I’m so ready for college football after a summer of Penn State misery. But before we move on, I want to take this opportunity to pile on Penn State.
First off, let the record show that OU and Penn State have had a strange history with each other.
In 1972, they played in the Sugar Bowl. OU won 14-0. Not long after, OU ran afoul of the NCAA and was put on probation and forfeited the game.
In 1986, they played in the Orange Bowl. OU won 25-10. Not long after, OU ran afoul of the NCAA and endured sanctions.
In between those two games, kindly little JoePa was quoted that he wouldn’t retire or join the NFL and leave college football to the Barry Switzers and Jackie Sherrills of the world. JoePa later apologized to Barry, but from an OU perspective, it was hard to argue, considering the NCAA troubles.
I could say something about OU getting the last laugh and really pile on at this point, but I’m going to resist.
I covered a lot of college football as a sports writer, but my only exposure to Penn State was the 1986 game. I’d always regarded the Nittany Lions as the plain-vanilla East Coast football team that got fat off the likes the Temple, Hofstra and Julliard.
I still remember practices leading up to that game. JoePa, who would squint through his Coke-bottle glasses, fretted about OU’s talent in his Brooklyn accent. The Penn State players were accommodating but somewhat condescending to the sports writers, especially those who approached them with a question in a Southern-fried accent.
For good reason, this particular game was a JoePa Good Guys in White vs. Bootlegger Bad Guys matchup.
The Bad Guys won. Or were they really Bad Guys?
For some validation on this, I turned to Dante Jones, an OU linebacker from Dallas who played in the 1986 game:
On Penn State in general: “It was like it was some type of cult-like atmosphere at Penn State — they were not normal. I don’t think I have met or hung out with a Penn State player when I was [with the Chicago Bears] in the NFL.”
On Jerry Sandusky: “Sandusky told Brian [Bosworth] he couldn’t play linebacker for Penn State. He wasn’t his type of player. We almost got into a fight with them during an Orange Bowl function. We were on a cruise ship. And that was when Sandusky said that to Brian. And it was Sandusky who was the instigator. I guess he was trying to get his guys fired up. Or intimdate us.”
On playing dirty: Former OU teammate Darrell Reed recently texted Jones and asked which team was the dirtiest they’d played. “He had a bet with someone … and I said Penn State. He won the bet. They were dirtier than even Miami.”
So, there you have it. Further proof that the Nittany Lions weren’t the angels we believed them to be.
I'VE SEEN THINGS 
It might be easy to pile on the Julliard football squad, but you have to admit that they do lead the nation in grace and finesse.
I didn’t hear any proof. Just two guys opinions. Sorry guys . . . I have an opinion of my own. I think I’ll stick with that.
I agree with you Corine
Sounds like an OU fan that can finally shed itself of the football shame He’s lived thru,but I agree with you Corine and would add Misery always likes company even if it means dragging a non football issue into it
Reading this garbage has taken 2 minutes of my life that I will never get back.
Unlike all the time you have wasted watching the last 14 years of PSU football. Anyone who has ever been to the valley of denial knows how cult like and insular it is. Creepy really. And how insufferable the graduates are, unbearable to the last. And nothing has changed. The great thing about this is it will just drag on and on and on. And the sheep will keep bleating and the rest of the country will look on in awe and disbelief. What sort of party to you have planned for the first win in over a decade? We are “victims”. Sad, but not surprising. Not in the least. Don’t ever change. Oh, right, none of you can.
What a biased article. Embarrassing actually. NCAA FBS football is a cult. Every successful or semi successful team in the country has a cult following. Kinda like how a guy who hasn’t played college football in 26 years is still flaunting bragging rights about his Alma Mater.
Oklahoma backers calling PSUer’s “cult” like….HAHA. Gotta be one of the more hypocritical things I have heard in a long time. That’s rich, keep the entertaining comments coming!
The majority of OU Graduates who work for our company have class, I guess their are some exceptions, as there are at all major Universities. But being on probation at OU is a right of passage, sorry we are not very comfortable with it.
Who is Dante Jones? At first I thought you were talking about Dhani Jones – and that would have hurt. He plays cool sports on tv.
Obviously, Bosworth wasn’t the Seahawks type of player. He couldn’t play for them either.
What a crock of bull……. Go to ANY player and they will tell you certain things about ANY team….. Your article is pathetic….but I am ok with your freedom of speech. How about the “cult” culture at EVERY big school….Alabama, Notre Dame, USC…..Oklahoma…. It is everywhere. Moving on…….
All of the comments were more interesting reads than this article. I want to call the principle of the middle school that allowed their 6th grader to write this article.
I’m thinking that this linebacker who no one outside of Oklahoma ever heard of, and probably you as well, need to get over everything that happened in 1986. Go ahead and pile on PSU. With only the ability to read headlines and draw conclusions without facts it seems like a fun thing to do. Oklahoma, much like Nebraska, Ohio State, USC, Alabama, etc., is such a bastion of virtue, after all. Now stop smirking. Human imperfection is everywhere, even at Notre Dame. Will I go to hell for saying that? Seriously, PSU is a fabulous educational institution just like OU. Bad people are there, just like OU. Sandusky is about as bad as it gets. The facts have yet to be fully determined about the others involved here but the truth will come out and the chips will fall appropriately. Don’t judge 40000 students, 15000 staff, and a greater community based on this. You didn’t appreciate it when it happened to you before and it will happen again. There is too much money at stake and the NCAA has a very large mouth from which they do an amazing job of speaking from both sides. Have fun but don’t take your job as a journalist too seriously. We readers don’t.
Proof? Opinion, just like the Freeh report? Are Penn State players any different than players from other schools? No, I don’t think so. Singling Penn State out again for more bashing is what happens when a “Sports Writer” has no idea what to write or the meaning of the word “Journalism”
YOU ARE A MOROON, CAN’T WASTE ANYMORE TIME. ITELLECT OF A SNAIL OR PERHAPS EVEN JONES OR BOSWORTH.
Wow, can’t believe I just wasted 3 minutes of my life I will never get back. BTW, who the hell is Dante Jones? This clown is just trying to make a name for himself by cutting on PSU. All major college football teams have the same cult-like following and atmosphere. The culture has been set by the NCAA ($$$$$$$$$$$). They’re all about the $$$. They make millions on these kids, but that’s ok.
I like waffles.
I like pancakes.
This is possibly the worst article that’s ever been written in the history of “journalism.” Zero points were made, and this opinion from one player that no ones ever heard of garbage really needs to end. You aren’t going to become a successful writer by throwing up these random pathetic articles. Decades of success without cheating, success in the classroom, success with honor doesn’t go away because some hack like you and your loser friends from the money hungry media say so. One criminal tricking an entire community doesn’t change anything. He’s a horrible person, but that doesn’t mean everyone at the school was like that. Grow up, get informed.
I think it’s more a case where Penn State players don’t get along well with substance abusers. That crap is “everywhere”, of course… but JoePa was pretty quick to give those guys the boot.
Move along. All we have here is a resentful apologist for substance abuse.
What an important piece of journalism this is. Thank you so much for sharing. I’d always wondered what Dante Jones thought about Penn State.
Well good for you…now explain who is Dante Jones?…Surely not someone suited for Journalism,probably not football either….Never heard of Him
What a pathetic story. So basically a clearly biased reporter with an axe to grind over comments made by Coach Paterno 25 + years ago, and a player who had less than zero interaction with the PSU other than playing against them 1 time can brand PSU a cult. Got it.
Maybe the reason Joe made those comments were because the were true?
Maybe the reason Sandusky got into it with Bosworth was because he was an arrogant, abrasive, roided out of his mind lunatic. His illustrious NFL Career proved he couldn’t actually play worth a damn after he was off the juice?
Maybe the reason Dante Jones didn’t have any friendships with PSU Players in the NFL was because he conducted himself like a d-bag much like he does in his comments above?
It gets tiring having the PSU Football team and its great alumni/fan base being constantly scourged for something they had nothing to do with. Penn St. has a great tradition, and because
of that tradition they have a passionate following. No different than any other place like Bama, OSU, ND, UT, UM, USC , and oh yes OU.
First, I am a PSU grad, ’82. As a member of the Blue Band, I went to games at West Virginia, Ohio State, Pitt, and bowl games vs Alabama and Ohio State. All those schools, not surprisingly have dedicated, loyal, and to a certain extent, “rabid” fans, as they should. That is what makes college football so great. I also lived in western Oklahoma in 1982-83, during the height of the Barry Switzer years. Out there, life stopped on Saturdays for Sooner football. It’s everywhere. Barry hawking Sooner Schooner musical toys on TV. How is that not a cult if you are measuring Penn State by the same standards? I’m not even going to get into the very poor quality of this column. As another commenter said, this is 6th grade “journalism” at best. Does Dante Jones not think that Big 8 football in the 70s-90’s was not cultish? Ridiculous, self serving, extremely poor column.
There are always differing opinions in the posts people, with the exception of this one ridiculous article. Pretty clear you have no intention of writing anything substantial to readers, and those who have common sense who have read this garbage and have already posted know it. Please do us all a favor and write something beneficial and factual, instead of a completely opinion based article laced with revenge. I’ve never commented on an article before: always thought it was a waste of time and breath. However, this was so horrible I couldn’t help but say something. So I guess a congratulations is in order beacuse accomplished something on that level.
So a linebacker few people have ever heard of played one game against Penn State in 1986 and is now a subject matter expert on the Penn State culture? Good grief. This might be the silliest blog post ever.
“because *you* accomplished something on that level”…For all of you that like to correct peoples grammar because it gives you a higher sense of self and purpose.
Go ahead and dump on Penn State, all you so called media intellectuals. Remember stick and stones? We are not backing down to anyone! This team has more heart and soul than any team I’ve ever seen! Our personnel may be short handed in numbers, but, we make up for it with heart! Penn State is not going away and will come back even stronger from this! You people wish you had a fan base and program like this! All eyes will be on
Us, and, we will show the world what we are made of. Get over you’re hate. You will never understand our bond. Remember charlie mike fellas!
PSU is one of the only programs I know of where another school can win the game and yet fans of the school that won can still be upset about things decades later. To the commenters so upset they felt the need to put the word “journalism” (provided they spelled it correctly) in quotes, though: This is a blog post. Blogs… (wait for it)… are different… from newspaper articles. Blogs can be opinionated crap. That’s kind of what most of them, sponsored or no, are. Calm down. Seriously, though, Boomer Sooner, y’all won that game by, like, seventy-bajillion points. Why carry a grudge? I had a grudge against U of M until PSU finally beat them a few years ago. Want to pile on PSU? Just remind us all of the score from that Orange Bowl. We Penn Staters love to talk about the miracle Fiesta Bowl win against the camo-clad villains from the U. No one mentions the annihilation at the hands of OU one year earlier, because it was an embarrassingly lopsided evisceration.
Dante Jones is “human-like” but not quite. Oklahoma CHEATED twice and was busted twice. Get over it cheaters. A liar and a criminal hiding at Penn State had nothing to do with how they played on the field, but OSUs cheating did.
Wow you really cover college football games. If your game articles are as bad as this article it’s a wonder you still have a job. The horse died in January stop beating it move on get a life find another profession. As far as Dante Jones who gives a rats a$$ what he thinks about PSU or their players.
Man, these Penn State fans are touchy. Whoops, bad choice of words.
PennSux (really classy by the way):
Im tired of the double standard here. Why is okay for you and others to make insulting, tastless comments that don’t help provide healing and help for all of the victums of Sandusky. Meanwhile, anytime a PSU fan tries to defend the POSITIVE things Paterno and Penn State University have done for the past 50 years, you are the first to berated and label us as enablers, cult-like, ignorant, and nonsympathetic to the victums. Those who at guilty at PSU deserve to be punished severly and have their reputation and names drug through the mud, but the fans, student athletes, professors, staff and student body (the other 99.9999999%) doesnt deserve that treatment. Your comment that making fun of this situation at others expense for a laugh are almost as dispicable as Sandusky’s actions, which says a lot about both your character and Sandusky’s. As a matter of fact, I’d suggest that you too should meet up and tell some more jokes about molesting children since you both seem to have that in common. You know exactly where you can find him.
Nice!
Yes, let’s look at the differences between Oklahoma and Penn State. Oklahoma’s graduation rate for it’s football players – 44%, graduation rate for Penn State football players – 84%. Let’s get away from the easy hits against Penn State and remember that there is much more to the institution and traditions than Jerry Sandusky. This article is just going for the easy low hanging fruit. Let’s see a real and honest analysis. I doubt we’ll see one for years, this type of article is just too simple and easy.
Oklahoma looked really classy while the football team was in an all out brawl with Miami because they were getting the shit beat out of them so don’t talk about having a lack of class.
AWESOME!!!!
That’s right Mike,and it speaks to the mentality of this wanna be……
I guess real journalists shouldn’t leave writing to the likes of idiots like you and the loser do nothing when it mattered football players you mentioned. Compared to you a rock has a higher IQ.
The rock is also more talented related to journalism.
Who is the bigger fool – the man who makes foolish comments or man who is foolish enough to print them in a newspaper?
Weird blogpost. Some things to put into perspective. PSU football graduates 87%, 2nd in the Big 10, Oklahoma 48%, last in the Big 12. Contextualize this with the fact that PSU is ranked 49th in the world, while OU ranks between 301-400. Sandusky is a creepy criminal and may spend the rest of his life in prison. If it’s true there’s been a cover up, those who participated also might well see prison time. This says nothing of the players who came through the program. OU is clearly a football factory, and perhaps former players carry some resentment in regard to their relationship to those who have graduated from what at least appears on paper as a superior institute. OU has failed its players miserably, and at the very least scholarships should be taken away from the program and bowl bans put in place until they right that ship.
And because Donte Jones, who couldn’t read a sentence, said PSU was dirty – you take his word for it. Go to Univ of Georgia, U of Fla even Alabama and I guarantee it’s just like or more than what it was like at PSU back in 86…
Funny, I have heard football is a religion in states like Texas and Oklahoma. Seems like the word “cult” could easily be substituted for college football in Texas and Oklahoma.
Tommy cummings? Dante Jones? Who are these idiots? Tommy, I think this should be the last thing you ever write. The journalism world will be better off without you. Maybe you can sling a mop in the OU maintenance department…if you’re lucky. Maybe Dante Jones can get a job for you there.
PSU fans are a little sensitive aren’t we. Why don’t you stop all the the whining and try and practice a bit of humility as your school is right in the middle of the biggest college sports scandal in American history. And btw…it’s not going to get better anytime soon.
You’re right, it won’t get better anytime soon. Not when people can make themselves feel better about themselves and their institutions by continually denigrating a world class university, for actions of a few. Penn State has over 600,000 alumnae along with 90,000 students and staff at all of it’s campuses currently. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is the #1 pick of fortune 500 recruiters, in the country. I’ll bet a place like Oklahoma would kill for that kind of distinction. They never have to worry about it, because it will never happen. Let’s keep things in perspective .
Hey, Isee, you wrote a lousy blog. As I said earlier, those guilty for their crimes at PSU will pay–that’s a good thing. Oklahoma has a systemic problem that you seem to ignore in all of this. The sexual abuse, or any abuse at all of children is hideous. So is the abuse of young African American males who get the hell beat out of them for four years with nothing to show for it but scars. PSU has admitted its problem. What is Oklahoma doing about theirs? Now that would make an interesting piece. JMO
You are using the victims to get traffic to your site. That’s not right.
Really? That’s what passes for journalism? I know a lot of former Penn State players who wouldn’t give you a dime for OU too. Maybe I should write an article about that. I’m embarrassed for you.
If I were an Oklahoma fan I wouldn’t be talking too much trash on Penn State. OUs own players would rather have a “tarnished” PSU degree than an OU one. Just ask Justin Brown.
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-wr-brown-still-wants-penn-state-degree/article/feed/420081
A quick check on the internet revealed that Dante Jones’ only played with 1 PSU player during his entire NFL career – Matt Suhey from 1988-1989. In 1988, Suhey was in his 9th year in the NFL while Jones was a rookie. I’m truly shocked to find out that they didn’t hang out together!
Tommy Cummings is a bitter hack and Dante Jones is clearly suffering from dementia apparently brought on by years of ‘roid use!
Man, I thought Dante Jones liked us. As I recall, Paterno and PSU did not accept that fore fit where OU won 14-0, not sure what the official record says. Paterno said the guys in the red jerseys won the game, PERIOD!
What a classy individual Dante’ Jones is. Oklahoma should be very proud. What a complete bufoon.This drivel was Charles Barkley esque’. It reflects poorly on Mr. Jones, as well as OU.
What an unfounded piece of crap journalism….or lack there of. What a mistake to have stumbled onto this sorrowful article.
Utter nonsense…here’s the thing…you’ve obviously nurtured and fed a huge resentment towards Penn State and Joe Paterno for a ridiculously long time. “Piling on” is very easy…it’s what cowards do. I think people will actually be dumber for having read this.
These are some astonishing allegations. Dante Jones–THE Dante Jones!–never hung out with anyone from Penn State when he was on the Bears??? Has anyone contacted the NCAA about this? I mean, there’s a lot of talk about which whether this violates this NCAA bylaw or that NCAA bylaw, but it certainly goes against the very foundation of the values of amateur athletics.
Let me get this straight. You bring up the 1972 game that Penn State was forced to play without its Heisman winning back Cappelletti because of flu as a brag point. Remember that one of those ILLEGAL Freshmen that brought on the NCAA sanctions played a significant role in that win
Also remember that Paterno and PSU refused to accept the forfeit and that the record still shows OU as the victor
Pretty classy for an evil cult
I am really sorry Dante never experienced the love of a family. Most likely where his hate comes from!
Who are darrel reed or dante jones? At least I know now that Dante is a bad writer. That OU education really paid off for both of you. This is a joke article, right?
Hey guys there is enough respect to go around.Galen Hall PSU QB,coach, is part of the culture,65% of PSU $4.6 bil.budget is a result of the culture.Galen, OU offensive co-ordinator,enjoyed this experience at OU.
Having played at Penn State I’ll tell you we play clean hard nose football and shake your hand at the end acknowledging sportsmanship and respect in a combative game.
Well, if you Penn Staters didn’t like what was written here, you’re really going to dislike the stories written after the loss to mid-major Ohio.
Oh, yeah, there it is: proof positive!!! From a player(s) that took a pay cut when they went to the NFL. Graduation rates, anyone? LOL!!!!!