I laughed a lot today.
I’m not sure if it was the cold. I’m not sure if it was my self awareness that I looked like the Michelin Man with so many layers on. I’m not sure if it was the extra beer that I had to fight off some of that cold and enhance those layers.
But I laughed a lot today.
In the absurdity of college football, sometimes that is what you have to do.
Now, though for Penn State, because of that absurdity, it’s time to get serious. Why? Because of a 44-7 win over Maryland, the Nittany Lions are headed back to the Big Ten Championship before it begins its run at a national title.
Yes, I’m serious.
Penn State’s first 11-1 record in more than 15 years has put it in a position where it can not only win the Big Ten but also take a stab at a national championship.
All of that is because they survived the chaos – even if you and I barely survived the cold weather in Happy Valley.
We’d spurned the tailgate fields for the bars downtown because of those temperatures in State College today. It’s also become a pseudo-tradition amongst our group to close up the tailgate bins in favor of the bars for Penn State’s final home game of the season.
First, I laughed at the fact one of the downtown bars didn’t offer Miller Lite and was out of Coors Light on a gameday of all days.
We laughed as Ohio State struggled with Michigan early on – and I laughed rhetorically as I’d figured the Buckeyes were going to eventually figure it out. I also offered a laugh at Penn State fans cheering when Michigan did something positive because selfishly I was leaning more in favor of Penn State missing the Big Ten title game for an almost-guaranteed home playoff game.
As we walked toward the stadium, I offered a chuckle at the varying degree of preparedness from some Penn State fans. Some were fully overly but properly dressed.
And others, not so much.
Inside the stadium, cheers erupted throughout the depths of the concourse as Ohio State continued to screw up more and more. Then I began to laugh at the insanity of the chaos I was watching on a tiny TV – Michigan was in fact going to beat Ohio State.
The Buckeyes would miss the Big Ten title fight, meaning that Penn State would in fact just need one more win to reach Indianapolis next weekend.
And then I laughed some more when Penn State came out slow. Of course, Penn State was going to struggle early on. Of course, Penn State wasn’t going to make this easy.
It was chaos that put Penn State in the position they were in around 4 p.m. It’d be chaos, I thought, that might maybe take it away.
As Penn State settled into the game, I laughed at myself and those thoughts.
I laughed as Tyler Warren hurdled a Maryland defender after a broken play turned into a pitch by Drew Allar. Then I laughed as I celebrated Warren’s tight end record setting touchdown.
It was Penn State’s ability to take care of business laughing at me. Instead of becoming a victim of the chaos, the Nittany Lions became the conquerors of the chaos.
And there’s something to that beyond just Saturday afternoon. Last weekend, Penn State could have been a victim of that chaos when it took the field against upset-minded Minnesota. It could have succumbed to the calamity of chaos when Allar went out against Wisconsin or it could have fallen victim against USC when it rallied a feverish comeback. Even all the way back against Bowling Green, the chaos machine could have come for Penn State’s head.
Yet it didn’t. Penn State laughed in the face of chaos.
Much like those other times – albeit not nearly as stressful – Penn State found a way on Saturday to see that chaos about to hit the fan and step firmly into the other room.
That now puts Penn State into a room where it can win a national championship. Only 12 teams will get to say that after next weekend. It even put Penn State in a spot where it can win a Big Ten championship. Only two teams can say that.
Even if Penn State’s best win this year depends on who you ask – and they reach the Big Ten championship game without beating Ohio State – it’s not easy to avoid the chaos. It’s a serious accomplishment that should be celebrated and now will be in the form of those two opportunities. The credit there falls directly on James Franklin and his preparedness. His team, his program met the moment.
Winning 11 football games in the regular season is not easy. Just look around the country. Just look at Penn State’s prior history.
It’s a seriously impressive feat that offers very little room for laughing – OK maybe a little as you watched Mike Locksley be upset at Franklin for scoring on the final play of the game, which I laughed at too.
But for 11-1 Penn State, things are about to get serious.
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