IUP remains undefeated and is headed to the PSAC Championship Game. No surprise there, as IUP has been the class of the league all year. The Crimson Hawks started slowly again against Mercyhurst but turned it on in the second half to remain unbeaten. This team is loaded and motivated. No way they lose in the championship game.
• As everyone around here knows, I am a diehard Penn State fan. That said, I have never believed that Penn State is worthy of going to the college football playoff. They have a lot of talent, but they’re not that good. The Nittany Lions should have won at Michigan State, even with the crazy three and a half hour weather delay. But when you can’t run the ball again, and can’t stop the pass it makes for a long afternoon. Penn State had a chance to put the game away late but dropped a pass that would have put them in field goal range with a chance to run out the clock and win the game. They didn’t come through when they needed to. Now they need to regroup or the year could go south in a hurry.
• You can forget about Saquon Barkley winning the Heisman Trophy. He should have had it wrapped up by now. Unfortunately, Penn State’s offensive line has been horrendous. They can’t block anyone and every time he gets the ball Barkley has to dodge multiple defenders. Barkley is a once in a generation talent. Unfortunately, even with big games against Rutgers, Nebraska and Maryland, it will be too late to win college football’s biggest prize.
• The college football season doesn’t really get started until we get to November. Penn State went down, but the shocker of the day was Ohio State being manhandled at Iowa. The Big Ten, which once looked like it could have two teams in the playoff, will be lucky to have one, and that is provided Wisconsin runs the table. There will probably be even more upsets before the month is over. Count on it.
• The Steelers are a second half team. They are all set up to have a great finish to the 2017 season. Pittsburgh faces several teams who have lost their starting quarterbacks (Indianapolis, Green Bay and Houston) and have five of their last seven games at home. The Steelers could easily go 7-1. But to do that Big Ben Roethlisberger has to be better than he was in the first half of the year. Ben has been off and he knows it. The Steelers are close to being healthy. Now they need Number 7 to lead them to Minnesota for the big game.
• The Pens lost their latest back to back game. They’re now winless in back to backs this season. The NHL schedule makers didn’t do them any favors by given them nineteen back to backs on the schedule. The good news in this latest loss was the play of Tristan Jarry. For the time being he’s the new backup to Matt Murray. Jarry was terrific against the Flames.
Remember, this is a kid that was supposed to spend most of the year at Wilkes Barre. Instead, he may stay in Pittsburgh earlier than expected.
• The World Series, known as The Fall Classic, was classic indeed. It was a heck of a series and great for baseball. I’m thrilled that the Houston Astros finally won it all. I moved to Louisiana in 1980 and the Astros were the team that people followed down there. I listened to Astros games on WJBO in Baton Rouge, and used to watch some of their games on cable. I also made many a trip to Houston to see the team play in the old Astrodome. I’ll never forget the first time I saw a game in what was once called The Eighth Wonder of the World. The Stros had some great teams in the 1980s but never made it to a World Series. They lost in their only other previous Series appearance prior to this year’s World Series. The Astros’ win will do a lot to help a city that is still recovering from the devastating hurricane. Well done, Stros.
• The Dodgers did not win it all, but retired broadcaster Vin Scully made headlines over the weekend. When asked about the current protests in the NFL, Scully said he would never watch an NFL game again. While he was famous for his baseball calls, Scully did NFL games on CBS for more than a decade. I’m guessing he isn’t the only one who will boycott the NFL for good.
