Virginia
Penn State-West Virginia Is the Hottest College Football Ticket of Week 1
As Penn State coach James Franklin noted this week, tickets for Saturday’s Penn State-West Virginia game are in-demand.
“From what I understand, like, you can’t get ticket,” Franklin said. “You can’t find a ticket to this game.”
Well, you can, but they’re pricey. West Virginia announced Tuesday that the game officially is sold out, so fans looking for last-minute Penn State football tickets on the secondary market must be ready for some markup. According to Vivid Seats, the Penn State-West Virginia game is the most expensive ticket on the secondary market for college football’s Week 1. As of Wednesday afternoon, the lowest-priced ticket for the game was $193, according to Vivid Seats. That tops the price list for Week 1’s premium games.
For example, tickets for Saturday night’s game in College Station, Texas, between No. 7 Notre Dame and No. 20 Texas A&M started at $180 as of Wednesday afternoon. Tickets for No. 19 Miami’s visit to Florida started at $149, according to Vivid Seats.
Tickets for Saturday’s game between No. 1 Georgia and No. 14 Clemson, which kicks off from Atlanta at the same time as Penn State-West Virginia, started at $90. And tickets for the Sunday-night game between USC and LSU in Las Vegas opened at $117, according to Vivid Seats. Prices, of course, fluctuate constantly.
StubHub expects Penn State to be one of the premium programs on the secondary market this season. According to the site, Penn State ranks 10th among college football’s most in-demand teams for 2024. And UCLA’s Oct. 5 trip to Penn State ranked fifth among the best-selling new conference games.
Penn State is making its first trip to Morgantown since 1992, so West Virginia knew it had a hot ticket for the opener. West Virginia excluded the Penn State game from its single-game ticket inventory, which meant fans had to buy season tickets or one of three mini-plans. This week, West Virginia announced that season-ticket plans were sold out as well as the Penn State game.
“I think the Penn State game is huge for us,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. “That’s a regional rivalry. … It’s not a rivalry that’s gone in West Virginia’s favor very often, so that’s a great opportunity for us. It’s Fox [Big] Noon Kickoff. All their Big Noon show will be there. We’re fired up about that. Our fans will be ready for that, too. I think we’ll show really well on national television. But it’s not just a big game for West Virginia. It’s a big game for our league and it’s an opportunity for our league and this new Big 12 without a couple schools that have been a part of the Big 12 for a long time in that first weekend on a marquee stage to show what kind of football that we play in this league.”
Kickoff for Saturday’s Penn State-West Virginia game is scheduled for noon ET, as Brown said, on FOX.
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Penn State on SI is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on X (or Twitter) @MarkWogenrich.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia has plenty of state symbols, be it the black bear as the state animal, the cardinal as the state bird or the rhododendron as the state flower, but did you know that the Mountain State also has its own official gun?
The Hall Flintlock Model 1819 was first manufactured in Harpers Ferry by John H. Hall in 1811 and was adopted by the United States Army in 1819, making it the first breech-loading rifle ever adopted by a country’s military.
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Model 1819 Hall Breechloading Rifle presented by Congress to Gustavous A. Bird for his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh 9/11/1814 by John C. Bird via the Smithsonian Institution -
Model 1819 Hall Breechloading Rifle presented by Congress to Gustavous A. Bird for his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh 9/11/1814 by John C. Bird via the Smithsonian Institution
All of this information is listed in Senate Concurrent Resolution 7, which was introduced and passed during the 2013 West Virginia Legislative session, and officially recognizes the Model 1819 as the official firearm of the State of West Virginia.
On top of being created in West Virginia, the resolution also points out that the rifle saw use during the Civil War, an event that directly led to West Virginia’s statehood.
While having an officially recognized state firearm may seem far-fetched, West Virginia is not the only state that has one. As a matter of fact, a fifth of the states in the country have officially designated a state firearm, including West Virginia’s neighbors in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In this world of college football, with the transfer portal and recruiting battles, bad blood is present more than ever before between head coaches.
That’s not the case between the Virginia Tech head coach and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, however. In fact, Franklin revealed at ACC Kickoff on Thursday that the two are actually close friends, dating back to their time at the Nike trip that various coaches take over the summer.
“Dabo’s my guy,” Franklin said on Thursday. “We go way back. We’ve been on the Nike trip for a long time. His wife and my wife are friends.”
The long-time Penn State head coach is making the move to the ACC after being fired from the Nittany Lions in October. 12 seasons of being with the program had Franklin hold a 44-21 record against top 10 opponents, an impressive record for a new conference foe of Swinney’s.
But when that trip comes around, there’s a camaraderie between Swinney and Franklin and both of their wives. In fact, the two hang out with each other instead of the other coaches at times. It simply comes to an “edgy” time in college athletics that raises tempers.
“I’m going to be honest, I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily like the type of people that love a lot of other coaches and a lot of other programs,” Franklin said. “It’s hard when you just compete year-round.”
On Swinney’s end, there are a few who could immediately come to mind among Clemson fans. Perhaps the most recent would be Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, who played the most significant role in the tampering of former linebacker Luke Ferrelli.
It’s a select list of coaches who make the good side of the Tigers’ head coach, and Franklin is certainly on that list. On the other hand, Hokies’ head coach has Swinney on his own shortlist.
“Obviously, tremendous respect for what he has built at Clemson and what he’s done at Clemson, and what he’s done for the ACC,” he said.
The two will see that close relationship face off at Memorial Stadium this upcoming season. Clemson will host the Hokies on Oct. 24 in what could be a potential title-eliminator for the ACC Championship.
Of course, the last game that we’ve seen the Tigers play in was against Franklin’s former team in Penn State at the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. That game ended in a 22-10 contest that saw a foundation of Franklin players end Clemson’s season in disappointment.
Swinney will see many of those players once again in October, including starting quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, in that contest. The anticipated Hokie starter recorded 260 yards and two passing touchdowns on the Tigers in the Bronx that day.
Although friends become foes, another ACC coach has given Swinney his flowers for what he’s been able to do for the conference. In the upcoming moments, Franklin will look to prepare his team to prove itself on one of the biggest stages in the ACC, while Swinney looks to put his team back at the top of a conference he’s dominated for over 15 years.
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. (WSET) — Extreme drought conditions in parts of Virginia have prompted an emergency drought warning for a wide swath of the region, including Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Pittsylvania and Roanoke counties, along with the cities of Danville, Roanoke, Salem and Martinsville.
The governor has warned that if conditions worsen, she will activate mandatory nonessential water-use restrictions.
In Martinsville, city leaders have issued a voluntary water conservation notice and are urging residents and businesses to cut back where they can. The request comes as local businesses that rely heavily on water say the drought is already affecting day-to-day operations.
SEE ALSO: Botetourt County residents adjust daily routines as voluntary water restriction continues
John Hughes, owner of John’s Car Wash, said the dry conditions have hit his business hard in recent weeks. “For the last 3 weeks, it’s been hitting pretty hard. We done three yesterday and haven’t done anything today with the drought and hot weather. Yeah, I’m really concerned about it,” Hughes said.
Restaurants are also feeling the strain. David Kitzmiller, an owner of Be Wiched, said water is essential for routine tasks such as washing dishes and preparing some menu items.
“We use a lot of water for washing dishes and some of our recipes if they limit us in anyway defiently can’t produce and its a scary aspect,” Kitzmiller said.
Kitzmiller added that cutting back is not always realistic for businesses that must meet sanitation needs. “Not really feasible for a business that depends solely relies on water to wash their dishes, so that can’t definitely be an impact there,” he said.
City leaders emphasized that the conservation request is voluntary for now, but they are encouraging everyone to do their part by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet when it is not in use, washing only full loads of laundry, and limiting outdoor watering whenever possible.
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