Sports category, Page 2196
Pitt’s Jaylen Twyman ‘110%’ committed to returning to Pitt next season
DETROIT — After three years on Pitt’s campus, defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman is eligible to leave school early and enter the 2020 NFL Draft. And he has the resume to interest any team. • He’s a second-team All-American and first-team All-ACC performer. • He recorded 10½ sacks as an interior...
Pitt ends bowl losing streak with 34-30 victory against Eastern MichiganVideo
DETROIT — Down three, with only two minutes, 43 seconds left in the Quick Lane Bowl, Kenny Pickett broke the huddle, stepped behind center Jimmy Morrissey and surveyed the scene. It wasn’t pretty or encouraging. In front of Pitt’s quarterback stood 11 Eastern Michigan defenders guarding 91 yards of green...
A look at how much money Penn State will make (and spend) at the Cotton Bowl
New Year’s 6 bowl games generate healthy revenue and expense sheets. So how much money will Penn State make, and spend, at the Cotton Bowl? A look at past financial statements lends some hints. The College Football Playoff centralized revenue distribution for the Power 5 conferences, delivering an estimated $66...
Louisiana Tech shuts out Miami in Independence BowlVideo
SHREVEPORT, La. — That “bridge to 2020,” to which Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz referred heading into the Independence Bowl, hopefully, for the Hurricanes’ sake, has been obliterated and is under construction. Diaz thought the Hurricanes had “one more really good performance” in them, but reality said the opposite Thursday...
Ryan Silverfield debuts as Memphis coach vs. Penn State in Cotton BowlVideo
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ryan Silverfield has been coaching for 20 years, first for a Florida prep team as a teenager the season after being part of his second state championship there as a player. He then coached instead of played during four seasons at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. There were...
Pitt AD Heather Lyke: Coach Pat Narduzzi improving, more work to doVideo
DETROIT — Heather Lyke said Thursday night Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi “continues to become a better head coach every year,” but she added the quest to lift the Panthers to a desired level of excellence is far from finished. “I think we’ve got a lot to do in the offseason...
Quarterbacks for Clemson, Ohio State are ‘future of the NFL’Video
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence went to high school about 20 miles from each other in the suburbs northwest of Atlanta. They have worked out since middle school with the same quarterback trainer, a former Pac-12 QB and full-time firefighter who is more respected than known in...
Venture continues hockey career at Alabama
Jonathan Venture initially wasn’t looking to play hockey after high school. And when most graduates do, they often don’t look at Alabama. But fate had other plans, and after Venture, who was a three-year letterwinner for the Talbots, enrolled, he saw there was a chance to try out. “It was...
The Penguins’ most important moments of the 2010s: Nos. 10 through 6
By any measure, the 2010s were a successful decade for the Pittsburgh Penguins — maybe the most successful in franchise history. Forget two Stanley Cup titles. Having no bankruptcies qualifies as a triumph in the “good decade” column for this organization. But what were the 10 most important moments of...
Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster ‘feels a lot better’ going into 2nd game after injury layoff
JuJu Smith-Schuster’s first game in more than a month was unproductive and left him in tears. He said his second game back from an injury layoff won’t be a repeat. “I feel a lot more better this week, just the smoothness of it,” Smith-Schuster said Thursday. “I think last week...
Kevin Gorman: In case of emergency, Steelers hope Paxton Lynch can show QB pedigreeVideo
The Pittsburgh Steelers are down to a pair of polar opposites at quarterback in Devlin Hodges and Paxton Lynch, and the latter is everything the former is not. Where the 6-foot-7, 245-pound Lynch has prototypical size for a pocket passer, Hodges is shorter at 6-1, 209. Where Lynch was a...
Randy Fichtner, JuJu Smith-Schuster want Steelers’ Devlin Hodges to keep aggressivenessVideo
A day after Devlin Hodges insisted he hasn’t lost confidence in himself, his coordinator and a wide receiver said they haven’t either. Randy Fichtner and JuJu Smith-Schuster said they want Hodges to stay aggressive during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ regular-season finale Sunday at Baltimore — although Smith-Schuster added a caveat. “Yeah,...
Blackhawks’ Brandon Saad out 3 weeks; Brent Seabrook done for season
CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday announced Pine-Richland product Brandon Saad will be sidelined three weeks with a right ankle injury. The 27-year-old forward got hurt during last week’s 4-1 victory at Winnipeg. He has 11 goals and eight assists in 36 games this season. The news is much...
No. 24 Air Force meets Washington State in Cheez-It BowlVideo
PHOENIX — Washington State plays an offense known as the Air Raid, designed to spread teams out, get players into space, rack up huge amounts of passing yards. Air Force tends to work in tighter spaces, relying on a triple option that’s difficult to defend and annually is among the...
Simone Biles named 2019 AP Female Athlete of the YearVideo
They’re called “Simone Things,” a catch-all phrase for the casual ease with which Simone Biles seems to soar through her sport and her life. The irony, of course, is there’s nothing casual or easy about it. Any of it. The greatest gymnast of all time and 2019 Associated Press Female...
Joe Haden misses Steelers practice; Steve Nelson returns, James Conner remains out
James Conner missed another Pittsburgh Steelers practice Thursday, and he was joined on the sidelines by another former Pro Bowl player in Joe Haden. But Steve Nelson returned to practice, a signal he will in the regular-season finale at Baltimore. Nelson practiced fully a day after he missed a session...
Pitt’s Mike Ditka, Bill Fralic, Larry Fitzgerald, Hugh Green named to ESPN’s all-time All-America team
Four Pitt greats, all of whom have had their jerseys retired by the university, are first-team selections on ESPN’s All-Time All-America college football team announced Wednesday. Named to the team were tight end Mike Ditka, offensive tackle Bill Fralic, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and defensive end Hugh Green. Ditka, who...
Linebacker T.J. Watt named Steelers MVPVideo
As much as the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive players relished T.J. Watt earning the team’s most valuable player award Thursday, they are more interested in whether he can claim a bigger accolade in about six weeks. At the NFL Honors ceremony Feb. 1, the eve of the Super Bowl, the NFL...
Steelers’ Ryan Switzer, Roosevelt Nix designated to return from injured reserve
If the Pittsburgh Steelers make the AFC playoffs and advance to the divisional round, they could get fullback Roosevelt Nix and wide receiver Ryan Switzer back on the active roster. The Steelers announced Thursday that Nix and Switzer have been designated to return from injured reserve, which paves the way...
Lindsey Vonn proposes to P.K. Subban, saying men should get engagement rings, too
P.K. Subban got some new hardware over Christmas. The New Jersey Devils defenseman got a huge engagement ring from finance, former Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, according to posts on her social media pages. The couple, who have been together for two years, already announced their engagement in August, but Vonn...
Penn State names Kirk Ciarrocca its new offensive coordinator
As the Penn State football team prepares to face Memphis in Saturday’s Cotton Bowl, they also will be welcoming a new member to the coaching staff. Kirk Ciarrocca, a native of Lewisberry, Pa., has been hired as the Nittany Lions offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Ciarrocca spent the past three...
NFL playoffs: Six teams still battling for first-round bye
Six teams are still fighting for three important spots to ease their path to the Super Bowl. While 10 teams have clinched playoff spots entering Week 17, only the Baltimore Ravens (13-2) have earned a first-round bye. The Ravens secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed for the first time in...
Miami, Louisiana Tech to face off in Independence BowlVideo
Miami coach Manny Diaz’s message leading up to the Independence Bowl has been simple: Winning streaks and winning traditions start somewhere. He should know. He was at Louisiana Tech in 2014 when the Bulldogs beat Illinois in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. No one knew at the time, of course,...
Pitt bowl game matters, especially to those coming back for more
There can be reasonable debate about the importance of bowl games that don’t involve ranked teams. So let’s review the arguments: • If Pitt defeats Eastern Michiganon Thursday night in the Quick Lane Bowl, will anyone remember? Coach Pat Narduzzi surely will. It would be his first bowl victory in...
The most important Penguins of the 2010s: Nos. 5 through 1
By any measure, the 2010s were a successful decade for the Pittsburgh Penguins — maybe the most successful in franchise history. Forget the two Stanley Cup titles. Having zero bankruptcies qualifies as a triumph in the “good decade” column for this organization. But who were the most important players on...
