With Tuesday night's most recent College Football Playoff rankings, the Penn State Nittany Lions found themselves ranked No. 7, up from No. 8 last week. Both the AP Poll and the Amway Coaches Poll, which were released Sunday, ranked the Nittany Lions at No. 8 — up from Nos. 9 and 10, respectively. Penn State finds themselves in the thick of a bid to play in the Big Ten Championship against the winner of the Big Ten West division Saturday, December 3rd. The Nittany Lions need a victory over ... Read More
Penn State hits the road to take on Rutgers in prime-time
#8 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Records: Penn State (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten); Rutgers (2-8, 0-7 Big Ten) The Head Coaches: Penn State: James Franklin, third season, 46-29 overall, 22-14 at Penn State; Rutgers: Chris Ash, 2-8 record at Rutgers and overall. The Game: Penn State hits the road for its penultimate regular-season conference match-up against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. The Scarlet Knights come into Saturday night's game ... Read More
Chaos puts Penn State in thick of Playoff Race
“What marvelous chaos!” That saying, usually reserved for the NHL by award-winning announcer (and Pittsburgh Pirates fan) Mike “Doc” Emrick, perfectly encapsulated this weekend's college football games. The No. 10 Penn State Nittany Lions entered the weekend needing a perfect storm to make the Big Ten championship game as well as to be considered for the College Football Playoff. Saturday night, the perfect storm started to pick up major steam. Coming into the weekend, to make the Big Ten ... Read More
Penn State looks to continue winning ways against Hoosiers
#10 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Indiana Hoosiers The Records: Penn State (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten); Indiana (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) The Head Coaches: Penn State: James Franklin, third season, 45-29 overall, 21-14 at Penn State; Indiana: Kevin Wilson, 25-45 record while head coach at Indiana and overall. The Game: Penn State enters Saturday afternoon's game with an 18-1 overall record against Indiana, dating back to 1993 when the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten. The lone victory for the Hoosiers ... Read More
Happy Valley: A Roar Restored
Five years ago this month, the college sports landscape changed forever when a major scandal broke at Penn State. Legends were fired, a former assistant coach was arrested, and a community was shaken to its core. Restoring the roar in Happy Valley has been a tough and arduous task filled with sanctions, firings, tough losses and coaching changes, but, for the first time since 2011, the Penn State football team and its surrounding community have something to be happy about. It's been seven ... Read More
Penn State validates ranking with dismantling of Iowa
The Penn State Nittany Lions found themselves ranked No. 12 when the initial College Football Playoff poll was released Tuesday evening, and they spent Saturday night proving why they deserved to be ranked so high. The Nittany Lions marched down the field in 2:17 on the opening possession to put the first of many touchdowns on the board against the Iowa Hawkeyes in front of 106,194 people at Beaver Stadium. Penn State went on to score 34 more points on the evening, defeating the Hawkeyes ... Read More
No. 12 Penn State, Iowa squaring off in prime-time
#12 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Iowa Hawkeyes The Records: Penn State (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten); Iowa (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten). The Head Coaches: Penn State: James Franklin, third season, 44-29 overall, 20-14 at Penn State; Iowa: Kirk Ferentz, 132-90 record while head coach at Iowa, 144-111 overall. The Game: Penn State and Iowa square off on the gridiron for the first time in Happy Valley since 2011, which ended with a 13-3 victory for the Nittany Lions. Iowa comes into the match-up against ... Read More
Penn State gets statement win in rout of Purdue
While the upset over Ohio State was the signature win that had eluded head coach James Franklin for the majority of his three-years at Penn State, the 62-24 win Saturday over Purdue served as a big statement win for both him and the program. After the emotional high of defeating the then-No. 2 team in the country (and a big rival, to boot), Saturday's game had the possibility of being a considerable let down. The Nittany Lions were on the road against a team with an interim head coach looking ... Read More
No. 24 Nittany Lions hit the road to face Purdue
#24 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Purdue Boilermakers The Records: Penn State (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten); Purdue (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten). The Head Coaches: Penn State: James Franklin, third season, 43-29 overall, 19-14 at Penn State; Purdue: Gerad Parker (interim), 0-1 record while head coach at Purdue, 0-1 overall. The Game: Penn State hits the road this week to face Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium in only the third road game of the season for the Nittany Lions. James Franklin's squad is fresh off ... Read More
Upset of No. 2 Ohio State “special” for Penn State
“This is special,” an emotional James Franklin, head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, said following his team's 24-21 victory over the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) at Beaver Stadium. Franklin's Nittany Lions (5-2, 3-1) pulled off a major upset after coming into the game as 18-point underdogs in Las Vegas. “This is for everybody,” Franklin said. “This community has been through so much in the last five years.” Ohio State held a 14-point lead as the fourth quarter ... Read More