Archive: November, 2012
Penn State hosts Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium on Saturday in the Nittany Lions' game of the season. The Inquirer's Joe Juliano previews the weekend and discusses the impact of Mike Mauti's injury with CineSport's Noah Coslov.
Join the Inquirer's Joe Juliano as he takes your Penn State football questions in a live chat, scheduled to start Wednesday at 3 p.m.
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Joe Juliano
The Big Ten officially welcomed Maryland as its 13th member school Monday, and all indications pointed to Rutgers joining the conference on Tuesday to boost its membership to 14.
Maryland, a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since the league’s inception in 1953, will begin competition in the Big Ten on July 1, 2014.
The admission of Maryland gives the Big Ten its eastern-most school in a major media market, Washington, D.C. It also gives Penn State a traditional rival; the two schools played 37 times in football before the series ended in 1993 upon the Nittany Lions’ admission into the Big Ten.
Joe Juliano
Michael Mauti, the heart and soul of the Penn State football team during a turbulent 2012, has played his last down for the Nittany Lions.
Coach Bill O’Brien said Monday via Twitter that the fifth-year senior linebacker will not be able to go in Saturday’s season finale against Wisconsin because of a left knee injury.
Mauti suffered the injury midway through the first quarter of Saturday’s game against Indiana, going down because of a block into his left knee by Hoosiers running back D’Angelo Roberts.
Joe Juliano
Penn State quarterback Matt McGloin was named Monday as the Big Ten's co-offensive player of the week for his record-breaking performance against Indiana.
McGloin, a fifth-year senior from Scranton, completed 22 of 32 passes for a career-best 395 yards and four touchdowns in Saturday's 45-22 win. The performance enabled him to become the Nittany Lions' single-season leader for most completions with 251 and most yards passing with 3,071.
The four touchdown passes gave McGloin 45 for his career, breaking Daryll Clark's all-time record of 43.
Ever since the NCAA sanctions were announced in July, reporters and fans have dangled around scenarios where coach Bill O'Brien will abort his contract at Penn State.
After Saturday's 45-22 win against Indiana, someone flat out asked the 43-year-old: Are you going to be Penn State's coach next year?
Surely that was an opportunity for O'Brien to pledge his commitment to Nittnay nation. Surely that was the time for him to say despite the national accolades he's receiving, despite the rumors that are floating around, he wants to be at Penn State for the long haul.
Joe Juliano
Penn State linebacker Michael Mauti, considered one of the inspirational leaders of his team's strong senior class, suffered an injury to his left knee in the first quarter of Saturday's game against Indiana and was carted off the field.
Mauti, a senior who underwent surgery last season for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee, was injured when he was blocked in the knee by Indiana running back D'Angelo Roberts.
Hoosiers center Collin Rahrig had engaged Mauti up high before Roberts came in low, the definition of a chop block, but no penalty was called.
Join our chat for live updates and commentary as Penn State hosts Indiana at Beaver Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon on Saturday.
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Joe Juliano
Penn State coach Bill O’Brien has been named to the watch list for the Paul Bear Bryant Coach of the Year award.
O’Brien, in his first season with the Nittany Lions, is one of 18 coaches named to the watch list for the honor, which will be awarded for the 27th time.
The Lions have a 6-4 record going into Saturday’s home game against Indiana but O’Brien also has had to work hard off the field in stabilizing the program in the wake of the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the resulting NCAA sanctions.
This season is Joe's fourth season on the paper's Penn State beat. He previously covered the Nittany Lions for United Press International from 1976 to 1984.
Emily Kaplan is the Inquirer’s fall intern covering the Nittany Lions. She is a senior at Penn State and has covered a variety of sports for the university’s student-run paper, The Daily Collegian. Over the last two years, she has reported for The Associated Press from State College.
A Montclair, N.J. native, she has also interned at MLB Network, NHL.com and covered the 2012 Olympics in London. Follow her on Twitter here @EKaplan24.
