We’re just having fun over here, so don’t take this too seriously.
This photo popped up in a group text and it made me laugh. I have no idea where it came from, but I think it’s a Facebook creation.
Anyway, here ya go:
This comes to us from our friends at TicketIQ.
Off a big 45-13 win against Buffalo, Penn State will play Pitt this weekend. It is the second most expensive game of the weekend, according to TicketIQ.
Tickets are fully sold out, but of course can be purchased on the secondary market.
The cheapest ticket available is $105 for an upper level seat in row 95 of section NLU. The cheapest lower-level ticket is $108 for tickets in the 18th row of lower level NE. Lower level sideline tickets behind the Penn State bench in the 28th row of section EE. Upper level tickets on the 50th yard line in section EEU start at $138. TicketIQ has also tickets to any of the other Penn State games, at home or on the road. For week 3 of college football, it’s the second most expensive of the week behind Florida at Kentucky, in which Kentucky will go for consecutive wins over the Gators for the first time in decades.
It’s by far the most expensive game on Pitt’s schedule as well. Their next most expensive is a home game at Heinz Field against Miami.
More about TicketIQ: They offer a Low Price Guarantee on Penn State tickets for every home and road game on the 2019 schedule. This is good for all college games as well. If you find a ticket on the secondary market, on sites like StubHub, SeatGeek, or Vivid Tickets, TicketIQ will give you 200% of the difference in site credit.
They work not only through resellers, but also directly with teams and leagues to move unsold inventory.
Sports Betting Updates
Penn State and Pittsburgh played a football game almost every single year from 1900 to 1992.
What happened?
Well Pitt went to the Big East, Penn State went to the Big 10, and then the next 20 years saw conference realignment that resulted in other historic rivalries going right into the toilet. Now we’ve got Syracuse in the “Atlantic Coast” Conference and Missouri in the “Southeastern” conference, among other such geographical head scratchers.
PSU and Pitt renewed their rivalry with a four-game series that began in 2016 and ends on Saturday, when the two sides meet in Happy Valley. Beyond that, there’s nothing, as the Nittany Lions move on to play the likes of Auburn, Virginia Tech, and Villanova, while the Yinzers add Notre Dame and Tennessee in the non-conference slate.
Today head ball coach James Franklin was asked about the future of the series, and had this to say:
The college football season began with Manny Diaz losing to Florida on national television.
It was a great way to kick things off.
I’ve been reading a lot about college ball this week, and ESPN has some interesting stories involving a still somewhat new projection model they’ve been using called SP+, which was created by Bill Connelly at Football Outsiders in 2008. He says SP+, in simple terms, is a “tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency,” which is boiled down to these three main factors:
Recent history: I use a weighted five-year history as a way of gauging program health. For most programs, what they have done of late is what they will most likely do moving forward.
Returning production: Instead of using returning starters, I created a formula for returning production based on which units seem to have the most effect on a team’s improvement or regression. As it turns out, continuity at quarterback, receiver and the secondary is far more impactful on SP+ rating the next year than continuity in other units. Accordingly, turnover in those areas takes on heavier weight.
Recent recruiting: Returning production measures what a program lost, and a two-year recruiting average fills in the gaps on what kind of talent and athleticism it has acquired to replace the lost producers.
Ok. I’m sold. I’m interested in SP+.
Connelly and ESPN used this metric to list each Division 1 program from one to 130, and Temple actually ranks pretty admirably, after the jump:
Huh.
Well this is something.
Breaking news out of Happy Valley today, where a former Penn State team doctor filed a lawsuit against the university and head ball coach James Franklin, claiming the Langhorne native pressured him to clear injured players.
Can you smell it? It’s the aroma of tailgate food wafting into my nostrils, overpowering the funky odor that generally hangs over the River Wards.
Autumn is just around the corner, and that means you can strap me down and inject college football directly into my veins. I want to overdose on it. I want to wake up in a daze, turn to my television, and slowly focus in on the score in the upper left corner:
West Virginia 55, Virginia Tech 0.
Give it to me. Give me Manny Diaz going 0-12 and getting himself fired. Give me Penn State vs. Pittsburgh and Temple vs. Maryland and Villanova vs. Delaware. I want it all, and I want it now, as Freddie Mercury used to say.
Here are 10 reasons why college football is better than the NFL. Don’t even think about disagreeing with me.
Oh yes.
College football is just around the corner, and today the season’s first poll just dropped, even though none of these teams have played a game yet and it’s virtually impossible to project the top 25 outside of Alabama and Clemson.
The Nittany Lions start in the top 15, which you can see right here:
Temple got two votes as well, so hell yeah.
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:
#WeAre ⚪️🔵⚪️ Better #DC5 #T4L pic.twitter.com/TWMU9GuvJe
— Joey Porter Jr (@jjporter_1) September 11, 2018
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.
