ATLANTA — The greatest show in college football flies south for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The crowd at the Penn State Alumni Association pep rally was over 3,000 strong, rocking the World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.
The 56th Peach Bowl is a sellout at Mercedes Benz Stadium. The team and fans will be wearing the road whites, cheering on the Nittany Lions.
Atlanta brands itself as the Capital of college football, but they've never seen Happy Valley fans in town for a big game. Fans yelling, "We are .. Penn state! We are, Penn State. We are, Penn State. Thank you. You’re welcome,” rang through the streets.
"We have the best alumni association in the country. Our Penn State family is widespread across the world. It is an honor to be a part of that," said Jason Ingram, a Penn State fan.
"We've had a lot of fun. The pep rally was one of the first big things we've done since we got here, last night. We got to see some of the team, so that was super fun. Just being with all of the other Penn State fans is a great experience," said Olivia Ingram, another Penn State fan.
"We've been trying to get the kids to come to Penn State to (Beaver) stadium, probably for over the last two years. This time, everybody came to us, so we are super excited to be here. We have tickets for tomorrow. It's gonna be rocking and we are so excited," said Dante Spain, who lives in Atlanta but is also a Penn State fan.
Sports director Todd Sadowski asked, "Dante, this is SEC Country. How do you tell people you are going to get 3,000 for an alumni pep rally? You just have to kind of show them, don't you?
Dante answered, "Absolutely! I've told people over and over again, there's no school like Penn State. I'm finally able to show everyone we are the big school. We are the dominant school. The Big Ten is the number one conference, we are the number one school and we're ready to show the SEC what we're talking about."
It's a noon kickoff between 10th-ranked Penn State and 11th-ranked Ole Miss, Saturday in Atlanta.
The Rebels offense is one of the best in the country but we know the Nittany Lions defense is as good as advertised. A victory gives PSU bragging rights and with a win, they would become the first program in college football to win all of the New Year's six bowl games.