Championship Mentality
Still catching your breath from that one? Me too. Whew!
Oh, that heart-clenching feeling when the Golden Gophers jumped out to a 10-0 start, much to the consternation and outright rage of our fanbase. Our collective memory immediately re-lived the 2009 and 2019 losses.
I have a little math whiz in my house who has noticed that there are many teams this season that have trailed by that same score have won in the end. In our house, we pinned our hopes on that amateur statistic and kept the faith.
And what a game it was. Frustrating and entertaining and downright joyous in the end. Kind of everything we want a college football game to be, if we’re honest. A BigTen classic. We will remember for years the brilliance of the fourth quarter fake punt. We’ll talk about the final play of the game when it looked like we wouldn’t be able to end the game on our terms, yet Drew Allar found a way to get that ball into Tyler Warren's hands to seal the win.
Tell me the last five minutes of this game were not near coaching perfection. All the things we complain about all the dang time–poor clock management, poor play calling, playing not to lose–all those things were delightfully absent, replaced with using our time outs to run the clock down, gutsy play calling, and absolutely playing to end the game with the ball in our hands.
There are “fans” out there for whom nothing will ever be good enough. Sure, we have a Buckeye thorn in our side. Sure, we haven’t won a National Championship in (cough, cough) awhile. Yet here we are on the precipice of our first playoff appearance. One of only three teams in the country with 10 or more wins in the last three years.
The Nittany Lions survived three-and-outs, sacks, stalled drives, a blocked punt, a blocked extra point, and more to come out on top by one gritty point. Penn State has found many, and varied, and sometimes ugly ways to win, but we are doing it week in and week out. What matters is what happens on the field, not what the committees and commentators have to say.
Belittle us all day. Call for our coach’s job. Tell us we’re not a top five team. See if we care. We are 10-1 with a championship mentality. We are tuning out the noise and keeping our eye on the prize. We are gritty, resilient, and full of heart. We are Penn State.
In this week of thankfulness, I’m grateful for this football program that strives to be different in a world following money and accolades and winning at all costs. I’m grateful for a season that has been exciting and fun to watch and write about. I’m grateful for you, reading this blog right now. And I’m grateful to be part of a Penn State family that values pride, loyalty, heart and hope. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Until next Saturday: Go State! Beat the Terrapins!
