Week 5 – It’s Another Happy Valley Saturday

Danvillians from CA and PA

The last of the true “Blue Bloods” is now officially checked off my list as the DFT East Bay Chapter made it to Happy Valley, PA this weekend. The usual Italians with names ending in the letters I and O sprinkled with a few WASPS and MICKS made up our posse. Originally we had 16 “grown ass men” (like there is any other kind) all staying under one roof in our rental for the weekend, but our numbers dwindled to a paltry 14 due to a couple late cancellations. Lodgings were strategically located near the campus of Penn State and the town of State College. Our crew arrived via 4 different airports and several hours of driving throughout the day and into the evening. 

Friday night consisted of pre gaming at the house and then heading off to the festive College Avenue district to show the youngins how it is done. Typical revelry, pillaging and dereliction carried on into the night in the finest establishments we could muster up with low to no cover charge and $.50 draft beer and songs with bad words in them, oh my! We even had a gushing flesh wound caused by a chard of glass that was field dressed so the celebrating could continue without delay. The night ended in the early morning for the DFT gang.

 

Friday Night Sites!

ESPN College Gameday coincidentally picked this game to be at along with ABC game of the week. We have a solid track record of picking our annual “Anchor Game” that also turns out to be the site of that week’s ESPN Gameday. The Buckeyes came in ranked #3 and Penn State #9. Some of us arose early on Saturday and made the trek over to watch Kirk, Lee and the ESPN Gameday team do their thing along with guest picker Keegan Michael Key . Others required a few more hours of rest and arrived later on at the tailgate. 

 

The rabid Gameday scene!

More Gameday hoopla.

Through Tailgate Connect™, we were hosted by the famous 409 Tailgate Club of Penn State. With a 7:30 Kickoff and an 11 AM tailgate commencement, this would make for a long but exhilarating day and a test of endurance.  A Mary bar with 409’s own bloody mix, an assortment of cold beers and Fireball (with fireball lady pouring for the crowd) were served. QB54 and Cornhole boards branded with  Tailgate Connect logos were played throughout the afternoon. The 409 crowd allowed us to fly the DFT banner on their flagpole along with their flag. My business partner Joe Rogers and the Dawsons of Danville PA linked up with our crew from Danville, CA  as well. A stream  of other people stopped in throughout the day to visit with us such as Doug Illig of Frostburg fame and his daughters and Steve and Eric Koreivo and their gang. Many thanks to Andrew, Jeremy and the 409 Tailgate  for showing us a great time with tremendous hospitality, amazing food and for accepting our motley crew. Many laughs and great stories were told as we mixed in with many of the host tailgaters and had numerous comical moments during the day. We even had three rookie DFT pledges that were hazed throughout the day and took it extremely well.

Let the games begin!

College Buddy and Rugby teammate Doug Illig.

The next generation of DFT.

My new family, the 409 Hosts and the Big Uglies

The old guy has the best seat in the house...#METOO

My boys from Danville, PA

More Fireball Mam!!!

Danville, Cali representing

Steve Koreivo, college football addict poster boy.

 

The lone Buckeye in our midst.

The somber flag folding ceremony.

Dad's and their sons. Oops! I got some splaining to do!

Time to go in the game fellas!

409 and DFT Brigades combine forces!

It was a Happy Valley.

Penn State has been a football power since the 1960s primarily under legendary yet now controversial former head coach Joe Paterno. The scandal that rocked the college football world 7 years ago still reverberates throughout our world and specifically for Penn State Nation. Depending on who you talk to, this subject strikes a serious chord with people on opposite sides as to whether Paterno was a saint or a sinner. Universally, all agree that Jerry Sandusky is the lowest form of scum and should rot in prison with severe shawshank treatment. I am not here to retry the case, but to merely bring to the readers the view of the people with a stake in Penn State football. Penn State has had so many great players come through State College PA it would be hard to name them all. The moniker of “Linebacker U” was bestowed upon the Nittany Lions because of the glut of great linebackers that played for them.

Beaver Stadium (the name always confused me as a kid since PSU nickname is the Nittany Lions) named after a former Pennsylvania Governor was built in 1960. It currently holds 110,000 people and is one of the two largest stadiums in college football. From the outside it looks somewhat like an erector set compiled together by a mad genius. The inside consists of multiple levels towering in the end zones and massive bleachers on the sides. My only complaint is that if there was not bench seating, the stadium would hold around 80,000. Needless to say, it was cozier than I would have preferred. To add to the excitement, this game was a famous Penn State “white out”. PSU started this trend originally in 2004 in first just the student section. All the fans with the exception of the Buckeye faithful attending, all dressed in white, waved white pom poms and brought their extra vocal chords with them. This was to help intimidate the opponent and add to the excitement of the evening.

The White Out

The players took the field to one of the strongest buildups I have seen for a team entrance. The white out, the enormous student section with their pom poms in unison, fireworks shooting off over the stadium, the pump up music playing and a record crowd of 110,889 going berserk all made for an impressive opening stanza.

This would also be Penn State fan’s chance to get back at Ohio State for the taunts they have endured since the Sandusky scandal. With Saint Urban back on the sideline, recently emerging from a scandal of his own involving a wife beating assistant coach and a Bieber award, the Buckeyes and their head coach would surely hear it. ABC billed this as Game of The Week and it exceeded all expectations as the nation witnessed. 

Penn State jumped all over Ohio State early and sped out to a 13 -0 lead behind their gutsy QB, Heisman hopeful Trace McSorley and a Defense that shut down Buckeye QB Dwayne Haskins. Ohio State battled back and with two minutes to go in the first half, the Penn State Running Back coughed up a crucial fumble. Ohio State proceeded to put a quick touchdown on the board to narrow the Nittany Lion lead to 6 points.

 

Pano of Beaver Stadium.

After one of the more bizarre halftime performances featuring Broadway musical renditions, the teams retook their positions on the field of battle. Obvious adjustments were made by the Buckeyes as they marched down the field and scored immediately. They followed that up with a defensive stop and another lengthy drive. Penn State would regain momentum and take the lead again only to fall behind by 1 point with just a few minutes left on the clock. Faced with a fourth down and five with 2 minutes remaining, Coach Franklin opted for McSorley to hand the ball off to a running back who was stuffed for a 2 yard loss. This decision was highly questionable as Trace McSorley had been running at will all night on the Buckeye Defense. I have never heard a crowd of that size go from such a high decibel level to silence so quickly. We cattle called out of the stadium with over 100,000 despondent fans and a few euphoric ones wearing scarlet and gray and headed back home for final call and a recap of our day.

They are improving but not at professional level yet!

Sunday morning came and we cleaned up the pad and departed for our points of embarkment back to our homes. This weekend ranks up there with one of the best ever during my 14 year quest. All the elements were present: An epic matchup played at a blue blood school I had not been to, ESPN College Gameday, amazing weather, an off the hook tailgate along with a great group of friends to share the experience with. I highly encourage you all to put Happy Valley on your list of places to spend a fall Saturday afternoon.

Around the Nation: Due to having a great time all day, I was only able to track scores on my phone and catch the College Football Final show on ESPN. In the ACC, another  mega upset almost occurred as the up and coming Orangemen from Syracuse nearly defeated the Clemson Tigers and their new starting QB Trevor "Sunshine" Lawrence for the second year in a row. Clemson was able to narrowly escape with a win keeping their hopes alive of returning to the CFP for the fourth straight year. In South Bend in the other super game of the day, Notre Dame behind new star QB Ian Book were just too much for Stanford to handle winning by a score of 38 -17. Out West Oregon defeated Cal in Bezerkley in the late night game. In the BIG 12, WVU led by another Heisman contender Will Grier, marched into Lubbock and dismantled Texas Tech. In the SEC, the surprising Kentucky Wildcats are no longer the Mildcats as they demolished the South Carolina Gamecocks for their 4^th win of the year. UCF easily handled Louisville to remain the highest ranked and undefeated Group of Five team.

Bieber  - Although we could give the award to three brothers in our crew that flew in from different parts of the country and did not go into the game, we have a more nefarious awardee. Dr Pepper corporation has committed one of the worst transgressions on the college football world in recorded history. Where have all the Larrys gone, long time passing? Where have all the Larrys gone, long time ago? ♪♬♪……. Over the summer as I was breaking out my game day costumes I came across my Larry Culpepper Dr. Pepper outfit I purchased a few years ago. I decided which game I would wear it to this year as I get a real kick out of the whole Larry Schtick. Shortly thereafter I read that Dr. pepper was cancelling the Larry ads and moving to a new format for the season. I was crushed as there are very few commercials I will even watch, but had really looked forward to the Larry ones. Unless we have a Jarred from Subway situation on our hands or something we aren’t privy too, I demand that Dr. Pepper bring Larry back. Heck I even thought about buying a 6 pack of your sugar bomb fizz water just because of him. Well we no longer have Larry and his National Championship trophy to kick around anymore but Dr. Pepper has some new hardware of their own to marvel at; Congrats Dr Bieber Pepper!

Bring Larry back!!!!

Next week - Friday night lights as our high school Monte Vista Mustangs take on the mighty De LaSalle Spartans. Saturday AM we will watch the Red River Shootout from DFT HQ and then a subset of our DFT East Bay Charter will trek over to Palo Alto to tailgate and watch Stanford v Utah in the late game.

Happy Tailgating!