The 2005 football season was more than the restoration of Penn State’s on field winning ways. In a more personal way, it ushered in my current (some might say obsessive) fandom of the Nittany Lions—and no game epitomizes that more than the Orange Bowl.
I don’t remember the betting line for the game, but I do remember being quite disappointed in our ultimate opponent. The matchup was marketable—this was the eighth (and, of course, final) time that Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden would face each other on the field, but Florida State won the ACC with a paltry 8-3 record that year, while Penn State was 10-1 going into the game—and would have been undefeated were it not for a measly two seconds.