Columns
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Battista: How Many Hats Does a Man Need?
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A couple years ago my wife and I were shopping at Dick’s Sporting Goods, and I saw a really nice U.S. Ryder Cup hat that was regularly $45 on sale for $15. I really wanted to buy the hat. My wife intervened and asked a nearby clerk, a young man, “How many hats does a…
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Matt Campbell Is Good for Penn State. And Vice Versa
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Two things can be true: Matt Campbell is good for Penn State. Saturday was proof positive of that — on, going onto and off the field. Also, though: Penn State is good for Matt Campbell. He said as much after his team’s 45-0 thrashing of Marshall on Saturday, his first game as the Nittany Lions’ head…
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With a Career-High 4 TD Passes, Penn State QB Rocco Becht Shows He’s the Real Deal
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Penn State’s Rocco Becht made his 40th start as a college quarterback on Saturday in Beaver Stadium. No one playing in the FBS season has more — and that would include any NFL rookies who got cut and might be trying to come back to play for LSU. In his 39 prior games as a starter…
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Penn State Game-Planning and Play-Calling: What Campbell, Mouser and Becht Have to Say
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Over the course of his 2024 and ’25 seasons at Iowa State, offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser called 1,813 plays. Give or take. The Cyclones’ offense ran that many. But head coach Matt Campbell, himself a former O-coordinator, quarterbacks coach Jake Waters and veteran quarterback Rocco Becht all had a voice — and, in Becht’s case,…
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Greek Life at Penn State: Plus Ça Change
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It was back to business as usual among the Woo people last weekend, which meant very loud outdoor parties, very many shirtless young males and very many young females wearing very skimpy outfits. If you’re just joining us, the Woo people are denizens of the Highlands, an enclave of oversized lodgings where the aforementioned young…
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It’s Time to Watch Penn State Linebacker Tony Rojas… Again
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Watch Tony Rojas. He’ll be back at linebacker for Penn State on Saturday against Marshall, the culmination of a journey that seemingly took him everywhere, but ultimately brought him back to Beaver Stadium. WATCH TONY ROJAS… • Return to the field where he last played in a college football game, 339 days ago, when Oregon…
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Hook: Weather Wonders and School Stress
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Six days a week, my wife and I like to get out for a walk around the neighborhood. We skip Sunday – a day of rest and all – but otherwise we try for 3 miles a day. We have a standard set of “courses” we use for our walks, but depending on weather we’ll…
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Penn State Football 2026: Floor, Ceiling, Expectations and Predictions
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Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN has high hopes for Matt Campbell and his Nittany Lions in the new head coach’s first season in Happy Valley. Higher, perhaps, than even the top row of the new west side stands in Beaver Stadium. In fact, almost no one in all of college football is more in on Campbell…
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How Does Penn State’s Matt Campbell Do in Head Coaching Debuts and Season Openers?
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Matt Campbell and the Nittany Lions open their 2026 season Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium against Marshall. It’s Campbell’s first game as Penn State’s head coach, and even though he’s just 46 years old, it will be his 15th season opener as a big boss in college football. So, Campbell has been in this spot…
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New International Students Adjust to Happy Valley With Hearts Still Connected to Home
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Each August for the last 10 years, I’ve written a column about Penn State’s newly-arrived international students. Why that emphasis, you ask? Well, to put it bluntly, our campus and community would be relatively bland without these foreign-born folks. Even though I’m a proud native of Central Pennsylvania, I’m telling you that folks from places…