The Snow Bowl."

The second one, in 1953, was against Fordham at New Beaver Field — the Nittany Lions home field near Rec Hall and the Nittany Lion Inn from 1909 to 1959.

The third "Snow Bowl" is the one most of today's Penn State fans remember. That was the 1995 game against Michigan at Beaver Stadium.

In addition to the severity of the weather conditions, to qualify as one of the Top 10 Worst Weather Games, the game itself had to be meaningful or unusual in some way.

No doubt personal experience influences anyone's choice of worst weather games. There's no one alive today who can talk about the heavy rain or snow that occurred during games decades ago. But based on a smattering of evidence from newspaper coverage of games dating back to 1887, it's clear there have been similar bad weather patterns from the 1880s to today.

Still, it's difficult for this writer to select a lot of those old time games to a Top 10 list because there simply isn't enough information available when compared to personal experience. So, in chronological order, here is one amateur historian's list of Penn State's All-Time Top 10 Worst Weather Games:

This game stands out from all the others from 1887 to 1949 based on newspaper accounts and Ridge Riley's penultimate history book of Penn State football, Road to Number One.

Knute Rockne's Notre Dame team was the defending national champion and heavily favored to defeat the 4-2 Lions, but as one Pittsburgh newspaper headlined after the game, "State Holds Irish to Scoreless Tie On Muddy Gridiron."

The rain started long before the 2:30 p.m. kickoff and continued the entire day, turning Beaver Field into a quagmire.

With the rain and mud slowing the Irish's vaunted passing attack, Notre Dame made just six first downs to Penn State's three. Notre Dame also lost two of four fumbles and Penn State lost two of three. Most of the record crowd of 25,000 reportedly stayed until the end.

Historians call this the all-time Penn State punting game as the teams traded kicks all day in a driving, cold rain and the deep mud of Schoellkopf Field before a Homecoming crowd of 5,000.

Penn State had 27 punts and Cornell 24, with freshman Joe Colone kicking some "high ... low and fast" and others out of bounds. Surprisingly, not a single punt was fumbled, and only one was blocked. Cornell's lone scoring threat came after that blocked punt in the Lion end zone in the first quarter but they fumbled the ball away at the 15-yard line. Penn State's closest scoring attempt was late in the fourth quarter, following a fumble recovery, but it ended at Cornell's 11-yard line. All told, Cornell lost three of five fumbles while Penn State lost just one of seven. State fans listening to the game over the radio were mystified by what was happening because the sportscaster was prohibited by World War II government regulations to mention weather conditions.

Snow started falling early Friday before Penn State left by bus for its annual game with Pitt and by Saturday the city was paralyzed with the team and fans marooned in their hotels. The game was first postponed until Monday, but with the city still crippled by the 23-inch snow fall, the game was rescheduled for the following Saturday, and the team had to be transported by Army trucks to the train station for the trip back to State College via Tyrone. Pitt Stadium was still buried, so the game was moved to Forbes Field where the Steelers were set to play Sunday. Still, the upper deck of Forbes Field was not cleared and with mounds of snow piled along the surface of the gridiron layout, many in the "announced" crowd of 12,250 could not see the soft, muddy playing surface. State almost blew a 21-0 lead but won on a missed attempt for an extra point kick in the fourth quarter.

Old timers also call this the "Camp Hate to Leave It" game because the team was stranded at the so-named hunting camp 30 miles away when a surprising overnight snow storm dumped up to 20 inches of snow on the area.

The players had to trudge a half hour through snow drifts to their buses, with coaches blazing the trail and star running back Lenny Moore going last. Some 200 students, including 98 members of the Blue Band, shoveled the 13 inches of snow off the Beaver Field turf and the grandstands. The game was delayed almost an hour but 13,897 fans showed up to see Moore score two touchdowns in a contest that was tied three times before the Lions won on a fourth quarter touchdown set up by an interception. State's meteorology department apologized for the bumbled weather forecast, saying the staff should have "trusted its instincts rather than its instruments."

Until the Minnesota game of 1999, this was the biggest upset in coach Joe Paterno's coach career. Penn State was ranked fourth and favored by 24 points over a mediocre Navy team coached by Paterno's former assistant, George Welsh.

A steady, cold and very windy rain soaked the pre-game tailgaters, and 8,000 of the 42,000 fans who bought tickets stayed home. The Lions dominated the game but lost three fumbles and missed two field goals in the first half, when Navy went 80 yards for a touchdown and kicked the extra point. It rained even harder in the second half as State missed two more field goals and continued to fumble — eventually losing five of seven fumbles. The Lions finally scored a touchdown with 4:40 left in the game after a 58-yard drive but a pass for two points was batted down. State had one last chance at a 43-yard field goal with 46 seconds left but the attempt was wide right. Asked if weather affected the game, Paterno said, "It was raining over there (on Navy's side) too."

Of all the worst weather games, the outcome of this game was the most significant in Penn State history. It also is the hottest Penn State game on record with sweltering temperatures up to almost 120 degrees and humidity at least 80 percent. More than 350 fans were treated at the Byrd Stadium first aid facility. Despite being cooled by electric fans and drinking lots of liquids, several players on both teams threw up. Two fire hydrants near the stadium were opened so spectators could seek relief. Maryland was a preseason No. 1 choice by some media but Penn State shocked the Terps on the second play of the game with a 32-yard touchdown run on an interception and went on to a 20-18 upset. The win catapulted State into the national title race and by season's end they were No.1 and playing for the championship in the Orange Bowl. Although they lost that Orange Bowl game, the Lions vowed to return in 1986 and win it all, which they did.

This is probably the most drenching, cold rain of any game in the Paterno Era, if not in Penn State history.

The extremely heavy rain started Friday night and did not let up until the game was long over. Even though the game was televised to a regional audience, a near capacity crowd of 84,000 fans and scouts from eight bowl games showed up in the 33-degree temperatures for what was expected to be a close game. The No. 1 ranked Lions were a narrow one-point favorite but they annihilated Notre Dame, virtually ending the Irish coaching career of Gerry Faust. "Here's Mud In Your Eye, Gerry,' read the headline in Sports Illustrated's account of the game. Massimo Manca kicked a record-tying five field goals, including one from 50 yards, as State intercepted three passes, recovered two of six Irish fumbles and blocked another pass to set up Manca's field goals.

Amazingly, the Lions only fumbled once and recovered the ball and had no interceptions on 18 pass attempts. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bill Lyon summed it all up for those of us who were there: "On a day made for fireplaces and brandy, an estimated 84,000 persistent zealots sat outside anyway."

Over the decades there have been plenty of Penn State games played in subfreezing temperatures but this writer doesn't remember any that were colder. Snow flurries whipped by 30 miles-per-hour winds and wind chill temperatures hovering around 15 to 18 degrees numbed fans before, during and after the game.

Still, another 84,000 shivering zealots were there for the regionally televised game. Seventh-ranked Notre Dame had lost only to Pitt and still had a shot at the Orange Bowl against No. 1 Oklahoma while the unranked Lions had lost three, including a 10-0 heartbreaker to Pitt a week earlier. The game was tight all the way as the teams traded touchdowns. With four minutes left and the Lions leading, 21-14, Notre Dame drove relentlessly for 63 yards to score from 1 yard out with 30 seconds remaining. The Irish went for the win, with junior quarterback Tony Rice rolling right on an option play but coming up short on a crunching tackle by linebacker Pete Curkendall. Said Paterno wryly after the game: "It was a moment that will always be frozen in the history of Penn State football."

This is best known today as "The Snow Bowl" but is eerily familiar to the weather circumstances of the 1953 game against Fordham. An unexpected snow fall dumped nearly 18 inches snow on State College and the stadium three days before the game, and some 300 volunteers, including prisoners from area jails, helped shovel the snow off the field, seats and walkways.

Yet, snow still piled up on the sidelines and in parts of the grandstand while many of the parking lots were unusable. However, the field had been covered by a tarp and was in good condition as an estimated 80,000 near freezing fans piled into the stadium. The No. 19 Lions were a 4 1/2 -point favorite over the No. 12 Wolverines and the game was close all the way. Leading 20-17 late in the fourth quarter, the Lions set up for a field goal at Michigan's 8-yard-line, but holder Joe Nastasi shocked the Wolverines by calling an audible faking the field goal and running into the end zone for the clinching touchdown.

"Penn State Snows Michigan," read the double entendre headline in the Chicago Tribune.

It has rained at Penn State bowl games (Orange Bowl 1969) and it has been bitterly cold (Liberty Bowl 1959) but this was the worst weather of them all. The game had less meaning than most bowl games and both teams were playing for pride. But the weather was terrible, with heavy rain and severe thunderstorms hitting just as tailgaters began piling out of their cars, vans and motor homes.

The rain eased up at the start but the soggy field turned the first half into a defensive struggle with the Lions leading 16-7. As the rain intensified in the second half, State exploded with four touchdowns in the third quarter to put the game away. With the field turning into muddy mess, the State players had to wade through four inches of water around their bench. By the end of the game, only the die-hard State fans were left from the near sellout crowd of 65,000.

With rain pelting the players most of the game, underdog State almost pulled off a major upset when the Lions' first first-team All-American, Mother Dunn, blocked a punt with Yale leading 6-0 and sophomore guard Cy Cyphers picked it up and ran nearly 40 yards towards the end zone, only to be stopped by his teammates because he was running the wrong way.

Although the weather was typical for mid-November — cold and occasional light snow — this game deserves mention because of the effect a heavy snow storm just west of State College had on the game.

The three-man officiating crew from Pittsburgh had three accidents en route and did not arrive until late in the first quarter. State recruited a Philadelphia sportswriter and the local high school football coach to handle the officiating but couldn't find the third man it wanted to be the substitute field judge — Doggie Alexander, owner of the Rathskeller Tavern.

The game was meaningless because this was Penn State's first losing season in 50 years and Maryland lost once again, but the weather was schizophrenic and sporadic all day, with warm sunshine before and after the game as well as thunderstorms, wind gusts up to 55 miles an hour, a torrential downpour and fog in between.

Heavy rain starting late in the afternoon and continuing throughout this night game uprooted newly-planted sod and turned the field into what ESPN television commentator Beano Cook called a "cow pasture" as Penn State dominated Rutgers behind a new starting quarterback, junior Kerry Collins, who would become the catalyst for the Lions' run toward an undefeated season and a Big Ten championship one year later.

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