Wolverine Devotee

August 20th, 2014 at 10:11 PM ^

Why the hell is PSU playing UCF in Ireland? 

Does anyone even care enough to go the UCF games in Orlando?

NittanyFan

August 20th, 2014 at 10:52 PM ^

It's a PSU "replacement bowl game" of sorts.  Some people think scheduling this game is "against the spirit of the NCAA sanctions", which fair enough, I won't get into that argument.  But it's definitely a unique experience for the team and those fans who are going (I'm going myself, estimates are that about 18K Penn State fans and 10K UCF fans will be there).

NittanyFan

August 20th, 2014 at 11:20 PM ^

that's the primary reason it's there versus, say, Barcelona or Nassau or Honolulu.  Someone in Ireland seems to think this game will make $$$ (we'll see about that).  Non-Notre Dame Dublin games are not entirely unprecedented: the Emerald Isle Classic was envisioned in 1988 as an annual NCAA Dublin game but it made it only two years (1988 was BC v Army; 1989 was Pittsburgh v Rutgers) before being discontinued. 

hailtothevictors08

August 21st, 2014 at 4:27 AM ^

An Irish buddy (like from Ireland not nd) of mine has told me that American football is fairly popular to some groups of people in Ireland who view it as sort of a way to be anti-English.

Also this volcano threat is very real. I have spent this month traveling around Europe and currently my plans are to fly home next Friday to watch the season opener against that team no one has ever heard of. I am a tad bit worried because the last home opener I missed was in 07 when we .... NOOOOO NOtT AGAIN

Simps

August 20th, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^

Well UCF does have the second largest undergrad student body in the nation, so there's that. I work for UCF and home games are well attended. Last year they did win a bcs bowl and had the 3rd pick in the first round of the nfl draft.

UM2k1

August 20th, 2014 at 10:27 PM ^

I remember a couple years ago, a volcano erupted in Iceland (mount alottaconsonantandvowelsrandpmlythrowntogether) And the ash caused huge air travel disruptions.

cheesheadwolverine

August 21st, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^

Yeah this is actually a commonish disruption to transatlantic air travel. Also Iceland's one shining moment of relevance.

Of course this could be avoided if the game was on campus instead of in a country where no one cares about American football because OMIGOD THINK OF ALL THE MONEY THERE IS TO BE MADE FROM EUROPE for the amature not focused on money NCAA.

XM - Mt 1822

August 20th, 2014 at 10:27 PM ^

you are all forgetting the volcano of april 2010 that diverted air travel all over the world for a few weeks.  i had to find a last minute revised route to africa because europe was basically closed to air traffic.

LSAClassOf2000

August 20th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^

NFL.com talks a little bit about this as well - HERE

"Iceland's Meteorological Office has detected more than 2000 earthquakes in the Bardarbunga area since Saturday. Scientists see earthquakes as an early warning that a volcano might erupt. When magma moves deep down, the pressure breaks rocks and the earth starts to shake."

There's a DeutscheWelles article linked in theirs if you want slightly more detailed observations on this particular volcano. They also talk about how this has not helped with the general stress of getting equipment to the gme and through customs, something I thought ws intriguing. From the sound of it, they've gotten the list down to even helmet screws, so definitely detailed. 

NittanyFan

August 20th, 2014 at 10:44 PM ^

would really be bizarre.  UCF at least has a bye week scheduled the next week.  Penn State does not.  Would Akron be able to argue for a forfeit victory because --- hey, the Zips made it to State College but somehow the HOME team wasn't able to make it there ?!?!?

unWavering

August 20th, 2014 at 10:38 PM ^

So a school from Pennsylvania is playing a school from Florida and the game, which is being played in Ireland, is in jeopardy because there is a volcano that might erupt in Iceland.

....

MAKarmanesq

August 20th, 2014 at 11:14 PM ^

To me, that's what happens when AMERICAN college football teams schedule gimmicky ass games like this in another country. Notre Dame playing there, I could see--but PSU and UCF?! Cumong, (Irish)man!



Hmmm, wonder when and where DB will carry on this ridiculous little trend?

falco_alba15

August 21st, 2014 at 12:41 AM ^

In case you forgot, there are volcanoes in the United States and if they erupt, games will probably be cancelled there too. We just scheduled Washington - want to take bets?

M-Dog

August 20th, 2014 at 11:19 PM ^

Looks like Europe will just say "what the hell" this time and let planes just fly through the ash:

 

"The Eyjafjallajokull eruption in April 2010 caused the largest closure of European airspace since World War Two, with losses estimated at between 1.5bn and 2.5bn euros (£1.3-2.2bn).

Criticism following the strictly enforced shutdown resulted in the UK's Civil Aviation Authority relaxing its rules to allow planes to fly in areas with a low density of volcanic ash."

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

snarling wolverine

August 21st, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^

Iceland's a crazy place.  Apparently they've had 3,000 (!) earthquakes there just in the last week, which is just a friendly wakeup call for the impending volcano eruption.  Good times.