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Lions can’t get too high from opening victory

By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com From my set of binoculars, Penn State’s win at Wisconsin ranks as the Nittany Lions’ third-best under James Franklin. The first was Ohio State in 2016 followed by the Big Ten championship win over the Badgers later that year. You can argue the thumping of Michigan in 2017 — when Saquon Barkley scored on the Lions’ second play — but I favor the win at Camp Randall because it was on the road and because Penn State needed a confidence boost early this season following 2020’s troubles. Which brings us to Saturday’s home opener ...

Snub of Reed may hurt US

The biggest news in the world of golf this week was Wednesday’s announcement of the final selections to this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team. The 12-man squad already had six automatic qualifiers in Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, so it was up to captain Steve Stricker to hand-pick the last six available spots. Five of Stricker’s captain’s picks were pretty straightforward as Daniel Berger, Harris English, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth were already among the top 12 in points at the end of ...

Punishment for penalty too often exceeds crime

By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com The answer to today’s point-counterpoint question, like the old “Scruples” game, is a definite “depends.” First off, player safety must be paramount so the concept of discouraging targeting is admirable. The days of players staggering back to the huddle with concussions – players were denied water in the same era, through the 1960s-70s, and given salt tablets instead — are thankfully gone. While the targeting rule, in theory, is positive, its administration is not. Players called for targeting are ejected and also forced to ...

Safety first means targeting = ejections

By Cory Giger For the Mirror Football must change. The thinking must change. The attitudes must change. Because safety should always be the most important thing. And throughout the history of football, safety has really never been the most important thing — specifically head safety. We are, thankfully, finally in the midst of a change in football. It took decades and thousands of players at all levels suffering countless concussions — and some dying with CTE or other health problems caused by football — for people to realize, accept and wake up to the dangers of the vicious ...

College football survives first week of player pay

The first week of college football is in the books and, surprisingly enough, no players were injured while lining their pockets with endorsement money. The end of college football as we know it didn’t come either, confounding the ominous warnings repeated so often for so long by so many in positions of power in the sport. Actually, the biggest takeaway of this nascent season might be this: Despite the fact that some players are getting paid for the first time, college football so far looks a lot like college football has looked for a long time now. Well, not exactly the same. ...

Penn State’s defense opens to curtain call

James Franklin didn’t have the stat sheet when he arrived at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday afternoon to meet the media. So he’d have to wait a few more minutes to make sense of some of these numbers: Wisconsin ran 95 plays to Penn State’s 51, racked up 30 first downs to the ...