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Black Shoe Diaries

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

DOMINATE THE STATE

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Penn State Basketball Preview: Campbell

Penn State will close out its three-game home swing with its second ever meeting against Campbell. The Nittany Lions have one final tune-up before Big Ten play begins next week against Indiana. How to Watch Who: Campbell Fighting CamelsNET Ranking (PSU): 245 (83)Kenpom Ranking (PSU): 213 (98)When: Tuesday, December 2Where: Bryce Jordan Center, State College, […]

11 days ago | 0 reads

The 4 Things from an Eventful Last Week of the Regular Season

Ohio State Might Just be Invincible If you happen to be facing the Buckeyes in the postseason, how exactly do you attack them? It’s truly difficult to identify any weaknesses for Ohio State after they wrapped up the season 12-0 by demolishing rival Michigan. First off, there doesn’t seem to be an offense with the […]

11 days ago | 0 reads

Blessed & Honored: Four More Recruits Flip to Virginia Tech

Troy Huh Flips to Virginia Tech Four-star 2026 quarterback Troy Huhn will follow James Franklin to Virginia Tech: Huhn decommitted from Penn State on October 16. His recruitment was quiet until Virginia Tech offered him on November 17. He visited Blacksburg for the Hokies’ final home game against Miami and made the call for Virginia […]

11 days ago | 1 read

This Week in Happy Valley: Allen’s Big Day

A flight was scheduled from Columbus to State College today. Long snapper Tyler Duzansky was named a finalist for the Patrick Mannelly Award. Kaytron Allen won Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for the third straight week. The men’s hockey team remains at No. 9 in the USCHO Poll. The No. 4 women’s hockey […]

11 days ago | 0 reads

Nittany Lions in the NFL 2025: Week 13

Here’s a list of the current Nittany Lions in the NFL listed by 53-man roster: *Just a reminder that again this season, I will not include players like Juwan Johnson and KeAndre Lambert-Smith that did not finish their college career at Penn State* Arizona Cardinals: Blake Gillikin, PJ Mustipher Atlanta Falcons: Arnold Ebiketie Baltimore Ravens: […]

12 days ago | 3 reads

Report: Penn State Focused On Kalani Sitake

Are we nearing the end of Penn State’s coaching search? Well, it seems like the Penn State brass sure hopes so as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday evening that BYU’s Kalani Sitake is “the focus” of Penn State’s search. While Thamel says in the story that “no deal has been signed yet,” he does mention […]

12 days ago | 0 reads

Big Ten Power Rankings – Week 14

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 […]

12 days ago | 0 reads

BSD MVP Rutgers: Kaytron Allen

This has become a regularly scheduled post – Kaytron Allen was the standout player on Saturday for Penn State. It happened again in his last regular season game in a Nittany Lion uniform as Allen saved his best rushing performance for his final game. Allen averaged better than 10 yards a carry on his way […]

12 days ago | 0 reads

Big Ten Superlatives: Week 14

Amazingly, the college football regular season has now come to its conclusion. It’s been a struggle for this writer to highlight the exciting and interesting each week when Penn State has had the season it had. But, there are a lot of interesting things happening in the league – including a No. 1 vs. No. […]

12 days ago | 0 reads

MMQB – And Now We Wait

Penn State defeated Rutgers (somehow) over the weekend, 40-36, and finishes the 2025 regular season 6-6. And now we wait. First, we’ll be waiting to see where the Lions go bowling. With their win they secured bowl eligibility, and I have no reason to think the administration would turn down an opportunity to go to […]

13 days ago | 1 read

Position Grades: Rutgers

Well, another regular season has come and gone. I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to hop in a time machine and go tell myself from three months ago how the 2025 season played out and see my past self’s reaction. Given what a rollercoaster this season ended up being, perhaps […]

13 days ago | 0 reads

Penn State Gets Past Rutgers for Sixth Win: Post-Game Link Dump

It was Nicholas Singleton’s turn to rearrange the record books, becoming the all-time touchdowns leader in program history. Penn State outlasted a feisty Rutgers squad thanks to big days from Andrew Rappleyea, Amare Campbell and Ryan Barker. Ethan Grunkemeyer once again proved he has a bright future under center. It didn’t come easy, but the […]

13 days ago | 2 reads

They Play One More

When Rutgers was announced as one of the expansion teams back in 2012, the Scarlet Knights were coming off their most successful stint in the Big East, under Greg Schiano’s first term, then under Kyle Flood. This led to some of their fans, the loud ones, to proclaim they’d compete in the Big Ten. We […]

13 days ago | 0 reads

Penn State 90, Sacred Heart 59: Lions Maul Pioneers

While most of you were nervously watching Penn State’s football team earn bowl eligibility against Rutgers, the basketball team was busy taking care of business against a Sacred Heart team they were a 15-point favorite against. Both teams took turns exchanging buckets in the first five minutes, with Sacred Heart taking a 9-8 lead with […]

14 days ago | 1 read

Penn State 40, Rutgers 36: Into The Great Unkown

In a fitting end to a ridiculous and hopefully soon-to-be-forgotten season, Penn State football marched into Piscataway and fended off Rutgers in an unlikely shootout. If it wants to go to one, Penn State will get invited to a bowl game. Terry Smith, who was fired up and emotional on the sideline following the final […]

14 days ago | 0 reads

Three Takeaways From Penn State’s 40-36 Win Over Rutgers

1) The next record Kaytron Allen got his last week. It was Nicholas Singleton’s turn this week. With the second touchdown of the Nittany Lions’ day, Singleton became the all-time touchdown leader at 54. He added another one for good measure late in the third quarter. 2) Defense optional Neither team could get a handle […]

14 days ago | 1 read

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

The Nittany Lions face Sacred Heart for their second straight game in the BJC. The Pioneers are coached by Anthony Latina. The game will be streamed on Peacock 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 […]

14 days ago | 0 reads