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Penn State-ND: Stakes can’t be higher

Some post-Fiesta Bowl/pre-Orange Bowl notes awaiting the star-studded final four: n Thursday night’s College Football Playoff semifinal between Penn State and Notre Dame will break a tie in the series currently tied at 9-9-1. And what a reward the winner will get: A berth in the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 20 vs. the Ohio State-Texas winner. The matchup is especially meaningful in our region as, in addition to being in the heart of Penn State country, Notre Dame, with a local Catholic school in Bishop Guilfoyle Academy, has always boasted a strong following here ...

Plenty of top coaching performances

Nine area coaches received a vote from either their peers or local media in this season’s voting for Altoona Mirror Coach of the Year. Remarkably, any of those coaches legitimately could have been selected as the winner and it would have been tough to argue that it was unfounded. Penn Cambria’s Nick Felus won by 21 votes over Hollidaysburg’s Homer DeLattre and 25 over Bishop Guilfoyle Academy’s Justin Wheeler. Before getting to what Felus accomplished, what did the two closest coaches do? Oh, just won the most games in a single season in Hollidaysburg Area High School ...

Walk-on Barker stabilizes Lion’s placekicking position

I’m going to think a little bit outside the box and go with a position that isn’t talked about unless the player screwed up. Of course, it’s the kicker. It’s particularly enjoyable to watch Pat McAfee’s 33-yard field goal challenge every week on ESPN’s College Gameday. Regular college students are put to the challenge to win a boat load of money, and most of the time the students fail miserably. It’s not an easy job. Story time: I played Division III college football as an offensive tackle more than a decade ago. One day before practice, our coach told me that if I ...

Chiefs’ success is not traced to luck

Labeling a 13-1 NFL team as lucky seems a bit partisan. Through Week 15, Kansas City had been triumphant in an NFL-record 15 consecutive games that were decided by one score, including a 19-17 last-second heartstopper over the Los Angeles Chargers in which the winning field goal first bounced off the left upright. Advancing a popular theme, AthlonSports.com’s Richie Whitt wrote, “It’s been a season accented with luck for the Chiefs, from Week 1’s escape over the Baltimore Ravens by a toenail to Black Friday’s win when the Las Vegas Raiders fumbled away a chance at a ...

Don’t feed animals in the wintertime

Most winters, I devote some space to reminding folks that feeding wildlife to “help” them through the harsh weather of the season is generally a bad idea. After two relatively mild winters with not much lingering snowfall, we’ve already had some cold weather and a bit of snow so far, even though winter officially begins this weekend. That may be an indication that we could be in store for a more traditional winter this year in terms of weather. If that is indeed the situation, more folks will be tempted to put out food for wild animals. The best advice regarding that is just ...

Would you rather PSU had beaten Oregon or landed in this bracket? Yes, it would have shifted narrative, made Nits No. 1

There’s no question Penn State has the most favorable draw in the College Football Playoff field. The Nittany Lions are heavily favored — by 8.5 points — to beat SMU in the first round at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. Penn State should benefit from the cold weather that is foreign to the Mustangs. Should PSU hold serve and advance to the national quarterfinals, their reward is even better — a Boise State team that somehow gained the No. 3 seed in the entire field. Penn State is already a two-touchdown favorite in that game should the matchup materialize. But I still will ...