As we reflect on the 2008 Penn State football season, there were plenty of memorable moments.
One of the big nights was Penn State’s 38-24 win over Illinois under the lights at Beaver Stadium back on Sept. 27. That game was memorable because it propelled the Nittany Lions to a stellar Big Ten record, which would earn them a Big Ten Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl.
But that night was memorable because it was a stadium-wide White Out.
It couldn’t get any better … or could it?
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, I will offer some suggestions to make next year’s White Out even better. Next week, we will look ahead to Penn State’s Rose Bowl matchup with an opponent — likely USC — to be determined. We’ll also begin grading the team’s performance in 2008 with our first batch of postseason grades.
Ollie Ogbu and the Nittany Lions appeared to enjoy the Whitehouse earlier this season.
Can it be improved? (Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
A Better Whitehouse
Before you start firing off e-mails to me, let me preface this column with a disclaimer: The White Out — or Whitehouse as it’s called, thanks to the Phoenix Coyotes — is one of the best scenes in all of sports. It’s easy to see why Sports Illustrated On Campus once dubbed it “The Greatest Show in College Football.”
But like anything in life, there’s always room for improvement.
Here are my five suggestions to the Penn State brass for improving the Whitehouse.
1. Don’t Do It Often — Let’s give credit where credit is due. Penn State has this one down. The powers that be realize that the more you do something, the less unique it becomes. It cheapens it and lessens the effect.
Having the Whitehouse once a season is plenty. Certainly, it almost has to be during a night game, although the day is coming when the Nittany Lions won’t have a night game on their schedule, so we will wait and see if the Whitehouse effect is lessened when it’s held during the day.
A student section-only Whitehouse is also effective, but that should be done just once a season.
The Whitehouse isn’t truly unique or original — the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes were the first to actually have a “White Out.” The Coyotes, then the Winnipeg Jets, slapped a copyright on the term in 1987 so no one else could use it.
Penn State used it for a season before adopting the term “Whitehouse.”
2. Kill The S Zone — As you well know, the entire stadium was white against Illinois, save for the orange-clad Fighting Illini fans and the S-zone. The S-zone, of course, began during the 1998 season. In the S-zone, Lion Ambassadors lead a cheering section of 800 students in the senior section who wear blue and white T-shirts that create a huge blue “S” amid a sea of white.
Just once, wouldn’t it be cool to see what the section would look like if everyone was wearing white?
Of course, the S-zone T-shirts have a corporate sponsor, so the odds of it disappearing are slim and none. But wouldn’t it be interesting to see the stadium go totally white?
3. Add Some Flash — There are fireworks at Beaver Stadium for the Fourth of July and for Football Eve. Why not add some pyrotechnics prior to the game, at halftime or at the conclusion? I attended the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens game, and there were fireworks before the game. Not only did it look extremely cool against the dark sky, it got the fans even more fired up than they already were.
I imagine the fireworks could be shot off from Medlar Field at Lubrano Park and would add a little spice to the night game.
4. Bag the Pompoms — if there’s anything that looks cheesy, it’s a pompom. It’s fine for cheerleaders, but to hand them out to the student section simply looks bad. What year is it? 1975? Why not give the fans a white towel, a white placard or better yet, white thundersticks?
Pompoms are very dated and are fine for a junior high school football game. But Penn State needs to change with the times on this one.
Pompoms are passé.
5. Improve the Tunes — If there’s one thing I’ve never understood, it’s the music selection at Beaver Stadium. In a crowd comprised of mostly older alums, why is there rap music blaring from the stadium speakers? As I took my son to his seat prior to the Illinois game, there was some indecipherable rap music playing and the fans who were trying to get into the pre-game festivities were struggling to get whipped into a frenzy.
Of course, many of you were fueled by something else we won’t mention here, so perhaps it didn’t matter what was coming from the sound system.
While the Blue Band plays their tried and true tunes, the music selection needs an upgrade.
If we must play rap, how about “Stronger” by Kanye West? That’s just one for the suggestion box.
The in-game selection could improve as well. The “Woo Hoos” get tiresome after awhile.
And please, let’s not use Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” That is a blatant rip-off of Fenway Park’s use of the song, where it is played in the bottom of the eighth inning.
At Illinois’ Memorial Field, when a crucial third-down stand is looming, they blare out “A New Game (The Bells)” from NFL Films. If you’ve never heard it, go online and give it a listen. If that doesn’t give you chills, check your pulse.
Just a few suggestions to make something very good even better.
Daryll Clark earns an A- for his effort at QB.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Postseason Grades: QB
Coming into the season, all of the experts believed that Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin would share the spotlight.
It didn’t turn out that way.
With Anthony Morelli gone, Clark got the start in the season opener and never looked back. He took the starting job by the reigns and never gave the coaching staff a reason to take him out.
The only time we saw Devlin was in mop-up time and in the Ohio State game, when Clark sustained a concussion.
Overall, Clark’s numbers speak for themselves. For the season, he completed 171-of-285 for 2,319 yards. He tossed 17 touchdowns and threw just four interceptions. He averaged 193.2 yards per game and had a passer efficency rating of 145.2.
As a backup, Devlin was more than adequate. He connected on 25-of-47 passes for 459 yards and four touchdowns. He did not throw an interception. The pass he will be remembered for, though, was an incompletion against Ohio State that drew a flag for pass interference.
Key Stat: Clark’s completion percentage — 60 percent. When a quarterback can complete 60 percent of his passes, you’re going to win an awful lot of ballgames.
Comment: It’s hard to believe that anyone wanted to see Clark and Devlin split time equally. After seeing how Clark handled himself on the field, we won’t have to worry about that next season, either.
Grade: A-
Chris Morelli is the award-winning editor of Blue White Illustrated, a weekly publication devoted to Penn State athletics. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.
