UNIVERSITY PARK - With the deadline approaching for Heisman Trophy ballots to be returned, Penn State is getting behind star tailback Larry Johnson with more than lip service in what many expect to be a tight race for college football's most coveted individual award.

About 700 media members and others received an e-mail Wednesday night under the subject: "We want you to know."

Inside was a link to a webpage that included streaming video of Johnson highlights with play-by-play voice Steve Jones calling his big runs.

The video begins with a helmetless Johnson catching a football tossed to him in an empty Beaver Stadium, and ends with a close-up of a sign saying "LJ 4 Heisman."

The message at the bottom of the page: Thank You For Your Consideration Penn State Athletics.

"We just wanted to make sure that we did everything we thought we could do," Penn State sports information director Jeff Nelson said.

"We tried to get a little bit more out there besides the raw numbers."

The content was put together by Mind over Media, the firm that produces The Penn State Football Story. H2F Media Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based company that worked with the NHL's New York Rangers on a campaign to sell tickets, handled the technology end.

The retail cost for such video production and distribution normally would be about $15,000 but the project was discounted, according to Jeff Gaus, H2F Media's vice president of sales marketing. Nelson said the cost to the school would be less than $2,000.

It's no billboard in Times Square like Oregon did with Joey Harrington in 2001, but Nelson said coach Joe Paterno gave the go-ahead for the late push. An ESPN.com poll of 11 college football analysts put Iowa's Brad Banks ahead of Johnson by one point.

"Obviously coach Paterno has always been a team-first person," Nelson said. "Traditionally, Penn State has not done a lot of individual promotions for awards. That's why we were fairly selective in what we can do. Certainly, Coach feels he's just as deserving to win it as anyone in the country, so we wanted to get it for the national media and the voters."

"That's great," Johnson said. "They wouldn't have that going if coach Paterno didn't give them that go-ahead. Now that everybody knows that he's behind me and helping me out with this thing then even if I don't win it's still is a great honor for him to turn around and help me."

Johnson, the ninth player in Division I-A history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, is expected to be among the finalists invited to New York for the Heisman Award ceremony Dec. 14. An ESPN crew will be in town today to work on a feature on Johnson that will be in the one-hour TV broadcast if Johnson is a finalist

There are 870 media members and 50 former Heisman winners that rank their top three choices.

The voting deadline is Wednesday, when finalists are expected to be announced.

Banks, Southern Cal quarterback Carson Palmer, Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey and Miami running back Willis McGahee are among the other leading contenders for the award for college football's most outstanding player.

"We didn't play this past weekend so we felt it was important to make people think about Larry and the great season he's had," said Nelson, who sent out e-mails starting last week to the same 700 with information on Johnson's season and an e-mail this week with "Five Things You Might Not Know About Penn State's No. 5." A smaller group got e-mails each Sunday during the final four weeks of the season as the State College product piled up the yards.

The Web page also mentions that Johnson "waited while four upperclassmen and current NFL running backs had their time." That Johnson "blocked 2 punts, returned 3 and led the Big Ten in KO returns as a junior." That the fifth-year senior "sat out 7 quarters including the last 2 of his final home game because it was good for the team." That Johnson "is an integrative arts major and will graduate this January."

Johnson leads the nation in rushing (167.9 yards per game) and all-purpose yardage (214.5) but knows the knock on him to some voters is his rushing numbers in Penn State's three losses: 68 yards against Iowa, 78 against Michigan and 66 against Ohio State.

"If they're going to hold it against me then I'd rather not win it," Johnson said. "If that's going to be my fault, then give it to somebody else because I can only try so hard. I can only give 110 percent. If they don't look at that then don't give me the award."

Just how Johnson may end up in the voting depends on where you look.

One sports book listed Johnson and Dorsey as co-favorites at 2-1 odds with Banks at 5-2, McGahee at 7-2 and Palmer at 5-1.

Sports Illustrated's latest issue hit newsstands this week with a feature story on Palmer with this headline: "Hand Him The Heisman," saying Palmer's showing Saturday against Notre Dame "proves he deserves college football's most coveted award."

CNN/SI.com lists Johnson fourth behind Palmer, McGahee and Banks.

Johnson said his mother, Chris, is keeping tabs of the various Heisman watches on the Internet.

"I swear my Mom's like the Heisman secretary," Johnson said. "She's bringing home colored prints. She's bringing home Web sites upon Web sites. She won't let me be in the dark about this thing. I feel like she's got to turn her ballot in as much as she's been talking about it."