I had a completely different experience.
I am not a Penn State fan; far from it really. But in 2008 I went to a game there with a friend and tailgated in the parking area adjacent to the football field. Being a Southerner, I expect the fans there to be cold and calloused "Nothererners," but instead found them to be very friendly and welcoming. The stadium of 110,000 was really loud (game was against Illinois), and the crowd truly got into it. When they say "We are Penn State," hearing it on TV is no comparison to how loud it is in person. I'd go back to a game there.
Granted, I've never been to a college football atmosphere like the one at Texas A&M, which is incredible, but it wasn't anything like you described.
I'm sure it depends upon who they're playing, how the game's going, the weather, whatnot.
If it's on television, and if you get a chance, watch at least a little bit of the Nebraska-Penn State game this weekend. I can pretty much guarantee you'll see Penn State "fans" at their best--or rather, their worst. Something about Nebraska has always gotten their goat.
It was no surprise to me earlier today to read that the University of Nebraska Board of Regents are asking law-enforcement to take special measures to protect the Nebraska team and fans this weekend.
I don't believe such a request was ever necessary in all the history of Nebraska football, although Colorado came close, circa the mid-1980s up until recently. Even our most highly-charged games against Missouri never came to this.
And there's the personal experience, too. I have 18 cousins near or at my own age, cousins I've known and hung around with since childhood, cousins I spent holidays with, all of them graduates of Penn State. I'm the only one from a college not Penn State. And I happen to be.....
They're my cousins, and I love them dearly, but they're always sore. Win or lose, they're always sore.