The Penn State football team is 9-1 with a shot at a Bowl Championship Series bid along with a Big Ten title.

And because of the team's success, State College is abuzz with exuberance not felt since the last century. T-Shirts fly off the racks just like they do at the box sale. Chants of "We are..." fill the streets on any drunken night.

Football is big here at Penn State. That's actually an understatement. State College was a "drinking town with a football problem" since before we were all here. All of a sudden, it's a football town with a drinking problem.

The point is the football team is doing well this season, something that has been long awaited, over due and much needed. JoePa is once again the mayor of State College, and Paternoville was seemingly resurrected overnight.

It's funny though; the more things change, the more they stay the same. Penn State fans will leave games in their stupor regardless of a win or a loss. We didn't lose a game at home this year, and had the clock ticked two seconds more, we would be thinking roses.

But does anyone remember the last couple of seasons? Before Derrick and Justin joined the team, before Tony became a part of the family, and back when we argued about Zack vs. Michael.

All of a sudden, those seasons seem like a distant memory. Almost like it never happened. People would have been insane to start Zack Millsville, but all of a sudden its cool to camp out at Paternoville.

Does anyone remember Zack Mills throwing more interceptions than touchdowns? What about watching our offense anchored by now backup running back Austin Scott? How many of us really remember watching those games and still chanting "We Are...?"

We are all bandwagoners. At the end of the day we love Penn State when they stomp the competition on the way to a BCS bid, but we start talking about who should be the next head coach when Penn State loses to Iowa 6-4.

Those days of single-digit scoring games are in the past, but honestly how many of us really saw this coming? Sure there are the die-hard fans, who believed we would contend for the national championship trophy even with Zack Mills throwing the ball to Michael Robinson.

Then there are those of us who are more of fairweather, and dare I say it, bandwagon, fans. Be honest, I know some of you still have no idea why the offensive line holds hands. Oh my gosh, that is so cute. They hold hands. Why are they penalized for holding?

I bet there were just as many of you out there who didn't even bother to get season tickets this year. You thought, this would be just another year that our quarterback was so baffled, he would mistaken the opposing defense for our wide receiver. You are the same person who posts on message boards and bulletin boards with desperate pleas of "I need tickets ... will pay absurd amount." There are a lot of you out there who just thought you would buy them when you felt like going, or in the unlikely event they are good, you would panic.

It's hard for Penn State fans to appreciate the team in times of despair. When the head coach has a career record of 352 wins, we come to expect 10 win seasons just as we expect the leaves to turn. But winning doesn't come easy, as much as we've gotten used to it. And pride in the team shouldn't go hand in hand with great seasons.

Penn State pride isn't about white T-shirts, camping out the night before or even having tickets to the game. Penn State pride is following the team in times of despair, watching even when it's too ugly to watch.

We have frequent whiteouts and residents in Paternoville when things are going great. The true test is to keep the pride when things are not going so well. Hopefully next season, when many of our team leaders graduate, and things aren't so rosey, we will still have a Beaver Stadium campground, everyone will have tickets and whiteouts will be prevalent. We are Penn State, through the good times and the bad.