Will Irish eyes ever smile again?

I've been waiting for last Saturday's game for 16 years now, because 1991 was the last time the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame visited Beaver Stadium—and got trounced 35-13. I remember that game very well, for many reasons: 1) Penn State and Notre Dame were heated rivals in the area of central PA where I grew up, 2) the opportunity to see my Nittany Lions stomp Notre Dame at home was one I could never pass up, whether it be 1991 or 2007, and 3) any day Notre Dame loses, be it to Penn State or any other school, is a good day. :)

And in 1992, when Notre Dame beat Penn State with a (literally) last-second two-point conversion, it was a bitter way for that series to end for me—for by then, Penn State had joined the Big Ten, wherein the PSU-Notre Dame series would be abolished henceforth. Which is why I thirsted for the resurrection of this rivalry for so long. And last year, my wish was granted! Only Notre Dame kicked Penn State all over the field in an absolutely unsportsman-like display of showmanship (i.e., running up the score when we were already down by three touchdowns—something that JoePa has never deliberately done to an opponent).

Thus, when I went to Happy Valley on Saturday, payback was on my mind . . . and on the minds of many other Penn Staters!

Penn State was favored by 17 points, I believe, and even the Notre Dame fans I knew (of which there are plenty, including some family members) were predicting a Penn State slaughter of the Irish—partially due to the previous week's slaughter of the Irish by Georgia Tech, and partially from their being a young team. But from long experience, I knew that Notre Dame wouldn't be an easy opponent, even if they were starting the year off badly. Because one thing I will give Notre Dame, they do come to Beaver Stadium ready to play football, and their fans are just as hardcore and just as impassioned as Penn State's. So while the rivalry may not be official in the NCAAF sense, it remains alive for many fans and alums of both schools.

This much was evidenced on Saturday with the stadium-wide White Out (where every Penn Stater wore white), not to mention the sheer volume of noise. During the pre-game, the cheering and the chants grew so loud that I seriously had to lean into my father's ear and shout to him (and no, he's not deaf yet). There were quite a lot of Notre Dame fans in the stands, too. In fact, they nearly dominated the row in front of us. But when kickoff came and the game ensued, my passion was joined by nervousness, because deep down I feared that Notre Dame was going to give us a run for the money like they always had.

Notre Dame got the ball first, and made a rather impressive run down the field on their first possession. Their first attempt at a field goal went wide right, though from my angle it looked good. Their offensive line looked pretty organized to me, and it unsettled me that many Notre Dame receivers weren't given the proper amount of coverage by the Penn State defense. Because every time Notre Dame completed a pass, their receiver was often wide open, with nobody near him. For our part, Morelli looked a little better than last week, though a poorly-thrown pass resulted in a Notre Dame interception, which they took down the field for a touchdown.

This worried me, because I have a long-running theory that the team who scores first will win. Experience has shown this to be true maybe 75% of the time, but I crossed my fingers on Saturday that I'd be proven wrong for this matchup. It was a while before Penn State got on the board, and when we scored, the whole place went nuts! I remember thinking, when we scored, that Notre Dame fans now know how it feels to be sitting alone amongst the Penn State Proud. I don't mean that to sound arrogant or cocky, but I have yet to see a school that exhibits such intense and irrevocable school pride as Penn State.

Penalties came left and right during this matchup, though. They mostly fell on the Notre Dame side, but Penn State made some pretty dumb moves, too, to result in penalties. I think the worst penalty actually came for Notre Dame, when Penn State signaled a fair catch and a Notre Dame player creamed our receiver a moment later, before we were able to catch the ball.

JoePa was noticeably less conspicuous, too. He did run out onto the field with the team at the start of the game, and remained on the sidelines for the duration of play, but for some reason, his presence wasn't felt anywhere near as strongly as in recent years.

But when it came to the predicted "slaughter" over the Irish, that obviously wasn't going to happen, as the score remained pretty close for most of the first and second half—often within a touchdown. Even when we pulled ahead by a second touchdown, bringing the score up 24-10, I still wasn't breathing any easier, because as I said, Notre Dame usually comes to play serious football with Penn State, and Saturday proved my predictions true. Penn State's performance gradually got better as the game went on, though Austin Scott displayed uncharacteristic fatigue and generally didn't perform well. All the same, when we pulled ahead to 31-10 in the fourth quarter, only then did I start to relax, because realistically, it's hard for any team to come down from a three-touchdown deficit with only eight minutes left in the game.

My father and I left at the 5:00 mark in the fourth quarter, wanting to beat the exodus traffic (we were moderately successful). By the time we got back to the car, the game had officially ended, with the final score being 31-10 over the Irish.

Both of us were pretty spent, as this game had been more intense than either of us had anticipated. Though I wish this had been a 3:30 game instead of a 6:00 game. I don't enjoy night games as much as I used to (for logistical reasons, mostly), and night games don't offer us the opportunity to tailgate after the game. Though Sam and his family did host a rather fabulous pre-game tailgate, filled with barbecue wings, chopped-up Subway sandwiches, beer dogs (soaked in MGD), a giant cookie pie, a delicious pasta salad, and all the liquid refreshment you could ask for. His tailgate was positioned close to the excitement, too, as an ambulance twice came within our vicinity to cart off some people who'd drank a few too many. But to ease off that unpleasantness, the Blue Band marched right past us on their way into the stadium, which perfectly set the mood.

Lots of good shirts were on display, too, brandishing such messages as:

• "Notre Lame: consistently losing bowl games"
• "You have Jesus, we have JoePa"
• "Send Charlie back to the chocolate factory"
• And my personal favorite, "Rudy was offsides!"

All in all, it was quite an eventful and fulfilling Saturday! What made it even more sweet was Michigan's collapse against Oregon—which both Penn State and Notre Dame fans alike relished!!!