After my comments last weekend, I promise to never again say that any IU football game is boring no matter how much we are winning by as Saturday's Penn State game pushed me to my limits. The game was played at Beaver Stadium, and Cameron had bought tickets for he, Cora and Keagan to go for the weekend. When he first bought them, we assumed that Penn State would be a tough team for us to beat. Then a few weeks ago their coach got fired and it looked like the game might actually be an easy win for us as they went on to lose their next four Big Ten games. In the end, however, the loss of their coach did not matter as it was the closest game that IU played under Cignetti and one that would be remembered by Hoosier fans forever.
Since the Penn State game started at noon, Doug and I watched most of it on my phone while on the Bourbon Trail. The first half went very well for the Hoosiers, as they took a 20 to 10 into the locker room. Penn State’s defense was the best that we had seen all season, but our offensive held sound. Knowing that we had the ball to start the second half, neither Doug nor I were worried. Instead, we talked about how happy we were that Cameron and his friends had picked this game as their travel destination. He had sent pictures from the game and had called shortly before they went into the stadium. I was glad to see they were having a great time and to hear that all of the Nittany Lion fans had been nice to them in the stands.
Everything changed in the second half. First, we completely lost reception while we were at our third distillery in Kentucky. We weren’t really that worried, as we were winning and had controlled the ball for the most part. Thus, we couldn't believe when we walked to the car at the end of our visit to hear someone say to us, “It’s getting tense.” Doug and I were surprised but probably shouldn't have been as my dad texted out earlier, “Sweating yet?” We still weren’t that worried until we stopped at the Arby’s to get a sandwich before going onto Buffalo Trace. That’s when the real sweating began.
IU had not only lost its ten-point lead but were down four points with only six minutes to go in the game. They just couldn’t get past Penn State's defense or stop their offense. When we turned it on, Penn State had the ball and looked like they were going to score again. Thankfully, they missed a relatively easy field goal to go ahead by seven. Doug and I were relieved, but still super nervous as we had less than two minutes to score. Knowing that we couldn’t just kick a field goal, and that we hadn’t scored at all in the second half, I am not sure that either one of us thought a win was possible. I could barely choke down my sandwich while we were watching the game and tears started to form in my eyes. I kept telling myself that it was just a game, but all I was thinking about was the last two away games that Cameron had attended at Ohio State and Notre Dame. They were the Hoosiers only two loses in past twenty-three games. I couldn’t believe he was going to be at the third loss in two years. I knew that he would forever be known as the Hoosier jinx in our family.
It looked like everything was over as we had fourth and long without much hope of converting first down. An awesome throw and a great catch, however, moved us up the field and from there we just kept moving forward. Penn State held tough, stopping us on the 2-yard line. Our first two downs didn’t go very well, and I was about ready to give up all hope as I saw a blitz coming on our quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Somehow, he got off the ball just before he got hit and it fell right into the hands of Omar Cooper Junior at the back of the end zone. The Penn State defender pushed him in mid-air to try and get him out of bounds, but somehow his foot came down and touched the ground barely inside the white line. Doug and I started screaming. We couldn’t believe it when the ref threw his hands up for a touchdown.
Sitting in the stands, Cameron couldn’t see the angle that we could on the TV and didn’t know that we had won the game for at least five minutes while the referees reviewed the play. Once the ref said something to Cignetti and the coach started running up and down our sideline with his hands in the air Cameron, Cora and Keagan could yell along with the rest of us. Penn State still had 36 seconds to score and thankfully couldn’t convert. We had survived one of the closest games that we had played in the last two years. Omar’s catch would be the highlight of every ESPN reel for the rest of the weekend, and even the announcers said, "Give Mendoza the Heisman now" at the end of the game. I promised Doug from that day on that I would never say one negative word about a boring IU victory again. My heart wouldn't be able to take another day like Saturday.
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