EIU at Penn State 10-10-09

For the Penn State game, Kyle and I traveled with the team and several of EIU's Alumni and Boosters. In order to make the flight, I picked up Kyle Thursday afternoon and drove to Charleston and Fox Ridge State Park. We slept in the RV Thursday night getting up early to catch the chartered flight.

It had rained very hard all day Thursday and Thursday night, but had slowed to a light rain on Friday morning.

Our first stop after arriving in State College, PA. was the Berkey Creamer for ice cream on the campus of Penn State.

In side the Berkey Creamer.

That evening we had dinner at The Nittany Lions Inn and heard comments from the Athletic Director, President of EIU, and pep talk from Coach Spoo.



Gameday tailgating!



At first I did not think tailgating was that good til I learned there was another 200 acre lot on the other side of the stadium.

The statue of Coach Joe Paterno outside the stadium is a popular photo stop.

I got this shot between groups. As game time neared and the crowd increased it was almost impossible to get near this statue.

Beaver stadium is all glass and gerders on the outside.

The EIU tailgate was small but good. We were served ribs, pulled pork, wings, slaw, potato salad, and cookies. Oh yeah, drinks, too!

The pregame crowd thickens.

Pregame in the stadium.

Kevin checks out the stadium.

Coaches Joe Paterno and Bob Spoo met at midfield and talked for quite a long time. These two coaches along with Bobby Bowden are the oldest and longest tenured coaches in football. Joe Paterno is 82 andd Bob Spoo is 72.

Lining up for the first defensive play of the game.

Trevor gets a tackle!

Where's Trevor?

The old side of the stadium.

The newer side of the stadium.

Since the game was well out of hand both teams played almost all of their players. These games are about money for the smaller schools ($450,000) and a easy victory for the bigger school improving their record.

It has become a tradition for the players to come to where the parents are sitting to sing the EIU school song after the away games.

As soon as the players could shower and load on the buses we were whisked to the airport. Security on the chartered flight was very good, maybe even better than commercial flights because the officers seemed to be more thorough.

We were back in Chucktown before dark, a whirlwind trip that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Despite a losing score, Trevor got to play before 104,000 people in Happy Valley and end it with getting to shake Joe Paterno's hand.


KP