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00:00All right, the legendary voice of the Penn State Nittany Lions, Steve Jones is with us
00:07from lovely University Park.
00:10Of course, Happy Valley, grow up a Pitt, Penn State fan watching this rivalry.
00:18I got to tell you, Jonesy, I don't know if the last time I talked to you, I mentioned
00:22that it burns me up that they don't play it.
00:24It really bothers me.
00:26I think it's the worst thing that could happen to college football is when you take rivalries
00:32away from fans like that was, you know, at least they didn't screw up the backyard brawl,
00:38which is always an incredible game, including this year, I was in Vegas when they played
00:42that game, West Virginia and Pitt.
00:45And I remember growing up going to University Park to Beaver Stadium to see Pitt play Penn
00:50State.
00:51And that's what life was all about as a kid growing up in Pittsburgh.
00:54And I think they screwed that up nice and juicy.
00:58And that's how you're seeing in college sports for a long time, Missouri and Kansas weren't
01:02playing basketball against each other.
01:04That felt wrong.
01:05Right.
01:06A long time.
01:07Texas A&M in Texas weren't playing.
01:08Now they're both in the SEC, so they can.
01:11So that for a long time didn't happen.
01:13And rivalries are what make the sport special.
01:17There are a lot of elements that make the sport special.
01:19That's one of them.
01:20How was it like going to the Coliseum in Lipstick City to play USC, you know, for the first
01:28time in this new world of the Big Ten where you're, you know, traveling West and in essence,
01:39how crazy was that football game that really a lot of people believe Penn State had no
01:44business winning that game, that USC, you know, butchered it.
01:49And really, Jonesy, they've never recovered since the Penn State game.
01:53Their season's gone down the toilet.
01:55You know, Scotty, they go up in the game 17 to 3.
01:58So they've got everything going their way.
02:00Penn State led 3-0.
02:01They had a touchdown, caught off the board, and then they ran one play, got 75 yards on
02:06a touchdown.
02:07So USC's controlling it.
02:09After they were up 17 to 3, I don't think a lot of people realize Penn State outscored
02:13them 30 to 13 the rest of the game.
02:16So once Penn State started to get some control of the game, especially in the third quarter,
02:22they really did control it.
02:24And then when they needed to drive at the end, and you always want to know what can
02:28you do in the clutch.
02:29You and I have talked about this a thousand times.
02:32You get sports in the clutch.
02:34What can you do?
02:35There's five minutes to go, and they drove it, hit two fourth-down plays where Aller
02:39made a couple of nice throws to Fleming, then he hit Singleton for the touchdown to force
02:43overtime.
02:44And in overtime, what's the one thing you want to do in overtime when you're on defense?
02:48You want to go out and get a negative play right away, and they did it on the first play.
02:53And that set USC back.
02:55They missed the field goal.
02:56Penn State then centered the ball for their field goal as opposed to being on the hash
02:59mark, and they won it.
03:01And it just did them a world of good because they found out that when they needed to make
03:07plays, they could.
03:08Yeah, that was huge.
03:11And now they're at number three in the country, and their confidence has to be sky high that
03:17they pulled that off.
03:19What were they like after the game in the room and on the flight back to Pennsylvania?
03:26Because they had already beaten UCLA at Beaver Stadium, and then they go out there and win
03:32that game, and now they have this brutal game in Camp Randall when Fickles actually got
03:38the Badgers kind of turned around and playing real football all of a sudden.
03:43What was their mood like, and what are they thinking in the Nittany Lions room and moving
03:48forward here?
03:49Ecstatic in the room because everything had just happened and just the feeling of a great
03:55accomplishment.
03:57Once they got on the plane, you and I both know, Scottie, you've been there.
04:00They're tired.
04:01It's a long flight back.
04:03Got back about three in the morning, so a lot of people were sleeping, especially in
04:07the second half of the flight, although they could watch the Ohio State-Oregon game, which
04:11many people did because they had TVs in there.
04:13They could watch it.
04:15I think it was great they had a bye week.
04:17Having a bye week allowed them to settle down because it goes right to the point that you
04:21were talking about.
04:23And now you're right.
04:24They take on a Wisconsin team that's won three in a row, three games that you expect them
04:29to win, but the way they won it was impressive.
04:32So they're feeling great about themselves, especially now that their backup quarterback,
04:36Bray Locke, has settled in because Van Dyke got hurt against Alabama.
04:40Yeah.
04:41Van Dyke, the ACL tear, done.
04:43Couldn't believe it.
04:44It happens.
04:45I think that happened to Mertz down in Florida, too.
04:47Same thing.
04:48It did.
04:49So you have this game in Madtown, which is, you know, it's no different than University
04:53Park.
04:54That's a tough place to play, a tough atmosphere, a rowdy house, and then, and I don't want
05:01to get too far ahead of myself, but I'm going to do it anyway, then you have the Buckeyes
05:06in Happy Valley.
05:08And I mean, does Franklin have them licking their chops at these types of games back to
05:14back like that?
05:15Like we got Wisconsin on the road and Ohio State at home.
05:19And that's why we came to Penn State.
05:22If you want to be any good, you have to feel that way.
05:25I mean, if you know, so you go out and you attack this week and you take care of this
05:29week and then you worry about next week.
05:32So they're going to go out there and they've got this game with Wisconsin coming up.
05:36It's going to be, as you said, Madtown at night, but what makes Madtown really tough
05:42at night?
05:43Is it?
05:44Wisconsin's good.
05:45That's what makes, that's what makes it, that that's what makes it tough.
05:48Wisconsin in this three game winning streak, Scotty, they haven't been behind a single
05:51second.
05:52They've been playing from in front the entire time.
05:55So Penn State just had a come from behind when Wisconsin hasn't been behind since they
05:59were in the Coliseum when they played a USC.
06:03So let's see if Penn State can get up on them and then how Wisconsin reacts because
06:08they haven't ever had to react like that for a month.
06:11You know, they literally have been destroying everyone they've been playing.
06:15They destroyed Purdue.
06:17They destroyed Rutgers in Piscataway.
06:20I remember I was here in town that weekend and I was like watching that game and I'm
06:25like, oh my God, what they're doing to Shiano's team is unbelievable.
06:29I said, I think Fickles turned them around.
06:31Sure enough, they go to Chicago, destroy Northwestern, and now they're staring down
06:37the barrel of Franklin's Nittany Lions.
06:41Has the coach ever had a better Penn State team than this one?
06:47To this point?
06:48No.
06:49You know, he's had some pretty good ones.
06:5016 was really good.
06:51That one, the big 10 title 17, I thought was excellent, but this one's really well balanced
06:56and it's well balanced and innovative because of how they're able to utilize the tight end
07:01Tyler Warren.
07:02Warren, you know, can throw the ball.
07:04The Warren can run with the football.
07:06Obviously, Warren can catch the ball and as you saw against USC, he can snap it as well.
07:11So because of his versatility, Scotty, he can do everything and that's what's so great
07:16about having a piece like that, that goes with other parts that are standard parts and
07:22then you have a guy like this who can change the dynamics.
07:25So Aller, when he was a kid, you know, in high school, I thought he was the best high
07:30school quarterback in the country.
07:33And then when he went to Penn State, I don't know.
07:36That's not the kid that I watched play high school football.
07:39I didn't think he was that good at Penn State.
07:42How much better has he gotten from the point when he came there and he struggled, obviously,
07:48to where he is today?
07:50Well, think about our respective professions, like where are you and I now compared to where
07:56we were when we began?
07:57We were both great from the beginning, you and I.
08:00You know what?
08:01That's a really good point.
08:02So let's use some other examples out there besides the two of us and say somebody else
08:08in the profession that maybe early on would try to find themselves and then when they
08:12got to the second year, suddenly they became really good.
08:16Now out of the gate, you and I were secretariat.
08:18I got it.
08:22But that's where he is.
08:23He's a second year starter now.
08:24So everything that was new to him last year, the paces of defenses, how they played, he
08:30now is playing at a slower pace now mentally because he saw it all last year.
08:36And I think that makes a big difference for him.
08:39But you are right.
08:40You and I did get out of the game fast.
08:42We really did.
08:43We were top shelf status from the jump.
08:45This is what I got to say to you.
08:46Here's my plan for the Ohio State game at Happy Valley.
08:51So after the game in in Madtown, when they come home, I recommend that no food should
08:57be given to the team all week.
08:59They should feed them coal and just, you know, give them coal for dinner.
09:03And then by Saturday, they'll be so hungry, they'll take the Ohio State Buckeyes and ring
09:09them out.
09:10Jonesy, good luck against the Badgers.
09:13I'll pass it along.
09:14Scotty.
09:15Thanks, buddy.