Know Your Foe - Penn State

History: Penn State was founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania. The school was started at the request of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society and the goal was to apply scientific principles to farming. When the Morrill-Land Grant Act passed in 1862, the school's name changed to The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania. In the following years, enrollment sunk as the university tried to balance its mission of providing agricultural studies with the more popular (and profitable) classic education. Heard this story before? This is the same challenge that Illinois (and every other land grant college for that matter) faced as they grew up.

Since that time, Penn State has grown from a farmer high school to a very large and nationally recognized research university. They started with one campus in the geographic center of Pennsylvania and now have 20+ campus locations statewide serving 90,000 students. These satellite campuses serve as a farm system for the main campus, 60% of the students start at another campus.

Penn State is also the largest non-governmental economic engine in the state of Pennsylvania. Penn State annually generates more than $8 billion in direct economic impact to the Commonwealth and supports more than 60,000 total jobs.

Location: The primary campus is located in State College, Pennsylvania, though the mailing address is actually University Park, Pennsylvania. Just in case you are not confused enough -- the area is commonly referred to as Happy Valley. In 1953, when Penn State went from being a college to a university, Penn State President Milton S. Eisenhower wanted the town to also change its name. However he could not get the town to rename itself, so it remained State College. However, Eisenhower asked his older brother (who just happened to be the US president) give the university its own ZIP code and named it University Park. Whatever you call it; people I know that went to school there love the campus and are very proud of their school.

Nickname/Mascot: They call themselves the Nittany Lions. The name is derived from the mountain lions that used to roam the area before they were eradicated by local citizens in the 1880s. Penn State is believed to be the first university to choose a Lion as their mascot after a student (H. D. “Joe” Mason) went to a 1906 baseball game at Princeton. He was upset that Princeton had a ferocious mascot (Tigers) and Penn State had nothing. The Nittany part of the nickname comes from Mount Nittany near campus and is the subject of a local myth about how it was named.

In 1942, the university was gifted the very cool Lion Shrine statue by the class of 1940. This bad-ass statue was carved by from a 13-ton block of limestone and is probably the most popular place on campus for visitors. Unofficial records show that the Lion Shrine is the subject of slightly more photos than Penn State football player police mug shots.

I can’t do any better than Benny did last year regarding the Penn State game-day mascot: “In contrast to the dignified, elegant Lion statue at the Lion Shrine, Penn State also has a costume mascot that roams the sideline during football games. I think I could find a better costume at a Halloween shop. What did they spend on that thing, $10 bucks? It was accurately rated as “Sucks” by the Golden Tornado’s analysis of college mascots.”

Colors/Uniform/Logo: Penn State's student-athletes are instantly identified by their blue and white uniforms - but those weren't the original school colors. A committee was appointed in October of 1887 to develop color options from which the student body would select the school's official colors. Dark pink and black was the unanimous choice of the student body after considering the color combinations presented by the committee. Yes, I said PINK. Soon the baseball team was sporting pink and black. However, problems arose when the pink faded to white after several weeks of exposure to the sun. The students then opted for blue, rather than black, and white. The official announcement of the new choice was made on March 18, 1890.

They wear easily the most ordinary (at the same time most recognizable) uniforms in all levels of football. You can’t get any more vanilla than a simple white helmet and blue/white uniforms. My son’s middle school football team had jazzier looking garb. But I guess that’s what Penn State football is all about, plain vanilla with glass of milk. Most people forget that at one point Penn State put numbers on their helmets (like Alabama) from 1968 to 1974.

As you would expect, they have a basic no frills logo too. This old school logo was actually replaced during in 2000 with more modern logo, but like the numbers on the side of the helmets this change lasted a few years and they went back to the old/current logo.

Fight Song: Like just about everything else here, the Penn State Fight Song is boring and about as non-descript as you can get. It dose not compare to the tunes used by any of their top Big Ten rivals and if I was forced to rank the conference fight songs, Penn State would finish near the bottom. It kinda reminds me of a circus tune. Very few college football fans (other than those who cheer for the Nittany Lions) would be able to recognize it outside the context of a Penn State football game. Actually the more famous sound at Beaver Stadium according to visitors is the amplified toilet flushing sound of a lion roar.



FIGHT ON, STATE
Fight on State (GO!)
Fight on State (GO!)
Strike your gait and win, (LET’S GO STATE!)
Victory we predict for thee
We’re ever true to you, dear old White and Blue.
Onward State, (GO!)
Onward State, (GO!)
Roar, Lions, roar: (LET’S GO STATE!)
We’ll hit that line, roll up the score,
Fight on to victory ever more,
Fight on, on, on, on, on, Fight on, on, Penn State! (S-T-A-T-E GO! STATE!)

I do have to give the Penn State faithful props for their seemingly flawless execution of the White Out. I have watched a lot of games where fans try to get organized by wearing the same color. It is my opinion that Penn State does it best in college football.

Academics: When not compared to the Ivy League University in Philadelphia, Penn State stands on solid academic ground. It is currently ranked as the 47th best National University in the US News and World Report rankings. That places them fifth in the Big Ten conference behind Northwestern (12), Michigan (26), Wisconsin (35) and Illinois (40).

Athletics: Most people only think of Penn State as a football school. Penn State has one of the most successful overall athletic programs in the country, as evidenced by their Top 25 finish in the NACDA Director's Cup every year since the ranking inception 15 years ago. According to their web site, they have won 62 NCAA Championships, the last being the 2008 Men’s Volleyball title. In 1991, the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten Conference. After years of success beating teams like Temple, Maryland, and Rutgers as an independent -- Penn State has found the football a little tougher in the Big Ten. They have won only two Big Ten football titles since joining the conference (1994 & 2005) and have conference losing records against Iowa, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan.

Famous alums: Penn state is a HUGE school. As of 2006, the Penn State Alumni Association had 453,346 members within the United States, with an additional 6,277 in countries around the globe. Names that you might recognize: Steve McCurry, photojournalist (most famous for the photograph of the “Afghan Girl” in National Geographic Magazine); Herman Fisher, co-founder of Fisher-Price toy company; Richard T. James, Inventor of the Slinky; Jef Raskin, human-computer interface expert (best-known for starting the Macintosh project for Apple); John Aniston, soap opera actor and father of actress Jennifer Aniston; Tom Verducci, writer for Sports Illustrated; John Cappelletti, Heisman Trophy winner and subject of book "Something for Joey"; Joe Paterno, really old football coach. I can’t do this list without mentioning Benny’s favorite: Ian Rosenberger, 3rd place in Survivor: Palau. They also can claim two pretty cool fictional alumni: Bruce Banner (better known when he is angry as the Hulk) and The Office’s Toby Flenderson, the former HR rep at Dunder Mifflin.

No US Presidents -- however they do have four astronauts including Guion Bluford, the first African American in space.

The Game: I have never had lower expectations of a Michigan football game in my life. Penn State comes into this game ranked #3 in the country. Michigan is somewhere below that. How good is Penn State? They have looked great so far this year. Michigan ? Not so great. As I have alluded to all week, after 9 straight losses to Michigan, Penn State has had this game circled on their schedule all season. It could get ugly, like the worst beating Michigan has faced in my lifetime. I’m just hoping we score. How's that for low expectations. Keep this in mind Michigan fans… if Penn State beats us this week their streak will be equal to the number of fingers the gorilla is giving them.

Penn State 49
Michigan 7


Ouch. It is going to get better. I promise.