It was like old times.
No sanctions to be blue about. Or records that were whited-out.
Almost no one was blue on Blue-White weekend.
(Other than maybe the White defense, which gave up 37.)
Not Franco Harris, James Franklin, Jordan Norwood or Jay Paterno, who came out to Pegula on Friday night to support Michael Robinson’s “Team Excel” fundraiser.
Or the many folks who attended the Devon and Leah Still Strong Foundation roll-out the next night on campus.
Not Franklin, who had some nice words to say about Jay’s dad as well as MRob, then stuck around way longer than he had to when other demands beckoned.
Or Penn State legend Blair Thomas, who stopped dead in his tracks Friday night on College Avenue when asked to meet a young PSU alum now working at ESPN, then said good-bye with this sage advice: “Don’t ever stop working to do your best.”
Not the members of the 11-1, third-ranked, Rose Bowl-winning, program-saving 2005 team who were introduced near the south end zone between the third and fourth quarter.
Or the dozen kids in the Class of 2016 recognized on the field to equally big applause 13 minutes before kick-off, with Miles Sanders getting cheers near-equal to those of Robinson and the aforementioned alumni group.
Not the group of seven brothers who were together on the field one final time, to receive their 2015 PNC players of the game awards – Chris Godwin in a white headband, Brandon Bell in sweats and a floppy hat, Christian Hackenberg in shades and a “Dominate” T-shirt, Jason Cabinda in a big smile, Austin Johnson in shorts and a gold chain, Saquon Barkley in a clean No. 26 and Carl Nassib in his usual position, lined up at the end.
Or the fearsome threesome of Zettel, Johnson and Nassib still hanging together along the sidelines, still part of the team.
Not honorary pre-game captains Norwood and Navarro Bowman.
Or the Special Olympics kids walking through a tunnel of fans with Franklin and his team before the game.
Not the 3,500 participants in the Paterno Family Beaver Stadium Run on Sunday who raised more than $400,000.
Or Matt Millen doing color on the Big Ten Network broadcast, calling the Nittany Lions “we.”
Not the #thousands of kids who got free autographs or the #65k who saw the scrimmage for free.
Or great Twitter follow @thefarmerjones, who Tweeted this pic and apt commentary of the weekend as a whole:
when u have more people at ur spring game who never leave the tailgate than most people have at their spring game https://t.co/nZYsIs28Bj
— Farmer Jones (@thefarmerjones) April 16, 2016
Not legacy C.J. Thorpe or Robert Martin, high school offensive line recruits, who verbally committed to Penn State on Saturday.
Or Franklin, who thusly got to do back-to-back #WeAre…Better” Tweets.
Not PJ Mullen, everyone’s best friend, whose birthday was on Sunday.
Or WTAJ-TV good-guy (and Northwestern grad) Jacob Kaucher, even though he was covering his final Penn State game on Saturday.
Not 2016 starting quarterback Trace McSorley, who had a passer rating of 263.4 after the first drive, completed 18 of his first 19 passes and threw for four touchdowns.
Or Joe Moorhead, whose offense is the Great Uniter of Penn State Football.
Not spring practice award-winners Evan Schwan, Saeed Blacknall, Brandon Smith, Tyler Yazujian and DaeSean Hamilton.
Or my favorite alumni team that scored first in Saturday’s field hockey exhibition game, then ran out of gas to lose 8-1.
Not Barkley, who didn’t play but also didn’t get hurt.
Or his backups, Mark Allen (107 yards of total offense) and Andre Robinson, who had a 28-yard TD run.
Not the blue skies.
Or the puffy white clouds.
And not State College’s bars and businesses, who made green the way they used to.
Penn State football was back. For a weekend. And that’s a good start.
