Category: Editorial Opinion

Penn State’s Drew Allar improves draft stock amidst lingering questions [opinion]

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos… STATE COLLEGE – Someone asked Drew Allar on Wednesday about Danny O’Brien, the former Penn State quarterbacks coach who’s now on James Franklin’s staff at Virginia Tech. O’Brien was a mentor and a friend to Allar. Still is. “I talk to Danny like every day,” he said after an impressive workout at Penn State’s Pro Day. “He’s somebody I really look up to. He taught me a lot about football. He …

Penn State’s Matt Campbell targets Iowa State players, team building [opinion]

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos… More than 4,000 NCAA Division I football players have put their names in the transfer portal since Jan. 2, a number never seen before. At Penn State, 48 players have entered the portal or committed to new schools. Combined with 22 players from the 2025 roster who are out of eligibility or who have declared for the NFL draft, the Nittany Lions have had a staggering 70 roster spots to fill. So …

As Ethan Grunkemeyer enters transfer portal, Penn State’s Matt Campbell must rebuild roster [opinion]

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos… Penn State football coach Matt Campbell faces a plethora of questions as he begins to reconstruct the roster when the NCAA transfer portal opens Friday. At least 20 players from the 2025 team are planning to put their names in the portal. At least 23 others have exhausted their eligibility. With only 10 commitments from high school seniors so far, Campbell and general manager Derek Hoodjer …

Penn State owes thanks to Terry Smith for his calm leadership [opinion]

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos… NEW YORK – Penn State’s 2025 football season was disappointing, tumultuous, strange and so much more. The Nittany Lions began the season ranked second in the top 25, dropped six straight games and then won their final four. They saw their head coach, James Franklin, fired the day after a second straight loss to a prohibitive underdog and nine months after he led them to the College Football …

Penn State gains relief after win, wonders what might have been [opinion]

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos… EAST LANSING, Mich. – They celebrated Saturday night like they won a championship that they expected to win when all of this began. They carried their coach on their shoulders when it was over. They raised a clunky trophy and posed for photos with it. They banged lockers in the bowels of Spartan Stadium. All that after Penn State’s 28-10 victory over hapless Michigan State for the Land Grant …

Penn State’s Terry Smith draws strength from his daughter [opinion]

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos… Terry Smith has been reliable, direct and effective since he joined the Penn State football staff as James Franklin’s first assistant coach in 2014. That hasn’t changed since he became the interim head coach last month when director of athletics Pat Kraft fired Franklin. “He’s a straight-up guy,” linebacker Amare Campbell said. “He calls everybody out. It doesn’t matter who you are, what your …

Penn State players, coaches describe unknown as nerve-wracking [opinion]

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos… Interim head football coach Terry Smith described Ethan Grunkemeyer as Penn State’s quarterback of the future this week. That might be true, but Grunkemeyer could just as easily wind up at another school after the season ends. It all depends on what the next Nittany Lions coach thinks of him or if he brings in a hand-picked quarterback. To describe the emotions and the tension inside the Lasch …