Hlas: It'll be Hawkeyes vs. world at Penn State

It will be a Nittany Lions' den, to say the very least.

“It'll be rocking,” Penn State linebacker Sean Lee said about the likely Sept. 26 atmosphere at Penn State's Beaver Stadium when Iowa is the guest.

“I know for a fact it's going to be real crazy,” Lions quarterback Darryl Clark said.

“Crazy,” said PSU defensive tackle Jared Odrick. “I mean nuts.”

At the Big Ten's Media Day here Tuesday, I asked the three Lions to describe what Beaver Stadium will be like for the Big Ten opener against Iowa. It's safe to say the Nittany Lions will have a home-field advantage. Or, rather, advantages. Such as:

An 8 p.m. (EDT) starting time to let the excitement build throughout Happy Valley. A revenge-thirsty Penn State team ever since it left its unbeaten season behind in Iowa last November. A crowd of about 110,000 that will be wearing white and seeing red.

“For our fans,” Odrick said, “it's definitely a marked game on their calendar. The place will be rocking.”

“Any time you have an 8 o'clock game, prime time, on TV,” Clark said, “the stage is set. You come to the ‘White House' and you add 110,000 crazy fans, it's going to be a very, very exciting game. I can't wait.”

The “whiteouts” aren't an every-game staple at Penn State. Fans have no dress code for the first three PSU games at home against Akron, Syracuse and Temple.

The white-on-top-of white is saved for special games. It isn't just the wearing of the white, it's fans waving white pom-poms to create a dizzying effect.

It's also the frequent playing of a techno song called “Kernkraft 400” by a German band called Zombie Station. That's blared after big Penn State plays. Students jump up and down in a frenzy, and everyone else crosses their fingers that the stadium won't collapse.

“The stands actually shook during the game,” said a friend of mine who attended the Michigan-Penn State night game in 2006. “It was the most electric atmosphere I have encountered. They take the whiteout to a new level. The windows in town were whited out.”

This is what has greeted Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Nebraska over the years in State College. And soon enough ... Iowa.

We know what's causing all this commotion. It's what happened in an equally electric Kinnick Stadium on a frigid November late afternoon in 2008.

Iowa 24, Penn State 23. The 9-0, third-ranked Nittanies fell to 9-1 and out of the national title picture. “Iowa” instantly became a four-letter word in the Allegheny Mountains.

Oh, how that day still haunts Clark, one of the Big Ten's best players.

With Penn State ahead 23-21 late in the fourth quarter, Clark overthrew wide receiver Derrick Williams on a 3rd-and-24. Hawkeye safety Tyler Sash intercepted the pass and returned it to the Iowa 29.

Iowa drove 58 yards, and Daniel Murray's 31-yard field goal with a second left gave the Hawkeyes their biggest home win in 23 years.

After the game, Clark was in tears, saying “I just keep having that recurring turnover in my head over and over, man. I just can't get it out of my head.”

Know that Clark, and Odrick and Lee, were extremely complimentary Tuesday when I asked them what they thought of the Hawkeyes. They used terms like “well-prepared,” “well-coached,” “really good,” and “very, very solid.”

But Clark still holds himself responsible for that defeat.

“Without that interception,” he said, “we either go down and kick a field goal to go up four points and force Iowa to score a touchdown to beat us, or we get a first down and we have a couple more downs to score a touchdown that would put the game out of reach.

“No one can tell me that play wasn't big, because that was a huge play.”

Clark, who had thrown just two picks among 222 passes last year before Sash's swipe, will be motivated. His teammates will be motivated. A whiteout about three times the size of State College's entire population will be motivated.

“To see that many people dressed in white, painted in white, screaming and yelling,” Odrick said, “it's just amazing to see and feel.”

Iowa has three wins at State College since 2000. If the Hawkeyes make it four in September, Penn State really will be a Zombie Station.