Bowl season coming up
It is hard to believe that the college football season is coming to an end already, but this weekend is it for the regular season.
A lot of the lower-tier bowls will have an idea of who they will go after, but the big bowl games are still up for grab.
Penn State nearing New Year’s Six game
With a win Saturday at Maryland, Penn State will all but lock up a New Year’s Six (NYS) game.
The games included in the NYS include the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 29, the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Jan. 1.
The other two NYS games are the Playoff semifinal games, and mass insanity would have to ensue this weekend for Penn State to have a chance to make a semifinal game.
National pundits are leaning towards Penn State, assuming it wins Saturday, heading to the Cotton Bowl to take on either Notre Dame or TCU.
The Nittany Lions moved to 9-2 Saturday after a deceiving 56-44 win over Nebraska.
PSU led 42-10 at the half, and for many of us in the crowd, it was enough to head to the gates amidst the chilly temperatures and rainy conditions.
Pitt giving tickets away again
Pitt season ticket holders have access to four free tickets for Friday’s noon kickoff against undefeated Miami.
Even though Pitt would finish 5-7 with an upset win, it may be enough to get them into a bowl game.
At 5-7 and with a win over Miami, Pitt may be chosen for a bowl game if enough teams don’t have at least a .500 record.
WVU’s outlook
WVU closes its regular season at highly-ranked Oklahoma Saturday, and it will do so without quarterback Will Grier.
The star quarterback underwent surgery on a broken finger Monday and will be out four to six weeks.
This means that he may miss West Virginia’s bowl game as well.
Champions Classic memorable
Last Tuesday, I made the quick one-hour flight to Chicago to watch the Champions Classic, and the event delivered.
Duke downed Michigan State, 88-81, in the opener which was a matchup of #1 and #2.
In the nightcap, Kansas downed Kentucky, 65-61, in the nightcap.
Seeing four blue bloods of the college basketball world was as good as seeing the Final Four live, and if a Champions Classic is on your horizon, you will be in for a treat.
Slagus averaging a double-double
Kaitlyn Slagus (Belle Vernon) is off to a fast start for the 2-2 Bucknell Bison.
The 6’2 forward is averaging a double-double and is leading the team with 14.0 points per game and 11 rebounds per tilt.
She has five blocks on the young season.
Local numbers
Alie Seto (Brownsville) is averaging 5.5 points and 5.0 rebounds and Mia Woytovich (Charleroi) is averaging five points per game in helping Washington & Jefferson Women’s basketball team to an early 2-0 record.
Hunter Neely (Bentworth) is 9-1 on the W&J wrestling team.
Justice Rice (Monessen) is averaging 2.0 points, 5.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game as a freshman on the Grove City Men’s basketball team.
Jason Capco (Belle Vernon) is averaging 4.0 points per game at St. Vincent.
Allen’s start at Cal-State Fullerton
Charel Allen (Monessen) is in her first season as an assistant at Cal-State Fullerton and the team is off to a 1-2 start.
After winning at Santa Clara in its opener, 73-69, the team lost at Pacific and then it dropped a one-point game at San Diego State.
Zimcosky, Ohio U, place third
The Ohio University Bobcats took third over the weekend at the three-day Northwestern Invitational.
Emily Zimcosky (Smock, Geibel Catholic) placed second overall in the finals of the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.20.
Local cross country runners in national championship
The Point Park Men’s cross-country team finished 32nd in the nation at the NAIA Men’s Cross Country National Championship held Saturday in Vancouver, WA.
Sophomore Xavier Stephens (Uniontown) finished 127th out of 326 runners when he recorded a personal-best time of 26:44 in the 8,000-meter race which took place at the Fort Vancouver National historic Site.
It was the first time that Stevens ran a sub-27-minute pace.
Kara Rohlf (Brownsville) ran the 5,000-meter Women’s race in 19:43 which was good for 133rd place out of 338 runners.
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