Sports category, Page 1458
Analysis: What if 12-team College Football Playoff was here?
IRVING, Texas — A fun thing to do this season has to been ponder how the College Football Playoff race would have played out if expansion to 12 teams had already happened. The CFP selection committee set the four-team field on Sunday, matching top-seeded Alabama against No. 4 Cincinnati in...
AP source: Flyers fire Vigneault after 8 straight losses
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers have fired coach Alain Vigneault following eight straight losses, two shy of matching a team record of 10 in a row, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Monday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because...
Highlands grad Brayden Thimons named PAC Defensive Player of the Year
Brayden Thimons has been a stalwart in his short time in the Westminster football program, culminating in a sensational 2021 fall season. A rock-solid 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior lineman, Thimons was named Defensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. “I am shocked and honored to...
Greensburg Salem grad Megan Kallock finds right fit with Grove City women’s basketball teamVideo
When Megan Kallock transferred from Saint Vincent to Grove City halfway through the 2020-21 academic year, it was equal parts inopportune and perfect. The down side: The Greensburg Salem grad got to campus in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic and started with a three-week quarantine over Christmas break. “I...
Kiski Area grad Nick Bisceglia kick-starts Robert Morris special teams
Robert Morris is playing its season finale. The score is tied, and the game against Campbell at Joe Walton Stadium is in overtime. After failing to convert a third down, Colonials coach Bernard Clark calls for fifth-year senior Nick Bisceglia. So what’s running through the mind of the Kiski Area...
Westmoreland campus clippings: County connections help Pitt to ACC title
Pitt mania is sweeping across the country as the Panthers continue to work their way back to national respectability. The football program’s exploits this season are fitting in with their proud glory days of the past. The ACC champion Panthers have plenty of Westmoreland County connections as they prepare for...
Mark Madden: Kenny Pickett resurrected Pitt football but should not feel obligated to play in Peach Bowl
Hail to Pitt, certainly. But, mostly, hail to Kenny Pickett. The same could be said about the quarterback of most championship teams. That job’s occupant must be a catalyst. Pickett is that, and then some. Even breaking Dan Marino’s passing record pales next to Pickett taking a program that had...
Ex-Penguins forward Jared McCann thriving with the KrakenVideo
The Seattle Kraken don’t really have any traditions. Really, how could they? They’re a first-year expansion franchise that has been playing games of consequence for less than two months. There is at least one exception, however. How they conclude practices. “Usually the next team up, the guy in the middle...
Penn State’s James Franklin searching for ‘the right person’ to replace Brent Pry at defensive coordinator
James Franklin is a busy man. The Penn State coach was out on the road recruiting Sunday night, and he’s trying to put the finishing touches on his top-10 Class of 2022 while also spinning that momentum forward into the 2023 cycle ahead of National Signing Day later this month....
Chiefs keep AFC West lead with victory over Broncos
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs’ Andy Reid is an offensive-minded coach to his core, so the Kansas City defense must have done something special against the Denver Broncos on Sunday night for him to call its performance “beautiful.” Three turnovers. Three fourth-down stops. One pick-6 to seal a fifth...
Struggling Canucks name Bruce Boudreau coach amid leadership purge
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Vancouver Canucks named veteran Bruce Boudreau coach following a leadership purge late Sunday night in which three executives and head coach Travis Green were let go. The Canucks, in a statement, said general manager Jim Benning was fired and assistant manager Jim Weisbrod, Green and...
Steelers vs. Ravens: What they’re saying in Baltimore after loss
Going for two with all that momentum? Relying on analytics when your team has the best kicker in the league? The Ravens’ 20-19 loss to the Steelers cannot be going over well in Baltimore. Coach John Harbaugh shrugged off overtime and chose to go for two at the very end....
First Call: A story about Nick Saban, Mick Jagger and Jack Lambert; John Harbaugh’s reason for 2-point try vs. Steelers
In Monday’s “First Call,” Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh explains why his team went for two points at the end of their loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday. The Steelers next opponent may still be smarting from their loss by the time kickoff rolls around Thursday. Pitt is an early...
Madden Monday on the end of Steelers-Ravens: ‘I didn’t like (Baltimore) going for 2, and I didn’t like the call’
Every week during football season for our “Madden Monday” podcasts, we focus on the machinations of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ result from the previous day. Every now and then, though, the opposing team has to be at the center of the analysis, too. Such is the case this week. That’s because...
Oklahoma hires Clemson’s Brent Venables to replace Lincoln RileyVideo
Oklahoma hired Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables as its coach to replace Lincoln Riley on Sunday night, bringing back a former Sooners assistant with a long track record of success. Venables will be introduced Monday morning on the campus in Norman, the school said. The 50-year-old Venables was on Oklahoma’s...
Bills CB Dane Jackson, a Pitt and Quaker Valley product, draws on memories of 4 late friendsVideo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Dane Jackson pays little heed to questions of what challenges he faces in preparing to replace Tre’Davious White in the Buffalo Bills secondary. The second-year cornerback need only point to his left arm, where the initials D, D, D, R are tattooed in honor of four...
Penn State falls to Ohio State in Big Ten opener
UNIVERSITY PARK — Kyle Young scored 16 points, E.J. Liddell added 14 points and Ohio State beat Penn State, 76-64, on Sunday night in a Big Ten opener for both teams. Ohio State made seven 3-pointers in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Six different Buckeyes made a 3...
Minor league report: Nailers beat Fuel in overtimeVideo
Defenseman Chris Ortiz scored two goals, including one in overtime, for the Wheeling Nailers in a 3-2 home win against the Indy Fuel at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W.Va. on Sunday. Forward Nick Hutchison recorded three assists for Wheeling (9-6-1) which has recorded points in six consecutive games. Goaltender Stefanos...
Steelers’ Chris Wormley has career game vs. former team in win over Ravens
Chris Wormley spent the first three seasons of his career with the Baltimore Ravens. But before preparations for a fourth got underway in earnest, he was traded — to of all teams, the AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers. “I told him when he got here,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin recalled...
T.J. Watt, Chris Wormley, depth offensive players highlight Steelers ‘Feats of Strength’ during upset of Ravens
As we discussed at “Breakfast With Benz” leading up to Sunday’s latest chapter of Pittsburgh Steelers versus Baltimore Ravens, these two teams can’t help themselves. They don’t know any other way than to play each other close, even if what’s happening on paper suggests the game should be an easy...
Mt. Lebanon coach Bob Palko returns to PIAA football finals with heavy heart
The mood at Mansion Park Stadium was jubilant as Mt. Lebanon’s football team won a state semifinal for the first time in school history, yet amid the celebration coach Bob Palko held back tears. “It’s humbling. Very humbling,” he said. “I’d rather be there (in Hershey) with my buddy, but...
Covid indirectly benefits T.J. Watt, who after week of rest has big game for Steelers
When T.J. Watt took the podium in a curtained-off area tucked adjacent to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Heinz Field locker room, he let out a long, tired sigh as he slumped into his chair. When his media session ended 5 minutes later, Watt let out another fatigued groan as he pushed...
Roethlisberger rallies Steelers in 4th quarter for victory over AFC North rival Ravens
With his team’s season on the line Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger pushed aside retirement rumors and showed he had one more fourth-quarter comeback left in his 39-year-old right arm. The defense showed it was capable of pressuring Lamar Jackson one more time, and the Pittsburgh Steelers showed they weren’t quite ready...
Hovland rallies to win from 6 back and deny Morikawa No. 1Video
NASSAU, Bahamas — The 24-year-old rising star put a nice ribbon on a three-win year in golf by posing with Tiger Woods at the trophy presentation Sunday in the Hero World Challenge. It just wasn’t the winner anyone imagined. Not even Viktor Hovland thought it was realistic he could rally...
Lewis Hamilton’s win takes thrilling F1 season to final showdownVideo
The increasingly tense Formula One title fight between defending champion Lewis Hamilton and his formidable challenger, Max Verstappen, will head to the last race of the season with the fierce rivals level on points. Next weekend’s Abu Dhabi showdown will see Hamilton crowned for a record eighth time — or...
