Black Shoe Diaries
DOMINATE THE STATE
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Lion Tales: Ryan Field
One of Friday night’s big stories is that Northwestern will be opening its posh new version of Ryan Field with a nationally televised game. The previous stadium was completely torn down with the new place being built right upon the rubble along Central Street in Evanston. Rather than look back at one game, here’s a […]
Under New Management: Look Over There
Unsurprisingly, Matt Campbell faced a number of questions about his decision making process following the loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. The majority of his questions, in fact, were about the loss and his decision making process. On the 4th-and-1 punt: Campbell defended the fourth-and-one punt to start the fourth quarter. He noted that the defense […]
Just the Stats: Penn State at Northwestern
Penn State Nittany Lions (3-1; 0-1 Big Ten) vs Northwestern Wildcats (2-1; 0-1 Big Ten) 8:00 p.m. ET, October 2 – Fox Ryan Field (Capacity: 35,000 / Evanston, IL) Tableizer using codebeautify.org Penn State Value (Nat’l Rank) Value (Nat’l Rank) Northwestern Advantage Rushing Offense (ypg) 183.5 (43) 199.3 (128) Rushing Defense (ypg) Passing Offense (ypg) […]
What We Learned About College Football in Week 4
Florida Makes a Statement It’s been a long road back to contention for the Gators. According to early returns, they may have found their guy in Jon Sumrall. Florida annihilated #4 Ole Miss on Saturday, 52-28, helping the Gators leap from #21 to #8 in this week’s rankings. While Ole Miss may have been suffering […]
Penn State Commits in Action: Mid-Season Tape Rolling In
While Penn State’s current team is working through its first hiccup of the Matt Campbell era, plenty of future Nittany Lions put their talent on display under Friday night lights. Campbell’s 2027 class is now up to No. 20 in the country with plenty of flip chances still on the board. Penn State Class of […]
Bowl Projections 2026: Week 4
Welcome back to our weekly series tracking some of the bowl/CFP picks for Penn State football following each game, This season, we will follow ESPN, Yahoo, and CBS Sports, with occasional bonus picks from other publications. Yahoo Sports/Sports Illustrated: Bowl/CFP: ReliaQuest Location: Tampa, FL Date: December 31, 2026 Opponent: Texas A&M Aggies CBS Sports: Bowl/CFP: […]
Midweek Musings – Can the Offense Be Salvaged?
This past weekend against Wisconsin, the offense was, well, offensive. In the first half, the offense had 6 possessions, 3 of which ended in punts, and 1 of which ended the half. They only managed to score on 2 drives – 1 field goal, and 1 touchdown on a short field thanks to an interception […]
This Week In Happy Valley: McKenna Makes Leafs Roster
Former Penn State forward Gavin McKenna made the Toronto Maple Leafs’ opening night roster. He will make his NHL debut tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The stats behind Penn State’s unlikely loss to Wisconsin. Penn State’s tight end room struggled to find its footing against Wisconsin. Attendance has been declining across college football over the […]
Blessed & Honored: Penn State Offers West Virginia Commit
Penn State Offers West Virginia Commit Penn State extended an offer to in-state 2027 wide receiver and current West Virginia commit Chase Guers: Guers committed to the Mountaineers in June. He has visited Penn State four times, including last Saturday. His other offers include Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pitt, Northwestern, Virginia, and Cincinnati. It is hard […]
Nittany Lions in the NFL 2026: Week 3
Here’s a list of the current Nittany Lions in the NFL listed by 53-man roster. As a reminder, only players on the active roster or IR, and who finished their college career at Penn State without transferring away are included. Italicized= rookies. Arizona Cardinals: Blake Gillikin, Kalen KingAtlanta Falcons: Jahan DotsonBaltimore Ravens: Olaivavega IoaneBuffalo Bills: […]
Big Ten Power Rankings – Week 4
Hello there and welcome to the Big Ten Power Rankings! Each week we’ll rank how the teams across the conference are playing, in the hopes of seeing just who is a contender, and who is a pretender over the course of the season. The rules are few, but resolute: Teams are ranked by how they’re […]
34 Random Thoughts On Penn State’s Collapse Against Wisconsin
1. Ugh. 2. I love writing for BSD (it was 10 years this past June, by the way) and literally don’t have any plans to ever stop, but I am NOT looking forward to this one at all. 3. I wanted to lie to ourselves for at least two more weeks. Beat Wisconsin, beat Northwestern, […]
CFP Bracketology: Week 4
Another chaotic week of college football saw eight ranked teams fall and a major shakeup around the bubble as the calendar flips to October. We are barely one-third of the way through the season and the playoff picture looks a lot different than it did a few weeks ago. My playoff picture after Week 4: […]
Stock Up, Stock Down (9.28.26)
STOCK UP D’Anton Lynn It’s tough to find much positivity from the Wisconsin game, but it does appear that D’Anton Lynn knows what he’s doing. Yes, the Penn State defense conceded touchdowns on Wisconsin’s final two drives, but this was a defense that had to basically do everything on Saturday. Here’s the Wisconsin drive chart […]
Big Ten Superlatives: Week 4
We now have four weeks done in the Big Ten – and there were a lot of interesting things happening as conference play has now taken place for all of the teams. Here’s your best, your worst, your most Iowa of the past weekend. Enjoy reading! Best Win of the Week: Oregon Wins Heated Battle […]
BSD MVP Wisconsin: Tony Rojas
Midway through the fourth quarter, Tony Rojas stepped in front of a Colton Joseph pass and came up with his second interception of the year. That should have clinched the game – made Penn State 4-0, made all of us think about how Joseph was doing his Kevin Jennings impersonation. But, unfortunately for all of […]
MMQB – We’re Not Special
We writers are taught that when covering Penn State, we should always refer to them as “they,” “them,” “the team,” etc. While many of us are alumni, lifelong fans, tried and true Penn Staters, we’re not the team. We’re not the players and coaches going out there and making the plays, putting our bodies and […]
Nittany Lions Unsurprisingly Drop Out of the AP Poll
After a dismal effort against Wisconsin, Penn State fell out of the Associated Press poll, and dropped to No. 22 in the Coaches Poll. The Nittany Lions are joined in the Coaches rankings by fellow Big Ten teams Indiana (5th in Coaches, 6th in AP), Ohio State (5th in AP, 6th in Coaches), Iowa (14th), […]
Social Media Reacts to Penn State vs. Wisconsin & More from Week 4
The first Big Ten game of the Matt Campbell era resulted in the first loss of the Matt Campbell era, and boy, are Penn State fans up in arms. Due to poor quarterback play, questionable coaching decisions, and all-around bad stadium vibes, Twitter (X) was on fire Saturday afternoon. Things started in the first quarter […]
Penn State Collapses in Loss to Wisconsin: Post-Game Link Dump
Penn State suffered a devastating collapse despite jumping out to a 17-0 lead over unranked Wisconsin on Homecoming. Just how bad was it? There’s no question about it – Rocco Becht and the offense has to be much better than their performance against the Badgers. Matt Campbell addresses the media following Penn State’s 24-20 loss […]
Penn State Opens as Slight Road Favorite Against Northwestern
Despite losing its first game of the season against unranked Wisconsin, Penn State has opened as a slight favorite against Northwestern on Friday. The Nittany Lions are a 3.5-point favorite against the Wildcats in Evanston. Penn State entered week four ranked #13 after a 3-0 start. However, they are likely to fall out of the […]
We Were Warned
When Matt Campbell was announced as the head coach for the Nittany Lions, a faction of Iowa State fans told us to get ready for inexplicable losses to teams Penn State would have no business losing to. Now, to not discredit Wisconsin, maybe this year, they are a team Penn State has business losing to, […]
Position Grades: Wisconsin
Well, that sucked. Let’s just go ahead and rip off the band-aid, shall we? Offense: F(**king Garbage) I can’t even bring myself to grade the offense on an individual position-by-position breakdown this week. Everything sucked, from Rocco Becht not being able to hit the broad side of a barn, to the running game looking like […]
Wisconsin 24, Penn State 20: New Year, Same Old Stuff
Penn State got off to a hot start on homecoming weekend, but the Nittany Lions’ offense could never find a rhythm in a 24-20 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. Both teams exchanged punts on their first possession, but a solid punt return by Zay Robinson set up the offense in Wisconsin territory for its second […]
BSD YouTube Show: Penn State Chokes Away 17-Point Lead At Home To Wisconsin
Penn State suffers a devastating loss at home to the Badgers. We break it all down.
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