IUP is back where it belongs … in the NCAA football playoffs. The Crimson Hawks did what they were supposed to do down the stretch and finished the year 10-1. Their reward is a first-round matchup against familiar foe Shepherd at Miller Stadium. The two teams have met four times in the playoffs, with Shepherd winning three of the four. I’m going with the Hawks to win this time around.
• The NFL should get rid of Thursday night games. They’re awful, and I’m not just writing that because the Steelers stunk it up in Cleveland. It’s totally unfair for players to have to play on such a short week. The NFL always talks about player safety. Thursday night games don’t do anything to help keep players safe. The NFL players want to eliminate the games, but as long as there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake it probably will never happen. And that’s too bad for everyone involved.
• The Steelers had a golden opportunity to make a big statement in the playoff race in Cleveland. Instead they left the city of their bitter rival with more questions than answers. The Steelers’ offense is a mess. The wide receivers can’t make any plays and the running game is pretty much non-existent. The offensive line has been a major disappointment this year as well. When the Steelers fell behind by two touchdowns I felt like they had no chance to win the game with their struggling offense. And now with all the injures, think Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson and James Conner, it’s hard to be optimistic about the Steelers going forward.
• Unless I’m completely wrong in my evaluation, Mason Rudolph isn’t the Steelers’ franchise quarterback of the future. The Steelers supposedly had a first-round grade on Rudolph when he came out of Oklahoma State, so the kid obviously has talent. Yet after watching him play several games I’m not convinced he has what it takes to be a starter in the NFL. Rudolph is a tough kid, and he’s been handcuffed by a lack of players on offense. Still, his decision making leaves a lot to be desired. I hope I’m wrong about Rudolph, I really do. In the meantime, I think it’s time for Kevin Colbert to start looking for his next franchise quarterback.
• Cleveland’s Myles Garrett got what he deserved when he was thrown out of the NFL for the rest of the season. The suspension should carry over to next season as well. Garrett could have seriously hurt Mason Rudolph when he ripped off his helmet and hit Rudolph in the head with it. It was one of the worst acts I’ve ever seen on a football field. The NFL can’t put up with antics like this. I applaud Maurkice Pouncey for coming to the defense of his quarterback. He’s a hero all throughout the league for doing so. Pouncey deserved to be suspended, but I think three games are too much for him. We’ll see if the NFL agrees when he files his appeal.
• Why do the Steelers always throw the ball when they have a third and one or fourth and one? They did that a few times against the Browns, and they’ve done it repeatedly the last few years. Why can’t they play Pittsburgh Steelers football and try to run the ball down their opponents’ throats? Chuck Noll would be perplexed.
• The NFL needs to crack down on the helmet-to-helmet hits on wide receivers. It was painful to watch JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson after they were drilled in Cleveland. Both players were in serious distress. Both could be out of action for a few games. More importantly, both could have suffered serious injuries. I love seeing good, tough physical football. I don’t like seeing defenseless players getting injured by shots to the head.
• My beloved Penn State Nittany Lions frustrate the heck out of me. Yes, they beat Indiana at home to go to 9-1. Penn State should have dominated the Hoosiers. Instead, they struggled to beat Indiana. I give Penn State credit for the long drive late in the game that chewed up the clock and put the game out of reach. Still, it should never have come to that. Penn State will most likely get clobbered in Columbus this week when it faces Ohio State. I think the Buckeyes are the best team in college football. They don’t just win every week..they blow teams away. If I had to pick a team to win it all right now I would go with Ohio State. And I get no pleasure whatsoever writing that.
• It only took seven tries for Pitt to finally beat North Carolina. And it took overtime for that to happen. Don’t look now but the Panthers are 7-3 for the first time since 2015. They nearly blew it against the Tar Heels, but managed to pull out the win. They have a chance for a ten win season. Who saw that coming?
• The Penguins have had terrible luck when it comes to injuries this year. Sidney Crosby is now out until at least the new year. He joins Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist on the injured list. And don’t forget, the Pens just got Evgeni Malkin back in the lineup. The Pens just need to find a way to tread water the next six weeks. It won’t be easy. I guess the only good news is that Crosby’s injury didn’t come late in the year where he could have missed the playoffs.
• Give Ben Cherington a chance as general manager of the Pirates. He’s young and helped build a championship team in Boston. While he won’t have the huge budget he had in Beantown, Cherington comes to the Steel City with a good track record for drafting and developing talent. That’s something that was lacking under Neal Huntington. Cherington gets a lot of credit for building up the Red Sox farm system. He’ll need to be good in Pittsburgh, because Bob Nutting isn’t suddenly going to start throwing out million dollar contracts.
• I already like what Travis Williams has done as the new head of the Pirates front office. He deserves a lot of credit for reaching out to 1979 World Series champion Omar Moreno and re-hire him after Omar was fired by the club the day before. Turns out that Williams wasn’t even aware of the move until reading about it in the media. The Pirates took a bad PR hit when they let Moreno go. They got a great PR boost when Williams brought Moreno back.
• RIP Vera Clemente. The widow of the great Roberto passed away over the weekend. She will be missed.
