Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/541265
I t's been 21 years since Penn State opened a football season on the road. The Nittany Lions faced Min- nesota at the HHH Metrodome on Sept. 3, 1994, launching what would turn out to be an undefeated season with a 56-3 shellacking of the Golden Gophers. Since then, they've opened 16 seasons at home, going 14-2 in those games, and four at neutral sites, going unbeaten in three games at the Mead- owlands and one at the Croke Park Classic in Dublin. But when the Lions open their 2015 season, they will once again find them- selves entering someone else's domain. They'll be heading to Philadelphia to face intrastate rival Temple, and while many of Lincoln Financial Field's 69,176 seats will undoubtedly be filled with people wearing colors that are not cher- ry and white – the Owls' attendance, which averaged 23,370 per game last year, is sure to get a substantial boost from Philly-based Penn State fans – it seems unwise to predict a romp of the sort that the Lions enjoyed the last time they opened on the road. After all, it's not 1994 anymore. It's not 2014, either, but last year's re- sults do offer a glimpse at the chal- lenges that lie ahead. This fall, Penn State will face six teams that qualified for bowl games in 2014: Rutgers, San Diego State, Ohio State, Maryland, Illi- nois and Michigan State. The Spartans turned in one of the most impressive performances of the postseason, rally- ing to defeat fifth-ranked Baylor, 42- 41, in the Cotton Bowl, while the Buck- eyes claimed the national champi- onship with victories over Alabama and Oregon in the inaugural College Foot- ball Playoff. The Lions will be facing both of those teams on the road, and in doing so, they will get to see a number of players who are going into the season with serious Heisman buzz, notably Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook, Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott and whichever of the Buckeyes' three highly qualified QB candidates ends up under center. There's no telling how it will all turn out, as Penn State looks to improve on a mediocre 7-6 finish last year. Nor is there any telling where it will end; for the first time since 2011, the Nittany Li- ons will begin play knowing that they have a postseason fate to determine. There are a few certainties, however, and this is one of them: It all starts in Philadelphia on Sept. 5. ■ ON THE ROAD AGAIN Several of this season's most eagerly awaited games will take place many miles from the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium T H E S C H E D U L E | P R E V I E W