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PSU point-counter: Best and worst part of this season (Giger)

Beating Wolverines would make things better A lot of people are really down on Penn State right now, and the team has shown the past two weeks that it’s clearly not as good as many people thought. But a win over Michigan next week would change everything. Having that tremendous opportunity ahead is the best thing I can say about the season right now. Because regardless of the loss to Ohio State, there is still a path to the College Football Playoff, if the Nittany Lions can find a way to upset the Wolverines. Will that happen? I doubt it. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but to ...

Franklin must practice showing vs telling

Of all the things that were difficult to fathom from Penn State’s performance against Ohio State and its aftermath, I found this admission from James Franklin to stand alone. During his Tuesday press conference, the last question Franklin took was about his own accountability when the team loses a big game, especially in an era of raising money for program needs and keeping fan engagement high. His answer was both honest and intriguing. He said, “Yeah, if I did not do that (after OSU game), I think you just created an opportunity for me to do that, which I appreciate. Ultimately, ...

For anyone who has driven around our area during the past week, you couldn’t help but notice that the foliage was reaching its colorful peak and included almost all of the colors in unison. While weather-related factors, such as rainfall, sunlight and temperature, can have some effect on the intensity and duration of fall foliage colors, photoperiod is the primary determining factor of when leaves make their fall transition. Photoperiod is the scientific term for the relative length of daylight and darkness for each day throughout the year. The shorter days of autumn start the ...

Giger: The most dissapointing part of last week’s loss was …

Yurcich, Franklin, receivers need to share the blame. Penn State embarrassed itself offensively in the loss at Ohio State, and to me the primary culprits are Mike Yurcich, the wide receivers and James Franklin. The easy part of this is pointing out that the receivers just aren’t very good. There’s not a legitimate No. 1 Big Ten receiver on the team. KeAndre Lambert-Smith is really a possession guy and No. 2 receiver, and everybody else is really a No. 3 at best. I’ll try not to speak Japanese here, but ... when defenses don’t respect your receivers or believe that they can ...

Lions’ offensive showing is cryin’ shame

Drew Allar didn’t try to hide his emotions. The Nittany Lions’ quarterback was in tears following Penn State’s 20-12 loss to Ohio State on Saturday afternoon at Ohio Stadium. Allar was well aware that he and the offense were almost entirely responsible for the outcome. He didn’t ...

Franklin’s time to end Buckeye streak is here

By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com This is the biggest game of James Franklin’s career. Franklin is the common denominator in the Nittany Lions’ 1-8 record against Ohio State. He’s had different coordinators on both sides of the ball, different quarterbacks and different standout players, and with the exception of Grant Haley’s return of Marcus Allen’s blocked field goal, a springboard to the Big Ten championship, the Lions have come up short every time. They’ve been close with a couple gut-wrenching come-from-ahead losses, and despite playing the Buckeyes ...