Amazing feat by Lions' hockey something very rare at Penn State

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Tomorrow marks the 32nd anniversary of the last time Penn State football beat the nation's No. 1 team -- a 24-21 victory over Notre Dame in South Bend.

That was Nov. 17, 1990 -- exactly 11,687 days ago.

Penn State has been playing men's basketball for 126 years -- since 1896 -- and has never beaten a No. 1 team. To be clear, there were no rankings until The Associated Press began releasing a poll in 1948.

Penn State began playing women's basketball in 1965 and was a perennial NCAA Tournament team from 1982-2014 and reached the Final Four in 2000. From my research, it does not appear the Lady Lions have ever beaten a No. 1 team.

All of that brings us to the amazing feat pulled off by the Penn State men's hockey team, which is where we start this edition of the midweek top 10.

1. Lions beat TWO No. 1 teams in one week!

The men's hockey team pulled off an amazing accomplishment when it beat the country's No. 1 team on Nov. 4 with a 3-0 victory over Michigan at Pegula Ice Arena.

"(There was) a question earlier in the week about how we judge our start to the season," coach Guy Gadowsky said after that historic win. "We look at the tangible, quantitative things that you mentioned, so we'll still look at the game from that perspective, and I'm sure there's going to be things that we want to do better."

The Lions lost the second game of that series, 4-3, in overtime.

What could be better than beating the No. 1 team?

Doing it again six days later, this time on the road. The Lions went to Minnesota and stunned the Gophers, 4-2, on Nov. 10.

How incredible was all that? Well, this is from Penn State's release:

The victory is the second in a seven-day span for Penn State against separate No. 1 nationally ranked teams marking what we believe is the first time in the history of college hockey a team has defeated the No. 1 team in the nation in back-to-back weeks.

WOW! That's pretty much unbelievable.

The Lions actually were in position to sweep that Minnesota series, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the first period and being tied 1-1 in the third. But the Gophers wound up scoring twice to prevail.

Penn State is No. 6 in this week's college hockey rankings. The Lions received one first-place vote. Now, I cannot say I'm an expert on hockey rankings, but that seems pretty bizarre that the Lions would only be No. 6. They are 10-2 with wins over Minnesota and Michigan when they were No. 1 -- those two are currently No. 2 and 3, respectively. Denver is the current No. 1, and its record is 9-3, with two losses to current No. 16 UMass and a loss to No. 4 St. Cloud.

If this were football rankings, Penn State would have to be No. 1 right now. Oh well. I'll leave that argument for people who understood college rankings better.

Gadowsky was asked Monday what he's learned about his team through the last four games against Michigan and Minnesota.

"It's a long season, it's early, so I don't think you can -- we haven't by any means can we say this is what we are," the coach said. "I think there's a long way to go. But what we've learned as a coaching staff is that the work that the guys put in -- in culture -- is very beneficial, and at least the way our program is, probably a prerequisite. And it's nice to see that transfer over to on-ice results. That's what we've learned."

Gadowsky also was asked about beating the teams that matter most proving what Penn State is capable of doing.

"Yeah, I mean, they were both back to back, at this point anyway, ranked No. 1 in the nation, so they're very good," Gadowsky said. "And I think that I know what you mean by saying proof of concept. I think what it does is it it gives buy in to both the players and the coaching staff -- not just the coaching staff, our entire staff -- that the work that was put in to gain back our culture has been well worth it."

2. Memory lane: I kid you not, here's who broke the story of Penn State hockey moving to Division I

Many readers here have commented about how you'd like more hockey coverage. Well, there's not always a lot I can add from a unique perspective since I don't cover the program closely. But, my goal is always to try and give people interesting things to read. And when it comes to Penn State hockey, this is probably about the best I can do in that regard.

A little humble brag here. I'll bet none of you reading this -- even the most diehard Penn State hockey fans -- know that yours truly actually broke the story of Division I hockey coming to Penn State back in 2010.

No, I am not a hockey expert. But I did have an inside source on the subject at the time and wrote the story below that appeared in the Altoona Mirror on Aug. 6, 2010. The story is credited and linked on Wikipedia in the "move to NCAA" section of Penn State hockey, but the Mirror website underwent changes and the link no longer works.

If you're a Penn State hockey fan, hopefully you'll enjoy this trip down memory lane, when all of this was still in the dream stage.

Penn State 'close' to adding arena, Division I hockey

By Cory Giger

Altoona Mirror (Aug. 6, 2010)

Rumors and speculation have existed for more than a decade, but it finally appears Penn State is on the verge of building a new ice hockey arena near the Bryce Jordan Center and adding Division I men's and women's hockey programs.

"We're close," a source close to the situation told the Mirror on Thursday. "It won't be long before we'll be able to potentially make some kind of announcement. But it's not a done deal yet."

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity, and when asked to define what "close" means said, "probably within the next two months" the wheels will be set in motion.

The first step is acquiring private funds to build a facility that would seat 6,000-8,000 people. The cost for that is expected to be between $60 million and $80 million.

Most, if not all, of that money would come from Penn State alum Terry Pegula.

"We do have a donor that's got the capacity to do this, but there is no agreement yet," the Mirror's source said.

Pegula is the founder of East Resources, a natural gas operator, and in May he sold his company to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion.

Pegula, said to be an avid hockey fan, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The Mirror has learned that, in the past few weeks, Pegula and Penn State athletic director Tim Curley visited the University of Minnesota hockey facility and went to Notre Dame to examine the new arena being built there.

A message left for Curley was not returned Thursday.

Pegula also was seen in Chicago earlier this week at Big Ten football media days, along with Joe Battista, director of major gifts at PSU and former hockey coach at the school. Their exact business there isn't known, but they would not have needed to be there in any official football capacity.

Aside from the arena, there are many additional costs to starting a Division I hockey program, such as scholarship money and equipment.

While Pegula would be the benefactor for the arena costs, he would not be alone in financial support.

"You don't add a program of this magnitude without there being other issues," the Mirror source said. "You've got scholarships for both a men's and a women's sport, and you've got operating expenses. There would have to be a number of people donating to this to make it work."

Penn State currently has men's and women's club hockey teams called the Icers and Lady Icers. They compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, which is not sanctioned by the NCAA, and play in 1,350-seat Penn State Ice Rink.

"Varsity status has been on their radar for quite some time," said one source who used to work in Penn State athletics and requested anonymity. "This isn't something new."

There wouldn't be a Title IX issue, two sources said, because Penn State would be adding a men's team and a women's team. The NCAA allows 18 scholarships for a men's hockey program, as well as 18 for the women.

Penn State commissioned Crawford Architects in Missouri to come up with design proposals for an arena, which would be built near the Jordan Center and Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. One thing that hasn't been decided is if the arena would be for hockey only or a multi-use facility.

"You get a new facility, there's a ton of excitement," said Chris Whittemore, manager of the Penn State Ice Rink. "But we have to be careful with the excitement right now because, from the little information I know, there's a lot of hurdles to climb, so you have to get through all those first before we actually get a new facility."

Whittemore added that an arena and the addition of Division I hockey programs "would be huge."

"It would be popular and exciting for Penn State, the community of State College and Centre County," he said.

3. Joey Porter Jr. expected back after appendicitis

James Franklin announced Tuesday why the standout cornerback had to miss Saturday's game against Maryland.

"Joey had appendicitis," the coach said. "That's what happened. Obviously, I wouldn't release any medical information without clearing it with the family first, but I don't like the fact that there has been some misreporting out there. I don't really understand how that happens. It did, so I wanted to clear it up.

It's unclear if Porter will be able to play this week at Rutgers, but Franklin did say the cornerback will play again this season.

"Yeah, we're expecting him back," Franklin said.

4. Diaz deserves all the praise he can get

Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz has done an absolutely tremendous job in his first season at Penn State. He is one of 51 nominees for the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation's top assistant, and while he may not win it, he does deserve strong consideration for this honor.

Here's a look at the Broyles Award candidates:

What I love most about Diaz's defense is the aggressive style, with defensive backs always attacking and playing tighter coverage. When you've got studs back there, you might as well rely on them, and Diaz certainly does that.

The defensive line has dominated the past two weeks against Maryland and Indiana, and it's going to be tough for Rutgers to score against the defense this week.

The big question with Diaz continues to be whether he will remain at Penn State after this season. His name was mentioned in connection with the South Florida head coaching opening, but Diaz can do much better than that job. It all just depends on how patient he can be until the right fit comes along.

5. About that T formation ...

I absolutely love this, and not just the formation itself, but also the creativity and willingness by offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich to come up with a scheme and formation that's a little outside the box.

That was Penn State's first touchdown on fourth-and-1 against Maryland. And this was the second, which looked like the same play:

And just for fun, check out this formation that Penn State used a week earlier against Indiana:

The Lions have struggled running in short-yardage situations for several years, but they have improved this season. We can give credit to the offensive line and to good young running backs in Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, but honestly, Yurcich deserves most of the credit.

When everybody in the stadium knows you're going to run the ball, it's up to the offensive coaches to come up with schemes, formations and plays that can guarantee a level of success. The T formation thing this season has been a breath of fresh air.

Here's what Franklin had to say about it Tuesday:

"The first thing is, it's balanced. So defensively, they have to defend runs to the right, runs to the left, runs in the middle. So, kind of wherever you show weaknesses, we have the ability to attack. Then you have to defend throws to the right, throws to the left, play-actions, keepers. And then we've also shown on film that we have the ability, because of our tight ends, to explode out of that and get an empty formation.

"So, it's like anything, right? There is enough complementary pieces and diversity that that makes it difficult, and we're playing pretty good on the O-line and playing pretty good at tight end, and we've got some backs that can make you miss and break tackles. When you do that in those situations, it's like cover zero defensively, you're going to commit that much to stopping the run that if you can break a tackle and get through, there is nothing left.

"It's been a good package to us. We're going to continue to use it and take a lot of pride in it."

6. Penn State's fan base is amazing

I wanted to write something big on this after Saturday's game, but it just didn't work out over the weekend. Still, Franklin had some awesome stuff to say about the fan base when asked to compare Penn State to a place such as Maryland.

The bottom line is that, with a stadium that seats 107,000 people, the enormous fan base, huge alumni base and great tradition, the Lions have so many things going in their favor that 95 percent of programs simply don't have. There is a built-in advantage there that's unmistakable.

"It is special," Franklin said. "I come in here and I make that statement all the time. But I hope it's coming off in a way that the fans truly understand how much we appreciate them and how impactful it is. I think that's one of the things that's probably most amazing about this place is through the good and the bad for how many years now? You know people are talking about decreasing stadium size, and most NFL stadiums hold about 75,000 and we're able to get 106,000-107,000 on a pretty consistent basis. Good weather in the beginning of the year. Tough weather in the middle of the year doesn't matter.

"Our fans come out and it differentiates us, and it makes us special at a time where it's hard to find ways to differentiate yourselves in college football. Everybody's trying to find ways to do it. Whether it's with uniforms or facilities or whatever it is. This is special and I remind our players all the time about it, not to take it for granted. I know Pat our athletic director has been blown away by it. I think we announced publicly our number of season ticket holders for the first time ever. It is unique and it is special, and I hope I convey how much we appreciate it how much it means to us."

7. Times have changed with regards to playing time discussions

I played high school basketball in the early 1990s, and I've always remembered my coach telling everybody, "If I hear from your parents about playing time, you're off the team."

Goodness, times have changed. Most high school coaches would be fired nowadays if they refused to acknowledge concerns of moms and dads -- some of whom can be influential in the community or even on school boards that do the hirings and firings -- and so coaches face more pressure to make sure they play a lot of kids.

That can also be the case in college nowadays. Because of the transfer portal, players -- and their parents -- have to be kept in the loop by coaches about playing time and expectations. If not, you run the risk of those players leaving.

Franklin acknowledged the change in a brief comment Tuesday.

"In the old days ... it was a program rule for a long time, we wouldn't talk to family members about playing time," he said. "Those days are over. We're talking about playing time, why they are or why they're not.

"Once again, if you're not talking to them, somebody else is. But it's been the last couple years since the rule with the agents has changed. Then obviously, the transfer portal is the other thing that's factored into it."

8. Lions up to No. 11 in College Football Playoff

Penn State moved up three spots this week, from No. 14 to No. 11, with rankings released Tuesday night.

If the Lions go 10-2, which they should, they would finish in the top 12 of the CFP for the fifth time in seven years. They also were in the top 12 each year from 2016-19.

As I keep saying, the expanded playoff can't get here quickly enough for Penn State.

9. Setting the standard ... and keeping it

Penn State led Maryland 27-0 at the half Saturday. Typically in those kinds of games over the years, the Lions also have gone on to play well in the second half and won by 40 points or so.

This game ended up 30-0, with Penn State kind of coasting throughout the second half instead of keeping its foot on the gas.

Franklin, to his credit, called out the team a bit for not bringing the same kind of determination to the second half.

"Opportunities for growth, we talk about starting fast -- we did that," he said. "But then finishing strong. Just didn't feel like we truly played the second half -- we say every game it's 0-0 coming out of halftime, and I'm not sure we truly did that up to the same standard and expectations. Up 27-0 in the first half and we did win the second half 3-0, but not at the same standard in my opinion."

10. Field hockey, women's soccer in NCAA tourney

Penn State's field hockey team is in the Final Four and will play North Carolina on Friday in the national semifinals. Penn State is 17-3 and the No. 6 seed, while North Carolina (19-0) is the top seed.

The game is Friday at noon and will be televised on ESPN+. Maryland and Northwestern will meet in the other semifinal, and the championship game will be Sunday at 1:30 p.m. All games are at UConn in Storrs.

Penn State's women's soccer team is into the second round of the NCAA Tournament after a 4-1 win over Quinnipiac. The Lady Lions will host West Virginia on Friday at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN+.