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DALLAS — After the Gatorade dousing of James Franklin and all the colorful confetti had fallen to celebrate Penn State’s 53-39 Cotton Bowl victory over Memphis, the Nittany Lions staged a mini-dance party in their locker room. Yes, they regretted the two losses this season, especially at Minnesota, but it was clear that, to a man, the satisfaction of finishing 11-2 overshadowed any lingering disappointment. “We had some hiccups, some tough losses, and sometimes coming out flat,” defensive end Shaka Toney said, “but I don’t think anybody can be mad about an 11-2 team that ...

Memphis has impressive showing in defeat

DALLAS — How about a tip of the cap — or cowboy hat given where the game was played — to the Memphis Tigers. To be honest, I thought they were on the verge of getting blown out. Memphis started out well, but once Penn State figured out it could run at will and grabbed a 28-13 lead, there wasn’t much reason to believe the Tigers could regroup. This is a team that lost its head coach, Mike Norvell, and defensive coordinator, Adam Fuller, to Florida State a few weeks ago. A Group of Five team that doesn’t have anywhere near the overall talent that Penn State has. A team ...

Keep your head in the game: Lions will need right mindset against Memphis

DALLAS — The bowl season, especially the non-College Football Playoff games, can be littered with duds. Witness the 14-0 (lack of) effort Miami — the U, not of Ohio — mailed in during Thursday’s Independence Bowl loss to Louisana Tech that resulted in the Hurricanes’ offensive ...

Coordinator needs freedom to make changes

This is exactly the kind of hire James Franklin should have made for the offensive coordinator job. The key word there is “kind.” I cannot sit here and tell you Kirk Ciarrocca is a home run hire who will do Joe Moorhead type of things for Penn State’s offense. No one can predict the future when it comes to that sort of stuff. Ciarrocca might be awesome. Even better than Moorhead. He might turn out to be blah. Even worse than Ricky Rahne. But that would be a big surprise given his track record. See, Ciarrocca has the “kind” of track record Franklin needed to ...

Everybody’s All-American: Parsons’ vision for himself, Lions not yet complete

With Penn State’s 2019 season about to close, the defensive leadership torch is being passed to Micah Parsons. The sophomore linebacker and newly-minted consensus All-American will be the unquestioned focal point of the Nittany Lions in 2020, and a high bar has already been set for his potential. Take a listen to departing linebacker Cam Brown, himself a three-year regular, two-year starter and respected team spokesman. “I feel like the only way up is for him to be in the Heisman race next year,” Brown was saying at Penn State Cotton Bowl media day last week. “Seriously, I ...

Welcome back: PSU men return to top 25 for first time in 23 years

Remember 1996? That was a cool year. I graduated from college that year, so yeah, that seems like a long, long time ago. Way back in 1996, the Penn State men’s basketball team was ranked in The Associated Press Top 25. The Nittany Lions finished that season 21-7 and No. 18 in the ...