Responding to reports of a loud party at the Nittany Apartments complex on Tuesday night, Penn State campus police detected a "strong odor" of burning marijuana from outside the door. Denied a consent search by residents, cops quickly obtained a search warrant that produced a small amount of marijuana and big trouble for three of four Penn State players living in the apartment.

Although no charges have been filed and Lt. Bill Moerschbacher, a Penn State campus police spokesman, said the investigation is ongoing, coach Joe Paterno suspended starting defensive end and All-America candidate Maurice Evans, starting defensive tackle Abe Koroma and backup tight end Andrew Quarless for the 19th-ranked Nittany Lions' game tomorrow against Oregon State in Beaver Stadium.

The fourth player living in the apartment, cornerback A.J. Wallace, was absolved of blame by Paterno, at least for now.

The suspensions of three key players overshadowed the announcement that reserve cornerback Willie Harriott, a redshirt junior cornerback and special-teams player from New Haven, Conn., had been dismissed from the team for an undisclosed reason. Harriott had not been in Paterno's good graces since he was cited for underage drinking in August 2007.

Harriott is the fourth player dismissed from the program by Paterno in the last 5 months. Wide receiver Chris Bell was let go after he allegedly pulled a knife on a teammate on April 7, and defensive tackles Chris Baker and Philip Tayor, both of whom had previously been suspended, were sent away for undisclosed reasons on July 30.

"Wallace was really not part of the situation, but Evans, Quarless and Koroma were," Paterno said yesterday during his weekly radio show. "It's unfortunate. We preach, preach, preach and they stepped out of line. They deserve what they're going to get. Whatever that's going to be, I don't know. My feeling on all of this is they have a responsibility to the program, they have a responsibility to themselves and to their families. They have a responsibility to their teammates.

"If they do something as dumb as it appears they did, and I'm not saying they did or they didn't yet, but even being close to that kind of thing, I'm not going to play any of those kids this weekend.

"They're three good football players. They're not bad kids. But you pay for it when you do dumb things."

Quarless, a junior from Uniondale, N.Y., who went into the 2007 season on the John Mackey Watch List for prospective All-America tight ends, also was arrested on a DUI charge in August 2007 and, if his current predicament is any indication, also could be misbehaving himself right out of Happy Valley.

Paterno's comments suggested sterner disciplinary action than one-game suspensions could be in store for Evans, Koroma and Quarless, particularly if criminal charges are filed. *