For the sake of today’s debate, I’ll take the defense, which was supposed to be the team strength and may still be, we’ll see. But some issues surfaced against Buffalo that signaled a red flag. Buffalo kept the ball for 90 plays and 42-plus minutes. That’s hard to believe. So if ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State faithful surpassed the 104,000 mark at Beaver Stadium for the second consecutive week so imagine if the opposition was a team that people actually wanted to see play. Instead, we’ve witnessed Idaho and Buffalo as season-opening appetizers. And you know ...
I understand the genie has been out of the bottle in college football for many years, and it won’t be put back in. TV is driving the bus, picking the matchups and the kickoff times, and too many games are at night. The television revenue has helped football staffs and athletic departments ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — OK, let’s not get too carried away with anything that happened Saturday at Beaver Stadium. Idaho just didn’t provide the kind of barometer for the Nittany Lions to gauge themselves. The final score was 79-7, and it wasn’t that close. But, when you’re breaking ...
Cory deferred the first choice this week so I picked the receiving corps. I think it’s the most intriguing spot after the position collectively failed last year, resulting in the dismissal of receivers coach David Corley. The Nittany Lions led the nation with 36 dropped passes in 2018 — ...
UNIVERSITY PARK – Two words are being embraced and emphasized in Penn State’s defensive meeting room: Finishers and closers. “Just having a finisher’s mentality — a mentality to close out teams when we’re up on them,” defensive coordinator Brent Pry said Saturday during PSU’s ...
LORETTO — You could not be in the Maurice Stokes Center on Friday night for the 2019 Saint Francis Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony without feeling the deep sense of pride that permeates the Red Flash community. While all of the inductees were certainly worthy, one was particularly ...
Central High School is expected to name Paul Frederick as its new boys basketball coach Monday night. Which means after 27 seasons and 452 victories — most in Blair County boys scholastic basketball history — the Reggie Nevins era is over. Nevins’ last three months as Central’s ...
The Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame has a unique process: It generally waits 25 years following an athlete’s career before enshrinement. Reasoning is simple: The mission is designed to be a career honor but also to extend the understanding and provide full appreciation of ...
Reggie Nevins was in Huntingdon and Bedford last weekend, and the first person he ran into in both towns immediately asked him about his uncertain status as Central High School’s boys basketball coach. “I feel like I could go to Alaska,” Nevins said, half-kiddingly, earlier this week, ...
Those of you from the 1970s — much of the Mirror’s readership — may recall a Penn State tradition called “Gentle Thursday.” Students would gather on the HUB lawn, bringing blankets and refreshments, to enjoy the dawning of spring and all that came with it. There were good feelings ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — It’s not wise to emerge from the Blue-White Game armed with sweeping conclusions. The game is less than a glorified scrimmage because the playbook is “vanilla,” according to James Franklin, who also stacks the roster heavily in favor of the Blue team. The first ...
In 1970, NCAA danced without Florida State With March Madness in high gear, Kenny Macklin finds himself bittersweet. When the former Penn State Altoona head basketball coach and current Mountain Lion assistant was a player at Florida State in 1969-70, the Seminoles thought they had Final ...
One of the many great things about the Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic boys basketball team’s charge to its first PIAA championship game is now the Marauder faithful not only have a storied past but a team to celebrate today. And sometimes it takes a team like this one to shine that light. For ...
When the chapter on the best and longest tenured sportswriters in Pittsburgh sports history over the last 50 years is someday authored, the names of Bob Smizik, Ron Cook, Gene Collier and Ed Bouchette will surely be mentioned. One name who won’t be on that list but deserves an honorable ...
Longtime followers of this column realize I’ve been fortunate to have access to the Mirror helicopter to assist in the most important of stories. Like when Altoona Area High School is searching — OK, again searching — for a new head football coach. Oh, there have been some other ...
TYRONE — Jim Baron made a trip back in time over the weekend. Some 32 years ago, Baron arrived at Saint Francis to coach the men’s basketball team. One of his friends then was Harry Sickler, longtime Tyrone pillar and passionate Notre Dame alumnus who got to know Baron when he was on ...
Boy, talk about a smorgasbord of potential choices. Rather than an individual position group (receivers, special teams, offensive line), I’m going with the Nittany Lions’ consistent inability to function in the clutch. Body of work, the defense performed admirably since its opening-game ...
ORLANDO, Fla. — Trace McSorley’s career ended like it began — in a Florida bowl game, against an SEC opponent, attempting to rally the Nittany Lions from a three-score deficit. In the end, as Penn State lost to Georgia 24-17 three years ago in the TaxSlayer Bowl, the Lions could not ...
ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s been a relatively quiet lead-up to today’s Citrus Bowl, so it was a perfect time for Penn State to spring some off-the-field news. Sandy Barbour, PSU’s athletic director for the past five years, confirmed Monday morning that she will soon sign a new contract, ...