LB Posluszny honored for third straight week

Penn State junior linebacker Paul Posluszny garnered Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week after recording 14 tackles and one sack in Penn State's 17-10 win over then-No. 6 Ohio State on Saturday.

The Nittany Lions improved to 6-0 and moved atop the Big Ten at 3-0.

His selection makes Posluszny the first Big Ten student-athlete to be selected a football player of the week three consecutive times in any of the categories in which football honors are selected (offensive, defensive, and special teams).

The Big Ten began selecting football players of the week in 1987. Posluszny shares this week's honor with Pat McGarigle of Northwestern.

An All-America and Butkus Award candidate, Posluszny paced a relentless defense that held Ohio State to 10 points, nearly 20 points below its season average of 28.5, and helped pitch a shutout in the second half. Posluszny tallied six solo tackles and eight assisted stops.

He recorded a pivotal 10-yard sack late in the game to force Ohio State into a 3rd-and-17 situation on its next to last possession that the Buckeyes were unable to convert. Two of Posluszny's 14 tackles, which marked the third-highest total in his career, were for a loss of 13 yards.

Limited tickets remain for final 2 home games

A very limited number of seats remain for the October 29 homecoming contest with Purdue after the Boilermakers returned a portion of their allotment.

A very limited number of tickets also are left for the Senior Day game with No. 23 Wisconsin on November 5.

Tickets to the Purdue and Wisconsin games can be purchased by calling 814-865-5555 or 800-863-3336 weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

More than 125 Penn State students camped overnight outside the Bryce Jordan Center to purchase tickets for Saturday's game at Michigan. Approximately 400 tickets quickly sold out to students this morning for the first meeting between the teams since the Wolverines' 27-24 overtime win in Ann Arbor in 2002.

Charitable fund benefit to be held downtown

Organizers of the Kevin Dare Memorial Scholarship Fund will hold an all-age show to benefit the fund today at the Crowbar in downtown State College.

The event, in its fourth year, has been highly successful in raising funds to support the Kevin Dare Memorial Scholarship at Penn State and the Dare Foundation that is dedicated to making the sport of pole vaulting a safer event. Kevin Dare, a highly accomplished pole vaulter at Penn State, died while competing at the 2002 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Dare Foundation has worked over the past 3 1/2 years to prompt adoption of rule changes and improve equipment to make the sport of pole vaulting safer.

The benefit show will be open to all ages with adults and children encouraged to attend. The Crowbar doors will open at 8:00 p.m. and performances, which will cover a broad range of music from adult contemporary to modern rock, will continue until 2:00 a.m.

Among the artists and bands slated to perform are: Mike Jacober, Lovestomp, Poptart Monkeys, Halestorm, Giants of Science and In.

Tickets are $5.00 in advance and $7.00 at the door.

Harmotto selected as Big Ten Player of Week

Freshman women's volleyball player Christa Harmotto has been named the Big Ten Women's Volleyball Player of the Week after helping Penn State (15-2, 6-0) remain the only undefeated team in the Big Ten.

Harmotto's honor, the first of her career, marks the 39th Big Ten Player of the Week award earned by a Penn State student-athlete since joining the conference for the 1991 season.

Last weekend Harmotto helped the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions to road wins at Northwestern and No. 8 Wisconsin to remain the only undefeated team in the Big Ten. Against the Wildcats on Friday night, the middle hitter was virtually unstoppable, picking up 10 kills on an errorless 13 total attacks to hit a career-high .769, adding one dig and three blocks. The following night against the Badgers, Harmotto led the team in kills with 13, one shy of her career high, and hit .417 with four blocks in three games.