Penn State came to play and came to win and they showed the rest of the nation and all the fans in the snow covered stands that the Nittany Lions were not going down to an improved but unprepared Spartan team! Joe Paterno’s Lions played as if they had the whole season resting on this one game, and in fact it was. With the win this past Saturday the Nittany Lions won the Big-Ten title and will be going to Pasadena, CA to play in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day! It’s the first time since 1995 that the Lions will play in the rose bowl and only the second time since they’ve joined the big-ten conference.
Paterno’s seniors played very well and ran away with the game on so many occasions. With interceptions, incredible receptions for touchdowns and they didn’t’ get rattled when MSU got two interference calls in a row near the goal line-giving them 6 tries to get the ball in to the end zone, and that made a 21-0 score a 21-7 score. Momentum appeared to go back towards the Spartans, but it lasted all of 15 seconds as the Lions came back down the field on their next drive and scored a touchdown!
It was a joy to watch this game. Watching this game reminded me of games I had watched with my grandfather. I could hear him rooting for Penn State and talking about how Paterno has one of the highest graduation rates of any major college school that has a football program. As Paterno was seen on TV coaching from the upper box because of his injured hip, the announcers made reference to this fact-which my grandfather told me on several occasions. Paterno is completing his 59th year as a coach at Penn State-amazing to me!-and he plans on returning again next year and for several years after!
I can’t wait to see how the Nittany lions play on January 1st, and I look forward to seeing them play with Paterno on the sidelines next year too.
PSU 49 MSU 18
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=283270213
http://www.psu.edu/
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
