Penn State Scandal: Saturday's Game vs. Nebraska Helped Start the Healing

Since Tuesday, Penn State and the Jerry Sandusky/Joe Paterno scandal has dominated ESPN in addition to retaining huge amounts of converge from multiple news networks nationally. Honestly, I've seen enough of it.

There is only so much TV one man can watch about sex scandals before he starts to get a little depressed, and the whole deal about Joe Paterno being in the middle of it all just magnified that feeling a million times over. How do you grieve one of the most storied coaches in the history of the greatest sport on earth after what he's done?

The man recruited my father to play football for Penn State, which was back in the early 1970s, and according to my dad, JoePa was already nationally renown then. Now, almost 40 years later, Paterno was still coaching the Nittany Lions. It's hard to believe someone's career could last so long in such a lucrative sport.

We all saw State College and how crazy it got there over the week. There were riots. There were some arrests. There was (lots and lots of) drinking. Many people were appalled and shocked at how those students reacted to the news that Paterno was fired, but honestly, I wasn't all that surprised.

They were in shock. There is no other way to explain it. For them, like me, there hasn't been another head coach for Penn State since before our fathers were even born, and a sudden change in the head coach threw everyone in that small college town sideways. I don't blame them at all, because I wouldn't know how to react either.

However, as the nation looked upon this past Saturday and saw the news of JoePa being fired finally beginning to settle among the students like a new kind of air to breathe, we also began to see some healing.

That healing didn't come packaged nicely in a win, though. It came as a loss.

The Cornhuskers dominated the Nittany Lions for what seemed like most of the game, holding a 17-point lead late. Penn State, led by quarterback Matt McGloin and the offense, surged back to score two touchdowns and put the game within reach of victory.

They fell short, though, unable to pull out a win where one was seemingly needed so badly. The 17-14 loss to Nebraska, however, may be better for Penn State than a win would have ever been.

I hate to use this analogy, but Joe Paterno is like a drug. Penn State has been addicted to him for over 40 years, and finally something big enough happened where the Nittany Lions had to reevaluate their lives and decide that they don't need him anymore. 

Letting go, as we have all seen in those Lifetime movies, is one of the most difficult things to do. You feel lost, turned upside down, and angry. Nothing seems to be working correctly without that constant. 

Then, out of the darkness that surrounds you, there is that glimmer of hope. That short breath of fresh air when you realize that you don't need the drugs anymore. Everything is going to be all right.

For Penn State, that moment came when their team surged back late in the game. Their heavy hearts rose as they all realized that Joe Paterno wasn't a necessary part of the formula for Nittany Lion success on the gridiron. You can't buy that kind of hope. 

Now, even though they lost, you're not hearing much out of State College. You would expect some crazy rioting or some burnings of old furniture or something to commemorate their desire to get JoePa back, but not a sound. Everyone has realized he's gone for good and that, not only will he not being coming back, they don't need him anymore.

Penn State won't ever be the same without Joe Paterno heading the football program, but you could say the same of many universities over the years. Coaches come and go, but it's the schools that stay there for generations.

The students at State College are starting to see that it wasn't Paterno all these years that was winning these games; it was Penn State. And as long as they remain loyal to her, they will have truly won.

May the healing begin.