Blue White Illustrated

T H E M O N T H I N . . . Ultimately, the job of selling out Beaver Stadium is Barbour's. And given the millions of dollars that home football games pump into PSU athletics' already- thin coffers, it may be Job No. 1. And Barbour knows it. Barbour told Travis Johnson of the Centre Daily Times that she believes one of the three non-Big Ten slots should be filled annually by a Power 5 conference team. Currently, Pitt fits the Power 5 bill for Penn State. The others do not – although an away game at Virgina Tech is slated for 2020, with the Hokies on tap to visit Happy Valley in 2025. MIKE POORMAN STATECOLLEGE.COM There are only two games on that [2015] schedule right now – vs. the Buckeyes and Spartans – that I'd make Penn State a definite underdog. James Franklin and his staff have a lot of work to do, particularly with a very young offensive line and in making do with leftover effects from the sanctions. But the schedule sets up very well, and with a bounce-back year from Christian Hackenberg, I could see nine wins or even more here. The margin of error, however, remains very small as we saw last year in losses to Illinois, Maryland and Northwestern and a great es- cape at Rutgers. BRIAN BENNETT ESPN.COM Penn State's NCAA sanctions are now in the rear-view mirror following the Jer- ry Sandusky scandal. No more postseason bans, no more scholarship reduc- tions, and no more cloud hanging over the program regarding when the penal- ties will end. Still, Penn State finds itself with no easy fixes to once again be- come nationally relevant on the field. The impact of the NCAA penalties could last into 2015. JON SOLOMON CBSSPORTS.COM Matt Brown's never been one for flair. He wasn't about to change his style in his final wrestling match at Rec Hall on Sunday. Brown, with his always-move- forward strategy, earned his first point of the afternoon when Rider's Ryan Wolfe was called for stalling. But even Wolfe's delay tactics didn't keep Penn State's relentless 174-pounder from posting a 14-3 major decision. After the referee raised Brown's hand, the Utah native took just a few seconds to wave to all four sets of bleachers to acknowledge the 6,509 fans and quickly jogged off the mat as the No. 7 Nittany Lions ended the regular season with a 30-3 win over Rider. TRAVIS JOHNSON CENTRE DAILY TIMES O P I N I O N S FOOTBALL Lions set record for community service The Nittany Lion football program set the benchmark for success off the field during the summer and fall of 2014, completing a program-record of more than 1,900 total hours of community service. Beginning with volunteer hours at the Pennsylvania Special Olympics Summer Games on June 6 and ending on Dec. 26 with a visit to Sloan-Kettering Memori- al Hospital in New York, members of the football program participated in more than 30 community service events dur- ing the summer and fall semesters in 2014. The list of events includes 23 commu- nity service engagements during the football regular season. Highlighting the list was the United Way's Day of Caring, which takes place each October in State College. Approximately 50 members of the team used an off day during a bye week to give back to the community by helping with the upkeep of Centre Fur- nace Mansion. Penn State's community service ac- tivity adds to the program's strong se- mester off the field. The team pro- duced a record-setting academic per- formance during the fall 2014 semes- ter, with 51 squad members earning at least a 3.0 grade-point average, the second-highest total in program his- tory. The Lions set program records with 25 student-athletes earning Dean's List (GPA of 3.5 or better) recognition, 57 players owning a cumulative 3.0 GPA or higher after the fall semester and 21 true freshmen posting a 3.0 GPA or better last fall. Additionally, a Big Ten Conference- high 16 members of the football team had earned their degrees prior to the Nittany Lions' victory in the Pinstripe Bowl to rank in the top 10 percent among all Football Bowl Subdivision schools. ■

• Cover