Seth Engle

The confetti has cleared the turf of New Orleans’ Superdome as Notre Dame adjusts its focus toward the Orange Bowl, where it will face Penn State on Thursday. The national championship game is suddenly only a win away for two blue-blood programs which have, for years, fallen just short in the College Football Playoff era. …

The story of Penn State’s season has been its relentless ability to beat the teams it was anticipated to beat. But the two games the Nittany Lions were viewed as underdogs, against Ohio State and Oregon, ultimately served as the team’s only losses. James Franklin will be tasked with overcoming that trend against Notre Dame…

There was always a path. At the start of the year, it was nearly inconceivable. By the end of the regular season, it was somewhat favorable. Regardless of how it was perceived, there was always a path for Penn State to reach the national championship. The Nittany Lions are just a win away. They’ll face…

The Orange Bowl stage is set. Penn State will face Notre Dame, a program that outlasted Georgia for a 23-10 victory in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday and will look to return to the national championship for the first time in over a decade. The Nittany Lions, a rookie in the College Football Playoff, will…

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jake LaMotta took so many punches he earned himself a middleweight boxing championship and a movie about his life. He was known as “The Bronx Bull,” and he was sent to the canvas just once in 106 fights. LaMotta’s face would swell as his lips cracked with blood, but rarely did his…

Penn State entered the locker room with a 17-7 halftime lead over Boise State and a looming question mark entering the final two quarters of Tuesday’s Fiesta Bowl. Will standout defensive end Abdul Carter return to action? Carter, who was named the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year this season, was banged up on…

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — The sun sets over the Camelback Mountain and leaves a cool breeze in its wake. The desert is quiet, for now. But on Tuesday, it will erupt in a frenzy. The College Football Playoff has made its way west, where Penn State and Boise State will face off in the Fiesta…

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — James Franklin held a Penn State helmet and posed for a picture alongside Boise State’s Spencer Danielson. Between the two coaches was the coveted Fiesta Bowl trophy. Franklin and Danielson are at different points in their careers, they run programs on opposite sides of the country and play in two incomparable…

PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz — David Dunn didn’t know how much weight he could bench until he attempted his limit. That’s from the movie, “Unbreakable,” a scene Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki connects to the ups and downs of a football season. That a team does not know how much adversity it can withstand until…