Breaking News

Lions, Irish ready to renew long-dormant rivalry game

By Brett Martel The Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 5 Penn State are coming off rather divergent College Football Playoff quarterfinal experiences as they prepare to clash as semifinalists in the Orange Bowl next Thursday. The Fighting Irish (13-1, CFP No. 7) ...

Final 4 teams are blue-blood programs

By Eric Olson The Associated Press The College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams to get some new blood. The final four are decidedly blueblood. The semifinals match Penn State vs. Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 and Texas vs. Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10. All four teams are among the eight programs with at least 900 all-time victories. By the NCAA’s count, Ohio State ranks second with 976 wins, Notre Dame and Texas are tied for fourth with 961 and Penn State is seventh with 943. The four teams have combined for 18 national titles since 1936, when the ...

CFP turns Final 4 upside down

By Eddie Pells The Associated Press In the first round of the College Football Playoff, the teams seeded 5-8 all won. In the second round, they all won again. The moral of this story: Who knows, other than something doesn’t totally add up when not a single one of the top four teams, all of which received the advantage of a first-round bye, advances into college football’s final four. The semifinals are set: Next Thursday in the Orange Bowl, it will be No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 7 Notre Dame. Then, Friday in the Cotton Bowl, it will be No. 5 Texas vs. No. 8 Ohio ...

Hoops Du Jour

Men: Stanford at Pitt SATURDAY Tipoff: 6:30 p.m., Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh Records: Stanford (9-4, 1-1 ACC); Pittsburgh (11-2, 2-0 ACC) TV: ESPN2 (Doug Sherman and Cory Alexander) Notable: Pitt is off to its best start since the 2016-17 season … In Wednesday’s win over Cal, Pitt was without two of its starting guards. Ishmael Leggett rolled an ankle in practice and missed his first game of the season, and Damian Dunn (thumb) has been out since Nov. 24 … Pitt, No. 13 in the NCAA NET rankings, has won 14 straight games at home … Pitt sophomore guard Jaland Lowe ...

Lions 9-0 at home after win

From Mirror, wire reports UNIVERSITY PARK — Zach Hicks scored 20 points to lead four in double figures and Penn State held off Northwestern for an 84-80 victory on Thursday night. Ace Baldwin Jr. scored 15 of his 17 points from the line and had seven assists and five steals for Penn State. Puff Johnson added 11 points and Freddie Dilione V scored 10. The Nittany Lions made half of their 44 field-goal attempts and shot 36 of 45 (80%) from the free-throw line. Northwestern’s Brooks Barnhizer scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his seventh consecutive double-double. He ...

Lion defenders were motivated to stop Jeanty

By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com GLENDALE, Ariz. — Penn State’s defense did not want to be part of Ashton Jeanty’s record-setting performance. Jeanty, Boise State’s outstanding tailback, finished with 104 yards on 30 carries in Tuesday night’s Fiesta Bowl, won by Penn ...