Penn State, best atmosphere... by default

Well, it wasn’t a runaway victory ala Wisconsin 2007, but Penn State's student section was deemed the best in college football by a panel of ESPN contributors. There was plenty of homerisms, like ESPN getting former Wisconsin receiver Chris Chambers to weigh in on the “nastiest” student section. He chose (gasp!) Wisconsin as No. 1 in that category. Or tabbing Tennessee’s resident god/dinosaur Johnny Majors to pick which had the “most spirited” co-eds... LSU. Ok, not so bad, but wait till you read why he chose the Tiger faithful. Talk about dating himself.

Overall it was a pretty cool article. Beano Cook pegged Penn State with the “best overall” student section/atmosphere in college football. Joining him was Kirk Herbstreit (a closet PSU fan, f.y.i.), who said Penn State was the “most fun” on game days. Lou Holtz alsho gave hish take on the shtory, handing out the “loudest” award. Then game Bill Curry, who had an interesting choice for “most creative” student section. This sounds more like my high school year book than a college football story, but hey, it’s fun.

How the ESPN crew voted:

Best Overall: (Beano Cook)
1. Penn State
2. Texas A&M
3. Oregon
4. Florida
5. Notre Dame

Loudest: (Lou Holtz)
1. Florida
2. Oregon
3. Tennessee
4. Penn State (he obviously hasn’t been to PSU recently)
5. Texas A&M

Most Fun: (Kirk Herbstreit)
1. Penn State
2. Notre Dame
3. Virginia Tech
4. Texas A&M
5. Texas

Nastiest: (Chris Chambers)
1. Wisconsin
2. Florida
3. LSU
4. Ohio State
5. Rutgers

Most Spirited: (Johnny Majors, who I think interpreted “spirited” differently than ESPN intended)
1. LSU “For the longest time, they popped champagne corks when the anthem got to ‘rockets’ red glare.’ That’s a party.” Even though they still pop corks, I guess the “champagne” distinction gives the crowd that “spirited edge by kickoff.
2. Wisconsin
3. West Virginia
4. NC State
5. Michigan State

Most Creative: (Bill Curry)
1. Notre Dame
2. Penn State
3. Alabama
4. Virginia Tech
5. Yale

So like I said, Penn State won this one by default, simply because no other school was named the best at more than one thing. I’ll take it anyway. Penn State was also nominated for four of the six categories, more than any other school in the story. Who wouldn’t want to go to Penn State?