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For (rugged) openers, big chance greets PSU

By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com “Having Wisconsin as an opening game is different than the way college football normally starts out.” That was one of the first statements James Franklin uttered during his weekly press conference Tuesday previewing the Nittany Lions’ season opener Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium (noon, Fox). While he’s right that most of college football’s marquee programs — Penn State still qualifies — don’t open on the road against big-name teams, some take part in neutral-site matchups such as Clemson vs. Georgia and Alabama vs. Miami ...

PSU point-counter point: Defense already due to show improvement

By Neil Rudel We know Cory loves offense so I’ll take the defense today for the sake of our debate. Plus I actually believe it. Ask which unit you expect more from this season, and I would say the offense. But Saturday at Wisconsin is a separate topic. Mike Yurcich’s track record has produced high-scoring offenses everywhere he’s been, dating back to his tenure at Shippensburg, where his work got noticed by Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. This Penn State offense has good skill players and, presumably with an improved Sean Clifford, will be good — in time. But probably ...

PSU point-counter point: Offense needs to click to defeat Badgers

By Cory Giger There’s no dress rehearsal, no time to ease into things playing a cupcake opponent. Penn State had better be ready to play right off the bat Saturday, and that means the new offense needs to be clicking early. James Franklin knows this. He’s said as much, noting the Nittany Lions had better be ready to go against a good Wisconsin team that surely will be fired up playing in front of a packed Camp Randall Stadium. The best formula to beat Wisconsin involves basic common sense. Get a lead early and force the Badgers into playing catchup, which is harder to do for a ...

PGA’s DeChambeau makes things interesting

Bryson DeChambeau made huge headlines — and was roundly criticized — last month for comments he made during a post-round press conference at the British Open. After a particularly bad round of golf, DeChambeau blurted out, “the driver sucks,” seemingly blaming his poor performance on his equipment, not himself. Curiously, that same equipment will be on full display following an interesting announcement DeChambeau made earlier this week, accepting an invitation to the Professional Long Drivers Association World Championship, scheduled for late September. DeChambeau seemed ...

Tokyo Olympics disappointing for US Women’s National Team

The United States Women’s National Soccer Team, heavily favored to capture gold in the past Olympics, had to battle fiercely to top Australia, 4-3, in the bronze medal consolation game. The American women jumped out to a healthy 3-0 lead at halftime and were up 4-1 at one point in the second half but had to hold on at the end. Carli Lloyd, 39 and in her fourth appearance in the Olympics, became the first woman in U.S. Women’s National Team history to score in four games. She is the all-time leading scorer for the U.S. women. Shortly after the final game, Lloyd announced her ...

‘Battle-tested’ Clifford looking forward, not back

UNIVERSITY PARK — For a guy whose last season saw the Nittany Lions stumble to an 0-5 start for the first time in their history that included his temporary benching, quarterback Sean Clifford somehow emerged with unshaken confidence. Clifford returns as this year’s starter and while the journalism major knows the No. 1 Penn State storyline — how he bounces back under his third offensive coordinator in three years — he was only going to endure the line of questioning so long. “I know there were times I didn’t play to my expectations, and I’m not going to deny what ...