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You knew you were in for a game when you saw PSU fans wearing T-shirts with the following:
1)Rudy Sucks
2)Rudy was offsides
3)Rudy the game was over
Then of course there was Touchdown Joepa. A classic one time only deal since it has been almost 2 decades since these 2 historic teams have faced one another.
There are no words for the pre game festivities that preceded Saturday's game. The scalpers were asking an arm and a leg for tickets. Yours truly however waited til the magical one hour mark. At that point I scored the magical 7th row ticket for an obscene amount of quarters (400 to be exact) the sum of 1 Benjamin would get me within arms length of the Leprechaun. The silver anniversary team of PSU's first National Title were in attendance as well.
It was White out the Irish day and 95% of those in attendance wore white to the game. At some points in the game it really looked as if it had snowed in the stadium.
The crowd was electric as the pomp and circumstance prior to the game with the Notre Dame band coming out first and then Penn State 's Nitney Lion taking over and getting the crowd pumped to see which side was louder.
We would find out later in the evening that this was the second largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history of 110,078 The record is 110,753 that attended the 2002 clash with Nebraska.
This definitely was a loud and boisterous crowd as this heavyweight match up was the biggest match up of the day. The Fighting Irish jumped on the board midway through the first half on an interception that was returned for 6 by Darrin Williams.
The end of the quarter ended with Penn State speedster Derri Williams 78 yard punt return to knot things up at 7. After a Notre Dame turnover Anthony Morelli stayed in the pocket and connected with Jordan Norwood on a 10 yard pass to give Penn State a 14-7 lead and that was the score at the half.
The halftime festivities were capped with the Silver Anniversary team that won PSU's first National Title in 1982.
It was great to see all the former Nintney Lion greats and the highlights of the Lions Sugar Bowl victory over Herschel Walker and Georgia.
As the second half started there was a Lavar Arrington (New York Giants) sighting and of course Lavar knows when the camera's on him.
Notre Dame's running attack was non existent throughout the game so they resorted to the passing game and Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Claussen was running for his life the entire second half.
Coach Weiss and his staff didn't have an answer offensively as they watched the Penn State D give up only 3 points on the evening.
Penn State put the nail in the coffin as Austin Scott went over the top for the 2nd of his rushing touchdowns. Austin posted his fourth career 100-yard rushing game with 28 carries for 116 yards and two touchdowns.
Penn State truly showed that they are a possible contender for a shot at the BCS with an amazing defensive showing as they beat the Fighting Irish 31-10 and gave up 0 yards on the ground.
As Always
Safe Journey
Miguel "OfftheMeter" Rodriguez