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Lions must maintain a ball-control offense

The question reminds me of the late 1970s, my very early days at the Mirror. At that time, there were three outstanding area small-school scholastic football teams that stood out — Southern Huntingdon, Bellwood-Antis and Juniata Valley. Each was coached by an old-school, run-first, tough guy — Ted Nypaver at Southern, Jim Gardner at Bellwood and Bill Clouse at Juniata Valley. Nypaver recently was inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, while Gardner and Clouse were nearly as distinguished and equally respected. The season boiled ...

PSU defense must find ways to pressure OSU QB Fields

Penn State’s defense is not as good as everyone thought it was just a few weeks ago, which has been proven the past two games with the Nittany Lions looking inept at times against the pass. If PSU doesn’t fix that Saturday, it is going to get pounded by Ohio State. A painful reminder: The last time the Lions visited The Horseshoe, JT Barrett completed 16 passes in a row to lead the Buckeyes back from a big fourth-quarter deficit to stun PSU, 39-38. Barrett’s now gone after what seemed like a nine-year college career, and the guy who replaced him, Justin Fields, is an even better ...

Giger: Anti-social behavior: Death threats made to Clifford are appalling

We live in sad times, and there are reminders of that every single day. Now, I could go any one of 100 different directions with that setup. In this case, I’m going to stick to sports. Penn State football, specifically, and the troubling news that came out Tuesday. Nittany Lion ...

Sports gives much thanks for service

A pastor friend recently provided opening remarks at a business meeting I attended, using the opportunity to remind us the month of November should be spent in giving thanks. The traditional holiday of turkey and football first came to mind: the heat of the oven warming the kitchen; the television blaring the gridiron games of the day; family playing a pick-up game of football in the backyard. However, the pastor, a former Air Force mechanic and military chaplain, began his thanks with the November observance of Veteran’s Day, and showing gratitude to those who have served in the ...

PSU a huge underdog against Buckeyes

Penn State’s players say they’re ready for Ohio State. Vegas disagrees — in a big way. The Nittany Lions are 18-point underdogs for this week’s huge showdown in Columbus that will decide the Big Ten East regular-season champ and a whole lot more. The Buckeyes have throttled everyone all season, and outside expectation is they’ll clobber PSU, as well. No matter what, Penn State has a chance. It controls its own destiny, and that’s all any team can ask for in week 11. If the Lions can pull off the big upset, then go on to win the Big Ten championship game, they almost ...

Lions need to get better defensively

UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State is 9-1, which means the valley is happy. Right? Well, almost. The Nittany Lions held off Indiana, 34-27, on a cool, sunny Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium, but for the second straight week, their defense raised another caution flag. It just may be the strength of the team isn’t. At least it isn’t lately. Chief among the concerns is the way the defense has been torched early by Minnesota last week and now Indiana. Those two combined to gain 348 yards while completing 14-of-16 passes for 277 yards as opposing receivers and the Lion defenders ...