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right play. Against Ohio State, they couldn't afford to just ride it out; having Bell and Cabinda on the field meant that they didn't have to. "In a big game like that, those are your big dogs and they want to be out there," defensive coordinator Brent Pry said. "That's the type of guys they are. Those two guys are so mature and so smart. They are great students of the game, they get it. As the play is turning over and the ball is snapped, they have great recognition of what's going on. That comes from experience. … It allows them to see things quickly and react quickly. I think that they both have good skill sets. Both of them are strong in cer- tain traits that allow them to physically be what you need to beat a team like Ohio State. They both tackled very well, particularly Brandon, [against] some very good athletes. They both play with a lot of confidence and a big chip on their shoulder, and they played very hard. They are definitely two guys who I would consider to be well-rounded line- backers." They proved their worth again two weeks later against Iowa. Cabinda had one of the biggest defensive plays of the season when he hurled himself into the line of scrimmage on a fourth-down quarterback sneak, causing C.J. Beath- ard to stagger backward, where he was dropped for a loss. Cabinda finished the game with nine tackles, while Bell added three stops, including a tackle for loss, as the Lions held Iowa to 30 yards rushing. Bell is wrapping up his final college season. He's one of the dozen seniors who will be saluted when the Nittany Lions play host to Michigan State in their season finale. But while he's play- ing his final games for Penn State, he's also passing the torch to a group of young players, several of whom helped keep the Lions' defense from collapsing in the midst of a savage run of early-sea- son injuries. That list includes Bowen, Cooper and true freshman Cam Brown. Bell said that it was gratifying to see those players step into key roles and help the team over- come its personnel losses. "I was just proud of all the young guys who stepped up, no matter the circumstances, espe- cially in the linebacker room," he said. "We were kind of dropping like flies for a little bit, and guys stepped up. That's all that matters." ■ F O O T B A L L Friday night lights? Not at Beaver Stadium Given the demand for college football programming, it was probably inevitable that the Big Ten would begin playing games on Friday night. Somewhat less inevitable, however, is Penn State's par- ticipation. The league announced earlier this month that it would begin playing Fri- day night games in 2017 as part of a new six-year media rights contract with ESPN/ABC and Fox. The announcement was followed promptly by a thanks-but- no-thanks statement from PSU. "Penn State has informed the Big Ten that we will not host football games on a Friday night," the university's statement read. "We are receptive to an occasional day game on the day a8er Thanksgiv- ing." ESPN and Fox are planning to air games on six weekends next year. The schedule includes two games on Sept. 1 (Washington at Rutgers, Utah State at Wisconsin), followed by games on Sept. 8 (Ohio at Purdue), Sept. 29 (Nebraska at Illinois), Oct. 13 (Northwestern at Mary- land) and Oct. 27 (Michigan State at Northwestern). In its statement, Penn State said it would play no more than one Friday night road game per season. Other Power Five conferences, notably the Pac-12 and the Atlantic Coast Con- ference, have already embraced Friday night football in a bid to give their schools more prime time exposure. The Big Ten is now looking to do the same. Mark Rudner, the Big Ten's senior as- sociate commissioner for television ad- ministration, told BTN.com that league o7cials saw a need for more nationally televised content. "If you look at other conferences like the Pac-12 and the ACC and even the Ivy League, they have had a clear presence on Friday night. In fact, over the last three years, each of those conferences has had double-digit games on Friday nights." The league did not consider schedul- ing Thursday night games because it didn't want to compete against the NFL, Rudner said. But in scheduling Friday night games, it's competing against high school football, and those con6icts are one of the main reasons for Penn State's disinterest in playing on Fridays. "We know how important Friday night high school football is to hundreds of communities across the Common- wealth," Penn State said in its statement. "In addition, we have considered the im- pact that a Friday night home football game would have on key community stakeholders. We support the confer- ence's desire to expand exposure for Big Ten Football on national platforms, pro- viding content at high demand times, and we've agreed to play no more than one away game each year on a Friday night." Several of the conference's other high-profile schools have been luke- warm on the prospect of playing on Fri- day, and one – Michigan – has been downright hostile, saying it will not play on that night, home or away. Ohio State hasn't ruled it out but has said it would only do so during its fall break, which is typically in mid-October, and would only host one Friday game every three years, at most. Michigan State will host Friday night games, but only on Labor Day weekend. Iowa and Wis- consin have also said they would con- sider hosting games under certain conditions. –M.H.

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