If you think taking the field beneath a crowd of about 110,000 screaming fans at Beaver Stadium for a primetime showdown with the Nittany Lions is intimidating for opposing players, just try getting to the field.
At Penn State, the visiting team's accommodations are, well, intimate. Players must negotiate their way through the raucous home crowd on the concourse beneath the stands in order to get to the tunnel that leads to the sidelines.
Ohio State players remember that walk well. Many of them made the intimidating trek two years ago, when the Buckeyes lost to Penn State, 17-10, in a similar primetime affair in 2005.
Some of them discussed that march in an Associated Press story:
“The craziest thing was that they had fans lined up from our locker room to the field,” Ohio State cornerback Malcom Jenkins said, shaking his head at the recollection. “That’s probably the first time — the only time — that’s ever happened. ... People cursing you and spitting at you, and things like that.”
One fan singled out Jenkins and reminded him of a punt he’d fumbled several weeks before. Others screamed at the Buckeyes, while others seemed far more threatening.
Tyler Whaley, a backup fullback, said it was like running a gauntlet. He said he expects more of the same when No. 1 Ohio State (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten) plays the 24th-ranked Nittany Lions (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday night.
“They’re going to be right in your face and they’re going to be tempting you,” Whaley said of the Nittany Lions’ feverish fans. “You might get a smack on the helmet or on the back. You have to keep your cool right then and there. You don’t ever want to give your focus up to somebody by the concession stand as you go out to prepare for such a big game.”
This weekend’s game will be the Buckeyes’ fourth night game of the season. Coach Jim Tressel said there are several reasons why fans seem to be more volatile, louder and more jacked up for the football version of Saturday night live.
“I think they make a day of it. They begin their enthusiasm and it just grows,” he said, a smile playing on his lips as he hinted that some fans might be drinking something stronger than root beer to get up for the game. “By 8 o’clock, their enthusiasm is overflowing. Perhaps they sit in the tailgate lots and watch the games and get excited about the competition on TV and all that stuff.”
Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno said the 8 p.m. start wasn’t a big adjustment for his players. But he added the late start gave fans plenty of time to, uh, get fired up.
“It is not really a big deal,” he said. “It is for the fans. I think the fans, the tailgaters and all that stuff, they tailgate a little longer with 8 o’clock and probably I won’t get into that.”
Leave a comment