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Lions need to get better defensively

UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State is 9-1, which means the valley is happy. Right? Well, almost. The Nittany Lions held off Indiana, 34-27, on a cool, sunny Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium, but for the second straight week, their defense raised another caution flag. It just may be the strength of the team isn’t. At least it isn’t lately. Chief among the concerns is the way the defense has been torched early by Minnesota last week and now Indiana. Those two combined to gain 348 yards while completing 14-of-16 passes for 277 yards as opposing receivers and the Lion defenders ...

Lions will roar this week against finesse Hoosiers

We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback the past few years about this weekly point-counterpoint feature, in large part because sports fans love to take sides and debate. That’s why clowns — yes, I said clowns — like Screamin’ A. Smith and Max Kellerman can go on TV and yell at each other with fake outrage over various sports issues of the day. Does anyone truly believe those guys disagree about everything with such fervor that it warrants a TV show every weekday? No. It’s all contrived, orchestrated. They’re arguing for the sake of arguing. And our hot take society ...

Time for hard truths after PSU defeat

Seeing Penn State ranked in the top four of the College Football Playoff last week had to be pretty cool for all Nittany Lion fans. But be honest here: Didn’t it feel like a bit of a mirage? The Lions had the resume, relative to everyone else, to deserve their No. 4 ranking. No question about it. But what I’m asking you is: Did you ever truly believe PSU was the fourth-best team in the country? The Lions are a year ahead of schedule. Most people predicted 8-4 or 9-3 this season, and the team is sitting here at 8-1 following Saturday’s overall poor showing in a 31-26 loss at ...

Pirates’ general manager switch will impact Curve in big ways

Firing GM Neal Huntingdon was the appropriate move for the Pirates, without question, but it may not have been the best thing for the Curve. That might not mean much to a lot of fans who only care about the success of the big league club. But if you’ve become spoiled by watching a great product on the field in Double-A over the years, it’s worth noting that there will be some huge changes in store beginning next season. The Curve made the playoffs five times and won their only two Eastern League championships (2010 and ‘17) during Huntington’s tenure as the Pirates’ GM. ...

Mention of Minnesota stirs up 1999 nightmare

This week’s topic doesn’t specify good or bad memories, and at the risk of being a wet blanket while the Nittany Lions are 8-0, there’s really no doubt for me. I, like most Penn State followers who witnessed it, will never forget — 20 years later — the 1999 game/nightmare at Beaver Stadium. In my estimation, it was the most painful loss in Beaver Stadium history. A short version: Penn State was 9-0, ranked No. 2 behind Florida State and had dreams of a national championship game — Joe Paterno vs. Bobby Bowden — dancing in its head. Minnesota, a 14-point underdog, ...

Comeback against Gophers in 2016 was monumental

James Franklin was in big trouble. The Penn State football program was going nowhere fast. Then came a vital second-half comeback against Minnesota at Beaver Stadium on Oct. 1, 2016 that turned everything around. The Nittany Lions returned to national prominence with a huge upset of No. 2 Ohio State in late October of that year, but three weeks earlier, it was a win over the Gophers that proved to be much more monumental than anyone could have realized at the time. It wasn’t that long ago, so the story is probably still fresh in the minds of many PSU fans. The Lions were coming ...