SAN ANTONIO -- The Alamo Bowl rivalry between the Texas A&M Aggies and Penn State Nittany Lions got a little more heated Thursday night.

At the annual pep rally for both teams, an Aggie Yell Leader took to the stage and – in an effort to fire up the crowd – said something about 81-year-old Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno.

“Fightin’ Texas Aggie… Joe Paterno’s on his deathbed and someone needs to find him a casket,” said the unidentified Yell Leader.

The same Yell Leader inferred about the appearance of Penn State fans as well as their similarities in appearance – “ugly” – to Texas Tech fans.

Later in the evening, another Yell Leader appeared and apologized for the earlier comments.

A&M sports information director Alan Cannon said a number of apologies have been issued to Penn State, KSAT 12’s Greg Simmons reported.

Apologies came from Texas A&M President Ed Davis to the president of Penn State, an apology from A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne to his counterpart at Penn State as well as the wife of interim head coach Gary Darnell, who apologized to the wife of Joe Paterno.

The Yell Leader who made the comments "feels very bad," said A&M Vice President of Student Affairs Dean Bresciani, but has been sent home from the Alamo Bowl festivities.

"The kid just got carried away. As the words were coming out of his mouth, he was trying to pull them back in. This kid is in tears over what he did," Bresciani said in a telephone call to The Patriot-News, a newspaper in Harrisburg, PA.