In any telling of the history of Penn State under Paterno, the 2008 season will likely get lost in the shuffle, but it holds its own unique place in history. The 2008 Penn State football team was the last group that Paterno ever took to a major bowl game.
This is part of a series of sports history articles aimed at preserving the best moments of the modern sports era, from 1976 to the present. The focus is team sports—college & pro basketball and football, major league baseball and hockey.
This article offers a snapshot of 2008 sports, a year that saw a big Final Four three-point shot and four traditional franchises win pro sports titles.
Let’s look back on how the sports year unfolded for these Pittsburgh-oriented fans in central Pennsylvania, going chronologically from the NHL playoff run of spring to the football success of fall and winter.