BTN.com staff, August 31, 2012

Friday night marked the annual Penn State Football Eve at Beaver Stadium, and for several reasons, this pep rally was different than all the ones before it. For the obvious reason, this was the first event without head coach Joe Paterno, who was fired late last year and died months later. On top of that, the Penn State fan base has really rallied around this team and coach Bill O'Brien in the wake of the NCAA sanctions that crippled it this offseason.

And, as expected, the traditional cheer of "We Are … Penn State" roared through the stadium on a night where Penn State officials estimated 21,000 fans in attendance. Expect a crazy atmosphere at Saturday afternoon's season opener.

[AP: Playing for purpose: Penn State opens with Ohio]

Track all the Week 1 Big Ten action on our BTN.com scoreboard. Also, throughout Saturday's game, we'll provide quarterly updates on our Penn State-Ohio page.