As chaotic as this season has been so far for us Panther fans, it could — as always — be worse in that we could be Nittany Lion fans. Penn State’s 6-4 loss to Iowa in nine innings has dropped the Nittany Lion nation to an all-time low. Never has the Altoona Mirror or the Centre Daily Times been so down on Paterno. As Chas reported yesterday, never has there been such a strong chorus for Paterno to step down on the internet. And trust me, it isn’t just on the internet. Both the radio and television sports talk shows in Altoona have been almost unanimously venomous towards the old guy. And we can all certainly understand the anger. Paterno told Lion fans over the winter that things would be better this year. But despite the introduction of new offensive coordinator Galen Hall (who was pretty good everywhere else he’s ever coached), this year is even worse.
You could almost pity Lion fan if you could get past how pitiless he was towards us when we were down on the ground during the Paul Hackett era. Fortunately, I’m not mature enough to get past that yet. Just ask my wife.
So for now, Penn State will have to deal with being ranked on ESPN’s Bottom 10 list, as well as being ranked behind Pitt by the Associated Press, the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, and even CollegeFootballNews.com (Pitt #36, PSU #58). And although it’s admittedly very early in the season and we Pitt fans are all too aware of how things can change (more on Anthony Morelli later), our current recruiting class is ranked ahead of Penn State’s by Rivals (Pitt #38, PSU #69). Not bad, given that our head coach’s tenure is even more unstable than Paterno’s.
So what can Penn State do to turn this all around? Well, I can’t bring myself to say that Paterno must go just yet. After all, he hasn’t drug that program down far enough for my liking (I won’t be happy until they stop drawing 100,000 fans every Saturday while we only draw 42,000). But perhaps the re-introduction of a real rivalry might spark the Lions out of their cloud of underachievement. Now pardon me while I shamelessly reprint some material from one of my own posts.
If you asked 100 Penn State fans who their archrival was, the more knowledgeable ones would smile a little before answering — subconsciously revealing that this is no longer an easy-to-answer question. Many of the old-timers would no doubt still answer “Pitt.” One or two might answer “Michigan State,” reflecting an official Big Ten Conference stance that almost
nobody takes seriously. A handful might answer “Michigan,” even though the Wolverines don’t play the Nittany Lions every year. However, I guarantee that a solid majority (especially the younger ones) would answer “Ohio State.” How do I know? Because I live in the heart of Nittany Lion country. I spend each day with scores of Penn State Football fans. Plus, I know from repeated experience that wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt into Beaver Stadium will draw far more derogatory comments than wearing a Michigan or even a Pitt sweatshirt.
And it’s not hard to understand why. Besides Michigan State, Ohio State is the only Big Ten Conference team that Penn State is guaranteed to play every year. Columbus is, by far, the nearest Big Ten outpost to State College. The Buckeyes have been led by a long series of head coaches that Nittany Lion fans love to hate. And most of all, no Big Ten team has won more games than Ohio State since Penn State joined the Big Ten.
Unfortunately, the Ohio State-Penn State rivalry is hardly a two way street. You see, Ohio State already has an archrival, and ESPN’s SportsCentury ranked Ohio State-Michigan as the best sports rivalry of the 20th Century — beating even Yankees-Red Sox. (Heck, the Ohio State-Michigan game is even sponsored now.) On the other hand, most Ohio State fans are either mildly indifferent to or even slightly fond of Penn State because of old Joe Paterno. How do I know? Because I’m an Ohio State alumnus (grad school).
But Penn State deserves an archrival who fans unanimously hate it back. A good, nasty archrival could help motivate Penn State past its current cloud of underachievement. But most importantly of all, it would give Penn State fans a game that they could truly look forward to — win or lose. In a state like Pennsylvania that is full of extraordinarily tight-knit small towns and
residents who were usually born near where they currently live, the Pitt-Penn State rivalry was something special — splitting bar rooms, ethnic social clubs, and even nuclear families (e.g., Chas’s and mine). In ways, it was far more unique than even Ohio State-Michigan (a state line separates most of their fans). It was more like an extra-nasty, industrialized, blue-collar version of Alabama-Auburn.
So for your own good, Penn State, give up the Ohio State thing. The Buckeyes just don’t care. Get Pitt back on your schedule, and erase the biggest black mark of Joe Paterno’s career. Heck, many of your more knowledgeable fans demand it.
Of course, I bring all of this up because Penn State has to go into Columbus and play Ohio State this Saturday (fortunately for me, Pitt has a bye). The rumor on the “Press Box” (a public access channel sports call-in show in Altoona… think of Stan and Guy on a couch behind a card table) is that former-Panther-star-recruit-turned-Nittany-Lion Anthony Morelli will start… and quickly learn why he should have gone to a school with a better offensive line… or at least some semblance of an offense (four points!?). The line came out at 5.5 and quickly moved down to 4. Personally, I don’t think Ohio State can cover either. The Buckeyes aren’t nearly as good as either Wisconsin or Iowa, and lost to each a lot worse than the Nittany Lions did. Penn State has a better defense than Ohio State, and OSU’s offense is almost as bad as the Nits’s. But because Ohio State has kicker Mike Nugent and home field advantage, I still think that OSU will eek out another win here. But it will be close, and an upset is definitely possible.
Hail to Ohio State’s beating Penn State. And more importantly to this website, hail to Paterno’s getting out of the way of the Pitt-Penn State rivalry soon. For Penn State’s own good.
