JoePa Puts On Show At Penn St. Pep Rally

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—Joe Paterno grabbed a couple cheerleaders’ hands, then started walking slowly while trying to do some deep knee bends.

It was the Penn State coach’s attempt to mimic the Ohio State team’s walk on to the field before a game.

“Now if they come out on the field and do this ... We’re going to say ‘Hail to the Lions,“‘ said as a crowd of several thousands laughed during a pep rally Friday night for the Nittany Lions. “You know they don’t realize the Romans did that 1,000-2,000 years ago.“

The 82-year-old Paterno was in rare form at the Jordan Center for the rally that followed a men’s basketball exhibition game.

The fans roared early Saturday at Beaver Stadium, but a 24-7 win by the Buckeyes had them headed to the exits in disappointment by early evening.

At the pep rally, Paterno gave a shout-out to the scout team, asking them to join him on the floor before thanking them for their work in preparing the first- and second-stringers for the Buckeyes.

“Now sit down and wave to your parents,“ he said as the players, many of them smiling, shuffled back to their seats.

He urged the crowd to be respectful of the Buckeyes and their fans on Saturday, though he also didn’t miss a chance to poke fun at the Big Ten rivals, too.

Paterno finished his roughly 10-minute speech by asking fans if they knew what was a “Buckeye,“ the nickname for the Ohio State team.

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MILESTONE GAME: Saturday’s game was the 300th in the 50-year history of Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions were 241-48 at the stadium since it opened in 1960.

Some other notable milestone games:

-First game: Sept. 17, 1960, 20-0 over Boston

-100th game: Nov. 11, 1978, 19-10 over North Carolina State

-200th game: Nov. 19, 1994, 45-17 over Northwestern

The loss to Ohio State, though, will likely leave the 300th game as one to forget in Happy Valley.

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CELEBRITY SIGHTING: A sunny, late fall day provided a picture-perfect setting for Saturday’s big game between Ohio State and Penn State.

The crowd got a pregame jolt after the public address announcer informed the fans that Northwestern had upset unbeaten Iowa, making the contest at Beaver Stadium even more important in the Big Ten race.

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest roamed the sidelines early on with Penn State president Graham Spanier, at one point exchanging handshakes with people in the front row in the student section. Seacrest said on his Twitter account that his father attended Penn State.

Among other notables in for the weekend were two former notable players: Buffalo Bills defensive end Aaron Maybin and ex-NFL tailback Ki-Jana Carter.

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JUST FOR KICKS: A season-ending injury to Aaron Pettrey last week left the place-kicking job up for grabs for Ohio State.

The pregame depth chart listed former walk-on Devin Barclay or scholarship kicker Ben Buchanan as the starting kicker. Barclay, a 26-year-old Major League Soccer player, missed two of his three field-goal attempts in his college debut last week after Pettrey went out.

Barclay handled the extra point chores on Saturday and hit a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter in a solid performance.

Buchanan was sick last week, but was expected to compete for the job for the Penn State game.

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BOWL WATCH: Representatives of the Sugar, Orange and Capital One bowls were at the game. ... Iowa’s loss coupled with Ohio State’s win leaves the teams in a 5-1 tie for first place in the Big Ten, with the automatic berth to the Rose Bowl at stake.


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