I was there at the game, and have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Penn State. Working through the day up at 3am to leave Marietta, OH at 4. Nice easy drive to State College with beautiful valley views everywhere. the campus and surrounding area was a very beautiful setting nestled in the Pennsylvania Mountains. 
  
  Although I didn't care for the price of parking it actually wasn't to bad of a walk to the stadium from the walk. While walking around many of their fans wished us luck and we were invited to join so many tailgates that I couldn't count them any more, it was fantastic. Many of their fans stopped us and asked us where in Ohio our great university was located seeming to be genuinely interested.
 
  When we arrived the Bash was in full swing but there was still plenty of food and everything I ate was great. Whoever set up the Bash THANK YOU. the talks by Jim Schauss and President McDavis really fired up the crowd as usual. the stadium was fantastic " I thought" and although we were relegated to the upper deck end zone corner seats they had pretty good sightlines for watching the game, they were actually better than I expected.

   The game itself was great I felt that our defense played tight in the first half and some of the players looked lost while figuring out their assignments. I am not to worried though because they made adjustments at halftime and played much much better in the second half. I felt that it wasa good sign that our boys showed that they would be able to move the ball on the Penn State Defense although we were not scoring. Tettleton settled down nicely and managed the game like we will need him to the rest of the season. He is showing extreme poise and leadership on the field that just can't be taught. I feel you either have it or you don't. The team never seemed to panic and stuck to the gameplan and in doing so they totally dominated the lions in the second half. 

   After the game although some fans were telling us to go home it was all in good fun and all that we talked to had nothing but good things to say about our coaches and team, saying that we were much better than they expected and that we should be very happy with our boys at the end of the season.  traffic in and out of the area seemed to flow pretty wel both ways which I felt was great. I was afraid we would be sitting in traffic forever but it never really materialized that way. With the approaching rain it wasn't as fun a driving home last night although we made it safely.
 
That is all I can think of at this time, maybe someone else can add to it.

I was at the PSU-Ohio game yesterday.  Tremendous experience, great place to see a football game and even better place to see an Ohio victory.  Here is the view from my foxhole at yesterdays game.


THE ATMOSPHERE:  You could feel football in the air in State College yesterday.  It was like the air of anticipation in a small Oho town on Friday night before playing your arch rival from the next county over.  Penn Staters, in fact most of Penn, has months of pent up emotion that needed a release.  Yesterday was their opportunity.  The tailgate scene around Beaver Stadium was incredible, you haven't partied until you partied with 100,000 of your closest friends and Penn Staters are wonderful people.  You got the sense that you would be welcomed like family if you pulled up a chair with any one of the small parties happening around the stadium.  Gracious people    
Once inside, the stadium was a sea of blue and white except for two tiny but LOUD sections of green and white to my upper left at the top of the stadium and of course the 110 sitting low behind the goal posts opposite the Penn State student section.   The PSU band, cheerleaders and all of Penn State's athletic family lined up from the tunnel to the Lions bench to welcome their team onto the field with the anticipation of a new season and an chance to release those long months of frustration rising to a crescendo...

THE GAME:  First thing that came to mind was: Wow! Penn State is huge compared to my beloved Bobcats.  I immediately became wary of the Cats wearing down by the 4th quarter under the sheer weight of the PSU O and D lines.  
First quarter was all Penn State, riding the waves of the same aforementioned emotion as their fans.  The Ohio D-backs played far off the ball allowing too much cushion for PS receivers and McGloin was accurate with his passes, it wasn't looking good for my Cats.  But this wasn't my '70 and '80's Bobcats, these kids were tough and talented and matched PSU lick for lick and by the middle of the second quarter we had weathered the initial storm and settled into a rhythm.  You could sense the tide turning as early as midway second quarter with Blankenship's repeated pounding into the center of the line or catching of a quick pass from Tyler Tettleton (TT).  The word used by PSU fans for Blankenship was "annoying".  He would plunge into the line, disappear under all the beef and to increasing groans from the folks around me, the refs would consistently mark the ball 3-5 yards closer to the Ohio goal.  It was fun to watch.
There will be discussion about when the momentum of the game actually shifted; could have been the batted ball touchdown catch in the third quarter which took the air out of the fans around me, could have been after the blocked punt just before the half which was converted by PSU into a score but  for my money it was the decision by Coach Solich to call a TO with 3 seconds left in the half.  Here's why.; PSU just blocked a punt, scored, the team had  "breathing room" the fans were relieved, and most of the team and coaches began heading for the locker room to thunderous applause when it appeared Ohio was gonna let the clock run out.  As PSU jogged off the field the fans stood and cheered, totally behind their team. When Ohio called the TO two things happened.  One; Ohio, the tiny MAC upstart, said we aren't quitting against the big bad Big Ten Team, come on back out here and play us Two;  all of the fans attention turned away from their team and focused on booing Ohio.  This time when PSU jogged off the field a few fans cheered PSU but most were booing Ohio.  Brilliant!  On a day that was as much about emotion as football just brilliant.  PSU never recovered, they were flat from the opening kickoff of the second half.
The second half was all about long meticulous Ohio drives.  A steady dose of Blankenship (much to the continued chagrin of the fans around me) and a TT that never held the ball long enough for the vaunted PSU font seven to get to him.  The quick paced offense and excellent play calls by the Ohio coaching staff was too much for the Nittany Lions.  The air went out of the stadium on a 93 yard 16 play drive by Ohio that ended with a perfect throw from TT to Foster in the corner of the end zone.  
I thought Ohio would be worn out by the bigger stronger Lions but alas I was wrong.  It was Ohio and thier fast pace perimeter offense and continuous puonding of Blankenship into the thick underbelly of the PSU D that wore out the Big Ten foes.  Never thought I would see that.  Proud, proud moment when I realized what I was witnessing.

THE 110:  No Ohio game experience is complete without the 110.  They were as fantastic as I remember them.  Brought a tear to my eye actually.  Their halftime routine, while just two songs, made the PSU rooters heading to the concession stand stop in the aisles to watch (and cheer).  But the real enjoyment came to those that remained for the post-game show.  The 110 and the PSU band played alternating songs.  I felt for the PSU band members as it was no contest.  Don't get me wrong the PSU band was very good and was your classic big college band, quite rigid with straight lines but when the 110 played and danced you could see the band members from Penn State look longingly at this band, this 110 that not only played well but were having a mini-party on the same field that they were forced to stand so rigidly on.  My bet, more than one of the PSU band members would have transferred to Ohio on the spot to get a chance to play with the 110.   After dancing and playing the 110 lined up and exited the field as they always have; perfectly disciplined, lines straight as arrows leaving the PSU (and Ohio) fans in awe.

All in all a great day to be a Bobcat fan, awesome experience.  Those of you that live within shouting distance of Athens and don't get to a game this year, it will be your loss.  This is the best Ohio football team I have ever seen couple that with the 110 and  go to Peden and enjoy it!

Apologies for any missed protocols, first time ever writing on a site like this.  As a quick intro I am a Ohio grad (BS'82, MA'91) and live in Penn having just retired from 30 years in the Army.

I have enjoyed reading this site over the past couple of years, it is a classy site with and was a great way to keep up on the Cats while I was overseas.  Well done!

BeatNavy!

Thanks for he reports!  I don't know how I ended up living in southern California but it makes getting to games a difficult ($) matter.

I wasn't there, but I figured this is a good place to share my experience yesterday. I watched with two other alumni in Center City Philly (Tavern on Broad was a great place to watch and if anyone is ever in the Philly area I suggest you check it out for games). Our bartender hated Penn State and kept feeding us free shots, so that was a plus. The best part, though, was after the game we were walking down the street and felt like celebrities with all the "GO OHIO" and "How about those Bobcats!" cheers that were being yelled at us. It was amazing how many people were familiar with OUr team and were happy that we had won. Philly is not really a college football town so there hasn't been the strong emotional response here that there has been in central PA.

Welcome to the "compound," fellow vet.

I just re-watched the Eddie George Week 1 upset prediction show--talk about being on the money--he described it as it would exactly unfold!  Mr. George even did it with a positive OHIO focus and not predicting Penn State gloom.

Yep - the upper deck concessions - they needed a LOT more stands! I got the last ice cream sandwich at a stand - not what I really wanted - but it was cold and got lucky there was not a real long line.

Joe Pa's funeral dominated College Station and nearby Texas A&M?

A couple of things that weren't already covered:

• The stadium was really interesting in that, if it indeed seats 105K, it is the quietest 100k stadium in the world.  Something really strange with the acoustics, but I was on the field and you could never hear the helmets and pads crunching, and the crowd was only REALLY loud when the "WE ARE...PENN STATE" chant was going on.  I feel the same way about tOSU's place, but I think that is more to do with the crowd, not the stadium construction.  It didn't feel nearly as big as Nealon, which felt and sounded much larger than Beaver.
• Completely agree with the fans being extremely nice, which was a very pleasant surprise, and nearly as nice at the VT crowd.  However, I think it was more from a sense of us not really being there to win and giving us the ten year old's pat on the head going into game time.  And when we had beaten them, it was a sense of shock that had hit them.  I spent the night in SC on SA before heading back to Boston and on Sunday morning folks were as lifeless as zombies on The Walking Dead.  While you still heard some animosity towards the NCAA and saw some folks wearing "WE ARE...PISSED OFF" t-shirts, they were by and large good peeps.  It will be tough not to pull for them over the next couple of years.
• Their band was very respectful of ours, during the pregame skull session, as well as during the game and at the post show.  During halftime, while our band was exiting and their's was prepared to head on the field, the PSU band was high five-ing ours and telling them what a great job they had done.  Very classy.
• And very pleased at the fact that PSU is extremely respectful of the University of Pennsylvania, and own their given name.  I'm always acutely aware of this due to my hatred of another team, and never was a cheer of "PENN" not followed with "STATE".  No spelling of P-E-N-N by fans, no t-shirts ripping off the Penn trade name; no attempted identity theft of any type.  In fact, their student section spells out a block "S" similar to that on the Michigan State helmet, not a block "P" that is used by Penn.  They understand they are State, and it is refreshing.
• Big shout out to Matt Weller and the snapper/holder group on a tough day.  Spent much of my day around them and there was no finger pointing, yelling or anything after the misses.  Just three guys trying to solve problems.
• Very cool that Paul Hershey and Riley Dunlop were both on the sidelines, mentoring the team.  Speaks volumes of where the team culture is today versus back in the day.
• And very different from say, the tOSU game in '10, after the second PSU touchdown there was nothing but confidence on the sidelines.  During the game in '10, when the first couple of opposing scores went down you got a sense that the team had a "here we go again" attitude and bailed.  I believe that in '11, this team learned that sixty minutes is a long time, and if you work the game plan and endure, as they did in Boise, being down two scores is not insurmountable.
• Finally, sad that my pregame prediction of 23-13 good guys was off by one and one.  Was really hoping to throw out some "I told ya so"s.

Dozens of things that stand out, but those are the top cut.

I made a thread about my experience, but I'll just repost it here:

Made the trip up here yesterday morning with my girlfriend. We overestimated how long it would take to get here and actually arrived before the parking lots even opened at 7AM. Here are some of my thoughts on the entire experience.

Tailgating: Wow! They are serious about this. There were lines of cars at all of the parking lots waiting for them to open at 7. I don't think I've ever seen so many RVs in one place either, and those in the overnight RV lot were already up and going before the rest of the lots opened.  Tailgating went on well after the game ended too.

Bobcat Bash: I've never been to one of these before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I enjoyed it. Good food, good drinks and a nice chance to meet other Bobcat supports from all over the place. I'll definitely be going to more of these at future away games.

Beaver Stadium: Huge. Massive. Although the concourse was actually kind of underwhelming. Concessions were pretty cheap. We were up in the top corner and could still see everything perfectly. Looking at the upper deck from the outside before the game I thought that we wouldn't be able to see anything, but it actually feels a lot closer to the field than it really is. That place was rocking at the start of the game. I got goosebumps when PSU ran out of the tunnel.

Their band: NOTHING on the 110. They were using sheet music on the field. I thought the flag line made them seem like a high school band. At the post game show the 110 marched out of the stadium like they do at Peden, but their band just kinda stopped playing and stood around. Some were even sitting on the field as the 110 marched out.

PSU dance team: Apparently there is a dance team national championship and they won it last year. I can see why. All of the girls were so tall and they had a nice routine.

The town: Awesome college town. We walked up and down College Ave and Beaver Ave after the game. Tons of bars, shops and restaurants. It feels like a bigger version of Athens where the town caters to the school. Really fun place.

Their fans: They were great. The "meanest" thing someone said to us was "You're wearing the wrong colors!" We walked around the stadium for the two hours from the time we parked until the Bobcat Bash started. Fans kept coming up to us thanking us for coming. They were all very welcoming and wanted to make sure we were having a good experience. Tailgaters offered us beer and wanted to talk about our team and the school in general. They all new about Tettleton and they all thought it would be a close game. After the game, people came up and congratulated us on the win and wished us good luck with the rest of the season.

Overall this was an amazing experience. Well worth spending way too much money on a hotel and waking up at 2:30AM Saturday morning to drive here. Not a bad way to see my first game as an OHIO alumnus.