Good morning, Pittsburgh. Here’s your day in sports for Thursday, September 3, 2015.
What’s on tap for today:
The day starts out with some FCS football, as local Northeast Conference rivals Duquesne and Robert Morris both start the season off at home. The Dukes will host Kentucky Christian on the bluff, while Bobby Mo will host Dayton for the first game on the new turf at Joe Walton Stadium. Both games start at noon. ESPN Radio 970 WBGG-AM (RMU), 1320 WJAS-AM (Duquesne)
At Heinz Field, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi will make his NCAA head coaching debut against the Bo Pelini-led Youngstown State Penguins. The Panthers will be without suspended WR Tyler Boyd and DE Rori Blair. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m. ESPN3
The Pirates (80-53) have an afternoon contest at Busch Stadium against the Cardinals (86-48). The Pirates have done well in nationally-televised games this season. Fox Sports 1
In Philadelphia, the Penn State Nittany Lions will take on the Temple Owls at a sold out Lincoln Financial Field. The Nits haven’t lost to the Owls since 1941 and are 38-0-1 against their in-state rivals since then. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. ESPN
The Riverhounds (10-9-5) host the Charleston Battery (10-6-9) at Highmark Stadium in their second-to-last home game of the 2015 season. Kickoff is at 7:05 p.m. WPNT-TV
It’s the final night game for the Wild Things (40-54), who will host the Windy City Thunderbolts (41-53) at 7:05 p.m. 93.5 WJPA-FM
Finally, Dana Holgorson and the West Virginia Mountaineers get their season started by hosting the triple-option threat of the Georgia Southern Eagles. Kickoff from Mountaineer Field is at 7:30 p.m. ROOT Sports Pittsburgh
Reader poll:
With the college football season getting underway in earnest today, we want to know, which local Division-1 team will have the best season?
[poll id=”148″]
Pittsburgh headlines:
The Pirates got their pivotal three-game series with the Cardinals off to a rousing start on Friday night as the J.A. Happ shut down the Cards and the Bucs bats hammered St. Louis starter Carlos Martinez.
The Steelers traded punter Brad Wing to the New York Giants, meaning that first-year player Jordan Berry has won the competition to be the team’s punter coming out of training camp.
Can the Penguins afford to sign free agent defenseman Cody Franson? Our Derrick Graffius takes a look at the salary cap implications of such a deal.
Our Matt Shetler has your pregame fix for Pitt’s non-conference showdown with Youngstown State. The Penguins upset the Panther at Heinz Field in 2012.
Penn State beat writer Meghan Delsite has the preview for the Nittany Lions season opener in Philadelphia against the Temple Owls.
The Riverhounds match at Highmark Stadium tonight has huge playoff implications, and they’ll have to play it without goalkeeper Ryan Thompson and midfielder Rob Vincent.
Altoona RB Tyler Pettucci led the Mountain Lions to a 19-17 victory on the road over the Butler Golden Tornado in Jarrod Prugar’s WPIAL Pick of the Week.
On this date in 2010, the Pirates unveiled a statue (right) of Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski outside the right field gate at PNC Park. The statue depicts “Maz” in his most legendary moment, rounding the bases after hitting the game-winning home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees.
He said it: “You know, that felt good” — Pirates lefty J.A. Happ after winning his fifth straight start on Friday night.
