A'Maize & Blue

On October 18, I had the fantastic opportunity to watch some Big Ten (11) college football in State College, PA. For this year only, the Penn State football stadium is the largest in the nation, with a capacity over 110,000. After this season, the University of Michigan's home field will be restored to its usual place as America's largest football stadium. Which is coincidental, because the reason I put special emphasis on this particular game is that Penn State was hosting Michigan. To those who are not familiar, Michigan is in the middle of the most precipitous drop in prestige of any college football program in the 25 years that I have been watching the sport. This is at the hands of the slimy new coach, Rich (C'mon & get ethical, ethical!) Rodriguez. Nonetheless, you don't just bail on your team because of the coach. Disclaimer: I do also cheer for Michigan State, but when UM and MSU meet I root for the Wolverines. On the drive to the game, we saw an early morning hot air balloon.

There were, ummm, how do you say, a LOT of people there. This is the pregame student section, all in white.

Let us not forget a fundamental point: F-18 Hornets are always cool.

The band and cheerleaders flanked the Nittany Lions' route onto the field, lest they get confused and wander.

Michigan promptly located Penn State's ass and commenced kicking it. Driving in for an early touchdown.

YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT!

Michigan ran off to a 17-7 lead and was up 17-14 at halftime. Joe, who graciously provided my ticket and was a kicker for Penn State, felt like this:

All of Penn State's fans were terrified of Michigan. Despite UM's poor record, they have always had Penn State's number, so the PSU fans were like an already kicked puppy. I lived up the first half while I could, knowing that Michigan's control of the game was likely to fade. In fact, while cheering loudly and putting an entire section of PSU fans through agony, I was acknowledging the whole time that Michigan was not likely to hold up. Therefore, I didn't get it too bad from the fans around me when the tables turned. Penn State won soundly by the end of the game. What a show, either way!