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Father Patrick Ryan to deliver Feast of St. Francis lecture at King’s

“Trunk-or-Treating” in Sweet Valley

COLUMBUS, Ohio &#8212; It was addressed once. No more.Seems James Franklin put his psychology degree to work the last few days.On Sunday, the Penn State coach brought up Ohio State&#8217;s No. 1 national ranking to his players at a squad meeting.&#8220;Hey, what an unbelievable opportunity we have this week being able to go play at Ohio State against the No. 1 team in the country,&#8221; Franklin told the Nittany Lions. &#8220;What a great opportunity.&#8220;And then after that it won&#8217;t be discussed the rest of the week.&#8221;No?&#8220;We try not to do that,&#8221; Franklin said, &#8220;because I want to keep our plan consistent.&#8221;Hey, anything&#8217;s worth a shot.Though the Buckeyes have followed in the footsteps of many past national champions and not lived up to astronomical expectations, they remain unbeaten. They still have arguably the most talented roster in the country, top to bottom.And they will have well over 100,000 fans ready to intimidate the Lions in primetime at the Horseshoe.Penn State will be in all white. Ohio State in all black.&#8220;It&#8217;s like our evil twin over there,&#8221; wideout DaeSean Hamilton joked.But some Lions players prefer to play the evil ones themselves.&#8220;Just play nasty and be the bad guy out there,&#8221; sophomore tackle Andrew Nelson said. &#8220;I think that&#8217;s definitely something that we&#8217;re all embracing. You can be the nicest guy in the world off the field, but once you get on the field, you have to do whatever it takes to make your team successful.&#8220;Obviously we know we&#8217;re hated by the Ohio State community, but we have a great opportunity this weekend to go in there and play to the best of your ability. &#8230; We don&#8217;t fear anybody, and the Big Ten is full of great opponents this year. So that&#8217;s what really makes the opportunity special. They&#8217;re a great team, but we know if we play to the best of our ability, we can be successful.&#8221;THREE AND OUTMen in BlackOhio State is no stranger to alternate uniforms, joining plenty of other traditional powers like Notre Dame who have broken out new looks for big games.But coach Urban Meyer wasn&#8217;t originally a fan of this latest scheme, which will have the Buckeyes wearing all black for tonight&#8217;s game with a few splashes of their usual scarlet &#8212; the numbers and the stripes on the helmet and pants.&#8220;Nike came to us and (said) what do you think of this? And my first reaction was no way, no chance,&#8221; Meyer said. &#8220;And then I looked and said whoa, and it looked pretty sharp.&#8221;The school is making it a theme for the game, dubbing it &#8220;Dark Night at the Shoe,&#8221; with fans being asked to wear all black themselves.What about the coach himself?&#8220;I won&#8217;t,&#8221; Meyer said when asked if he had a black sideline ensemble. &#8220;I wear what I wear.&#8221;One more secretFranklin wasn&#8217;t willing to spill to reporters this week whether running back Saquon Barkley would return from an ankle injury to face the Buckeyes. The same held true when a fan asked him during his weekly radio show.&#8220;Last week he practiced in a limited role all week long We were hoping to get him back. Didn&#8217;t work out that way,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;He practiced in a limited role this week and we&#8217;re hopeful to get him back as well.&#8220;This week, at this point I know. I didn&#8217;t know last week. I know whether he&#8217;s going to play on Saturday or not. So we&#8217;ve been able to game plan around it. But I&#8217;m not gonna share it because Urban Meyer and Ohio State are listening right now.&#8221;Look for the true freshman to get his shot after two weeks of rest.History lessonThis will be the 16th time Penn State has faced a top-ranked team in the polls and the first since 2010, when the Lions played another defending national champion on the road, losing 24-3 at Alabama.The three times before that were all against the Buckeyes, who won each meeting &#8212; 37-17 in 2007, 28-6 in 2006 and 28-9 in 1998.Penn State is 4-11 all-time against No. 1. The Lions&#8217; last win? They knocked off Notre Dame and Meyers legend Rocket Ismail 24-21 in 1990 in South Bend.Current Penn State assistant coach Terry Smith caught a touchdown and Darren Perry&#8217;s late interception set up a game-winning kick by Craig Fayak in the final seconds. Ismail missed the second half with an injury.The other wins were three of the most famous in school history. The Lions scored 48 unanswered points against Dan Marino and archrival Pitt to beat the Panthers 48-14 in 1981.Both of Penn State&#8217;s national title wins came with upsets over the No. 1 team, knocking off Georgia 27-23 in the Sugar Bowl at the end of the 1982 season and Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl at the end of the 1986 campaign.Saturday&#8217;s game will also be the program&#8217;s 25th against the reigning national champion. The Lions are 5-16-3 in those matchups, with the last win coming over Georgia Tech in the 1991 Kickoff Classic.This group is looking to add to those memories.&#8221;How many teams get to do that?&#8221; quarterback Christian Hackenberg said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a pretty cool opportunity. It&#8217;s awesome. It&#8217;s a great atmosphere there, a great football team and a great challenge.&#8220;You don&#8217;t get many opportunities like this.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">It&#8217;s been 25 years since the last time Penn State knocked off the nation&#8217;s No. 1 team. Joe Paterno&#8217;s Nittany Lions edged Notre Dame 24-21 in 1990 in South Bend. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_paterno-irish.jpg</photo0><caption0>It&#8217;s been 25 years since the last time Penn State knocked off the nation&#8217;s No. 1 team. Joe Paterno&#8217;s Nittany Lions edged Notre Dame 24-21 in 1990 in South Bend. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mark Elias | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PSU GAMEDAYPenn State (5-1, 2-0) atNo. 1 Ohio State (6-0, 2-0)8 p.m., ABCOhio StadiumColumbus, Ohio</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div>

Penn State eager for its shot at the national champs Ohio State