Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/450893
T H E M O N T H I N . . . When you read Franklin's words from last January, you get a sense of how, for the most part, the Penn State head coach has stayed the course – almost remarkably so – with his message and vision that he articulated on Day One. (Except that promising to blow up balloons at birthday parties part…) The man has remained on point. MIKE POORMAN STATECOLLEGE.COM The Pittsburgh-bred Shoop has been with Franklin for a while now, back through their 3-year tenure at Vanderbilt, and clearly feels comfortable with his boss and a program in a growth phase. In contrast, LSU coach Les Miles, despite a national championship seven years ago, has hit a rough patch lately and his regime could be in jeopardy by this time next year if the Tigers must endure a 2015 season re- sembling recent ones. Finally, it is perhaps another sign that the Big Ten is on an uptick relative to the big, bad, free-spending conference down south. And that Penn State is ready to do its part to compete fiscally for the top coaching talent necessary to compete, not just for a single aberrational bowl season but in the long-term. DAVID JONES PENNLIVE.COM I think there needs to be some explanation as to why the NCAA... acted outside their jurisdiction, why Emmert was able to act in the way that he did, and clearly the documents have proven he was not an honest broker in this situation. JAY PATERNO SPEAKING ON ESPN'S "OUTSIDE THE LINES" Players determined who won and lost games. Not the NCAA. Not Mark Emmert. MICHAEL MAUTI @Michael_Mauti Congrats @sficken1 on the Pinstripe Bowl win. I hope my old @yankees locker treated you well. DEREK JETER @PlayersTribune Happy for my boy @sficken1 for shutting up everyone that hated on him a few years ago. Congrats to the PSU football team! ANTHONY FERA @anthonyfera58 T W E E T S O P I N I O N S Q U O T E S FOOTBALL PSU reschedules visit to Virginia Tech The first gridiron meeting between Penn State and Virginia Tech has been moved to 2020, two years earlier than originally scheduled. The Nittany Lions will travel to Blacksburg on Sept. 12, 2020, and the Hokies will visit University Park on Sept. 6, 2025. The games were originally scheduled for Sept. 17, 2022, at Lane Stadium and Sept. 16, 2023, in Beaver Stadium and had been announced in 2013. Despite having campuses located less than 400 miles apart, Penn State and Virginia Tech have never met on the football field. The Nittany Lions have played Virginia (going 5-3 all-time against the Cavaliers), VMI (1-0) and William & Mary (4-0) from The Old Do- minion, earning a cumulative 10-3 on- field record. Virginia Tech is among several regional opponents on Penn State's upcoming schedules. The Nittany Lions will play nine Big Ten Conference games annually starting in 2016 and have three non- conference contests every year starting in 2016. Penn State will host Army on Oct. 3, 2015, as coach James Franklin's Nittany Lions and the Black Knights meet for the first time since 1979. Longtime rivals Penn State and Pitt will meet every sea- son from 2016-19 in their first contests since 2000. In addition, the Nittany Li- ons will play in Pittsburgh in 2016 and '18, and the Panthers will visit Beaver Stadium in 2017 and '19. Penn State is also set to renew its rival- ry with West Virginia. It will play host to the Mountaineers in 2023 and travel to Morgantown in 2024. The Nittany Lions are scheduled to play Temple the next two seasons, open- ing the 2015 season on Sept. 5 against the Owls at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. ■