After a tough match against a top-5 opponent in Iowa, Penn State welcomes another top-5 opponent in the No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes to Rec Hall Sunday for a 2 p.m. Big Ten dual. Penn State and Ohio State are similar in that they both beat Iowa bad. Ohio State won 21-9 a week ago and Penn State won 22-12 last Sunday. Both teams have moved up, Penn State took Iowa’s No 2 ranking and OSU moves to 5. It will be a familiar opponent for Penn State because Ohio State matches up very similar to the way Iowa did. OSU’s meat & potatoes are in their lighter weights, although they are a little more evenly matched than Iowa was. Penn State could be in for a letdown after the emotional win last weekend, hopefully they are ready, the Buckeyes will be a tough test.

Continue reading this post »

Penn Staters rejoice! The Nittany Lions finally have a special teams coach. John Butler has joined the Penn State staff to coach defensive backs and special teams. This is a position that has needed to be addressed for the past several years as Penn State fans have tired of the infamous "designated fair catcher". Butler is a local guy, growing up in Oreland (outside of Philadelphia) and attending La Salle High School, though he did not attend Penn State.

Playing Experience. Butler played football at the Division III school Catholic University, but had no NFL experience.

Coaching Experience. Most recently, Butler coached special teams and outside linebackers at the University of South Carolina. Prior to taking the job with the Gamecocks, Butler coached the same positions under Tim Brewster at Minnesota (along with Ted Roof). Butler has also worked at Harvard, Texas State, Midwestern State and Texas.

Continue reading this post »

A little late on this, but here's an open thread for those of you watching at home or online. The memorial service is available a number of places online, including BigTenNetwork.com and ESPN 3, and televised on the Big Ten Network. Feel free to add more links and locations in the comments.

I'm not even sure why I'm writing this. The game went exactly as expected, if not worse. The Buckeyes raced out to a 24-6 lead with just over 6 minutes remaining the first half, and it was a slugfest from there on out with neither team looking particularly interested. Penn State buried its effort under a pile of bricks on the offensive end. They shot just 7-32 for the first half and were down by 20 at halftime.

PSU was at least competitive in the second half, but OSU called off the dogs. And even when they did, OSU's talented freshmen reserves came in and dominated. The bigger, stronger, and more athletic Buckeyes controlled the inside from the start to finish. Sasa Borovnjak and Jon Graham had their hands full all game long with Jared Sullinger (20 points and 13 rebounds). Graham picked up 5 fouls in just 8 minutes, while Sasa didn't score in his 25 minutes of action. Ross Travis did what he could inside, but he was blocked 3 times by freshmen big man Amir Williams near the end of the game (2-10 from the floor for 5 points).

Tim Frazier, Jermaine Marshall, and Cammeron Woodyard were PSU's only threats (16, 14, and 10 points respectively), but neither of three were efficient (all shot 36% or worse). Frazier was more productive than I thought he'd be with 16 points and 4 assists, but he played nearly the whole game including when OSU let up. Speaking of, I understand trying to instill a never give up attitude among these guys, but Chambers has to be cautious with the wear and tear on Tim. He's never played this many hard minutes on his skinny frame, and he has seemed a bit gimpy this last week or two.

Continue reading this post »

When Bill O'Brien announced during his first press conference that he was retaining Larry Johnson, I was sitting at my favorite watering hole and every Penn State fan in the place began spontaneously clapping like infants that just saw a big red ball bounce in front of them. We couldn't help ourselves it was a small nugget of good news in an otherwise pit of self loathing and despair. It got me thinking that maybe... just maybe BOB would also bring back Ron Vanderlinden.

When Vandy became Penn State's Linebacker coach way back in 2001 I was giddy because I loved the guy and knew he was a top-notch coach. When he turned down other coaching offers and chose to stay at PSU, I was downright ecstatic. Imagine how great I felt when, shortly after announcing LJ's return, O'Brien announced the retention of Vanderlinden.

In the world of Penn State football, it was complete for me. All the other coaching changes would come and go, but the two guys that I felt were the core of Penn State's great defenses in the last decade were still on board. Some semblance of normalcy had returned in a chaotic time.

Continue reading this post »

It's been a rough last few days for us all, no doubt. Let us begin the healing process by focusing on Penn State-Ohio State basketball...Wait, that didn't sound good at all.

Tipoff is at 6:30 PM ET and can be viewed on BTN or listened to on the radio via Sirius Ch 128 or XM Ch 190, or any of these local affiliates. And since I'm not in the mood for any creative paragraphing right now, all I'm going to say is just remember the open thread rules and ye shall avoid the almighty banhammer.

Only seven days left in the Class of 2012 recruiting period, which culminates on February 1 with National Letter of Intent Day, commonly referred to as Signing Day, the first day that high school seniors can officially state their intent to play college football with a certain school. Until then, everything is verbal and non-binding; once ink meets paper and paper meets fax (one of the last remaining vestiges of that godforsaken machine), a contract is formed with certain requirements and expectations.

At Penn State, Signing Day typically comes and goes with little fanfare. The Joe Paterno Era Style of Recruiting was to get the class finished early and concentrate on the actual football. While there has been notable last-minute excitement in the past (see Henne, Chad; Shaw, Michael), for the most part, Penn State fans get to watch everyone else squirm as "results" come in for the higher profile players.

Those high profile players will be covered slightly in next week's open Signing Day thread. Today we take a look at the Class of 2012: who's in, who's out, what's left, and what are the overall impression.

Continue reading this post »