DmitriPetrovich asks: If you could add any Villanova athletics alum to the 2025 PSU Football roster, who would you choose?
Some good choices:
-Howie Long (NFL Hall of Fame NFL DE, Father of Eagles legend)
-Brian Westbrook (Eagles legendary RB in 2000s, NFL “Hall of Very Good”)
-Christian Benford (Current Starting CB, Buffalo Bills)
-Al Atkinson (Linebacker, 10 year NFL Career 1965-1974. Brother almost became a Saint)
-Brian Finneran (Multi-Year NFL Starting WR, 11 year NFL Career, 6’5″ Madden Legend)
-Saddiq Bey (6’7″ 215 lbs, Strength + Speed, Went to DeMatha #FootballSchool)
-Mikal Bridges (7’0″ wingspan, self-admitted “Football Fan,” Ran 285+ total miles during games in the 2024 season- more than any other player in recorded NBA history)
This is a great question! I admittedly know very little about Villanova athletes, so I’m going to choose from the ones you listed here. And for me, it boils down to areas of opportunity for the 2025 Nittany Lions; and defensive line, running back, and secondary are positions that decidedly do NOT fall into that category. Also, while an elite basketball athlete might provide some assistance, I’m not sure where they would fit in in this lineup.
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Which leaves Al Atkinson and Brian Finneran. While our depth at LB makes me a little nervous, the fact that Atkinson played over 50 years ago makes me nervous. Taking an elite athlete at their peak from the game played a half century ago and plug him into a game that has evolved as much as football has over the last fifty years (heck, over the last 15) doesn’t instill a ton of confidence in me.
So I’m going with Finneran. Because while I’m super impressed with how our trio of transfer wide receivers have performed through two weeks, I’ll absolutely take an NFL wideout to supplement that WR room. And while I spent multiple paragraphs justifying this take, I’m not sure that it’s particularly close.
UTmountainlion asks: Q2: Kaytron4Heisman, amirite?
He looks GOOD. I’m sure as heck glad he stayed this year when so many expected him to leave, and I hope he builds on that beautiful scamper last week.
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But unfortunately, the Heisman is the prom king of football award, so that’s not happening.
Schwartzyy asks: Is Allar a true Heisman contender? I don’t mean be to be a hater, there is plenty of that going around for Drew, but he doesn’t look it consistently on the field. He has moments of “oh wow that was an NFL throw” to “Come on Drew he’s wide open how did you miss that.” The National media and Vegas (8th best odds) seem to think so. This question will likely answer itself on Sept. 27, but wanted to get your opinion.
Drew, on the other hand…definitely could happen. It really will depend on how he plays in the bigger games of this season. If he does half decently against Oregon and/or Ohio State, let alone any potential championship game, then his odds could increase.
LarzLion asks: Joggling the memory banks here.
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What football game (Penn State or otherwise) was your most memorable moment that you attended in person? Your most painful moment?
My most memorable:
Oct. 16th, 2016: Block 6 game. PSU-24, OSU-21.
Runner up: October 13th, 2013: 4OT Michigan
Most painful:
Oct 28, 1989: Alabama block FG. UA-17, PSU-16
Runner up: October 23, 2004: 6-4 Iowa.
My most memorable are probably the two you mentioned, plus 2005 Ohio State. The SMU playoff game last year was also pretty memorable because of its broader implications, but that could be recency bias talking.
My most painful, and I’m not sure it’s close, was November 6, 1999, when PSU was on track to go to the national title game and instead lost on a last second field goal (and then proceeded to lose the last two games of the season as well as this one). This is likely not a shock to anyone (least of all Hbeach) but I still think about that feeling in the stadium as the kick went through the uprights…and it’s not a great feeling to remember.
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Gerry Dincher asks: Which current Penn State Nittany Lion football player do you think will have the best N.F.L. career?
Dang, there’s so many good options on PSU’s current depth chart. I’m not sure that I can pick just one. Some of those that I think will be successful at the next level are Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zane Durant, Zakee Wheatley, and, after last week, Chaz Coleman. I might just be very reactionary, but sure, I’ll go all in on Coleman. He looked darn impressive last week and I’m excited to see what he is able to do against stiffer competition.
Meykadan asks: There are generally around 30 to 32 five-star recruits in an NCAA football recruiting class each year, with NIL money and no current spending cap I feel we should we have MORE? or at least one each year? are we not one of the top 30 tier destinations? how do we change that?
So much of Penn State’s real and perceived recruiting issues recently have to do with, and I’m sure no one will be surprised here, the shift of the recruiting hotbeds of the country to not just Texas but Florida and Georgia instead of the previous hotbeds of the midwest and Pennsylvania. A national profile isn’t unique today like it was forty years ago, since every game can be found online on any given Saturday, and the draw of a kid’s family being able to come to see him play week in and week out in person is a huge draw. That’s not to say Penn State doesn’t have its advantages, of course, but it’s not the same as it used to be, and while we all know there’s a uniqueness there, it’s not as wholly unique as it might have been in our eastern power heyday before we joined the Big Ten.
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PSU_Lions_84 asks: On a 1-10 scale, how likely is it that people who bitterly complain about State football are miserable in most other aspects of their lives?
It’s gotta be a ten or above. Heck, maybe even a 100.
BW042 asks: What will the new uniforms look like under Adidas?
Exactly the same as they do now, except instead of the swoosh they’ll have the three bars (and yes, those three bars will be where the nike logo is right now).
Jarosity asks: I spent the offseason watching as many year in review videos as I could find for PSU on the internets. Really awesome! The 1960s videos really use a lot of super-slo-mo! Every highlight is epic, even in losses. Anyway, I noticed that at times the lion mascot and logos were more similar to lions from the subsaharan savannah rather than the temperate mountains of central PA. Also, there wasn’t an official logo for sports before the chipmunk emerged in the 80s to standardize our identity as a mountain lion?! My question: when did other universities start codifying their logos and mascot identities? Were we late to the party or were things just more informal back in the day?
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It’s more likely that we were pretty late to the party. I know, you’re probably shocked – Penn State late to adapt to anything new or changed?
I’m going to use the Tulane Green Wave as my example, simply because I found myself in a wiki spiral about them last week after answering the question about Northwestern. It sounds like Tulane first had their logoed mascot in the ‘60s, with a revised mascot in the ‘80s – and the Green Wave wasn’t exactly a world beating program. If they could do it, why couldn’t PSU?
Homer Ozzie & The Straw asks: I’m taking my kids out for the first time this weekend (son came last year but we couldn’t do much of anything besides the game). We won’t have a ton of time but any suggestions on one or two things to do with them? I don’t really feel like waiting on line for an hour for ice cream.
Kids are 15 and 12.
Gameday, you should definitely be around for the team and band’s arrival to the stadium, which many families love to see at least once.
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If you’re in town on Friday evening, there’s a field hockey game at 6 against Bucknell. There’s also a State High game at 7pm versus Cumberland Valley.
I’m interested to see what other suggestions folks have – please leave them in the comments!
EagleLionSly asks: There have been whispers of the SEC & B1G working together to try to standardizing college football like the NCAA is supposed to be doing. One of the sticking points was conference games with the B1G at 9 & SEC at 8. It seems that has been worked out with the SEC going to 9 games in 2026.
What do you think the next step will be between the two conferences & what do you think the final outcome will be if they continue to work together?
Eventually, I do expect a post-season playoff tournament that is just the Big Ten and SEC, and they may pull out of the main college football playoffs (talk for this will likely heighten the first time a non-Big Ten or SEC team wins the title under the expanded tournament format).
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But what I expect to see first is the equivalent of the Big Ten-ACC basketball challenge – where each team in one conference is matched up to a team in the other, in tiers, and on a rotating basis year to year (or perhaps in two year increments, with home-and-homes scheduled for every pair). They could even do pairs of those games, but I’d find that less likely as most SEC (and heck, many Big Ten, not even Penn State excepted) teams schedule some gimme games against FCS programs.
MightyMax409 asks: I asked this in a mailbag or a comment section a while back but I think it’s worth bringing up again. With AI seeping into every aspect of our live now, do you think AI is designing or calling plays for any major college or pro football teams yet? Is it coming in the near future? Or do we all look at the weird AI art and crazy hallucination answers and disregard it in a serious game like FOOTBALL?
I certainly fucking hope not.
You know the first time that AI calls a play, there’ll be multiple penalties; on the pre-snap formation, like too many men in the back field, or during the course of the play, like an ineligible man downfield.
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Those would of course also be quickly followed (or preceded) by a purposeful 12 men on the field penalty, too.
LarzLion asks: What do you think of PSU MBB playing the I-81 U Shippensburg this year?
I’m for it! I love the idea of an exhibition game, especially with as much turnover as this Penn State squad had in the offseason, with only one player (Freddy Dilione) returning from last year’s team. Basketball games aren’t expensive to start with, but it’s a great idea to get folks in the door with free tickets (and spending money on concessions) and hopefully, get them to buy in to the team quickly without a preseason-hyped name like Ace Baldwin was a bit for us last year.
LionsfanAllan asks: With all the handwringing from half the fans about Penn St.’s “slow start”, my question is………………why does my wife need a new purse every 4 months?
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Man, everyone’s got their thing! Mine’s Penn State merch, where I need to buy new stuff every month or so (at least I’m not buying both pairs of new PSU nikes every year, though we’ll see what adidas comes up with on the branded shoe front). Mine is also too many books (romantasy is decidedly my jam) and Star Wars merchandise, so I get it. It could always be something worse that she spends money on, right?
PSU1979dude asks: Pumpkin pie or blueberry pie
Yes
UTmountainlion asks: I like ice cream. I think that the Creamery could launch some opponent-themed flavors every year. Obviously, this week would be Vanillanova. OSU week could feature Buckeye Tears, a salty chocolate and peanut butter treat. Oregon week might be Animal Quackers, a chocolate vanilla swirl with miniature duck shaped animal crackers mixed in. My 10 minute search of the internet did not return any such names from the past, but maybe you our your faithful readers can remember some. So, has there ever been an opponent themed ice cream and if not, should we pitch this?
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I think once my Kaytron4Heisman campaign is a success, I have a real shot at selling this idea.
I love this idea, but I don’t see how it could ever work – especially in the weeks with back to back opponents.
The Creamery is cow-to-cone in what, three days? And they don’t exactly make small-batch flavors. I can’t imagine that their new flavors sell outrageously well, even if they aren’t opponent-themed; imagine the amounts left over by the time the next opponent is up. I just have visions of the Creamery come Thanksgiving weekend, not having room to stock Death By Chocolate, Bittersweet Mint, or WPSU Coffee Break because they have too many tubs of Caramel Pecan Terrapin or Scarlet Velvet with Knight Chocolate chips (I’m not as good at this flavor-naming as you are),
I think one-time flavors leading up to the playoff, maybe, is a great idea; but in-regular season just feels too unwieldy when you draw it out to its logical conclusion.
