Illinois Exploits Penn State's Team Weaknesses

It's a good thing I didn't plan a big party after yesterday's game to celebrate my husband Terry's 250th game in a row (see Saturday's Centre Daily Times PSU Memories column here or reproduced in the below post).  

If anyone had stuck around after the game long enough to go to such a party, it would have felt like a funeral.  It was best to keep it a low-key day and celebrate another time.

Congratulations Terry on 250 Consecutive Games of Penn State Football

From today's Centre Daily Times PSU Memories column.

Fan celebrating 250th consecutive game

Carolyn Todd

Saturday, Oct. 09, 2010

Access this at: http://www.centredaily.com/2010/10/09/2261288/fan-celebrating-250th-consecutive.html#ixzz11rGoVw50

Today, my husband, Terry Todd, will achieve 250 Penn State football games in a row. That includes all home, away and bowl games.

That’s two decades of perfect attendance at Penn State games, accomplished at Terry’s own expense and on his own time.

But Terry’s response to this attendance streak is, “Do you mind if I don’t care?”

Penn State October Big Ten Schedule: Which Mascots Will Remain Standing?

The Hawkeyes, the Illini, the Gophers, and the Wolverines.  Quite a schedule for Penn State in October, and not a good start in the Big Ten.  Herky the Hawkeye will stand tall on our mantel piece until next season.  As mentioned last week, this is getting quite tiresome.

This week we play the Illini of Illinois.  They don't have a mascot.  That was true when we first joined the Big Ten and is true now. 

"What about Chief Illiniwek?" some would ask. Wasn't he their mascot when Penn State joined the Big Ten?

Penn State at Iowa: Disappointing Game, Always a Fun Atmosphere

The Game, Such As It Was

Pardon me if I don't talk much about Saturday night's game.   Our "view from the stands" was looking at the jumbo-tron for play action.  When you're in the corner of the end zone in the 5th row, even under the best conditions it's hard to get a feel for the game. 

Depth perception vanishes about halfway down the field.  Action that occurs in front of you is great.  But unfortunately it always seems when you're sitting at the corner of the south end zone that your team's best actions are near the north end zone.

Will the Hawkeye Still Stand Tall?

We have a tradition in our household.  We have been collecting the stuffed mascots of Penn State's opposing teams since we joined the Big Ten in 1993.

In fact, the first Big Ten mascot we ever acquired was Herky the Iowa Hawkeye.

We line up all our mascots on our fireplace mantle each season.  Although I must confess that I never acquired a Youngstown State Penguin.  So I'm using a stuffed Opus penguin - close enough of a substitute for our purpose here!

At the beginning of the season, all the mascots stand.  Then as we play the game, we reflect wins and losses.  If the mascot's team loses, the mascot lies down.  If the mascot's team wins, they continue to stand.

So for now our mantlepiece looks like this:

 The Penguin, the Golden Flash, and the Owl are lying down.  Big Al the Elephant is standing.
So is Herky the Hawkeye, for now.  As are the rest of the mascots on our Big Ten schedule.


Frankly it's been a bit tiresome having Herky the Hawkeye standing all season during the last couple of years.  Nothing would give us more pleasure than to see him join the Owl on his back!

Royster, Wagner Shine in Tight Win

When running back Evan Royster started the Penn State-Temple game with a 50-yard run from scrimmage, I yelled "break out game!"

I came to regret those words as Temple scored two touchdowns over our two field goals and my husband Terry kept yelling, "Break out game??? What, for Temple?"

Penn State Football: Tailgate Excels, The Nittany Lions Not So Much in 24-0 Shutout

It’s hard not to be cynical about September non-conference games.  It’s an ever-present fact of Beaver Stadium economics that Penn State will continue to schedule teams that are willing to get beat up in exchange for a healthy paycheck so that Penn State can get a 7^th home game. 

And it’s not just Penn State that does this.  Look around at the non-conference schedules of any Big Ten or other major FBS team and you will see some sort of “cupcake” scheduled for a September game.

Such was the case yesterday with Kent State, a MAC team that many view really doesn’t belong on the same field as a Penn State team. 

Or at least that’s what people believe about such games.  The reality yesterday wasn’t exactly so.  

Penn State Football: Despite Loss, Alabama Trip Did Not Disappoint

It is a bit excessive to leave Wednesday night for a Saturday night game, especially when you're flying, not driving.   Terry complained all day Tuesday and on Wednesday morning as we were packing for the trip.

I had to remind him that the reason we were on a tour was that it was the only way we could get tickets to the game, and that when I booked the tour, I really wanted this to be a special trip and was especially looking forward to a tour of the Alabama campus and the Bear Bryant Museum.

Terry grumbled anyhow.  He is only interested in the game. The rest of the tour to him was a necessary nuisance. 

We're used to traveling commercial flights for most Penn State games, but for this tour, a charter plane flew direct from Harrisburg, PA. to Birmingham, AL. on Thursday at 9 a.m. 

So it was a long wait until Saturday night's game.  A very long wait!