STATE COLLEGE, PA –  As Bill and Liz Armstrong’s Falcon 900 C circled the air above Beaver Stadium an hour before kickoff of the biggest sporting even in SMU history, a hush fell over the 14 passengers as the pilot made an announcement – the State College Regional Airport was full and the private jet was diverted. 

Their jet wasn’t alone. Over 20 private jets departed the Metroplex early in the morning bound for State College. Only a handful made it to their desired destination. Money can buy the Ponies into the ACC and back into the big leagues of college football, but that cash was useless thousands of feet in the air on a time crunch.  

The group, which included Pony Express members Craig James and Lance McIlhenny, as well as reigning U.S. Open champion golfer Bryson DeChambeau, flew 30 miles east to the home of the Little League World Series as the private bus rented for what was supposed to be a 15-minute drive to the stadium, raced the 60 miles to the new airport to pick up the crew and transport them to Beaver Stadium. 

The 14-pony party with the Armstrongs weren’t the only SMU fans let out to pasture by the backfill at the State College Regional Airport. At least three other planes with dozens of Mustang fans were crammed into the lobby of the Williamsport airport. The temperature when everyone left the Metroplex was approaching 50 degrees. The “feel like” temp when they touched down in Pennsylvania was 18. 

Penn State head coach James Franklin made at least one hundred unlikely allies on Saturday when multiple private jets arriving from Dallas were diverted from the State College Regional Airport to Williamsport – nearly two hours away with game-day traffic. 

Penn State was forced to leave a day early for a cross-country trip to play USC earlier in the 2024 season, prompting a press conference rant about the local airport’s inability to handle the large planes required for a flight to Los Angeles. “I think we have to discuss increasing the size of the runway here and the size of the airport for a lot of reasons,” he said in mid-October. 

The billionaires from Dallas agree. The fireball and conspiracies kept them warm. 

“They heard the billionaires were coming,” one stranded SMU fan said in the crowd. “They couldn’t handle all 3,500 of us there at one time. They knew where those planes were coming in from and are messing with us.” 

The 32-person party bus arrived for Team Armstrong within 20 minutes. The problem was that none of the other misplaced passengers had transportation ready. The game was only 30 minutes from kick and the stable of fans were 90 minutes away. So, the Pony faithful huddled into a van that transformed into a horse trailer. 

But there were no long faces. No anger. SMU was never supposed to be in this spot. Or in this game. Armstrong and James and McIlhenny watched their beloved program shutter in the 1980s only to reopen as a shell of itself through the 90s and the first 15-plus years of the new millennium. The Mustangs were sentenced to death 40 years ago. Ask anyone who has flirted with a near-death experience: Perspective is everything.  

“Little ol’ SMU is about to play in the playoffs,” McIlhenny said. “Let’s go win us a football game.” 

The crew drove through Jersey Shore, PA, as the teams ran out of the tunnel. They were in Avis by the time Penn State took a 7-0 lead off an interception return and closing in on Bellefonte when the Nittany Lions repeated the trick to take a 14-0 lead. Snow flurries blurred the windows, but no one was looking outside. Everyone was glued to their phones watching the Ponies try to punch above their weight class. 

Still, the party raged. 

“This is almost better than if we had gotten to the stadium on time,” James said. “I’ll remember this bus ride for the rest of my life.”

By the time the group unloaded the bus and made it into Beaver Stadium, the Ponies trailed 21-0. It was 28-0 at halftime. Turns out, the football team was also diverted away from Beaver Stadium. This time, by the Penn State football team. Quarterback Kevin Jennings threw three interceptions and threw an errant pass on the first drive of the game that could’ve resulted in a touchdown.  

The game was 38-3 by the time the Penn State faithful busted out in a rendition of “Sweet Caroline” with 12:56 left in the fourth quarter. The Nittany Lions were headed to the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix to play Boise State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. The mega boosters needed to get back on that bus and drive the 90 minutes to Williamsport before the 3-hour flight back to the Metroplex.

The trip on Saturday didn’t end how the Ponies wanted. But as they say, the journey means more than the destination. SMU won 11 games for the second straight season. The program is back in the national discussion. The Mustangs are becoming Dallas’ team. Maybe they were blown out in the playoffs, but the Cowboys won’t even make it. No one, not even the Ponies, could envision a playoff game at Penn State when the season started. 

SMU took a winding path back to college football relevance, just like its donors and legends took to the stadium. Losing is a bitter taste. One that is easier to wash down with champagne, and there will be plenty of that on the bus, and the private jet, back to the Hilltop.