I may not be a sports-guru, or that amazing chick every guy lusts over because she’s so-into sports and yet, still straight. However, college football is my thing, and – I’m sure you’ve noticed by now – Penn State is not just my team, but my alma mater.
And like every other Nittany Lion fan in the world, I cringed on Saturday when, with one second remaining on the game clock, Iowa kicked a field goal and ruined our perfect season, 24-23 … yep, with one second left.
By the way, when I say “cringed,” I actually mean I cursed, a lot, and told people who laughed in my face to do things that are rather inappropriate considering I was serving tables at the time. I digress.
This weekend the boys in blue and white head into Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. and face the Indiana Hoosiers who, with 1-5 in the Big Ten conference and 3-7 overall, will likely fail miserably on the field (or so I hope). Despite our mild offensive line in the last two games, scoring only 36 points overall, I hope they can come back this week and not just trample the Hoosiers – um, what the fuck is a Hoosier anyway? – but prepare themselves, mentally and physically, to likewise dominate Michigan State next weekend – away game, uh oh – and give us an 11-1/7-1 season, even though we all hoped to end undefeated.
Projections say we’ll be headed for the Rose Bowl this year, potentially against USC, and I just hope those boys get their shit together fast and don’t let us fans down in the final two weeks.
It’s amazing, if you ask me, that we can go from instilling this in our opponents at the end of a game:
Ohio State University freshman quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, following their loss to Penn State on Oct. 25, 13-6.
To this:
Iowa kicker Daniel Murray (1) after their game-winning, 24-23, field goal on Nov. 8.
Such a change, and in just two weeks, with a bye week squeezed between games. Ohio State played harder, they played with more on the line, than Iowa did going into last week’s matchup. And with barely a moment remaining, every hope of a BCS championship game was lost this season.
It’s seriously time for those PSU boys, currently ranked 7th (a drop from 3rd before the Iowa State game) to step up and finish the season without further disappointment. It’s one thing for us fans to be left with a frown, but nobody wants to disappoint JoePa. I mean, look at that face:
How can you really let him down? LET’S GO STATE!
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A MinD in MoTown 
My dad grew up in a small town in NJ, thats pretty much 2 minutes away from the walt witman bridge…so needless to say he loved all philly teams- including Penn. So he would make me root for them.
I dont anymore.
but used to before I figured out how to choose for myself.
Comment by Matt November 13, 2008 @ 5:29 pmAugh. I wanted to kill them after that game. It’s such a typical move for us…well typical for years past. I thought we were over that! It just really breaks your heart to watch PSU play some games.
Comment by stealthnerd November 13, 2008 @ 6:07 pmI will tell you what a hoosier is as soon as you tell me the difference between a nittany lion and a regular lion.
Comment by S.Vincent November 14, 2008 @ 12:53 pmMatt: Choosing for yourself, at least in this situation, is highly overrated.
Nerd: It really does. I’m glad I’ll be at work tomorrow and unable to throw things at the TV during the Indiana game.
Vincent: In State College, there’s Mount Nittany. The mountain lions that roamed there were called “nittany lions,” but only because of the geographic location, not due to any major differences between them and a typical lion.
Comment by amindinmotown November 14, 2008 @ 3:08 pmIt was a very disappointing game, but I’m sure the Nittany Lions will finish the season the way they started it!
Comment by Megkathleen November 14, 2008 @ 3:36 pmAt least Penn State beat Syracuse 123- 2 this year (approximate) so you got that on me..
the fact that you like college football has vaulted you to awesome in my book. Not that you weren’t awesome before, just that…
I’m making this awkward.
Comment by rs27 November 14, 2008 @ 3:48 pmHopefully y’all will play well today. And hopefully my team will, too, even though our hopes of a National title (or anything near it) have been shattered. Ugh.
Comment by stylishhandwriting November 15, 2008 @ 11:44 amI feel your pain. I’m a Penn State grad too. I was on the plane during the game, when I landed and turned my phone on, I had 4 text messages from friends. Needless to say, I didn’t even have to check ESPN.com to know what happened….It was a bad day.
Oh well. I guess there’s always the Rose Bowl if we can beat Michigan State this weekend.
Ryan
Comment by Ryan Healy November 17, 2008 @ 3:54 pmrs27: I’ve always been awesome, but thanks for the boost and awkward notation.
Stylish: They did! Yay! One more game left. :Fingers crossed:
Ryan: I get ESPN updates to my phone during the games each time PSU or the opposing team score (mostly because I often work Saturdays), and I couldn’t have been more elated than when it kept ringing with happy news. Rose Bowl wasn’t what the team or us fans wanted, but I’ll take it! Ha.
Comment by amindinmotown November 17, 2008 @ 6:52 pm