Blue White Illustrated

he most tumultuous decade in Penn State football history began in a fairly ordinary way. On Jan. 1, 2010, the Nittany Lions defeated LSU, 19-17, in the Capital One Bowl. As evi- denced by the final score, it was an un- eventful afternoon. The most memorable aspect of the matchup was the torrential rain that fell on game day, turning the turf to mush and prompting LSU receiver Brandon Fell to grumble afterward that the field conditions were "by far the worst… I've ever seen in my life." The stats bore out Fell's assessment. Nobody came close to rushing for 100 yards, and nobody completed more than 20 passes. There were hardly any chunk plays, but there were some plays in which chunks of turf detached from the playing surface and became lodged in players' facemasks. The game's improbable hero was kicker Collin Wagner, who booted four field goals, including a 21-yarder with just under a minute to go to supply the Lions with the winning points. Nearly 10 years have passed since that messy afternoon in central Florida, and in a matter of days, Penn State will be playing its final game of the decade. That game is, of course, the Cotton Bowl, where the Nittany Lions will face Memphis in an ultramodern NFL sta- dium where they won't have to worry about the weather. They had been in contention for the College Football Playoff until deep into the regular sea- son, and when that didn't work out, they DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS Penn State will be making its first visit to Texas since the 2011 TicketCity Bowl. The Lions will be playing in the Cotton Bowl for the first time since 1975. T C O T T O N B O W L P R E V I E W

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