Columns
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Poorman’s ALLar-22: Shelling Maryland, Spying Michigan and Frustrating Franklin (Again)
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Drew Allar that Penn State and James Franklin and Mike Yurcich thought they were getting when the five-star QB from Medina, Ohio, first arrived on campus last January came out of his shell in a big way on Saturday — 201 miles from Beaver Stadium, in the D.C. suburbs, of…
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Fall Bulb Planting: A Guide to Tulips, Daffodils, Muscari and More
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As autumn’s colors paint our landscape, it’s time to prepare for the beauty of spring. Planting tulip, daffodil and muscari (commonly known as grape hyacinth) bulbs in the fall ensures a colorful and welcome surprise when winter breaks to warmer days. In this practical guide, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of fall…
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Penn State vs. Indiana Takeaways: Your Expectations vs. James Franklin’s Reality, All 22 of the Them
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Four questions into James Franklin’s press conference following his team’s nail-biting and harrowing 33-24 victory over Indiana in Beaver Stadium on Saturday, a TV reporter tossed him a softball. This one was lobbed right over the plate. “James, there was so much emotion after last week and trying to flush it, move on, come back…
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Sign Stealing Is a Long-Time Practice Across College Football
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As a graduate assistant coach at the University of Virginia in 1992, I was watching a Florida State game a few weeks before we would be playing them. As FSU’s no-huddle offense was going up and down the field, I noticed their quarterback, Charlie Ward, using hand signals to relay play calls to his teammates.…
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We All Grieve
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Concerned friends want to know how I’m doing. Not because I’ve had a health crisis or a family crisis. Because I’m Jewish. I appreciate their asking. They’re right to think Hamas’ wanton taking of lives and hostages on Oct. 7 was especially traumatic for their Jewish friends. And the more details that emerge, the more…
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The World Needs a Lot More Kumbaya
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I have such a hard time watching the news these days. It just seems like the world is coming apart at the seams in real time. I wrote my last column about a recent visit to the Flight 93 Memorial with a message to “Never Forget” and for us to be on guard. Well, with…
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All-22 at The Horseshoe: No Offense, but Allar Got Little Help from Franklin, Yurcich or His Wide Receivers vs. the Buckeyes
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Penn State fans are seeing red after the Nittany Lions lost 20-12 to the Buckeyes in The Horseshoe. Again. This century, Penn State is a woeful 5-18 against its next-door neighbors, and just 1-11 since PSU beat OSU in 2011 in the Battle of Interim Head Coaches — Tom Bradley vs. Luke…
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From Blackledge and Shaffer to Clifford and Allar: The Growing Lion of Penn State Quarterbacks from Ohio
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Drew Allar of Medina, Ohio, who will start for the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions on Saturday vs. third-ranked Ohio State in Ohio Stadium, is just the latest in a rapidly growing line of high-caliber quarterbacks from the Buckeye State who chose to play their college football in Pennsylvania. That’s a lot of Ohio’s in one sentence…
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Nature’s Ways: The Mallard Duck — Common but Beautiful
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If it quacks like a duck … Actually, if it “quacks,” it is almost certainly not just any duck, but a mallard duck or a white domestic duck (which was derived from mallards). Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, are the most numerous and best-known ducks in the United States. While most people associate them with wetlands, mallards are…
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Almost Heaven: Decades of Misconceptions Erased on a Trip to West Virginia
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I want to move to West Virginia. OK, I’ll admit, those are seven inconceivable words for me. You see, way back on the fourth weekend of October 1982, a group of close buddies and I drove my van – yes, it was a conversion van (made by “Good Times Van” by the way!) – to…