State College and Dublin are approximately 3,333 miles apart, which should make for a nice pregame warmup for Bill O’Brien and company. (Centre Daily Times/MCT/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

Another college football season opener in Ireland could be in the works. After Notre Dame and Navy squared off in Dublin last fall, Penn State and Central Florida are discussing the option of opening the 2014 season against one another in Ireland, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Nittany Lions coach Bill O’Brien and Knights coach George O’Leary are both of Irish heritage and have talked about the possibility of a matchup across the pond for months. The game would serve as the second half of a previously scheduled home-and-home, with the first meeting taking place this Sept. 14 in State College.

Read More…

Steven Bench telling QB coach Charlie Fisher how excited he is about the Christian Hackenberg era, probably. (AP)

By Zac Ellis

Sophomore quarterback Steven Bench has been granted his release from Penn State, the school announced on Wednesday. Bench will complete the spring semester at the university before transferring elsewhere.

“I have been meeting with all the players this week with my evaluation of where they are at related to football and academics and to discuss what they need to work on this summer,” Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said. “After meeting with Steven, he informed me he wants to play elsewhere. We want what is best for Steven. I want to thank him for his contributions to the program. We wish Steven the best in the future and will assist him anyway we can.”

Bench saw action in two games as a true freshman in 2012, finishing 2-of-8 passing for 12 yards while backing up Matt McGloin. O’Brien said sophomore Tyler Ferguson and freshmen Christian Hackenberg, D.J. Crook and Austin Whipple will compete for the starting job this fall.

I've decided to leave Penn State and go to a school that will give me the opportunity to compete for the QB spot and reach my full potential—
Steven Bench (@SBench12) April 24, 2013

Is this the real Kliff Kingsbury, or an incredible simulation? (AP)

• Kliff Kingsbury is on Twitter. His hair does not look artfully tousled. He is wearing a suit and tie, and that tie is not a skinny tie. No v-necks are immediately visible. This may in fact be a wax dummy of Kliff Kingsbury pictured here, which would go a long way toward explaining why it hasn’t tweeted yet.

• We are now contractually obligated to call him Bear O’Brien for one calendar year. Penn State’s head coach has been bestowed with the Bear Bryant College Coach of the Year Award, marking him as the most alliterative winner in the award’s history. Congratulations, Bill O’Bryant!

• Coach-hirin’ follies! Florida defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is leaving to rejoin the Seattle Seahawks; Gators assistant D.J. Durkin has been elevated in his place … per our express wishes, Clancy Pendergast will replace Monte Kiffin as USC’s DC … Rutgers will reportedly lose offensive coordinator Dave Brock to Delaware … Rick Smith, who’s coached defensive backs at South Florida since 2010, will join Ruffin McNeil’s staff at East Carolina as defensive coordinator … now-former Boston College OC Doug Martin (not, so far as we know, nicknamed “Muscle Hamster”) is headed back to New Mexico State in the same capacity.

Read More…

Unfamiliar with Wake Forest’s Michael Campanaro, currently a national top-15 receiver in yardage who is averaging more than 125 all-purpose yards per game? This video should fix that, indelibly. [Via @DHPIV.]

• Be warned, these people do make soup from frogs. TCU announced Tuesday that the Horned Frogs will play LSU in the 2013 season-opening Cowboys Classic. They’ll presumably face off in prime time, against Alabama and Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff.

Read More…

Fan-altered Notre Dame helmets, coming to an ACC stadium near you. Huzzah, realignment news! (Landov)

• News that is mostly not about football. From a fresh ACC release: “The Atlantic Coast Conference Council of Presidents has unanimously voted to accept the University of Notre Dame as a new member. The Irish will compete as full members in all conference sponsored sports with the exception of football which will play five games annually against league programs.” Pete Thamel has more, including the thorny issue of the Fighting Irish’s exit date for its sports currently operating in the Big East. We now return to football things.

• It is also a secret music box that plays “Afternoon Delight.” In yesterday’s Profiles in Profiteroles column we mentioned that the new trophy for the Toledo-Bowling Green Battle of I-75 rivalry hadn’t been completed in time for last year’s game. It’s more than ready now, making a splashy entrance with its own hype video, complete with four Toledo football players flexing their acting chops.

• Injury report story hour. Jordan Wynn impresses in his retirement press conference … Robert Marve has, you might have suspected, torn another ACL … TCU defensive end Ross Forrest is likely out the rest of the season  with a knee injury … Syracuse receiver Jeremiah Kobena is out for several weeks with what the school is calling “an upper body injury that required surgery.”

Read More…

Five-star tackle Andrus Peat headlines Stanford's terrifyingly fierce offensive line class. (US PRESSWIRE)

• “When you’re the first person in your family to graduate from high school, you don’t need to be sitting out.” Justin Taylor and family spoke to the AJC about Taylor’s decision to spurn Alabama’s offer of a grayshirt year and sign with Kentucky instead. The three-star running back and Atlanta native will look to infuse some life into a rushing offense that averaged just 124 yards per game in 2011.

• The SEC East resurgence comes not from the south, but from the sides. Andy Staples was on the scene in Nashville as James Franklin reeled in the flossiest class in Vanderbilt program history.

• “Urban Meyer can’t stop yawning.” An unfair excerpt from Stewart Mandel’s visit with the Urbz and his mighty crop of blue-chippers.

• They’ll breed. You’ll die. We legitimately fear the prowess of the linemen Stanford has landed.

• Go west, and north. Steve Sarkisian lost some in-state gems, but pillaged California in return.

• Jordan Payton settles! This counts as news at this point.

Read More…

High on Bill O'Brien's résumé: Coaching Tom Brady during his time with the New England Patriots. (AP)

Take this moment to enjoy a few deep cleansing breaths and remember that a hire is not a hire until it’s a hire. The Associated Press is reporting that New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has agreed to become Penn State head coach, but that the details are still being discussed and nothing is official. Yet reality is congealing, and we concede: It looks very much like O’Brien to Penn State will happen.

And so, we’re taking a quick break from bowl coverage to survey fan and media and fan-media hybrid reactions to the development:

• Leading off with the loudest: LaVar Arrington, former Nittany Lions standout and staunch supporter of interim head coach Tom Bradley, is most displeased with the hire:

“I will put my Butkus (Award) in storage. I will put my Alamo Bowl MVP trophy in storage,” Arrington said. “Jerseys, anything Penn State, in storage. Wherever Tom Bradley goes, that’s the school I will start to put memorabilia up in my home. I’m done. I’m done with Penn State. If they’re done with us, I’m done with them.”

• Fellow alum Todd Blackledge also expressed his reservations, and on national television:

Read More…