This coming weekend, Penn State will honor the late Joe Paterno and his players before Saturday’s game against Temple University.
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Underdog Dynasty: The victory previous year was the biggest for the program in a long time, maybe even ever, and got people in Philly to actually talk about Temple Football.
The night before the game, hundreds of former Penn State football players reunited in a private event outside the school’s baseball stadium – about half a football field away from where a statue of Paterno used to stand before the university took it down in the wake of the Sandusky scandal.
Sometimes, former Penn State football player Jimmy Cefalo said, the “dumb things” Joe Paterno taught him will pop into his mind.
The decision to honor Paterno, who, according to an investigation conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, attempted to cover up a 2001 child abuse allegation along with others on his coaching staff, is being criticized by victims’ advocates.
It is unclear when Paterno became aware of Sandusky’s activity, although it’s highly likely that he knew for decades, an accusation that was confirmed in a report that came out earlier this year.
In May, unsealed court documents said an alleged Sandusky victim said he complained to Paterno about Sandusky in 1976 and was rebuffed.
He said his opinion of Paterno, who coached at Penn State for 46 years, remains unchanged. Armstead would get most of the carries if Thomas does not play, but you could also see freshman Isaiah Wright who carried the ball seven times for 42 yards against Stony Brook. Stewart, a former National Football League player who also gives motivational speeches, said he returned for one reason. But it ended with a phone call from the board of trustees who fired him amid the Sandusky scandal. Paterno died of cancer in January 2012 and never was charged with a crime. “Penn State’s commemoration of Paterno promotes the perception that colleges and universities provide preferential treatment to athletics, rather than victims in sexual-abuse investigations”. But the coach was sacked by the school’s board of trustees shortly after Sandusky, who was his defensive coordinator, was arrested in November 2011 for child sexual abuse.
Sandusky was convicted on 45 of 48 charges in June 2012 and is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence. The NCAA has since restored the victories, once again making Paterno the winningest coach in Division I college football history. During that time, they’ve been lead by receivers such as Justin Blackmon and Dez Bryant, who later went on to the NFL. “Like I said it’s polarizing for a lot of people”, he said.
It was the passing attack that the Owls secondary knew would be their first true test of the season that was ultimately too much to recover from, as Temple tallied their second loss of the season at the hands of Penn State.
Tackles for loss for Penn State.
“I think they handled it wrong and I think they got bad advice from the lawyers and the lawyers got it wrong and they handled it wrong”, Harris said.
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It’s not clear if Paterno’s family will participate during the gametime ceremony.
