I know a few people have made this post after the Minnesota and Indiana road games, and I loved reading them despite not going to those games, so I decided to share my experience yesterday at Penn State. 

Getting in and out of State College: Central PA truly is an aesthetically beautiful place. The mountains (if you grew up out West you'd probably call them hills because they aren't THAT big) completely surround PSU and there are forests all around. Happy Valley itself is not that wooded (near the stadium feels kind of farmy), but still very pretty. Without a doubt, this is the most scenic locale of any Big Ten school/stadium. Approaching from the northwest, we took a scenic backroad route in through Black Moshannon State Park and it was absolutely stunning. Probably took us 15-20 minutes longer than the highways would've, but the slight detour was well worth it driving through deep woods and up and down switchbacks on the mountains (especially during a sunny morning! Would've been outstanding if the game was in October with fall colors). Yes, getting out is a nightmare. Never seen so many fans post-game tailgate anywhere(especially after a loss). However, once we got to I-99 there was no traffic on the highway. Generally, the drive from Ann Arbor really is not that terrible (around 6 hours) and there are plenty of cheap places to stay "Clearfield, Clarion, DuBois" on the way to PSU that won't make you have to pay for a State College hotel (we stayed in DuBois; lots of Michigan fans at the Best Western there). 

The town/campus: I walked through most of the campus and also the college town area where most of the bars and eateries are. I wasn't very impressed with this part, especially the latter. The campus itself is very spread out. A few pretty areas, but everything kind of looks similar (brown brick). I love the diversity of architecture on U of M's campus and PSU definitely does not have that; very similar feel campus wise to Michigan State. The town area was decent, but nothing special; State College definitely doesn't come close to Ann Arbor in terms of a small town cosmopolitan feel. 

Tailgating: Penn State is a fantastic place to tailgate if you enjoy the classic "out of the trunk of your car" setup. Lots are plentiful on all sides of the stadium. Even the students tailgate in parking lots, which definitely does not happen at Michigan. Nothing was too rowdy when we were there, but it was a November noon game they were expected to lose, so not exactly indicative of all games. 

The stadium: Ugly (from the outside, anyways; and from inside the concourse). Built like an erector set and the stadium concourse is literally just a massive grid of exposed steel beams. Looks like it's under construction even though it's not. However, once in your seats, it is a very impressive venue. Looks great and the White Out really is an amazing college football atmosphere. Definitely can get loud. Louder than the Big House because of the structure, but not by as big of a margin as PSU fans would like to think. The We Are chant is the most impressive of their chants in my opinion. Penn State definitely uses much more piped in music than we do. I thought they used a little bit too much; however, their selection of it was great (they actually played current hits in addition to annoying Dad Rock that Michigan exclusively sticks to). At one point the whole crowd sang along to "Shut Up and Dance". The worst thing is that terrible lion roar they pipe in; it was cool the first few times but very over used. Also, they did have a few instances of blaring sirens when we were on Third Down, which seems a little too artificial to me. They also used fireworks, both before the game and after PSU touchdowns. Finally, I really hated the scoreboards. The layout of information was confusing, they didn't show any game scores from anywhere else on the board, and they are rectangular instead of squares which is weird. 

Michigan Fan Attendance: Michigan fan turnout was decent, although not overwhelming. The away section in the north endzone was full and there were some people scattered throughout the lower bowl. I actually sat next to three groups of Michigan people and I was not in the Michigan section (we were on the West Sideline). There were more Michigan fans there than it looked on TV (I have since rewatched the game) because a) a lot were in blue instead of maize and hard to notice on TV and b) the West Sideline (not the one shown on TV) definitely had more Michigan fans than the East Sideline (shown on TV). It seems as if most of the Michigan fans present were East Coast Wolverines from those I talked to. We had an amazing "Beat Ohio" chant going in the final few minutes, which I think they found amusing (Definitely think they hate OSU more than us). The away section also had a few "DE-FENSE" and "Let's Go Blue!" chants.

Treatment of Michigan Fans: This was the biggest surprise. I had heard a lot of things about how PSU fans are very hostile to visitors, but we were treated very well by the Penn State fans. Nearly everyone was pleasant. We chatted a bunch with those seated around us and, even though I was sitting in a non-visitors section, I felt completely comfortable cheering loudly for Michigan. Nobody ever said anything when we yelled. Walking around before the game, we did get a few "Michigan Sucks or Fuck Michigan", but it was few and far between. (They have this thing where they say "It's 10:02 AM (or any random time) and Michigan still sucks" which I found kind of funny. I wonder if this started in the Hoke years after the fake "resurgence" in 2011). Again, this could've been due to the noon game factor, or the fact that they aren't as good as us this year, but Penn State fans were very accomodating and I was impressed with their hospitality. 

Random Thoughts: PSU fans are not high on Franklin. There were multiple times that the stadium booed conservative playcalling. Reminded me a lot of last year in the Big House/Brady Hoke in general "he can recruit well but he can't coach!" God am I happy that we are past that. 

All in all, a fantastic road trip and victory in Happy Valley! I would recommend the voyage to any Michigan fan; iconic Big Ten stadium and atmosphere in a beautiful location that really isn't too far from Michigan or the big East Coast cities. 

GO BLUE, BEAT OHIO!