Miami will take its No. 25 ranking and young defense on the road for the first time this season when the Hurricanes face Appalachian State on Saturday in Kidd Brewer Stadium in Bne, N.C. Kickoff is at nn ET for the ESPN telecast.Despite starting three freshman linebackers in the opener and rotating a sophomore defensive back in at one spot in the second game, the Hurricanes have dominated their first two opponents by a combined 108-13 score.Florida A&M and Florida Atlantic managed only 69 yards rushing with just another 342 passing.Freshman linebacker Michael Pinckney leads the team in tackles with 12 stops after recording nine against Florida Atlantic with a sack-and-a-half. He and freshman Shaq Quarterman, who has been in on 10 tackles, have both started the first two games.Freshman Zach McCloud started the opener but gave way to nickelback Jaquan Johnson, a sophomore, against FAU as the Hurricanes slightly altered their scheme. McCloud has four tackles with one for a loss. Johnson has seven tackles.But its not just the freshmen who are going to have to adjust to the situation.To be honest with you, its my first road trip with this team and with this staff, coach Mark Richt said. Its not like its old hat for us and everybody knows what theyre doing. Everybody is brand new.First time travel. First time nn game. A nn game is different. Last two games, a 6 oclock start at home. Everything was the same back-to-back. That was very comfortable. By Game 2, we knew what was happening.Now were traveling. Its a little different.Appalachian State will be a much bigger challenge for the Hurricanes than what they had in their first two games in friendly Hard Rock Stadium, and it goes beyond simply being in unfriendly environs for the first time.The Mountaineers certainly are not overwhelmed by the prospect of taking on big-name opponents. While still an FCS team, they beat Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2007, and last year in their first season of bowl eligibility at the FBS level went 11-2 and beat Ohio in their bowl game. That made them the first team to win a bowl game in their first season on the FBS level.This year they opened the season by nearly upsetting SEC East Division favorite Tennessee in Knoxville, leading 13-3 early on before falling 20-13 in overtime. The Vols got their touchdown in overtime by recovering a fumble in the end zone or else the Mountaineers would have had an opportunity to win it with a field goal.Appalachian State has a veteran quarterback in junior Taylor Lamb, who was 15-of-23 passing for 108 yards against Tennessee, and an outstanding running back in senior Marcus Cox.Cox rushed for 115 yards on 24 carries against the Vols and came back last week to run for 133 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-7 win over Old Dominion. He ranks fourth in schl history with 4,336 career rushing yards.Were very excited this week to host Miami, for obvious reasons, Mountaineers coach Scott Satterfield said. Its the biggest opponent that weve ever had come to our campus to play a ftball game. In particular, what theyre bringing in here is the tradition of a schl thats won national championships, thats won Heisman Trophies, all the accolades that theyve won over the years.And not only that, youre bringing in a Mark Richt-coached team in here, a team that last year won eight games and has started off really well. Theyre ranked in the top 25 in both polls for the first time I think since 2013.Theyre pretty hot, t, Satterfield said.Were excited about playing them, Satterfield said. No. 1 playing them and No. 2 playing them here in front of our crowd, which will be the largest crowd weve had in the history of our schl.The fans must be lking forward to it Miamis visit to the 23,150-seat stadium. At least, they seem confident enough. A twitter account tagged App State Traditions had this tweet early in the week:Its Miami week!!! Miami actually thinks they have a chance to win this game.It was punctuated with three smiley faces.Pittsburgh Penguins Shirts . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. Custom Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/ . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Fake Penguins Jerseys . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. Penguins Jerseys 2020 . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternn.Haleigh Washington cites one obsession in her life, and its not volleyball.The Penn State middle blocker loves them all -- big bks, little bks, thick bks, thin bks -- from Dantes Inferno, on her bucket list for years, to childhd favorite Go, Dog, Go! Her most recent title: Barbara Kingsolvers allegorical novel The Poisonwd Bible.I love to cuddle up with a gd bk, feel the pages and crack the spine, the junior philosophy major said. I love having bks all around me and having the possibility of sitting down and leaving wherever I am to escape into a bk. As much as I love bks, I love reading even more. When I get obsessed with a bk, its pretty much all I talk about.So Washington was given a challenge: Talk about the Nittany Lions upcoming season using some of her most beloved titles as reference points.Penn State, winner of a record seven NCAA titles, ranks No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association preseason poll. Its an atypical spot for one of the most storied teams in the sport, but its not surprising. Last year came to an unsatisfying end for the two-time defending champion, swept by Hawaii in the regional semifinals; Penn State had started the season ranked No. 1 and had never lost to the Rainbow Wahine. It marked the first time since 2011 that Penn State failed to advance to the elite eight or better.The sour taste of that defeat -- and the speech that coach Russ Rose made afterward noting that 28-6 is a record most teams celebrate -- fuels these early weeks of volleyball in State College, Washington said.The physical and emotional toll that goes into three-a-days remind me of The Things They Carried, she said, referring to the Tim OBrien novel on the pride and sacrifice of Vietnam soldiers and the loads they bear, both physical and emotional.When you go to Penn State, the expectation is final four, national championship every year, she said. When youre 28-6 at Penn State, that is the sky falling.Washington watched the Hawaii players celebrate as she walked off the court in Des Moines, Iowa. She knew it was the culmination of a season in which Penn State underperformed.The worst part about it was we almost thought it was supposed to happen, she said. We got what was coming to us and realized we lost because we didnt work hard enough, and thats a horrible thing to come out of a Penn Staters mouth. Thats not what we stand for.No bk comes to mind for that reference, she said, but I can compare it easily to a TV show. Its like How I Met Your Mother. That show started great, was OK in the middle and the ending sucked. That was our season: great start, gd middle, horrible ending.Rose agreed that his team, which opens Friday at home against West Virginia, faded down the stretch, noting many of his younger players were worn down by the grind of the long season. As for work ethic, he added, Sometimes people dont want to hear the truth when theyre in the moment. They think theyre working really hard and doing everything they can, and in hinndsight, when you have time to step back and assess your body of work, you make a declaration of Maybe I could have done more.ddddddddddddReassessing was enough to make Washington, who won it all in 2014 as the Big Ten freshman of the year, hungry to restore glory to Happy Valley. She is excited by the early chemistry of the 2016 team, comparing it to yet another of her favorite reads, The Hunger Games series.That trilogy of bks, she said, is without a standout chapter -- its a consistently strong read from beginning to end.Lamenting Penn States lack of steadiness a year ago, she said this years team blends well as a group and understands how crucial it is to compete at the same high level regardless of the circumstances. Thats what will be needed, she said, when the conference schedule gears up, particularly during a late-October stretch when the Nittany Lions play three road games -- Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota -- in a week.Without Micha Hancock or Megan Courtney this season, these Nittany Lions, she said, dont boast a Katniss Everdeen-type superstar.Were all just one great collective unit, she said.That includes junior outside hitters Ali Frantti, an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) honorable mention All-American last year, and Simone Lee, who closed out 2015 starting 18 of 21 matches. Both, Rose said, will play larger roles this year along with middle blocker Heidi Thelen. Lefty junior Abby Detering will bring an attacking mentality to the setter position, and prize recruit Kendall White could start right away at libero or be a significant back-row sub.Then, of course, theres Washington, a reigning first team All-American, whose .442 hitting efficiency ranked third nationally. Shes a player who Rose said is among the most engaging kids Ive ever coached.The 6-ft-3 star from Doherty, Colorado, was part of a 2014 signing class -- along with Frantti, Thelen and Lee -- that was considered the best in the nation.Washington returns with a stronger serve and improved blocking in addition to more consistent back-row play. My hitting ability is getting better, t, she said. Offensively Im stronger, but the gd news is I still have rm to grow.So, t, do her teammates, and Washington alludes to a final bk regarding her expectations for a season in which nine Big Ten teams are ranked in the initial poll, including three -- Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- among the top five.When I think how I want it to end, I think of The Help, Washington said, referring to Kathryn Stocketts debut novel set in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. Its a bk with the perfect closure -- not what youd expect to happen, but the ending sums up the bk entirely. Whatever happens will be the perfect ending for this team -- whether that be a Big Ten championship, a final four run or maybe ... an NCAA championship.Now that would be storybk. ' ' '