Penn State Football became the talk of the internet, after sending a tweet bragging about the Nittany Lions‘ success this week that quickly became the brunt of jokes from fans, media, and even rivals.
“A Penn Stater has appeared in EVERY SUPER BOWL” the graphic boasted in gigantic white font, only to have “Except for five since 1967” in print finer than might be found on the warning label of a pack of cigarettes.
The program did itself no favors by including the text with the tweet “That’s a lot of Super Bowls.”
In reality, the stat that a Penn State Football alum has appeared in 50 of the 55 Super Bowls is a pretty incredible feat, and framing it as the original graphic did was an unforced error. The tweet only went viral, because of its ridiculousness.
By Friday, Penn State Football’s Twitter account sent out a graphic that was almost self-deprecating in nature.
Here are the two tweets:
No magnifying glass needed for this one... 😂 pic.twitter.com/vtp6zDIjEa
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) February 5, 2021
It didn’t take long for Twitter to do its thing, roasting the Nittany Lions for the original graphic:
Hold my solo cup. https://t.co/qSJM5XXMlg pic.twitter.com/PKGg6LyoSz
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) February 5, 2021
Once again, we’re making history pic.twitter.com/yZkfayzznt
— UMBC Athletics (@UMBCAthletics) February 5, 2021
https://twitter.com/holtz158/status/1357780607082901504
Shout out to @PennStateFball for providing a new graphics concept for the 2021 season! 😂 https://t.co/R6JHol6GsZ pic.twitter.com/2UjOitSJOa
— New Hampshire Fisher Cats (@FisherCats) February 5, 2021
While Penn State took some heat for the original graphic, the Nittany Lions will be well represented in Super Bowl LV, with Buccaneers’ wide receiver Chris Godwin, and offensive linemen Donovan Smith and A.Q. Shipley matching up against Kansas City Chiefs guard Stefen Wisniewski.
The Nittany Lions’ presence in Tampa Bay guarantees that at least one Penn Stater will add to the program’s collection of Super Bowl rings.