Posts for penn state

Penn State Lands Joey Porter’s Son

Kevin Kinkead - September 11, 2018

via Twitter

Fresh off their 51-6 smackdown of the perennially underachieving Pittsburgh Panthers, Penn State is adding another blue chip recruit to the program.

Today Joey Porter Jr., the son of longtime Steeler Joey Porter, committed to the Nittany Lions, writing the following note on Twitter:

Porter Jr. is a 6’2″, 187 pound cornerback/safety prospect out of North Allegheny High. He also plays receiver but was recruited as a defensive backfield stud. He’s a four star recruit and chose the Lions over LSU, Nebraska, Miami, and… Pitt, which rounded out his top five schools.

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Villanova and Penn State Schedule a Football Series

Kevin Kinkead - August 31, 2018

Photo Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Not anytime soon, but in a few years.

Villanova agreed to a two-game series with Penn State for 2021 and 2025, with both contests taking place in Happy Valley.

From the press release:

“We are excited about the opportunity to get Penn State on the schedule. Playing two games in one of the best atmospheres in college football will be a great experience for our team,” said (head football coach Mark) Ferrante. “I think the Nova Nation will be excited to make the trip to Happy Valley. This game makes a lot sense for us on a number of levels.”

The Wildcats and Nittany Lions have met eight previous times on the gridiron with the last match-up coming with a 20-14 Villanova victory in 1951. Penn State currently leads the series by a 3-4-1 count.”

As for this season, Nova opens up tomorrow against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field. Penn State hosts Appalachian State at Beaver Stadium.

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Penn State Football 2018 Preview: There’s Life After Saquon Barkley

Kevin Kinkead - August 30, 2018

Photo Credit: Billy Hardiman/The Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK

Penn State was six points from being perfect in 2017.

All the Lions really needed was to make a few more plays at Ohio State and Michigan State, then we’re looking at 12-0 instead of 10-2, with a berth in the college football playoff.

That was pretty much it last season – a pair of single-digit Big 10 nail biters that saw the Lions fall out of the top five and instead settle for 11 wins and a Fiesta Bowl victory over a very good Washington team. That’s not a bad consolation prize, but Penn State fans and neutrals alike know just how agonizingly close this team came to running the table.

It’s a mixed bag of storylines coming into the 2018 season, which will be James Franklin’s fifth since taking over for Bill O’Brien in 2014. Franklin seemed to be on the hot seat after opening his Penn State tenure with a pair of boring 7-6 seasons before rumbling to 11 wins, a conference title, and a Rose Bowl appearance in year number three.

Along the way, he recruited extremely well and put the right assistants in place. He got Saquon Barkley to flip on his Rutgers commitment, brought in offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead from Fordham, and promoted Brent Pry to defensive coordinator after bringing him along from his previous gig at Vanderbilt. Those three moves probably guided Penn State’s success more than anything, fleshed out with a glut of impressive talent on both sides of the ball.

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Overrated?

Kevin Kinkead - August 20, 2018

Photo Credit: Ty Lohr/York Daily Record via USA TODAY NETWORK

James Franklin has done a nice job at Penn State.

The Lions are 22-5 over the past two seasons with a Fiesta Bowl win, a Big 10 title, and a Rose Bowl appearance on the resume. Seemingly long gone are the days of 7-6 and losses to Temple and Pitt.

They’re ranked 9th in the first 2018 coaches poll, but apparently some coaches don’t think too much of Franklin, who was voted one of the country’s most overrated at his position.

CBS Sports did an anonymous preseason poll, asking one-fifth of the 129 active FBS coaches to name their most overrated and underrated peers.

Franklin tied for first on the overrated list:

  • Willie Taggart (Florida State) – 20 percent
  • James Franklin (Penn State) – 20 percent
  • Kirk Ferentz (Iowa) – 13 percent
  • Lane Kiffin (Florida Atlantic) – 13 percent

So one-fifth of 129  coaches is 25.8. Twenty percent of that is 5.16. That means five coaches named Franklin, which isn’t a huge sample size. Maybe those five guys coach in the Big 10.

In the article, there are a couple of anonymous quotes from the coaches that named Franklin:

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Report: Temple and Penn State Discussing Future Football Series

Kevin Kinkead - July 24, 2018

Photo Credit: Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Per Marc Narducci, who does literally everything at the Inquirer:

The story is behind the Philly.com paywall but says that the games would be played in 2026 and 2027. Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour confirmed Tuesday that there have been discussions with Temple officials to round out the schedule.

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Penn State’s Drop In The Top 25 Means Cheaper National Championship Tickets

Kyle Scott - November 3, 2017

We are once again partnered with TicketIQ to bring you great deals on the secondary market. This post comes from them.

The first committee College Football Playoff rankings have been released, and Penn State has fallen to number 7. They are now ranked one spot beyond Ohio State, to whom the Nittany Lions gave up an 11 point lead this past Saturday leading to Penn State’s first loss of the season resulting in the drop from number 2 slot in the top 25.

Despite the loss (and the drop), ticket prices for Penn State still remain amongst the hottest in College Football. According to TicketIQ, Penn State’s average price for home games this season is $174. The remaining two games at Beaver Stadium against Rutgers and Nebraska are relatively affordable, starting from $77 for Rutgers and $97 for November against Nebraska.

If neither of those are of interest, a new company may provide an interesting way to cover your tab to a potential Penn State national championship game. Fan Plan is backed by Fox’s NFL Analyst Daryl Johnston, among others, and allows users to pay a small amount during the regular season and get $1,000-increments of coverage for tickets, airfare, hotel, rental car, and other travel expenses for the championship game in Atlanta. It’s an opportunity to get into the Championship for 5 cents on the dollar, but like any other bet, you lose whatever you put up if Penn State doesn’t make it into the playoff of the championship game.

Like the ticket market overall, this Fan Plan pricing is dynamic and the silver lining of losing to Ohio State for all the believers out there is that the Penn State Fan Plan is at the lowest price of the season, just $50.25. That’s down from $231 before the loss to Ohio State.

Data from TicketIQ on last year’s national championship show that the cheapest secondary market ticket for last season’s championship between Alabama and Clemson was $1,000. Currently, TicketIQ lists the cheapest 2018 National Championship ticket at $1,018.  A quick search on Priceline.com shows January flights to from Philly to ATL starting at $106 and 3-star hotels from $48/night.

See the latest real-time prices for $2,000 of coverage here:

Penn State should win out the remainder of their regular season schedule, with the toughest remaining challenge being a visit to Michigan State this Saturday. Some strong wins coupled with a loss from any of the teams currently ranked 1-6 and the Nittany Lions could see themselves back in the playoff hunt in a matter of weeks, and with that you wouldn’t be likely to see Penn State National Championship ticket prices this low again.

The Heisman Race Is Saquon Barkley vs. One Other Guy

Kevin Kinkead - October 20, 2017

Photo credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

I’ve seen at least 10,000 promos for tomorrow night’s Penn State/Michigan game featuring that terrible “Walk on Water” song by 30 Seconds to Mars. It’s almost as bad as the Hyundai “Sweet Caroline” commercial.

But don’t be deterred by ESPN’s horrendous song choice, because this game is gonna be a banger featuring college football’s most exciting player. It’s not John O’Korn, it’s future 49er Saquon Barkley, who can put a Ted Nugent-style stranglehold on the Heisman Trophy race with a winning performance in Happy Valley.

College Gameday comes to Penn State as the Lions try to avenge last season’s 49-10 road loss. Barkley only ran for 59 yards in Ann Arbor last year and will match up this time against a Wolverine defense that ranks top-10 in almost every single meaningful category. They’re allowing just 85.8 ground yards and 14.7 points per game. Penn State has pretty much clobbered five of six opponents this season, so something has to give on Saturday night.

Barkley’s main competition for the Heisman is a west coast running back, but let’s start by eliminating four other contenders: Continue Reading

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Joe Paterno Was Just a Creature of College Football’s Toxic Culture

Tim Reilly - September 21, 2017

Photo Credit: Matthew O'Haren -USA TODAY Sports

The latest Joe Paterno story slipped into the news cycle two Saturdays ago, nestling itself between the ongoing revelry of a new college football season and the impending calamity of Hurricane Irma.

Given the distractions that presented themselves that weekend, you would be forgiven if you missed it, or, more likely, quickly digested the lede before moving on to the next article.

After all, the Penn State scandal is yesterday’s news. Jerry Sandusky is in prison. Two former PSU administrators and the school’s ex-president received jail sentences for their roles in the cover-up. Paterno is dead, his legacy in tatters outside the Happy Valley bubble. The university has paid millions of dollars in settlements to Sandusky victims.

There are fresh tragedies for the public to consume. Frankly, some of us have even become so inured to atrocity that we’ve lost our capacity for outrage.

However, the primary revelation contained within Sara Ganim’s recent CNN offering should require us all to read past the headline and pause – not for anger – but for introspection.

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