I knew that phone call was coming and I’m sure I’m not the only one to receive the same phone call right around that time.
It was 11:59 a.m. and it was my mom calling.
“Darian, Peacock isn’t working. It signed me out.”
I, in the middle of picking up some balloons for a birthday party we were headed to instead of the game, told her to give me a second and I would send her the password, again.
To her credit – and after a few failed attempts at typing in the password correctly – my mom figured it out.
Meanwhile, Penn State’s running game was figuring out how to cut up the Delaware defense in a 63-7 win over the Fightin’ Blue Hens in front of 108,575, give or take.
The entire afternoon was a day of figuring it out for those wearing blue and white, both of the fan gear and football gear varieties.
Many spent the morning complaining on Penn State football’s Facebook post regarding the game airing on Peacock. A lot of people quipped about how no one wants to attend these games against FCS opponents. And some people are still grumpy about Penn State’s run defense looking below average (for exactly one play).
Yet, everyone figured it out.
People ponied up their five or six bucks to watch the Nittany Lions rush for 315 yards on a streaming network. People still made their weekly pilgrimage to the corner of Curtin and Porter, and Penn State’s defense finished the day giving up just 82 rushing yards and a total of 140 yards.
For as much grumbling about scheduling of late, the 108,575 number probably wasn’t off too much based on the photos that were posted of the game.
DKonPittsburghSports’ Cory Giger put it beautifully on Twitter. Penn State could go to Walmart and get 22 guys to suit up and still 100,000-plus would show up. People wanted to see the star quarterback. People wanted to see the team that appears to be upholding expectations so far. People also wanted a relatively affordable Saturday afternoon with their families.
It’s the same reason why you shelled out the little bit of cash to watch the game on Peacock, the first time a Penn State game has exclusively aired on a streaming network, to probably fall asleep by the end of the third quarter.
You and I love this too much not to consume it.
And the payoff was worth it.
In the words of Nelly, the running backs put the windows down and cruised. Kaytron Allen rushed for over 100 yards on the day and a score while his partner Nicholas Singleton tallied three touchdowns, all of which came in the first half.
The pass game was humming as well. Drew Allar had only four incompletions on the afternoon, racking up 204 yards, one passing score and one rushing score. That allowed plenty of time for Beau Pribula to throw for a touchdown, run for a touchdown and confuse you that he may just be Trace McSorley. (Seriously, it’s freaky how much he looks like him.)
For those at home, you sucked it up and dealt with the fact the game was airing on Peacock – a broadcast that looked and sounded decent. It certainly was better than some BTN productions. Former Penn State QB Michael Robinson in the analyst role started with some nerves – especially with a “nickname” of K-Train for Kaytron Allen that definitely didn’t sound like a save for mispronouncing the running back’s name – but eventually got comfortable.
For those in the stadium, down and distance as well as player names on both sides of the ball returned to the public address system. Even the pending rain that caused many delays at other games around the country held off.
The only negative on the afternoon was a fixable yet missed assignment by Tyler Elsdon that went for a 66-yard touchdown run from Delaware’s Marcus Yarns.
It was Dominic DeLuca that made all of us forget about it later, as he scored a pick-six late – something that is just another notch in his journey from in-state walk-on to emotional leader on the defense.
In the end, everything ended up fine.
You still watched the game. You still went to the game and most of all, you still watched the team do what it was supposed to do.
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