The Penn State wrestling team made a statement upsetting rival Lehigh last weekend and hopes to cap it with an exclamation point this weekend as it opens its Big Ten season against Wisconsin.

Knock one domino down, and the others will fall into place. That's the way Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins coaches.

It is not every year that Minnesota can come to Rec Hall late in the season and not be the main volleyball story of the weekend.

On a cold and very forgettable day for Penn State fans, close to two years ago now, Michigan State all but lowered the coffin on arguably the worst Penn State football season ever.

Michigan State had the entire country fooled. Again.

Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton has said, "You can't stop the spread. The spread stops itself." Yet, already this season, the Penn State football team managed to stop three teams who run college football's "it" scheme.

Since the crew from ESPN's College GameDay brought its traveling road show to Happy Valley last month, all three members of the show have said the atmosphere and turnout for the live taping before Penn State's game against Ohio State was one of the best they had ever seen.

For a team low on experience and even lower in expectations, tomorrow’s season opener against Cornell will serve as a measuring stick for a squad in great need of confidence.

People tend to fear what they don’t know or understand, but should the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers have anything to fear from a team from Missouri?

On the north wall of the Penn State football team's cavernous weight room, three stone pilasters divide the surface into four equal parts.
Predictions (PDF format)

As Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland made herself comfortable at Tuesday's press conference, she asked the most fitting question.
Lions Basketball Preview; men's and women's (PDF format)

Sports in brief

My Opinion: Tim Ford

Team comparison

Innovation Park petition fails to propose solutions to PSU land constraints

My Opinion: Mike Catalini

My Opinion: Jen Winberry

What do you think of President Spanier's annual salary?

• Students have voice in Spanier's salary
• Most students enjoy all aspects of PSU
• Negativity in columns not good approach
• PSU pride constant for true football fans
• Facebook members make content public
• PSU officials apathetic toward Portland's bias
• Religious discussions beneficial for students
• Chatting during lecture disrupts entire class
• Abercrombie decision to pull shirts on its own

Despite media coverage that often focuses on religious controversy surrounding Harry Potter, local groups and religious organizations aren't worried about the fictional sorcerer's effects on children.

Down the HUB-Robeson Center's staircase by the craft tables, Late Night Penn Staters will get a lot more than a stamp-decorated seasonal card.

I've hated on Madonna a lot in my short lifetime. And I also don't usually enjoy techno/dance music, preferring instead beat-heavy hip-hop to thump-driven dance beats. But "Hung Up," the first single from Madonna's latest album, Confessions on a Dance Floor -- released Tuesday -- instantly made my dance-ready booty overjoyed.

I'd like to tell you that Scott Stapp cut that canola-oiled hair of his, lost those big stupid post-Seven Mary Three guitar riffs and penned a series of understated, secular soul ballads that would become standards for years to come. I'd like that, because I'd much rather listen to that record than I do The Great Divide, the first solo album from the former Creed frontman (and professional Jesus impersonator). But a much better rock 'n' roller than Stapp once said that "you can't always get what you want," and in the case of this albums, that's gonna be true for a lot of people.

Elton John has appeared on The Simpsons twice -- or so says Riff, The Music Trivia DVD Game, a game played entirely from a DVD.

Sometimes, even the good ones let you down.

The music that accompanies most good horror films must either be soft and creepy or loud and abrasive. A good mixture of both will help to scare the bejesus out of you -- and that's the approach a few famous movie directors are banking on.

Not so long ago, Jim Sheridan made a movie, In America, about the evils of the slums of New York City. Based on that premise, it wouldn't seem then that last week's release of Get Rich or Die Tryin' is that drastic a change for Sheridan. But the name of the lead assures that Irish immigrant Sheridan is hardly sticking to already-chartered territory.

There's absolutely no denying that Alison Krauss has a heavenly voice, or that her band, Union Station, is made up of very proficient musicians.