When that kick connected, the place erupted. I made my way down to field level with less than six minutes left in regulation, and was in the opposite end zone when Sam Ficken hit a game-tying 31-yard field goal with less than 10 seconds remaining. All it takes is one play to go Penn State’s way, and Beaver Stadium reverberates with chanting and jumping and you start having flashbacks of that Nittany Lion crying/roar sound effect, like the one our Matt Tamanini wrote about in his column about “hating” PSU a little more than the Team Up North. When OSU pulled away 17-0 and seemed to have the game in the bag, the Nittany Lions clawed back with an interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter. The first drive in 2014 featured then-QB Christian Hackenberg throwing an interception- which, if we’re being honest, looked like it hit the ground- to the Buckeyes’ Vonn Bell. But, every time Ohio State made a great play and took control of the game, the crowd was still a momentum factor that had to be accounted for. I don’t want to make a blanket statement and say what I saw will always be the case at every White Out that PSU puts on. Granted, I’ve only been to one White Out- and it was a primetime matchup, just like the 2018 edition. 1, but after seeing in-person the “Jump Around” at Wisconsin and the “M Club” banner thing that Michigan does before games, the White Out is firmly in second, if we’re grading ambiances in the Big Ten. When you combine that with the “We Are Penn State” chants, players running out of the tunnel, and the cadence of the white pom-poms in the stands, the atmosphere is one of the most electric in the Big Ten. When all of the white shirts- and occasional person with blue and white face paint- found their seats, it was a spectacular sight to see. The White Out didn’t feel like a suggestion, but more of a standard operating procedure. On the walk, I noticed just about every person wearing white. Like walking through a major city and seeing a certain landmark, it’s farther than it appears. It’s not exactly a hike from parking area to stadium, but because the signage on the outside of the stadium is so huge, it feels closer than it is. To get to Beaver Stadium, you weave around campus, and end up parking in one of many grassy lots. However, the temperature fluttered between the upper and mid 50s. I was expecting the temperature to drop into the low 40s since, well, it was almost November. It was a weirdly warm October night in 2014- at least to me. I had the opportunity to go to 12 Big Ten stadiums for games, and outside of Ohio Stadium, there was only one real contender when it came to environment: Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. While I was there, I was a broadcaster for the student radio program- meaning that I covered just about every game from 2013-15. Ohio State has walked into Beaver Stadium- with Jim Tressel or Urban Meyer as head coach- for a White Out and walked out with a win the Buckeyes have also left State College, Penn., with a loss after facing White Out conditions, too.īack in 2014, I was a student at Ohio State. Statistically, the Nittany Lions haven’t set the world on fire when they hold these kind of contests, going 7-7 since starting the craze in 2004. While the Nittany Lions played Michigan twice and Ohio State once in student-section White Out games, they’ve played both the Wolverines and Buckeyes four times each in full White Outs.Yesterday, we talked about how much the “White Out” really matters. Penn State’s most frequent opponents in full-stadium White Out games are none other than Michigan and Ohio State. Other than previously mentioned Notre Dame, Penn State lost to No. Later this season, Penn State will host its fifth-ever student-section White Out when it plays Michigan on November 13.Ĭoming into this year’s White Out, the Nittany Lions have faced a non-conference opponent just twice in the big game. Penn State has a 2-2 record in student-section White Out games. The student-section White Outs took place in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2010. While the whole stadium has only worn white 12 times, there’s been four additional student-section White Outs. In the prior 12 White Out games, Penn State owns a 6-6 record, including a 31-10 win over Notre Dame in the first-ever full stadium White Out back in 2007. 10 Penn State football will host its 13th full-stadium White Out Saturday when it takes on No.
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