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F O O T B A L L Urschel 'beyond honored' to join CFP committee John Urschel can't help himself. An- nounced in January as one of three new appointees to the College Football Play- o; selection committee, the former Penn State o;ensive lineman, three- year NFL veteran and current Ph.D. candi- date at MIT searches for a mathematical model to explain his surprise at being picked for the job. "If you made me list a number of low-prob- ability events," Urschel said, "this one would probably be pretty low on the list." Not that he's complaining. Since his retirement from the Balti- more Ravens prior to the start of the 2017 season, Urschel admittedly has felt the absence of football in his life. He's now in his fourth year at MIT and is set to graduate with his doctorate in mathe- matics next year. A=er that, he aims to become a professor and make "contri- butions to the mathematics community over many decades." As he immersed himself in his aca- demic pursuits the past few years, Urschel's only connections to the game were through his friends. He talked fre- quently to former teammate Ty Howle, who was serving as assistant head coach at Western Illinois before recently ac- cepting a position as an o;ensive analyst at Penn State. But Urschel wanted to have a more tangible relationship to the game, and an email from CFP executive director Bill Hancock last October of- fered an opportunity to do just that. "At :rst I had to reread it. And I thought, wow, OK. Yes, of course, I'd be very happy to do this," Urschel said. "I mean, the College Football Playo; com- mittee, this is a very small group, it's made up of ADs and former players. And the number of players on the committee is not that many, so to be chosen as a former player who they thought was a good rep- resentative of player opinion and a good representative for college football players, that's something that means a lot to me." Urschel had been recommended by the Big Ten, with Penn State athletic direc- tor Sandy Barbour helping facilitate the connection. Hancock followed up the email with a phone call, and that ce- mented Urschel's acceptance. "He asked me if I would like to serve on the committee, and I told him that I'm beyond honored. Of course I'm serving on the committee," Urschel said. "It's just a huge honor. It's a lot of responsi- bility and it's something that I'll take a great deal of pride in, because college football, it means a lot to me. "My time at Penn State, these are some of my best years and this is the place where I came to love mathematics. This is where I met all my best friends in the world. This is a place where I developed URSCHEL | KICKOFF SET FOR SPRING GAME Penn State's spring practices will conclude with the annual Blue-White Game, which is set to kick o; at 1:30 p.m. on April 18 at Beaver Stadium. This year's game will air live on FS1 and will also be streamed on the FOX Sports app. In addition, the game can be heard on the Penn State Sports Network and GoPSUsports.com. Admission is free for the Blue-White Game. Season ticket and season park- ing permit holders from the 2019 sea- son received a white 2020 Blue-White Game parking permit with their 2019 season tickets and parking last sum- mer. Fans attending the Blue-White Game who did not have 2019 season tickets and a season parking permit will be charged $20 for parking. Beginning March 2, car parking can be purchased for $20 in advance by visiting the Bryce Jordan Center ticket o

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