Football Preview 2018

Fort Frye Looking for Big Things

By RON JOHNSTON BEVERLY — Fort Frye High’s football team has been on a roll ever since Tate Engle earned the starting quarterback job as a freshman back in 2015. In three years of taking center snaps, Engle has helped the Cadets compile a combined 32-4 record and make three straight Ohio Division VI playoff appearances. In regular-season play, he’s been almost perfect with a 29-1 mark. Engle is now a senior, and Fort Frye is again expected to be one of the top teams in Ohio Division VI and the team to beat in the Pioneer Valley Conference. The Cadets will also get an ...

Pitt Beats the Big Boys, Struggles Against Others

By TRACY WATSON PITTSBURGH — With three losses to nationally ranked teams and three more losses by six points or less, the 2017 college football season may be one to forget for Coach Pat Narduzzi and his Pittsburgh Panthers. However, while Pitt finished off a 5-7 campaign, and 3-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division, the last taste in Narduzzi’s team’s mouth last season was a pretty sweet one. While the Panthers did not qualify for a bowl game, they were able to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the college football season on Nov. 24 at Heinz Field when they ...

Marshall Looks to Start Another Bowl Win Streak

By KYLE LUTZ HUNTINGTON — After its five bowl-game winning streak was snapped during the 2016 season, Marshall got a reminder of what’s it’s like to hoist the hardware during the 2017 season. The Thundering Herd won six of their first seven games before dropping four of their last five. However, a 7-5 record was good enough to earn a trip to the Gildan New Mexico Bowl against Colorado State. The Thundering Herd held off a furious Rams comeback in the fourth quarter to claim a 31-28 victory. Coach Doc Holliday and the Thundering Herd hope they can start another streak of ...

Shepherd Is the Overwhelming Favorite in MEC

By DON CLEGG BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — The winds of change are blowing a gale through the Mountain East Conference on and off the football field these days but one thing remains the same. Shepherd was made the overwhelming favorite to win its fourth straight MEC title when the league’s coaches revealed the results of their annual preseason poll earlier this month. It’s hard to overstate how dominant the Rams have been during the MEC’s five-year run. The Eastern Panhandle squad has posted an eye-popping 55-6 record during that time but four of those six losses have come in the ...

Defense Could Lead Notre Dame Into Playoff

By JOSH STROPE SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Last October, Notre Dame was ranked No. 3 in the College Football Playoff standings. The Fighting Irish were going to crash the party and leave a conference champion on the outside looking in. Then Notre Dame went to Miami and got stomped by the Hurricanes, 41-8. A late-season swoon has been an unwanted pattern for a Notre Dame team that has seemingly been knocking on the playoff door two of the past three seasons. Is this finally the year? Many experts have Notre Dame favored in every game it plays this season, not like means any thing. ...

Franklin, Penn State Face Favorable Schedule

By SHAWN RINE STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — At first glance it might appear this is going to be a rebuilding season in Happy Valley. One would not be out of place coming to such a conclusion by looking at whom Penn State is missing from last season — Saquon Barkley, most of the back seven on defense and offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, among others. But dig a little deeper and the opposite argument could be made. Coach James Franklin returns one of the best quarterbacks America has to offer in Trace McSorely, and a favorable schedule sets up nicely for a run at a Big Ten title. The ...