A Whiteout in Happy Valley Turns Dark In USC Victory
USC Marching Band, with Drumline Section Technician Jonathan Poldberg in forefront. Note the band member flashing “Fight On!” symbol. Photo: M. Randazzo
Editor’s Note: Man with a Hat is NOT all about water polo! Your correspondence went to his first-ever BIG 10 football game when the Penn State Nittany Lions hosted the USC Trojans. For any who have followed my eclectic posts, you’ll note I am fascinated by the USC brand.
[Fight On! Trojan Pride Is Strong—No Matter Where USC Grads Go]
STATE COLLEGE, PA. For someone who knows and respects the USC brand it was fascinating last Saturday to compare the everyman cheer of Penn State (“We Are Penn State”) versus the stoic “Fight On” ethos of USC.
On a night when the largest assembled sports crowd (114,419) in Pennsylvania history gathered at Beaver Stadium, it was the Trojans of USC who marched in and stole the limelight, winning 31-23. Led by quarterback Jayden Maiava’s 301 passing yards and three touchdowns, USC (6-1; 3-1 BIG 10) scored last in a back and forth game with host Penn State (3-3; 0-3 BIG 10)).
In contrast to the 100,000+ Nittany Lion fans disappointed by their team’s third-straight loss, there was a small but distinct cohort of Trojan fans who defied their hosts’ edict of a “whiteout game”—the epitome of college football home field advantage.
What the largest college football crowd in Penn State history looks like. Photo: M. Randazzo
But that’s the point; Beaver Stadium is not meant to be hospitable to visitors. For a first-ever trip East by virtue of their team’s membership in the Big 10, Trojan faithful were mostly shoehorned into the stadium’s cavernous upper reaches (Beaver is second only to Michigan Stadium in capacity among US sport venues). USC’s seat location felt disrespectful to this observer of Southern Cal athletics, particularly with the 100-member Trojan Marching Band static in seats as far away as possible from competition on the playing field.
Like your correspondent, opposing teams and their fans must be intimidated by 100,000 white-clad fanatics making a deafening roar whenever visiting teams are on offense. Having most recently been to a University at Buffalo football contest against FCS opponent Robert Morris University (not a sellout; attendance was 11,449 in a venue that holds 25,000), it was awesome to experience the raw energy in Happy Valley—where Beaver Stadium is located.
It wasn’t a happy experience for Nittany Lion fans. After being ranked in the Top Twenty AP preseason poll (#17) Penn State has gradually sunk to an unfamiliar place; unranked, out of the college football playoff picture and an afterthought in the Big 10.
The same cannot be said for the high-flying Trojans. After their victory in (un)Happy Valley, Head Coach Lincoln Riley’s squad is ranked 15th in the latest AP Poll. Since losing at home to the Oregon Ducks on October 3, USC has beaten two conference foes, good for fifth place in the nation’s premier football conference.
Trojan fans taking in the pub scene in State College prior to the big match. Hard to deny the appeal of the crimson and gold uniforms. Photo: M. Randazzo
More impressively, the Trojans did not wilt in Beaver Stadium’s bright lights. When 30,000 (or more) Penn State students—strategically massed behind the home team’s end zone—started screaming and waiving white pom poms, the entire stadium shook. That and non-Southern LA weather; late in the fourth quarter a steady drizzle began, one that turned an ecstatic start for the home team to a depressing ending. And a huge win for USC fans everywhere.