By Cory Giger cgiger@altoonamirror.com Five things to look for as Penn State plays at Rutgers in what has become by far the easiest win on the Big Ten schedule each year. No. 1: Cut to the chase Rutgers is awful. This should be an easy win. Just show up and play. No. 2: OK, real ...

There are several choices on offense — receiver/returner KJ Hamler, tight end Pat Freiermuth, kicker Jake Pinegar — and Cory likes offense. You may have heard that. I’ll take linebacker Micah Parsons, in part for the sake of this week’s topic and in bigger part because I think you can ...

It’s staggering how bad Penn State’s wide receivers have been this season. Except one. I shudder to think what the Nittany Lions’ offense would look like without KJ Hamler, a very impressive redshirt freshman. We all thought veterans Juwan Johnson and DeAndre Thompkins would be ...

By Cory Giger cgiger@altoonamirror.com It’s tough for a defensive tackle to compile gaudy statistics, simply because of the nature of the position, so it’s often difficult to analyze the overall performance of those big space eaters in the middle of the line. Our eyes are trained to ...

By Paddy Cotter For the Mirror UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State’s 76-61 win over Jacksonville State on Monday night revealed a new jem for the Lions. Rasir Bolton, a freshman as lanky as he is level-headed, proved that he could be the weapon this team needs. “It’s big time,” Lamar ...

Penn State has made it through the gauntlet part of the schedule, and with only Rutgers and Maryland remaining, a 9-3 regular season seems to be a safe bet. Which begs the question: Is a 9-3 season at Penn State considered a success? Yes. Absolutely. Without question. Silly to think ...

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State’s 2018 national championship banner was raised — the seventh time in the last eight years that’s happened — to the Rec Hall rafters by three-time NCAA champion Zain Retherford and athletic director Sandy Barbour on Sunday afternoon. And then the ...

Following is Neil Rudel’s report card from Penn State’s 22-10 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday at Beaver Stadium: POSITION GRADE COMMENT Quarterback C McSorley (19-25-160, one TD, no picks) did enough. Retuned after re-injuring knee, but ...

UNIVERSITY PARK — There were times the past couple of years, even when Penn State was lighting up scoreboards, that the Nittany Lions were accused of having a finesse offense. And defensively, it was OK for PSU to give up a lot of yards and points because everyone knew the offense would ...

UNIVERSITY PARK — As C.J. Thorpe, a defensive lineman from Pittsburgh, picked up a kickoff and started rumbling with it Saturday afternoon, Miles Sanders cheered on his good buddy. But Thorpe fumbled, denying himself a SportsCenter highlight, and when he got to the sideline, Sanders ...

UNIVERSITY PARK — Following are the highlights and lowlights from Penn State’s 22-10 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday at Beaver Stadium: Play of the game: On fourth-and-1 from the Penn State 36, leading 16-10, the Nittany Lions faked a punt with Johnathan Thomas running for the first ...

UNIVERSITY PARK — Robert Windsor had been ready for this game since the spring. A native of Fond Du Lac, Wis., the defensive lineman was waiting all year to play the Badgers, and it certainly reflected in his play on Saturday. Windsor racked up six total tackles on the day, with five ...

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State’s bowl picture has started to look a little bit clearer following Saturday’s 22-10 win over Wisconsin and some other outcomes around the nation. The Nittany Lions close at Rutgers and at home against Maryland, so a 9-3 record seems to be in the cards. If ...

FIRST QUARTER Wisconsin 7, Penn State 0: Jonathan Taylor busted through the middle, escaped a tackle attempt and went 71 yards to the end zone with 11:04 left in the first. Penn State 7, Wisconsin 7: The Lions answered on their next possession with a 75-yard TD drive, helped by a pass ...

Five things to look for as Penn State looks to bounce back from last week’s 42-7 drubbing at Michigan against a Wisconsin team that’s very capable of pulling off the upset. No. 1: To QB or not QB By all accounts, Trace McSorley is expected to start at quarterback for Penn State. But ...

Through nine games this season, Penn State has raised more questions than it has answered, and time won’t allow some of those issues to be fully addressed until after the season. A quick check list: n A troubling offensive regression under first-year coordinator Ricky Rahne, which may ...

UNIVERSITY PARK — Even though an NIT championship banner was unraveled in the Bryce Jordan Center on Friday night, Penn State looked like it had a long way to go in figuring out its identity in its game against North Florida. However, the Lions’ talent level made that lack of clear ...

The Associated Press DETROIT — Wally Triplett, the trailblazing running back who was one of the first African-Americans drafted by an NFL team, has died. He was 92. The Detroit Lions and Penn State announced Triplett’s death Thursday. Triplett was the third African-American selected in ...

This is in no way an attempt to create any kind of quarterback controversy simply because it doesn’t exist and wouldn’t be fair because Trace McSorley is in a class by himself in Penn State history in terms of accomplishments, leadership and toughness. So when he’s healthy, the starting ...

By Cory Giger cgiger@altoonamirror.com Football is not the be all, end all in life, and James Franklin made it clear Tuesday afternoon that he wants to make sure his players have a well-rounded understanding of what’s going on in the world. Around that same time, 600 miles away, South ...