Bad weather, bad loss - Bad omen?

Here are my sideline observations from Penn State's 35-10 pasting of Michigan, Saturday, October 24th at the Big House.

"Where are we?"

• Of all the iconic college football coaches in the country, my favorite has to be Joe Paterno. The guy just cracks me up. From his oversized eyeglasses to his athletic shoes and rolled-up pants, he hasn’t changed all that much over the years. He took over as head coach of the Nittany Lions in 1965 - the same year I was born, now 82, JoePa is still going strong – doesn’t even have that much gray hair, but at his age maybe it’s time to change his nickname from JoePa to GrandPa.

 

Here comes Generic U.

A little color is always nice.

• Penn State is a great football program filled with a lot of pride and tradition, but what’s up with the fancy uniforms? I mean, can’t they tone it down a little? All joking aside, I actually like the generic quality to Penn State’s duds - especially the all-white road uniforms. They’re kind of like what you’d start with before adding things like logos … or colors ... or names. Luckily, the Nittany Lion players more than make up for the lack of snazzy uniforms by being the most tattooed football team I’ve ever seen.

Fall color in Michigan?

• Ahh, cold rain ... how I love thee. Seriously, does anything beat four hours in the cold, windy rain with numb fingers and a throat that feels like you swallowed a cheese grater? The only problem (other than zero dexterity and a possible case of pneumonia) was the fact I had to find someplace dry to work on my photographs at halftime. Unfortunately, the Big House’s only realistic “dry” option is in the tunnel - and the only place in the tunnel where there’s a spot to put my laptop happens to be next to the four port-o-potty’s for the marching band and game officials (although I have to admit, nothing speeds up your workflow faster than the aroma of four port-o-potty’s an arm’s length away). Actually, I was okay with it, but poor ESPN reporter Holly Rowe looked like she was going to pass out when a particularly strong wave of “port-o-stench” wafted past us. 

 

Where did I put those earplugs?

• One of the biggest differences between a college football sideline and an NFL sideline is the amount of workable space. Aside from the fact that most college teams dress roughly 238 players (thereby eating up most of the sideline) they also toss in 80 cheerleaders, 64 dance team members and about 1.5 million marching band members, joyfully blasting their school fight song into your ears at point blank range (not that I don’t enjoy going deaf or getting smacked in the back of the head with a trombone slide). Mix in the mobile, sideline television cameramen with their assistants whipping camera cables into your shins every 15-20 seconds, as well as Michigan event staff members barking at you nonstop to “stay behind the white line” and it makes for one challenging afternoon.

 

Another pick for Denard ... let's see, that makes 5 interceptions in his last 20 pass attempts - ouch!

• I said it before and I’ll say it again, Tate Forcier may be the better quarterback, but my eyes light up every time Denard Robinson enters the game because I know something exciting is going to happen – good or bad. Lately there’s been a lot more bad than good, but to a photographer it’s all the same - turnovers are just as exciting as touchdowns.

Trick or Treat?

 • Maybe it has something to do with the aforementioned “boring” uniforms, but those four guys who dress up in those Halloween-like costumes of JoePa and a trio of Nittany Lion players absolutely crack me up – and they can dance too!

Safety dance!

• I've seen plenty of instances where crowd noise wreaks havoc on a quarterback's ability to be heard by his offense thereby causing a false start or a bad snap, but I've never seen the opposing crowd make enough noise to screw up the home team's quarterback! That is until Saturday when the Penn State faithful were loud enough to cause a botched snap between Michigan's center and Tate Forcier. The result of the bad snap, which sailed out of the back of the endzone, was a safety for the Nittany Lions.

"Nice chatting with you son, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and kick your team's @$$!"

• It was easy to see the amount of respect Rich Rodriguez has for Joe Paterno. The two chatted for several minutes before the game, and longer than most after. They even made eye contact and laughed from time to time! Quite unusual, given the norm so far this season.

Well, that’s it for me until the Purdue game. My cohort, Melanie Maxwell, will be making the long drive to Champaign/Urbana for the lllinois game this Saturday while I go trick-or-treating with my kids. Here’s hoping Halloween isn’t too scary for Michigan – after all, Illinois does wear orange.