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Black Shoe Diaries

https://www.blackshoediaries.com/ | 325 entries published

DOMINATE THE STATE

Latest Entries

MMQB – Let’s Go Bowling

With the conference championships being played over the weekend, and the playoff bracket being set, the rest of the bowl games were allotted over the weekend. Turns out Penn State is headed to the Pinstripe Bowl, and will face Clemson as its opponent! Given how things looked in early November, I have to feel like […]

NFL

6 days ago | 0 reads

Paying It Forward

After the announcement that Kalani Sitake would be staying at BYU, a number of their fans flocked to the internet and donated funds to the State College food bank in a “trolling” effort to remind the Penn State faithful they won in the end. This is the kind of playful bragging that actually make the […]

6 days ago | 0 reads

Penn State Headed To Pinstripe Bowl, Will Play Clemson

Sunday, December 7 Update: Brett McMurphy confirms it’ll be Clemson. The Nittany Lions will officially find out tomorrow where they are headed for bowl season, but according to a report from On3’s Brett McMurphy, Penn State will take on an ACC opponent in the Pinstripe Bowl. The Pinstripe Bowl is set for Saturday, December 27 […]

7 days ago | 0 reads

Wrestling Preview: #1 Penn State vs #14 Lehigh

Lehigh is, most often, the second best squad in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and this year is no different, despite losing a number of multi-year starters (and ranked wrestlers) to graduation and former #1 Ryan Crookham to continued rehabbing of last year’s injury. The Mountain Hawks gained a key assistant coach in two-time NCAA champ […]

7 days ago | 1 read

Conference Championships Open Thread

It’s Championship Saturday! Hang out with us while we watch all of the conference champions be crowned, and see how each game impacts the College Football Playoff! On the docket we have: Let’s see how it all shakes out!

8 days ago | 0 reads

Wrestling Postview: #1 Penn State 43, Drexel 3

Penn State dominates in Philadelphia for the second time in 2025. Penn State traveled to Philadelphia on Friday night to take on the Drexel Dragons. The Nittany Lions returned to the City of Brotherly Love nine months after setting the NCAA tournament scoring record back in March. The Drexel Dragons were heavily outmatched, but anything […]

8 days ago | 0 reads

Breaking: Penn State Hires Iowa State’s Matt Campbell

Update: It’s official! After initial reports surfaced that Penn State switched the focus of its search on Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, things have moved quickly. The Nittany Lions are now set to finalize a deal to make Campbell the next Nittany Lions head coach, after spending the last 10 season leading the Cyclones. As previously […]

8 days ago | 0 reads

The 6 Games to Watch During Conference Championship Weekend

FRIDAY Kennesaw State at Jacksonville State Conference USA Championship7 p.m., CBSSN Kennesaw State was predicted to be among the very worst teams in all of college football heading into the season. Flash forward to December, and they’re playing for a conference championship. This game may not mean anything in the playoff picture, but would mean […]

8 days ago | 0 reads

Wrestling Preview: No. 1 Penn State vs Drexel

(Ed. note: Due to technical issues, Bubba is posting this on behalf of Cari. Any copy/paste or formatting issues are his fault.) Last season, the Nittany Lions kicked off their 2024-2025 campaign with a home dual against the Drexel Dragons, facing the in-state squad for the first time in over twenty years. This season, Penn […]

9 days ago | 1 read

Penn State Reportedly Focusing on Matt Campbell

After striking out on their top candidate, and a few others along the way, the Nittany Lions are reportedly facing on Matt Campbell as their next head coach. Campbell has done wonders for the Iowa State program, most recently giving the Cyclones their first 11-win season in program history. Campbell is well respected amongst the […]

9 days ago | 0 reads

(Early) NCAA Hockey Playoff Picture: December 4

There are still 30 more days until Penn State hockey resumes its season and over three months until the NCAA Tournament field is selected in late March, but it is never too early to crunch some college hockey bracketology. The tournament is still the normal 16-team format, but the Pairwise ranking system has been phased […]

9 days ago | 0 reads

Snap Counts: Rutgers

40 Penn State players had at least one snap in Saturday’s 40-36 win over Rutgers to finish off the regular season. NOTE: Season totals in parentheses Offense: 58 snaps (762) Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer: 58 (397) Running Backs Kaytron Allen: 45 (440)Nicholas Singleton: 25 (359) Wide Receivers Kyron Hudson: 32 (525)Devonte Ross: 30 (364)Koby Howard: 30 […]

10 days ago | 0 reads

Midweek Musings – Welp

After weeks of waiting, news broke earlier this week that Penn State was targeting BYU’s Kalani Sitake to be their next head coach. He’d built BYU of all places into an 11-1, CFP-contending squad, and Penn State had seemingly identified him weeks earlier as one of, if not their main head coaching target. It seemed […]

10 days ago | 0 reads

Pat Kraft Turns Coaching Search Into Costly Fumble

On Sunday, October 12, following a homecoming loss as a 20-point favorite against Northwestern, Pat Kraft pulled the plug on the James Franklin era at Penn State. That was — and still is — the correct move for Penn State football and James Franklin. The two, for a myriad of reasons, soured on each other […]

11 days ago | 3 reads

Bowl Projections 2025: Week 14

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, College Football News, and CBS Sports, with occasional bonus picks from other publications. Yahoo Sports/College Football News: Bowl/CFP Seed: Rate Bowl Location: Phoenix, AZ Date: December 26th, 2025 Opponent: […]

11 days ago | 0 reads

Penn State 87, Campbell 76: Slow Start, Slow Finish

Penn State came into a game they thought they’d cruise in, but Campbell had other plans. The Camels owned the Nittany Lions on the glass, and led by as many as five in the first half. Penn State did settle, but still struggled with rebounding in the second half. While Penn State struggled rebounding, they […]

11 days ago | 1 read

YAY HOOPS(?): Penn State vs. Campbell Open Thread

The Nittany Lions face Campbell for their final non-conference matchup in the BJC. The Fighting Camels are coached by John Andrzejak. The game will be televised on BTN at 6:00 PM. If you haven’t done so already, check out our preview. As always, the usual open thread rules apply: Don’t link to any streams, don’t post […]

11 days ago | 0 reads

Report: Kalani Sitake Staying At BYU

Penn State and Pat Kraft has swung and missed — badly — as BYU’s Kalani Sitake has reportedly turned down Penn State and is staying at BYU. Lucrative contract, increased infrastructure, blah, blah, blah — WHATEVER, this is a terrible look for Pat Kraft. To get to this point in the search, to identify Sitake, […]

11 days ago | 0 reads