This was a night that Penn State hadn’t had in a while because Penn State hadn’t been a part of a night like this in a while.
There was no tense air as the chill of autumn blanketed Beaver Stadium. There was no anxiety coursing through the 105,038 watching the Nittany Lions play inside Beaver Stadium for the final time this season.
There was optimism and enjoyment reverberating throughout.
Penn State was winning, yes, which always makes the worries fade away but there were records being broken. There was one of Penn State’s own coaching the team to victory. The soundtrack to it all: chants toward the coach. However, these were with adoration, not disdain.
In a vast difference from what it was like the last time Penn State played under the lights of Beaver Stadium, there wasn’t a solemn tone. There wasn’t the worry of a lost football season.
There was just a night that Penn State won’t forget for some time.
There was a night that, above all, Penn State may have needed as a reminder of the joy that not just football, but community can bring – especially when the local football team beats Nebraska 37-10.
Kaytron Allen walked into Beaver Stadium 139 yards away from breaking Evan Royster’s career rushing record. It was a substory in a season where it’s been a sideplot to how this football season has transpired. His fellow running back Nicholas Singleton held the edge entering the season – but Allen, who has been the better back this season, had worked his way not just up the steps of the Student Book Store this season but past Singleton on this list.
There were questions whether or not he’d get there by the end of the season, especially at how stagnant Penn State’s offense looked just over a month ago. After he ripped off a 50-yard run in the first quarter, there wasn’t a question he’d get there by the end of the night.
Nebraska’s rushing defense – ranking 94th in the country – couldn’t stop him or the rest of Penn State’s offense.
On a third-down four-yard run (after having the initial record-breaking run called back on a facemask penalty), Allen moved past Royster.
Then, after a fake punt, Allen completed the drive with a touchdown, finishing the night with 3,954 career yards.
The crowd – with some aware of what had transpired – launched into a full uproar when the graphic flashed on the jumbotron.
Penn State’s rushing record – above all other records – may be the one that means the most to this fanbase. Not just because it is marked on those steps downtown, it’s a signifier of what Penn State football is. It’s a signifier of what Penn State football means to a state that still has deep ties to blue-collar roots. It’s about earning small gains through physicality in a repeated process that eventually leads to something bigger.
And as his team mobbed him on the bench and the ovation grew louder, it was a moment of rejoicement that Penn State hasn’t had this season that was so full of promise.
From there, it spiraled onto another one of Penn State’s own.
Terry Smith, who became the interim head coach after James Franklin was fired this season, has long been loved in Happy Valley. The former wide receiver had been a grounding member of Franklin’s staff because of his connection to Penn State. Earlier in the week, Smith had become emotional about the meaning of Penn State for him and his family. His father’s education at Penn State helped open opportunities for his family. Smith leveraged that opportunity into one of his own.
But on Saturday night, Penn State’s love for Smith returned that love in fever pitch. While it’s uncertain whether or not the coach would want the full-time job, whether or not Pat Kraft would offer him the position and whether or not Michigan State and Nebraska have been formidable opponents, it was too hard to ignore the chants of “Ter-ry, Ter-ry” that cascaded for much of the fourth quarter and into the postgame celebration.
Smith has undoubtedly kept Penn State focused and held Penn State’s football team together in an era of opting out. It has at least earned him an opportunity to be on Penn State’s staff next year.
As Smith walked back down the tunnel he used to run out as a player and embraced the chants, it was at last a moment for Penn State to enjoy this season. It was at last an outward moment of support for the man that has shared what Penn State gave for his family so many years ago.
It was a lasting image of him that won’t be forgotten on a night that won’t be forgotten by Penn State.
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