ERST LESEN! » OTTOVotto singled in the fifth to exte

After a rocky 2-2 start to the season that included road losses at Pittsburgh and Michigan, Penn State coach James Franklin was rumored to be on the hot seat and even garnered the dreaded vote of confidence from athletic director Sandy Barbour.Five games later -- all wins, including a memorable 24-21 upset of then No. 2-ranked Ohio State -- and Franklin is now being mentioned as a national coach of the year candidate while the No. 10 Nittany Lions (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) are in the hunt for a major bowl game as they begin a two-game road trip at Indiana (5-4, 3-3) on Saturday afternoon (noon ET, ABC/ESPN2).A win over the Hoosiers and Penn State, which closes conference play with games at Rutgers (2-7, 0-6) and at home against Michigan State (2-7, 0-6), could end the regular season with 10 wins.Penn State comes in off an impressive 41-14 win over Iowa and currently sits second in the Big Tens East Division with a 5-1 record.Im really proud of how our team is playing, Franklin said. The confidence that theyre building and really playing well in all three phases.Penn State has eclipsed 500 yards of total offense in three of its last four games. A victory formation kneel-down reduced its total to 599 against an Iowa defense some thought could slow the Nittany Lions.That wasnt the case and Penn State players are confident no team can stop them.Our design is always to take what they give us so thats part of it, but through our running game we were confident what we could do running the ball, quarterback Trace McSorley said. We were able to find a couple things that we were able to get good chunk plays, get five, six yards a pop every time. So we were able to kind of go back to those and we knew we needed to get into manageable third downs or to cut the chains in half.I think we did a really good job with that -- utilizing those with our (run-pass options) and our play-action pass game, everything really mented each other (against Iowa).Penn States defense has bounced back nicely after early-season thrashings by Pittsburgh and Michigan. Regularly rotating eight defensive linemen, boosted by the return of starting linebackers Brandon Bell and Jason Cabinda and backed by a playmaking, veteran secondary, the Nittany Lions are plus-6 in turnover margin during their winning streak.Despite the impressive turnaround, dont look for the Nittany Lions to head into Saturdays contest cocky and overconfident.We understand that as fast as we are able to climb in the rankings, it could be taken away just as fast, McSorley said. So we have to come to work every single day and prepare like were not ranked anywhere in the Top 25, just prepare like a hard-nosed blue collar team that were trying to be.Indiana (5-4, 3-3), which comes in off back-to-back wins over Maryland and Rutgers, needs to win one of its final three games against the Nittany Lions, No. 2 Michigan and rival Purdue to earn a second straight bowl bid. The Hoosiers overcame four turnovers and two blocked kicks to squeak past Rutgers 33-27 last Saturday.Were not going to win with that type of play this week or any week moving forward, Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. Weve got a lot to clean up. Still good to clean up after a win, but a lot of things to address. Were on to what is a really good team.Indiana has gained 1,217 yards offensively in the last two games, which probably has something to do with the return of guard Dan Feeney, ranked as the No. 1 guard prospect and a likely first-round pick by NFLDraftScout.com. Feeney was credited with six knockdowns.Quarterback Richard Lagow shrugged off his 12th and 13th interceptions in the last seven games to throw for a season-high 394 yards against Rutgers on 28-of-40 accuracy. Lagow connected on 14 of his first 16 attempts while averaging just over 14 yards per completion. But he will have to eliminate the mistakes and make quick decisions against a Penn State defense that has 18 sacks over the last three games for Indiana to pull the upset Saturday.Jeff Bagwell Jersey . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. Craig Biggio Astros Jersey . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. http://www.baseballastrosproshop.com/jake-marisnick-astros-jersey/ . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. Aledmys Diaz Jersey . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. Justin Verlander Jersey . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston.CINCINNATI -- Brandon Phillips made the Miami Marlins pay for using some good strategy. Right-hander Nick Wittgen walking left-handed Joey Votto with two outs and the tying run on second base made perfect sense.Until Phillips drove in two runs with his second double of the game and the Cincinnati Reds rallied for a 3-2 victory Wednesday night.Billy Hamilton was on second base and Votto on first after being walked intentionally in the seventh inning. Phillips lined a fastball to the gap in right-center field to drive in the go-ahead runs.I was looking for a pitch out over the plate and I finally got it, said Phillips, who missed the previous two games with contusions on both knees.Wittgen (3-2) had no problem with manager Don Mattinglys decision.We had a righty against a lefty, and you dont want that, Wittgen said. I didnt make my pitches. I got behind, and he knew a 3-1 fastball was coming. He got good wood on it.Josh Smith (2-1) set up the comeback with two innings of scoreless relief after the Marlins had taken a 2-1 lead on third baseman Eugenio Suarezs two-out error of Marcell Ozunas routine grounder in the fifth. That allowed Christian Yelich to score from second.Blake Wood pitched a perfect eighth and Tony Cingrani retired the side in the ninth for his 15th save in 20 chances and second in two games.The loss cost Miami a chance to move into a three-way tie with San Francisco and Pittsburgh behind St. Louis in the National League wild-card standings.It doesnt always come easy, Reds manager Bryan Price said. (The Marlins) battle. Theyre in the race for a reason.Andrew Cashner was in line for his first win for Miami in his fourth start since being acquired from San Diego on July 29. Cashner, who was 0-2 with a 6.61 ERA with the Marlins, allowed five hits and one run with four walks and one strikeout.Homer Bailey, making his fourth start overall and first at home since coming backk from Tommy John surgery in May 2015, left trailing 2-1 after five innings.dddddddddddd He gave up all six Miami hits and one earned run -- Ozunas 21st homer leading off the fourth -- with one walk and six strikeouts in his first start in Cincinnati since Aug. 7, 2014.Phillips and Suarez tied the score with consecutive doubles in the fourth.LONG TIMEOzunas home run was the first allowed by Bailey since the Brewers Aramis Ramirez took him deep on April 23, 2015, at Milwaukee. Bailey underwent Tommy John surgery the next month.SERIES-OUSMiamis Martin Prado singled in his first at-bat to improve to 6 for 10 in the series. Phillips had to make a leaping catch of Prados hard line drive in his next at-bat. Prado finished 6 for 12 in the series.HOTTOVotto singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to nine games (16 for 36, .485).NOTTOTucker Barnhart went 0 for 3 with a walk to see his hitting streak stopped at a career-high 12 games.TRAINING ROOMMarlins: Miami will be careful not to overuse 42-year-old RF Ichiro Suzuki with Giancarlo Stanton on the DL. Its important that we dont run him into the ground, Mattingly said. I dont know if he wants to hear that or not. Hes probably in the best shape of anybody on the team.Reds: LF Adam Duvalls left foot is immobilized in a walking boot to help him heal after fouling a ball off it on Monday. Price expects Duvall to be out a couple of days.UP NEXTMarlins: RHP Jose Fernandez (12-6), Thursdays scheduled Miami starter in the finale of the four-game series in Cincinnati, didnt allow an earned run or a walk and finished with eight strikeouts in seven innings against Cincinnati on July 8.Reds: Cincinnatis projected Thursday starter, RHP Dan Straily (8-6), is 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA in six starts since the All-Star break. ' ' '