Billy Paultz Reconsidered

Coming to you live from Lancaster Catholic, where the mood is ruined, and that may be an understatement, by an ankle injury to Crusaders’ stud QB Kyle Smith. The expected epic battle with Manheim Central (both teams are ranked #2 in the state in their classes by Pa. Football News) probably can’t materialize without him.
So […]

[Read more →]

Wanted to break down what we’re doing with Penn State this year. In the Sunday News game days, I’ll have a game story, column, highs and lows (a quasi-notebook) and grades.
In the daily paper: A post mortem Monday, something off Joe’s weekly press conference Wednesday, and a player-profile/game preview Friday.
I’ll also put excerpts (at least) […]

[Read more →]

for the Akron game is out, and it contains a few surprises, at least to me.
1. Chaz Powell, the guy who was supposed to fill Derrick Williams’ role, is not starting on offense. He’s listed on the second team at one of the WR spots, behind Brett Brackett. The other first-team wideouts are Derek Moye and […]

[Read more →]

The Phillies are 3-8 since they got Cliff Lee, and Lee is 2-0 since he got here. Perhaps the explanation is that the Fightins can’t get over their shock and awe over the Lee deal.
We could be seeing the beginning of the end of Jamie Moyer’s remarkable career, although Orel Hersheiser says a six-man rotation, […]

[Read more →]

Here’s a transcript of Joe’s presser Monday, July 27 at Big Ten media day in Chicago.
The last question, about the non-conference schedule, prompted Joe’s much-remarked-on “twittle-do, twittle-dee,” comment. In substance, though, I thought it was a better defense of the non-con sked (which is actually indefensible) than I’d heard from him- We‘re playing Syracuse because […]

[Read more →]

where it’s pretty nice- partly cloudy, more breezy than ideal but that’s kind of welcome given the recent soaking and 99 percent humidity. Bear in mind that even though it’s rained every day for what seems like two months, the next time we have three straight dry days you’ll see people toeing the dirt ruefully […]

[Read more →]

Penn State is apparently going to be sanctioned by the Rose Bowl for failing to meet contracual agreements regarding media obligations.
From a statement issued by the bowl:
There were two non-compliance matters.  One involved the failure to conduct a pre-game interview with the Game Broadcaster, as required by contract.  The other involved the failure to open […]

[Read more →]

As several Sunday News readers have already pointed out, Pitt was included among Penn State’s 2009 non-conference opponents in my story in yesterday’s paper. It was of course a mistake, and a bizarre one. At one point the story did include a mention of Walt Harris, who was Pitt’s coach the last time it played Penn State, since he’s […]

[Read more →]

Sanchez in the second quarter: 14-17 for 225 yards and two TDs. USC has 341 total yards at the half against what’s supposed to be one of the best defenses in the country.
The decisive matchup has been USC’s big receivers against Penn State’s little DBs. Didn’t see that coming, but neither did anyone else. What’s […]

[Read more →]

At Rose Bowl media day Saturday, somebody asked Joe if there was any news on his job/contractural status. The standard Joe reply would have been on the order of (in squeaky, Brooklyn/Italian accent), “I don’t know… I’m not even thinking about that… You guys…”
But that wasn’t how he replied this time. He acknowleged that he […]

[Read more →]