Kinnick Stadium an electric atmosphere, but Penn State silences critics
The first row begins just 10 feet behind the Penn State sideline, and fans sitting there hovered overed the Nittany Lions and made their presence known.
Kinnick Stadium an electric atmosphere, but Penn State silences critics
IOWA CITY, IOWA-- All week long, Penn State players discussed how difficult it is to play at Kinnick Stadium. The venue seats 30,000 less than Beaver Stadium, but for a big game it is perhaps just as electric.
The Hawekeyes ran out onto the field with fireworks and a cloud of smoke lingered over the stadium as the capacity crowd (70,085) continued to cheer. Gold towels were placed on every seat prior to game time, and the black and yellow striped seating plan was a success.
The first row begins just 10 feet behind the Penn State sideline, and fans sitting there hovered overed the Nittany Lions and made their presence known.
They taunted, they heckled, they screamed. It was like they were breathing down the Lions' necks.
Senior cornerback Stephon Morris said he heard Jerry Sandusky's name shouted out a few times.
"Typical drunk fans," Morris said. "But it was fun, especially at the end."
Indeed, by the end of the game, most fans had already filed out of the stadium. Those who stayed continued to taunt -- "Enjoy our bowl game!" one fan yelled while another shouted out, "Hey, you're more than welcome to transfer here!"
One fan in the fourth quarter decided the best way to tease the Lions was to discredit the win. He shouted down to the sideline, "This isn't even a big win. We lost to Eastern Michigan!"
For the most part, though, the Lions silenced their critics. Storming out to a 31-0 start tends to do that. Iowa fans booed their own team as the Hawkeyes ran into the tunnel for halftime.
"We got up pretty early, and [the fans] kind of started to die out there," quarterback Matt McGloin said. "That was one of our main objectives."
-Emily Kaplan
And we beat them in wrestling too.— dtcoder- Where are the Philly.com, inquirer, daily news, wip, etc hypocrits with their doom and gloom now?? Maybe they should be following the story in Florida that they ignored in their own ranks for years— Friend to All
- come on, that would turn the story on them. Like which one of them knew what, when? — DrewP
- Now that 2 formeer heads of the NCAA announced that the sanctions against Penn State were too severe, I hope that the lynch mob mentality of so many holier-than-thou critics has lessened somewhat. Sandusky will likely be in jail for the rest of his life and my only regrets about the sentence is that he should have gotten the needle for the horrific crimes he committed. In addition, Spanier, Curley, and Scholtz are going to trial and if the evidence is clearcut against them, they will be punished severely. Joe Paterno died and we may never know exactly what his story was. The grand jury did not charge him with any crimes---as they did with Spanier, Curley, etc. These were the persons that allegedly did not do enough to protect the kids from the monster but the punishment that the NCAA meted out did not have an effect on them. It only hurt the totally innocent new coach and his assistants, the team, the student body, and the other sports programs at Penn State. While I am OK with the 60,000,000 dollar fine to go to programs that fight child abuse, to forfeit the games from 1998 when there was no on the field cheating or recruting scandal was idiotic. Ty Cobb was a racist and all around bad guy but he is still in the hall of fame because his violent and boorish behavior was one thing while his performance was another thing. Pete Rose, the man who beat Cobb's record for lifetime hits was barred from the hall of fame because he bet on games as a manager---something directly related to the game. Penn State won the games and Paterno is the winningest coach ever and the NCAA cannot erase history. Congratulations for the leadership of the seniors including Mauti, Hodges, McGloin etc. Also congratulations to O'Brien, an obviously talented coach.— Drumgoole
- AMEN!
— delcodanno - Correction - Spanier hasn't been charged with anything. Only Curley and Schultz. — xtradunn
- In the end this will be the most amazing come back sports story of all time. The haters have nothing to say when Penn States win. The young men that stay with this program are writing their own story.— delcodanno
- Fight on State !!!! all the haters can eat it— psualum
- Penn State has yet to beat a team that is any good. The Big Ten sucks!— John - Lancaster
- Way in to Emily Kaplan's headshot! The way she's looking up at you with those beautiful eyes. Great stuff.— Truth B. Told
- O'Brien for pres— jimmypx
- The NCAA presidents were so offended by what happened that one week after hitting the university with the sanctions they held a NCAA committee meeting on August 1st in Indianapolis...and Graham Spanier was a welcomed guest. How can they say what they did when punishing Penn State only to welcome the guy who was best trained to deal with the situation. And where are the reporters? They should be questioning why isn't there sanctions against Spanier. Why is he still allowed on college campuses? Why is he still involved with the NCAA?— ResponsibleAmerican
- I hope were still this upbeat in 3-4 years from now.— FatEagle
- Typical smug PSU fans; do you wonder why the rest of the world feels as they do? No, of course you don't!— JBinPA
- Here in USC country,they wiped the sweat off their brows and thanked God it didn't happen to them. After that,PSU has gotten more new fans here because they got screwed.It's always like this...the overreach born of righteous indignation. This was and will always be a matter for the Centre County DA and Attorney General of Pennsylvania,not the NCAA,Sorry,haters.We'll get thru this.— red rock
- Again, lets not blame the higher ups, the DA's and other officials that knew. Lets blame the coach, who was not indicted, punish the current players, students, business etc. The NCAA overreached their bounds. Sanctions handed down before cases were ever heard in court. Rush to judgement by a few NCAA officials to try and be politically correct. Does anyone really believe that theses sanctions would have come down against the Volleyball team or track team. It was because of a high visibility sport that drew over 100,000 a game and accusations against a dead coach who cannot defend himself. Probably a few high officials and guys in the DA and police departments, saving their own butts by blaming a guy who can't defend himself. What if the Free report has errors. At this point, the damage has been done, No due process in this case at all.— dond2885
- So those wins were taken away from JoePa. Does anyone really think that the NCAA can make Joe not the coach with the most wins? What happens at all those bowl games he won, do their posters about previous games say (at the Rose Bowl) 1993 Oregon won? or no one won? or no gme was played? Ge real PSu won those games and Joe was coach, No NCAA fiat will change that.— rjill
- Jbin...what exactly does that mean? And how in the world do you know what "the rest of the world sees, thinks, or knows"? Or is it that YOU don't understand? Would you feel better knowing that EVERYBODY in the world hates Penn State? Do you feel that is the only recourse in this situation? I don't know if you have any family or friends J, but rallying around and supporting what you love is not a new concept. I AM PENN STATE! And I am happy with the way the season is progressing for these kids. These kids! Freakin' idiot (and I hope you don't like it!).— phillyboy88
- The BIG-10 is pathetic, plus its two best teams are on probation, I'ts going to look real bad if PSU wins there division after losing to Ohio U, and Virginia.— easy
- PSU stills has talent the problem will come in two years when the depth is really shot. It's a good thing the Big Ten is so weak this year.This only really proves that Joe Pa should have been gone ten years ago . I guess the scandal kept him around. Weak Big Ten or not a Joe Pa coach team would not be this good. McGloin should thank his lucky stars he has a real coach.— Kerz
- WE ARE! I love it!— phillynupe4
- I love the one "taunt," "We lost to Eastern Michigan!" Someone needs a remedial class in taunting. Don't worry about JbinPa- he is one of those people who does not understand that if the left hand does something bad, you can still appreciate the right hand.— verve
- Penn State came so close to being undefeated this year. Kudos for the coaches and players for sticking it the fools at the NCAA who felt the need to pile on the bash Penn State bandwagon when it was a criminal matter that was out of their jurisdiction. Keep winning, Lions. We are Penn State.— saksfan
This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.
