Downtown Matchup: Downtown State College vs. Downtown Lincoln

Learn More About Downtown State College

The 19th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers (7-2, 3-2) roll into State College, Pennsylvania, after a disappointing loss to the unranked Northwestern Wildcats last week. Their opponent is the 12th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions (8-1, 5-0), the team with the best record in the conference and a team who’s only lost one game on the season to third ranked Alabama in week two. The Huskers have an uphill battle and must win at Penn State if they want any chance of reaching the first-ever Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.

Located in the heart of Pennsylvania (four hours northwest of Philadelphia and two and half hours northeast of Pittsburgh), State College is a town that’s similar in size and population to East Lansing, a downtown matchup we did a couple weeks ago. One could guess from its name that the city is a college town, but the city boasts much more than just the university. Some of the city’s most unique and amiable restaurants and bars are located downtown on College Avenue and Beaver Avenue. Known for its scenic foliage in the fall, the city has become a tourist hub for those looking to witness nature’s beautiful metamorphosis via train rides and nature walks. “Happy Valley,” as the city is colloquially known, was ranked the third safest metropolitan area last year by the CQ Press (Lincoln was 137th and Omaha was 208th).

And just what exactly is a Nittany Lion? The word “Nittany” is derived from the Native American word Nit-A-Nee, which means single mountain. The school’s mascot was adopted from Mount Nittany, a 600 foot mountain that overlooks the city that was home to roaming mountain lions until the late 19th century.

Husker fans looking for something to do tonight and before and after the game in State College can check out this calendar of events.

As we did the past few weeks with Fresno, Seattle, Laramie, Madison, Columbus, Minneapolis, East Lansing and Evanston we continue to look at the cities of our Husker competitors to see how Lincoln sizes up. Below is a comparison of the city of Lincoln and the city of State College and their respective downtowns.