There is no current Nittany Lion that dons #85, so let’s take a look back at a rather unconventional period for college football.
The start of the COVID Pandemic in early 2020 clouded the viability of a football season, something that seemed to be nearly unthinkable. We received news the there would be no Big Ten football in 2020…until that decision was reversed with a late start and conference-only schedule. Then we waited each week to see if games would actually be played based on which programs weren’t dealing with COVID outbreaks. Fans were not be allowed to attend games, but you could still have a presence in Beaver Stadium…kind of.
Advertisement
For the low, low price of $85, you could appear in cardboard cutout form in the stands of Beaver Stadium. Seriously, this is what we were doing six years ago.
Penn State also lost about all of its top-tier players, as Micah Parsons, Journey Brown and Pat Friermuth all became unavailable. The Nittany Lions then were upset by Indiana in week one (for the record, Michael Pennix didn’t reach the pylone on the two-point attempt) to kick off an 0-5 season despite starting the year ranked #7. They at least turned things around to win their final four games to wrap up a season that could not end soon enough.
Truly an unprecedented time, as we heard about 400,000 times that year.
We’re only 85 days from the start of a new Penn State Football season, in front of a PACKED Beaver Stadium…of fans of the non-cardboard variety.
