Headlinin’: Penn State students loudly, peaceably assemble for Paterno vigil

November 9, 2011   ·   0 Comments

Headlinin’: Penn State students loudly, peaceably assemble for Paterno vigil

• Paterno Watch. Continuing their earlier vigil outside Joe Paterno’s home, hundreds of Penn State students took to the administration building and then to the streets Tuesday night in a… let’s say, ill-defined show of support for the embattled icon. “Riot” isn’t the right word: Though police quickly brought out the riot gear and students broke through barricades set up to keep them out of the actual street, there are no reports of violence or property damage. Mainly there was a lot of chanting, with “Hell no, Joe won’t go,” “F— Graham Spanier” and the familiar strains of “Zombie Nation” proving the most popular. Woo, Tuesday night!

Meanwhile, the Penn State Board of Trustees has appointed a special committee to investigate the university’s response to multiple allegations of sexual abuse against Paterno’s longtime defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, which has already led to indictments against two administrators and put Paterno on the fast track to retirement at the end of the season — if he makes it that far. [Daily Collegian, Yahoo! Sports, Harrisburg Patriot-News, video via TheeMarkCoates]

• That Owusu that you do. Stanford receiver Chris Owusu has been ruled out of Saturday’s pivotal visit from Oregon with a concussion, leaving Andrew Luck without two of his top four targets in the Cardinal’s biggest game of the season. Also out: Tight end Zach Ertz, who’s expected to miss his second straight game — his third, really — with a knee injury he suffered on the opening kickoff at USC. [San Francisco Chronicle]

In other injury news… Notre Dame center Braxston Cave will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a ligament in his foot. [Associated Press] … BYU linebacker Jordan Pendleton is out for the season with a knee injury, ending his college career. [Deseret News] … Banged-up quarterbacks Connor Shaw and John Brantley both expect to play Saturday when Florida visits South Carolina. [Charleston Post & Courier, Gainesville Sun] … And while senior tailback Marc Tyler has been cleared to play against Washington, freshmen George Farmer (tailback) and Dion Bailey (linebacker) have not. [Orange County Register]

• Now they mean business. Most Revered Rebel Archie Manning is heading up a five-man search committee to scour the ends of the earth for Houston Nutt’s replacement as Ole Miss‘ head coach, though all of the leading candidates reside within a five-state radius from Texas to Georgia. The most coveted names at the top of the wish list: Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. The most intriguing names, from a national perspective: Mike Leach and Rich Rodriguez, both of whom have converted traditional middleweights into borderline powers. The darkhorse: Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz. [Clarion-Ledger, RebelGrove.com]

• I don’t love him for his legs. I’m not sure any NFL scouts are actually debating the merits of USC quarterback Matt Barkley and Stanford QB Andrew Luck as potential draft picks, or that they care about Lane Kiffin’s opinion one way or another if they are. But just in case, Kiffin offered his scouting report Wednesday, anyway, which boiled down to this: Luck has better wheels.

“The thing Andrew has over him is he’s faster. That’s nothing against Matt. It just is what it is,” Kiffin said. “He (Luck) is faster, and he can make more plays running away from people. I think really the rest of their game is very similar: The way they throw in the pocket, the way they throw on the move, how smart they are at the position. They’re both no-brainers.” [Orange County Register]

Quickly… Bobby Bowden sympathizes with Joe Paterno. … San Diego State loses a defensive end to “family issues.” … Isaiah Crowell doesn’t sound too concerned about facing his old high school teammate. … Purdue is still thinking bowl game. … And because they are not idiots, Oklahoma State coaches aren’t going to think twice about throwing the ball to Justin Blackmon after a pair of fumbles last weekend.

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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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