Mike Poorman

Henry Kissinger was a master of the press conference. Penn State head coach James Franklin — who has been through a number of wars himself, the latest being his toughest — is not far behind. Kissinger, the former American diplomat and U.S. Secretary of State, once opened a press conference with, “Does anyone have any questions…

In the days after Penn State’s frustrating 20-12 loss at Ohio State in 2023, head coach James Franklin floated the idea of moving his traditional weekly noon press conference in Beaver Stadium from Tuesdays to Mondays. The next Saturday, Penn State rebounded with a 33-24 victory over Indiana — coached by Tom Allen in his…

PASADENA, Calif. — The headline says it all. Nothing tops about Penn State’s stunning and historic 42-37 loss to UCLA on Saturday in the Rose Bowl. It was real and it was spectacular — if you are a Bruins fan. For formerly seventh-ranked Penn State, the bitter disappointment is real. Penn State began the season ranked…

PASADENA, Calif.  — James Franklin wrote a check that he couldn’t cash. Twice, in a period of eight days. First, against one of the top teams in the Big Ten and in all of college football, the Oregon Ducks, who came into a White Out, ran out to a 17-3 lead and then held on…

Post-White Out double-overtime, I had a choice to make: James Franklin’s post-game press conference and the inevitable explanation of an unexplainable 4-21. Or Dan Lanning’s, and hear what college football’s most dynamic coach had to say. Forty-four years ago, I was faced with kind of the same choice, in the same stadium: On Nov. 14,…

BIG. There is no other way to describe the White Out in Beaver Stadium on Saturday, when third-ranked Penn State faces BIG Ten Conference foe sixth-ranked Oregon at 7:30 p.m. on NBC. How BIG? This BIG… BIG RANKINGS: Penn State is No. 2 in this week’s Coaches poll and No. 3 in The Associated Press…

Who will be “College GameDay’s” celebrity guest picker when the ESPN college football traveling road show hits campus? The top brass at ESPN is already brainstorming and making some preliminary calls. Their goal: Have the picker locked down by Thursday. I have my own ideas about who it should be. (See No. 9.) We already…

OK, the party’s over. Penn State football’s preseason schedule of essentially home exhibition games against three non-Power 4 teams, and very non-powerful opponents, has ended with the Nittany Lions 3-0. Counting their 52-6 victory over Villanova in Beaver Stadium on Saturday, the Nittany Lions manhandled their opening three foes 132-17. Now, it’s those opponents’ turn…

I think in all the years I have been writing about Penn State football, I have never heard so much talk about overthinking. I could be wrong. But I don’t want to overthink it. There was this on Saturday from senior quarterback Drew Allar, 41 games and a couple mil into his Penn State career,…

You cannot be better than 2-0. Which is Penn State’s record. It will very (VERY) likely go to 3-0 after Saturday’s game against Villanova after the Nittany Lions’ preseason schedule wraps up. But, two games into the highly-anticipated 2025 season, there are enough concerns about the second-ranked 2025 Nittany Lions to go around. At least…