There’s a fine line between winning and losing, but there’s a wide gap on how outcomes affect certain teams. Especially teams with big dreams. Penn State’s 27-17 victory Saturday at Michigan in an empty Big House sent a much-needed infusion of positivity through the Nittany Lions, who ...
Since Penn State has never been 0-5, there’s no reference point in how the Nittany Lions handled that adversity. The closest stretch of futility was the early 2000s when the Lions managed four losing seasons in five years. Joe Paterno wanted a chance to bring the program back and kept ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — If you can’t make a yard, you don’t deserve to win. That old football axiom was on full display Saturday as Penn State’s 41-21 loss to Iowa was unfolding. With the Nittany Lions down 10-7 in the second quarter, they faced third-and-1 at their 49. Did they go ...
To answer this week’s question: Absolutely. Much as coaches want to treat players the same, regardless of position, it just doesn’t, and can’t, work that way. Quarterback is the most important position on the team — one of the most important positions in all of sports. Coaches ...
When the book is someday written on “Inventing New Ways to Lose,” presuming he look back and laugh about it, say 20-plus years from now, James Franklin could provide a chapter on Penn State’s 2020 visit to Nebraska. When, for the second straight week, the Nittany Lion offense gave up a ...
In starting out 0-3, Penn State has already lost what it thought was a chance to be in the Big Ten East title race, if not in the running for the College Football Playoff. Beginning today, we’ll find out if James Franklin has lost more than just three games. We’ll find out if he has ...
This is truly a coin flip, which is almost what we did. Cory had first pick this week and picked the defense. I’m sure we both can take either side of the ball since each has been mightily disappointing. But as unprepared as the pass defense has been, I’m comfortable saying the offense ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — On Halloween night, in an eerie backdrop under a full moon, with only family and staff dotting cavernous Beaver Stadium, Ohio State was anything but spooked. In fact, the only people scared are the legion of Nittany Nation fans suddenly dealing with an 0-2 start following ...
Coming up Saturday: Ohio State (1-0) at Penn State (0-1) Time: 7 p.m. TV: ABC Latest line: Nittany Lions are 11.5 underdogs. If there’s one thing that last week’s loss at Indiana accomplished, it quickly took the shine off tonight’s matchup with Ohio State and the pressure that ...
Since everything has been said during this virus-extended offseason about the latest opener in the modern era of Penn State football — the 1887 team (PSU’s first) opened Nov. 5 — my usual pre-game column will shift today. Besides, there was a bigger Penn State story this week with the ...
When the Altoona Mountain Lions opened their season last week by thrashing traditionally-respected Cumberland Valley, most figured the crosstown rivals from Hollidaysburg arrived at Mansion Park as underdogs Friday night. Well, as Lee Corso might say, “Not so fast, my friends.’’ If ...
Of the countless Division I athletes Blair County has produced over the years, Tim Lambour’s experience was perhaps the most unique when it came to racial relations. Lambour was a basketball standout at Bishop Guilfoyle, helping lead the 1970 Marauders to the Pennsylvania Catholic ...
This is supposed to be the most special time of the year. The calendar flips to September, summer vacation is in the rear-view mirror, the kids are back in school, the cooler fall air begins to replace the August heat. And you pack the car, hopefully with the Mirror Gameday in tow for a ...
Credit the PIAA for last week’s overwhelming decision – by 25-5 vote — to go against Gov. Wolf’s recommendation to keep high school sports on the sidelines until Jan. 1. The PIAA obviously values the high school sports experience and all that goes with it — the hard work, the ...
This is a big week for participants and followers of Pennsylvania high school sports. The PIAA met with representatives of Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday to counter the governor’s recommendation of postponing scholastic sports until Jan. 1 due to the coronavirus. When Wolf made his ...
Individually, nobody died from the Big Ten’s decision Tuesday to cancel its upcoming fall sports schedule, namely the football season, due to the coronavirus. Nonetheless, it sure feels like everyone involved with the game — players, coaches, support staff, fans and, yes, even the media ...
If the coronavirus hasn’t been depressing enough, Penn State fans got word via social media late Tuesday night that the Nittany Lions’ best player, linebacker Micah Parsons, is opting out, or bypassing, the season — should one actually be held. The information wasn’t ...
Suffering through the coronavirus pandemic has been the worst thing most of us have experienced in our lifetime. If you and your family are healthy and working, count yourselves fortunate. Even so, every aspect of life has been affected — closing of schools, adjustments at work, the awful ...
At 53 years old, Christian Appleman thought when he accepted the director of men’s tennis position at the University of Connecticut, it would be his last stop. After all, he had spent the better part of 30 years in college coaching, both basketball and tennis, dating back to his start as a ...
As the cloud of the coronavirus darkens the entire sports world with uncertainty, James Franklin is planning a major sacrifice. He confirmed earlier his week that he will coach the football season without his family in State College. In an interview with Bryant Gumbel of HBO Sports, ...