Kelly Burns, a Penn State alumnus, has put together an event called Morale For Mauti, an effort to boost Mauti's spirit as he deals with this injury, whatever the extent of it may be.
It was the perfect storm for irrelevance. A meaningless game in the national scene, a noon kickoff, and the weekend before Thanksgiving break had many people writing this game off. But as it turned out, it was one of the most newsworthy games of the year after senior leader Michael Mauti went down with a season ending injury. Here are my observations from the stands.
It was fitting that a quarterback and wide receiver who have had such a strong connection all season long would both reach milestones on the same day. Matt McGloin and his number one target, Allen Robinson, both set Penn State records in today’s game against the Indiana Hoosiers, treating those that stayed for the game to an explosive offensive performance in a 45-22 Penn State victory.
After sixty minutes of football, the Beaver Stadium scoreboard displayed a 45-22 final in favor of Penn State over Indiana, but on a sunny November afternoon, the numbers did not tell the whole story. It was emotions and words that put things into perspective as players and coaches felt the pain of Michael Mauti's injury.
Good morning from a sunny and cold Beaver Stadium where the Penn State Nittany Lions (6-4, 4-2) are set to host the Indiana Hoosiers (4-6, 2-4) in a Big Ten Leaders Division battle. Both teams will be trying to get back on track after suffering tough losses last Saturday. The Hoosiers are led by Kevin Wilson who is in his second year running the program while Bill O'Brien, in his first matchup against the Hoosiers, will try to keep the Nittany Lions streak alive of never losing to them.
Closing in on completing its twentieth football season as a member of the Big Ten, Penn State has done many things within that time period, but losing to Indiana is not one of them. The two squads have met fifteen times, and regardless of location, weather, or overall condition of the program, the result was the same each game and very few of the contests were even close. Tomorrow at Beaver Stadium, the Nittany Lions (6-4, 4-2) will attempt to continue this unbeaten streak against the Hoosiers (4-6, 2-4) that dates back to November 6, 1993.