Penn Staters on campus and around the world are ecstatic. After an unforeseeable and incredible football win against undefeated and number two ranked Ohio State, spirits have been high in Happy Valley. We were officially back on the map as a nationally ranked college football team at number 24 – not to mention the fact that our win dethroned OSU and knocked them down to number six.
The win was a much needed confidence boost and an invigorating change of pace for the Nittany Lions. I don’t think very many people went into Beaver Stadium that night expecting a win, but we were nonetheless excited for our Whiteout game and were hoping to at least put up a good fight. The riots sparked by the win were definitely questionable, but as a school known for rioting for something as simple as a “clown hunt,” this was nothing compared to the riots that ensued years ago.
After that weekend, our football team was ranked and our men’s hockey team also moved up to number 19 in the country after defeating number three ranked Notre Dame. Headlines read, “Penn State is Good at Football Again,” and “Penn State Pulls Off Miraculous 24-21 Upset Over No. 2 Ohio State," along with, "Dominant October shows Penn State football's improvements.” Everything was well and spirits were high leading into the first of two Halloweekend’s at State which included an away game against Purdue.
Now anyone who follows our team knows our luck with away games. We’d lost both of our two away games earlier this season against Pitt and University of Michigan and every single one of them last year too. This all changed when the Nittany Lions took on the Boilermakers in Indiana. The game started out slowly, and Purdue took the lead. And then the second half happened. I don’t know if it’s the confidence from beating Ohio State but maybe this is actually our turning point because Penn State absolutely destroyed Purdue, beating them 62 to 24.
One, this was the first away game that we’ve won in seven games. Two, this was the first time we’ve scored over 50 points in any game since 2009. Three, this crushing win bumped us up four more notches all to the way number 20 in the rankings.
As if things couldn’t get any better, because of a fundraising and canning weekend for THON, there are officially two “Halloweekends” for Penn Staters. Halloween is one of the most fun holidays out there, especially for college students, so October 2016 will definitely be one for the books.
Watch out world, Penn State is back and we mean business.
