Video — THON 2010 Pep Rally Showcases Penn State Athletes

Penn State football player Mike Wallace made a guarantee Saturday afternoon.

“The football team is going to be doing a dance for the pep rally,” said Wallace, a freshman defensive back. “It is going to be monumental, historic, (and) it is going to be amazing.”

Only time will tell if the football team’s performance was historic, but on Saturday night the demonstration was enough to win the THON 2010 pep rally dance competition. The board game-themed ‘dance off,’ hosted by Penn State quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, placed Penn State athletic teams against one another.

The men’s swimming team, performing Carmen Sandiego, received a loud applause. However the men’s gymnastics team, with Dance Dance Revolution, and the football team ended up in a first place tie.

With the competition ending in a tie, the crowd began chanting for a ‘dance off.’ Originally, THON DJ Larry Moore was reluctant to allow it.

“If it were up to me, I would do a dance off,” said Paterno. “(But) we might be here till the money total.”

After some persuasion from the crowd, Moore cracked.

An excited Paterno responded to a roaring crow, “That is it, we’re going for the dance off.”

The football players went first and lined up to shuffle for the crowd. The swimmers followed this performance up with break dancing and back flips.

Once the dancers were done, Paterno ask the crowd to vote, but not without adding some personal persuasion.

“(The football team) promised me that if they win they will beat Alabama next year,” added Paterno.

Paterno’s argument would prove enough. With the crowd cheering, Moore raise his hands, paused and pointed towards the football team.