324

This week’s blog post is about one of my oldest football memories here at Penn State. Granted, I was eight – it doesn’t seem like it’s that long ago. After all, I remember games before this one. But this one is perhaps the most special Penn State memory of my childhood.

In 2001, Joe Paterno and his Nittany Lions beat Ohio State 29-27.

This was no ordinary victory though. In fact, it wasn’t even an ordinary victory over rival Ohio State.

It was Paterno’s 324^th victory. With it, he passed Bear Bryant for number one on the all time wins list – a position he holds to this day with 409.

I remember the day pretty well, it was a 3:30 kickoff (not quite as awesome as an eight o’clock start, but still sweet because it gets dark by the fourth quarter) and we had just had an awesome day of tailgating. I remember thinking heading into the game that it would either be one of the greatest nights of my young life or a horribly sad one.

Ohio State does that to you.

But then Penn State did it to them.

A come from behind victory late in the fourth quarter made the Nittany Lions 29-27 victors. As the victory bell rang and the crowd was screaming 3-2-4! 3-2-4! over and over and over, a soft snow fall began to come down in the Valley.

It was nothing short of magical. It was a legendary victory, in an amazing rivalry, on an incredible night.

It was right out of a storybook. And, really, most of Paterno’s career seems that way. I only witnessed a small part of it. I saw win number 300, 323, 324, 400, and 409 – and I’m pretty lucky for that. But with the win over Ohio State, and the snow falling at the end, 324 definitely was my favorite moment of witnessing Paterno history firsthand.