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Special teams not so special

UNIVERSITY PARK — There was a lot to like in Penn State’s season-opening 38-15 victory over West Virginia on Saturday evening. For one, there was the debut of Drew Allar as a starter, and the defense getting better as the game went on. But there were also the down sides, and look no further than the kicking game as problem No. 1 that the Nittany Lions will need to solve in a hurry. In a job that held a lot of question marks over the preseason between Sander Sahaydak and Columbia transfer Alex Felkins, Sahaydak missed two field goals within a span of two minutes late in the ...

Allar leads Nittany Lions over West Virginia, 38-15

UNIVERSITY PARK – It wasn’t a work of art, but Penn State did enough to control West Virginia, winning the season opener 38-15, Saturday night before 110,747 at Beaver Stadium. Sophomore quarterback Drew Allar was the catalyst, completing 21 of 29 for 325 and three touchdowns. He was not ...

‘Decision-making’ process has elevated Allar

Following are the highlights of James Franklin’s Tuesday press conference: Saturday’s game: vs. WVU, 7:30 p.m., NBC) Odds: Penn State is a 20.5-point favorite. Records: Season opener for both teams. Last year: Penn State finished 11-2 and ranked No. 7 by the Associated Press. West Virginia went 5-7 but won two of its last three, beating Oklahoma and winning its season finale at Oklahoma State. Rankings: Penn State is ranked No. 7 by AP. Main storyline: Franklin knows his starting quarterback (Drew Allar) but is not confirming it publicly because “I don’t necessarily see ...

Nittany Lions should have answers to 2023 season’s questions

Ever wonder how many questions a college football coach answers during the season? In James Franklin’s case, there’s the Tuesday press conference, the Wednesday Quarterback Club and the Wednesday night condensed media scrum. Plus post-game. That’s roughly 40 questions per week — starting with this weekend’s Media Day on Sunday at Beaver Stadium. We’ll limit this exercise to just 10 questions. 1. Is this the year the Nittany Lions crash the CFP playoff? Don’t look now, but this marks Franklin’s 10th year as Penn State’s coach. Of the previous nine, he’s won 11 ...

Franklin makes the right call on QB battle

UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State coach James Franklin wants to make the first quarterback battle his team has had in four years a competition until the season opener. While it’s understandable and maybe even honorable to keep it open, Drew Allar was the favorite to win the job over Beau ...

Franklin splits up Blue, White evenly

UNIVERSITY PARK — One question that may have popped in a lot of minds on Saturday is how Penn State football is divided for the Blue-White Game. From a distance, it may look like the first two players at every position on the depth chart go against everybody else, but it isn’t quite that simple. PSU coach James Franklin said that’s how he used to do it in the past, but it wasn’t the case this season. He tried to make the two teams as evenly matched as possible. Franklin noted at running back the Blue team had both starters in Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, but there are ...