The joyride is over.
Like it or not, it’s time the Penn State football team got a reality check.
Saturday, in a trip to Columbus, that will almost certainly come courtesy of Terrelle Pryor and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Two wins and two monumental records falling in the Nittany Lions’ last two games have fans sitting on cloud nine. Throw in the fact that both games were classics — one a shootout for the ages against rival Michigan and one a historic comeback for a milestone win — and the sentiment around this team features no negative vibes.
Except, of course, the fact that Penn State enters Saturday’s game as 17-point underdogs. The players seem giddy about everything going on with the program — the revamped offensive line, the new-found intensity on defense, the suddenly ruthless ground attack and a quarterback who is having a good time in the huddle. The only hint of animosity during this week’s player interviews came when the spread was brought up.
“It’s kind of insulting,” said running back Evan Royster, whose recent turnaround typifies Penn State’s season. “I think we’ve proven that we can put points on the board and we can win games. I think a lot of people will take offense to it and it’ll make us work even harder.”
It should motivate the players being underdogs by that much. But it shouldn’t come as any sort of surprise.
This isn’t the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium. This is Ohio Stadium, where a Joe Paterno-coached quarterback has never thrown a touchdown pass and where Penn State hasn’t scored more than one touchdown since 1964.
Replace white-clad Happy Valley with the scarlet and gray of The Horseshoe.
Replace the calm in the stands during offensive possessions with more than 100,000 not-quite-as-kind screaming fans, similar to the environments in Alabama and Iowa. How’d the offense fare in those games? A total of six points.
But most importantly, replace the porous defenses of Northwestern and Michigan with Ohio State’s Big Ten-leading unit featuring the likes of Ross Homan, Chimdi Chekwa and Cameron Heyward.
Obviously a large spread doesn’t mean a team can’t win. It’s sports and anything can happen.
But to think a gap of 17 points isn’t fair is ridiculous.
The Nittany Lions lost by 17 points last year. That game was at home and with a better, more experienced Penn State team. Now, they have a quarterback making his first road start, playing in a hostile environment — also for the first time — against the conference’s top defense. Oh yeah, the Buckeyes offense also puts up 42 points per game.
Penn State defensive captain Ollie Ogbu is eager to prove critics wrong, but even he understands the reasoning behind the gap.
“No,” Ogbu replied simply when asked if the thought the number was unfair. “We haven’t played well against really good teams this year, so there’s no reason for anyone to have any type of confidence in us. But that’s a good thing. It’s a chip on our shoulder.”
Ogbu has it absolutely right.
If anyone outside of the Lasch Building says Penn State is on par with No. 8 Ohio State, they’re still riding the emotional high of the last two weeks.
And, for them — the same people who are pointlessly trying to figure out where Penn State falls in the Rose Bowl mix, there’s a good chance the fall will be a hard one.