Sometimes marketing slogans wind up being just a bit too on the nose.
For the last few years, we’ve been told, if only by promotional materials, that Penn State was “unrivaled” but it was only during the 2023 season, perhaps, that this was actually true.
The Nittany Lions, you see, spent essentially the entire season playing only against themselves. In the 10 wins, including Friday’s ho-hum, 42-0 defeat of a tired-looking group of Michigan State Spartans in Detroit, they were almost always in command, thanks to an incredible defense and an overall talent advantage on offense that mitigated most of their discombobulation on that side of the ball. They were trying to win the game, but because those games were essentially in hand before they even started, they were really trying to reach a standard that they never quite found.
