On Saturday night, Penn State and Michigan will play a football game capping off a week of hype around Happy Valley. For current, students the arrival of ESPN’s College Gameday and a primetime ABC game between the No. 2 Nittany Lions and No. 19 Wolverines has taken Penn State’s campus to a football hype level they have not experienced.
In a social media environment where we quickly proclaim every new moment as the best ever, the level of excitement is understandable. Historically, hosting a 19th-ranked team is not a huge thing at Penn State. In the previous five decades teams ranked higher than No. 19 coming here to play are more than an annual occurrence. But…
For the fan base, it is a game against Michigan — a university and program with an air of arrogance. Don’t believe me? Watch this football video they play in their stadium with none other than Michigan alum James Earl Jones (yes Darth Vader himself) narrating. He states that at Michigan “We are the Best University in the World.”
Michigan does have great tradition. There are names in college football that conjure up images of classic uniforms and bone-rattling blocks and tackles. The list is not long and both Michigan and Penn State are on it.
But regardless of current rankings or where a team, player or a game ranks with the past, this is a big game for this Penn State team. It is important because it is the here-and-now of a season that is beginning the steepest climb of the schedule. And these moments are fleeting because seasons have a way of flying by.
It is important because in college football each team is only together for one year. That is why Penn State head coach Rip Engle used to tell his players that each year belonged to them. As this season unfolds, these Penn State student-athletes are writing their chapter into the history books of Success With Honor, before the seniors are gone.
It is no different for the fans and students. Students graduate and fans come each year knowing that tomorrow is promised to no one.
For students, these are moments that will stay with you long after college is over, even after you’ve finally paid off your student loans. Years from now the imagery of these moments will be the dramatic scenes in memory’s movies playing in the misty corners of your mind.
When still coaching I had a belief that during every game day the ghosts of players, coaches and fans from over a century past looked down from Mount Nittany. Sometimes I swear I could hear them. It is a daunting legacy to be a part of that long line of history. It is a sobering fact of our mortality that someday we too may be among the ghosts whispering our words to people entrusted with this legacy.
Legacy and tradition are things that Penn State fans, coaches and players understand have existed long before we got here and will be here long after we have taken our last breath on this earth.
This weekend Penn State can showcase that tradition to the eyes of the college football world.
How will history remember this weekend?
Michigan is a proud opponent with their backs against the wall. A tough loss to Michigan State started the murmurs of doubt. But Michigan’s pride in itself is rooted in toughness, defense and power football.
With any game between proud programs, there will be moments of triumph and adversity. There may be times when the momentum swings toward your team and then away from your team.
When it gets tough, how will you react?
Will you buckle up, put your hand in the dirt and hold on for that extra half second on every play? Will you as a fan stand and yell and scream and do your part to have an impact on the game?
Nights like these make college football unique among all sports in America. Nights like these have drawn tens of millions of fans, and thousands of student-athletes to this gridiron cathedral standing defiantly on a hill, on higher ground as a challenge to everyone.
Penn Staters have stood for humility, class and the simplistic beauty of blue collar uniforms devoid of individual names or helmet stickers. Penn Staters have believed like Teddy Roosevelt that we “speak should softly and carry a big stick.”
However, be warned that on fall Saturdays we take out the big stick and that “speak softly” thing goes out the window. And we do it without losing our class. Saturday night, this game against Michigan is this Penn State team’s and our students’ moment to show the nation what they are all about.
In the Michigan video James Earl Jones states that Michigan is “Standing for Midwestern values: Hard work, determination and an enthusiasm unknown to mankind”
Well, Darth Vader, if you believe that Michigan has an enthusiasm “unknown to mankind” you’re invited to Happy Valley this weekend. Penn State’s program and fans have exceeded your standard of enthusiasm for decades and will continue to do that this weekend.
