Penn State category, Page 4
‘Half relief, half excitement’: Why Penn State football’s win vs. MSU means so much
Penn State head coach Terry Smith turned to look at quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien as the seconds ticked toward their team’s 28-10 win over Michigan State on Saturday evening. O’Brien was starting to get sentimental. “I’m looking at him sideways like, we don’t normally have these conversations,” Smith said following...
2 Penn State seniors take home Big Ten Player of the Week honors
For the first time in 2025, Penn State is represented in the Big Ten’s weekly awards. Senior running back Kaytron Allen won the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week nomination, while senior defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton earned Defensive Player of the Week honors. The Nittany Lions defeated Michigan State, 28-10,...
‘Just so blessed’: Terry Smith shares deeply emotional reaction to 1st win as Penn State head coach
UNIVERSITY PARK — Terry Smith continually referenced a “storm” his Penn State team was in the middle of over the past two months. The Nittany Lions had lost six straight games, seen coach James Franklin fired and lost starting quarterback Drew Allar to injury. Five of those six losses came...
Penn State showed what this season was supposed to be with ‘old-school’ effort against Michigan State
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Penn State enjoyed Saturday’s win over Michigan State as you might expect a team to after breaking a six-game losing streak. Interim coach Terry Smith got a Gatorade bath and was carried off the sideline. The locker room was loud, and the smiles were everywhere in...
James Franklin hired as Virginia Tech’s coach, just over a month after Penn State fired him
BLACKSBURG, Va. — James Franklin was hired as Virginia Tech’s coach on Monday, a little more than a month after he was fired during his 12th season at Penn State. The Hokies became the first Power 4 football program to fill a coaching vacancy this season. Franklin was set to...
Penn State has ‘genuine interest’ in hiring this former Big Ten coach, insider says
Penn State Athletics Director Pat Kraft is still going through the process of hiring the Nittany Lions next head football coach. Some names have come off the board as coaches have agreed to extensions with their current school. However, it seems as though former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald may be...
‘We deserve this’: Penn State celebrates emotional win over Michigan State
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Terry Smith took off his headset, shuffled his way to the edge of the sideline and looked on as quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer took a knee at Michigan State, stamping Penn State’s first Big Ten win this season and first win of any kind in 63 days....
Kaytron Allen, Devonte Ross each score twice in Penn State win
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Ethan Grunkemeyer threw two touchdown passes to Devonte Ross, Kaytron Allen ran for 181 yards and two touchdowns and Penn State defeated Michigan State, 28-10, on Saturday to snap a six-game losing streak. Grunkemeyer completed 8 of 13 passes for 127 yards for the Nittany Lions...
Melih Tunca’s near-perfect shooting leads Penn State to win
PHILADELPHIA — Freshman Melih Tunca scored a career-best 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting, reserve Freddie Dilione V added 16 and Penn State beat La Salle, 83-69, on Saturday. Kayden Mingo scored 14 points, and reserve Ivan Juric had 11 for the Nittany Lions (4-0), whose bench scored 40 points. The...
Report: Former Penn State coach James Franklin in ‘talks’ with Virginia Tech about opening
Former Penn State football coach James Franklin may be closing in on his next job. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on “College GameDay” on Saturday morning there is interest between Franklin and Virginia Tech regarding its open coaching position. “Former Penn State coach James Franklin and Virginia Tech are engaged in...
Land Grant Trophy up for grabs as Penn State visits Michigan State
Maybe both teams are done with losing. Or maybe it’s something bigger as Penn State finishes preparations for its Big Ten meeting with Michigan State on Saturday afternoon in East Lansing. Perhaps emotions are running high with the Land Grant Trophy at stake. Let’s play it safe and say it’s...
Penn State is ‘sharp and ready to write’ ahead of meeting with Michigan State
STATE COLLEGE — Interim head coach Terry Smith has continually talked about a “storm” Penn State must continue to push through to see the other side of a six-game losing streak. That matches what junior safety King Mack said Wednesday night. Smith — even in his days as the cornerbacks...
4 reasons for Penn State to be concerned vs. Michigan State
Over the past two weeks, Penn State not only had to face the best that the Big Ten had to offer, but also the best the nation had to offer. And despite having the lead against the No. 2 team in the nation with a little under two minutes to...
Freddie Dilione V scores 19 off bench, Penn State beats Navy
UNIVERSITY PARK — Freddie Dilione V scored 19 points off the bench, freshman Kayden Mingo added 16 and Penn State held off Navy, 80-71, on Tuesday night. Penn State has started 3-0 for the fourth straight season and fifth time in the last seven years. Navy got within 63-60 with...
Coach Terry Smith touts Ethan Grunkemeyer as Penn State’s ‘quarterback for the future’
Navigating through a three-game stretch against Iowa (road), No. 1 Ohio State (road) and No. 2 Indiana (home) would be difficult for an established quarterback. Attempting to do it in your first three career starts? Three words sum up that task: baptism by fire. Penn State redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan...
Penn State’s much-maligned passing offense finally breaks out in Indiana loss
UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State has been searching all season for downfield passing, well before things went off the rails with James Franklin’s firing and Drew Allar’s season-ending injury. Despite another gut-wrenching loss as the Nittany Lions nearly upset No. 2 Indiana, quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer led some major leaps forward...
Dominick Stewart scores 18 points on 6 treys in Penn State win
WEST HAVEN, Conn. — Dominick Stewart scored 18 points and made six 3-pointers, Kayden Mingo had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists and Penn State went on the road to beat New Haven, 87-43, on Saturday. Penn State trailed 10-9 after the opening eight minutes before scoring the next...
Penn State nearly pulls shocker, but No. 2 Indiana scores toe-tapping TD in final minuteVideo
UNIVERSITY PARK — Omar Cooper Jr. jumped to catch a pass from Fernando Mendoza in the back of the end zone, sweeping his inside foot within the field of play to go ahead of Penn State 27-24 with 36 seconds remaining and save No. 2 Indiana from its first loss...
No. 2 Indiana looking for 1st win in Happy Valley against sinking Penn State
Terry Smith wants to give the Penn State football program something to feel good about, but he knows he’s running out of chances. The team’s interim coach will lead the Nittany Lions (3-5, 0-5 Big Ten) as they try to snap a five-game losing streak against No. 2 Indiana (9-0,...
College football coach buyouts piling up past $150 million, raising questions about whether the frenzy is sustainable
Merely three weeks into the season, UCLA’s DeShaun Foster and Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry were out of a job. Seven weeks later, a half-dozen more coaches were added to the list of midseason firings — and high-profile ones at that. A quarter of the SEC’s coaches who started the season...
Veteran wide receiver Liam Clifford brings ‘secret sauce’ to Penn State’s offense
UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State’s situation at quarterback is dire. Redshirt freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer has done a commendable job handling the huddle — albeit on a struggling unit as a whole — while relieving the injured Drew Allar. In trying to find a spark with two-quarterback sets, redshirt sophomore Jaxon...
No. 2 Indiana looks to validate CFP rank at reeling Penn State
One team in Saturday’s matchup between Indiana and Penn State is ranked No. 2 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, but it isn’t the team most experts would have predicted two months ago. The undefeated Hoosiers find themselves behind only Ohio State in the initial CFP rankings and will...
Penn State plans to throw downfield more against No. 2 Indiana
Penn State’s offense has struggled to stretch the field vertically this season, and the downfield passing game only became more futile after Drew Allar’s season-ending injury. In the last two games against Iowa and Ohio State, the Nittany Lions only completed one pass longer than 20 yards. Backup quarterback Ethan...
Tunca’s 19 points, Mingo’s 15 push Penn State 76-68 past Fairfield
UNIVERSITY PARK — Melih Tunca scored 19 points and had six assists, and Kayden Mingo added 15 points to lead Penn State to a 75-68 win over Fairfield in the season opener for both teams Monday night. Penn State trailed by three points with 2 minutes, 17 seconds remaining but...
Penn State football can still make a bowl game, but would it go?
Penn State football is roiled in the middle of an epic five-game losing streak. The Nittany Lions have lost their head coach, their starting quarterback and, certainly enough, their once-promising ways during the past month. But could this team still play in the postseason? Interim head coach Terry Smith was...
