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Just another game? Maybe not, but with no bowl in the offing, the Nittany Lions relish every football Saturday M AT T   H E R B Ideally, you'd like your football season to build to a crescendo in December or January. There would be some drama along the way, of course, a few big games against traditional rivals that would get players and fans even more amped up than usual. But the big payoff would take place in the postseason with a nice trip to some warm-weather destination and a meeting with a highly ranked opponent that you don't see on your schedule every year. That's not going to happen at Penn State in 2013. The Nittany Lions won't be going to a bowl game in December or January, no matter how well they fare in the second half of their season. The bowl ban, which has remained in place even as the NCAA's scholarship penalties have been rolled back, makes every regularseason game a crescendo in itself. "Every single game this year is big for us," senior guard John Urschel said. "With no bowl game, no postseason, every single game is like a bowl game. You could say it's like we have 12 onegame seasons." And yet… There's something about Ohio State that quickens the pulse of the Penn State community in a way that other opponents do not. If the Indiana game was a bowl game, it was the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. But this week's game feels more like the Rose, and that's because Penn State and Ohio State share something that's hard to quantify. It's a rivalry that is rooted in proximity. Ohio State is 340 miles from University Park and will continue to be the closest Big Ten school to Penn State geographically until Maryland and Rutgers join the conference next year. It's also rooted in longevity. These two schools first faced each other in 1912 (a 37-0 Penn State victory played before 3,500 fans at Ohio Field), and they will continue to face each other annually after the league scraps its | MATT@BLUEWHITEONLINE.COM Leaders and Legends divisions next year in favor of an East-West split. The excitement that the fan community brings to this particular game might seem out of synch with the steady-as-shegoes approach that players and coaches espouse, and that's probably more than just a perception. For participants, it's a game of tactics and personnel. Bragging rights and school pride are what they think about after it's over, if then. Penn State coach Bill O'Brien said that while he understands "the rivalry thing, " he doesn't prioritize one game over another. "I think everybody is a rival, because everybody comes on the football field and wants to beat you and you want to beat them, he said. "So that's a rival. I " think the other thing that defines a rival is a balanced series, a series where it's maybe split half and half. They've won half, you've won half. That's a rival. "But I also have a tremendous amount of respect, too, for the teams in the Big Ten, and I think all of the teams in the Big Ten are very well‑coached, good football teams. So I think any time we take the field, we respect them all, and they're all rivals." The Penn State-Ohio State series roughly adheres to O'Brien's 50-50 criteria, as the Buckeyes hold a narrow 15-13 edge all-time. But since joining the Big Ten, Penn State is only 7-13 against Ohio State. And its winning percentage drops precipitously when you throw out the games at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions are 2-8 in the Horseshoe since 1993. With the Buckeyes unbeaten since Urban Meyer's arrival last season, ranked fourth in this week's polls and eager for a primetime victory that could help slingshot them into national championship contention, this figures to be as challenging a trip as the Nittany Lions have ever made to Columbus. So while it may technically be just one of 12 games on the schedule, and Ohio State may technically O C T O B E R 2 3 , 2 0 1 3 11 be just another opponent, the Nittany Lions won't have a lot of opportunities to shock the world this season, and this is one of them. "We recognize that we're facing a very, very good opponent at [its] home," Urschel said, "and we're really looking forward to the challenge. If you can't get excited for a game like this on Saturday, you shouldn't be playing college football. " SERIES RESULTS Oct. 27, 2012 Nov. 19, 2011 Nov. 13, 2010 Nov. 7, 2009 Oct. 25, 2008 Oct. 27, 2007 Sept. 23, 2006 Oct. 8, 2005 Oct. 30, 2004 Nov. 1, 2003 Oct. 26, 2002 Oct. 27, 2001 Sept. 23, 2000 Oct. 16, 1999 Oct. 3, 1998 Oct. 11, 1997 Oct. 5, 1996 Oct. 7, 1995 Oct. 29, 1994 Oct. 30, 1993 Dec. 26, 1980 (Fiesta Bowl) Sept. 16, 1978 Sept. 18, 1976 Sept. 20, 1975 Nov. 7, 1964 Nov. 9, 1963 Oct. 20, 1956 Nov. 16, 1912 L W* L! L W* L L W* L L L W* L W* L W L W L L W W L L W W W W * – Win vacated by Penn State, stats count ! - Win vacated by Ohio State, stats count BL UEW H I T E ON L I N E.COM 35-23 20-14 38-14 24-7 13-6 37-17 28-6 17-10 21-10 21-20 13-7 29-27 45-6 23-10 28-9 31-27 38-7 28-25 63-14 24-6 31-19 19-0 12-7 17-9 27-0 10-7 7-6 37-0 H A A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H H A N A H A A A A A

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