Last Edited: 9/1/2012 5:43:55 PM by Monroe Slavin

Last Edited: 9/2/2012 3:39:30 PM by VAMamaCat

• The stadium was really interesting in that, if it indeed seats 105K, it is the quietest 100k stadium in the world.  Something really strange with the acoustics, but I was on the field and you could never hear the helmets and pads crunching, and the crowd was only REALLY loud when the "WE ARE...PENN STATE" chant was going on.  I feel the same way about tOSU's place, but I think that is more to do with the crowd, not the stadium construction.  It didn't feel nearly as big as Nealon, which felt and sounded much larger than Beaver.
• Completely agree with the fans being extremely nice, which was a very pleasant surprise, and nearly as nice at the VT crowd.  However, I think it was more from a sense of us not really being there to win and giving us the ten year old's pat on the head going into game time.  And when we had beaten them, it was a sense of shock that had hit them.  I spent the night in SC on SA before heading back to Boston and on Sunday morning folks were as lifeless as zombies on The Walking Dead.  While you still heard some animosity towards the NCAA and saw some folks wearing "WE ARE...PISSED OFF" t-shirts, they were by and large good peeps.  It will be tough not to pull for them over the next couple of years.
• Their band was very respectful of ours, during the pregame skull session, as well as during the game and at the post show.  During halftime, while our band was exiting and their's was prepared to head on the field, the PSU band was high five-ing ours and telling them what a great job they had done.  Very classy.
• And very pleased at the fact that PSU is extremely respectful of the University of Pennsylvania, and own their given name.  I'm always acutely aware of this due to my hatred of another team, and never was a cheer of "PENN" not followed with "STATE".  No spelling of P-E-N-N by fans, no t-shirts ripping off the Penn trade name; no attempted identity theft of any type.  In fact, their student section spells out a block "S" similar to that on the Michigan State helmet, not a block "P" that is used by Penn.  They understand they are State, and it is refreshing.
• Big shout out to Matt Weller and the snapper/holder group on a tough day.  Spent much of my day around them and there was no finger pointing, yelling or anything after the misses.  Just three guys trying to solve problems.
• Very cool that Paul Hershey and Riley Dunlop were both on the sidelines, mentoring the team.  Speaks volumes of where the team culture is today versus back in the day.
• And very different from say, the tOSU game in '10, after the second PSU touchdown there was nothing but confidence on the sidelines.  During the game in '10, when the first couple of opposing scores went down you got a sense that the team had a "here we go again" attitude and bailed.  I believe that in '11, this team learned that sixty minutes is a long time, and if you work the game plan and endure, as they did in Boise, being down two scores is not insurmountable.
• Finally, sad that my pregame prediction of 23-13 good guys was off by one and one.  Was really hoping to throw out some "I told ya so"s.

Last Edited: 9/4/2012 8:40:24 AM by ShoreCat