When he bumped into fellow students on Penn State’s campus this week, center A.Q. Shipley heard the words again and again: “We can’t wait.”
When he completed an exam in his industrial labor relations class, Shipley’s professor told him, “OK, now it’s time to focus on Ohio State.”
And this was Wednesday morning.
Penn State rallies for a big game like few others. It’s a weeklong palooza during which students show their zest by pitching tents outside Beaver Stadium in an area dubbed “Paternoville.”
Once the gates open Saturday evening, nearly every student will be dressed in blindingly white shirts. From afar, it will look like 21,000 seats are covered in snow. It will be a “whiteout” complete with an avalanche of noise.
Two years ago the “whiteout” warriors practically willed Penn State to a 17-10 victory over an undefeated Ohio State team.
“You looked up in the crowd and you couldn’t hear anything,” Nittany Lions linebacker Sean Lee recalled. “Your ears were almost ringing.”
Recalled cornerback Lydell Sargeant: “I couldn’t hear myself talk.”
Ohio State players acknowledged that the noise affected them.
“The craziest thing was that they had fans lined up from our locker room to the field,” cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. “That’s probably the first time — the only time — that has ever happened. … People cursing you and spitting at you, and things like that.”
Since leaving Happy Valley, Ohio State has won 26 consecutive regular-season games. The top-ranked Buckeyes really have yet to be challenged this season, winning by an average of 26 points.
And their defense is the nation’s best, yielding just 208.5 yards and 7.9 points per game.
How many points is Penn State’s home-field advantage worth? Though the Nittany Lions have won 19 of their last 20 at Beaver Stadium, it’s hard to quantify.
But even if it’s worth a touchdown in a tight game, it won’t be enough. The final score will be a familiar one — 17-10 — in favor of the Buckeyes.
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tgreenstein@tribune.com
