When it comes to Tuesday’s Fiesta Bowl, Penn State is more aligned with Goliath, not David; Drago, not Rocky; Team Iceland, not Team USA.
Against Boise State, Penn State is the big bad wolf with the coffers and war chest that makes the Broncos’ look puny.
It’s also why there may be just a little bit more pressure on Penn State to win on Tuesday.
Penn State is the bigger, more well-funded bully in the college football world compared to Boise State, and Tuesday’s Fiesta Bowl will serve as the prime opportunity to prove all of that investment was worth it.
For much of the last decade, there has been pressure not just on Penn State to perform, but rather for Penn State fans and boosters to help build and develop the program. Even if by the time James Franklin rolled into town Penn State had a large football department worth nine figures, a large, fancy facility and even a stadium that seats 107,000 people, it’s always needed more.
College football at the level of which Penn State is – or debatably wants to be at – is an arms race. Everything about the sport and building power in the sport is about the almighty dollar. It’s what Ohio State – Penn State’s main heel – has done. It’s what Georgia and Alabama – all of college football’s envies – have done over the last decade. It’s about better facilities, a better weight room, a football-exclusive training table or an NIL budget that rivals the salary base of several professional sports franchises.
And for the most part, at least compared to Boise State, Penn State has those things. It’s got the backing from the “largest dues-paying alumni base.” It’s got bigger, better weight rooms. It’s received investment from sponsors and donors for its NIL base – despite not always running like the most well-oiled machine. It’s even getting a $700 million stadium improvement.
Penn State — both in the literal and financial sense — is not the underdog Hollywood has made us love to root for, at least not on Tuesday anyway.
Every time Franklin, Pat Kraft and even Sandy Barbour have gone to the well – and similarly to many other college football programs around the country but not all – they’ve gotten something substantial in return.
In fact, according to the last fiscal year’s report, Penn State’s athletics generated $202 million and spent all but about $100,000 of that. Much of that budget specifically was generated and spent directly to support the football program, too. It’s also one of the largest operating budgets in the country.
Now compare that to Tuesday’s opponent.
Boise State, according to its latest financial documents, generated just $60 million in revenue for its athletic department. 1
The scales, the balance sheets, the budgets, the support is heavily favored in Penn State’s direction.
That’s why it’s fair to say that in terms of financials, in terms of program status, Boise State – like it usually is when it goes to the Fiesta Bowl – is Cinderella, David, Rocky and Team USA.
That fact probably raises the pressure on Penn State even more to win Tuesday’s game too.
A loss for Penn State would be disastrous in a multitude of ways, not just for my and your psyche but for the optics and pressure that falls on the people that have made those asks for more money and more “alignment.”
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with those making asks either. If you want to win – as Michigan, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State or any other recent national champion has shown – it comes at a cost. College football is a pay for play world — even when it wasn’t.
But attaching results to that ask – particularly when that ask has given much more than what the opponent has received – is in some ways a referendum on whether or not all of this has been for something.
That something in the immediacy would be a spot in the College Football Playoff’s semifinals.
None of this is to discredit Boise State in any way. Boise State has Ashton Jeanty, who – in addition to supplanting Ashton Kutcher for America’s most beloved Ashton – is just 131 yards from breaking Barry Sanders single-season rushing record. He’s America’s best running back by a country mile – or rather the 51-yard per game average lead he has over the next closest ball carrier.
As a team, Boise State won the Mountain West – arguably the best non-Power 4 conference in the country. Its only loss of the season came to the only undefeated team in the country – in a rather close game too.
The Broncos deserve to be in this moment as they’ve rightly proven themselves as one of the country’s best eight college football teams this year. But Penn State is trying to prove it’s one of the best eight – or maybe four – programs in the country this decade.
In order to do that, Penn State needs to win on Tuesday. It needs to, unlike those silver-screen behemoths, beat the underdog. It needs to prove that all of the asks have some real value in the shape of results on the field. Penn State – like it has done every other time this season – must win when it’s supposed to.
Elite can’t happen without being a bit of a bully. Elite can’t happen without making the most of the dollars that have funneled into this program against one with less of it.
Tuesday will be a referendum on that.
Penn State has to prove its worth when it goes to the Fiesta Bowl.
vs 
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Megacast Also Available on Other ESPN Networks
Announcers: Bob Wischusen, Louis Riddick, Kris Budden, Tom Luginbill
Radio: Penn State Sports Network
Announcers: Steve Jones, Jack Ham, Brian Tripp
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