Bill O Brien

STATE COLLEGE - What's the deal with that "Spacebook" and "Tweeter," anyway? When asked Tuesday about the attacks that sophomore kicker Sam Ficken has received on Twitter after missing four field goals and an extra point in Saturday's 17-16 loss to Virginia, Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien poignantly responded, though he didn't quite get the names of Facebook and Twitter right. "Obviously, I think it's absolutely ridiculous. Not just because it's a 19-year-old college kid. It's just because, I mean, it's anonymous in some ways, and in other ways it's not. But at the end of the day, you know, these guys are really playing hard, giving great effort for us," O'Brien said.

SO, WHAT NOW? No, the NCAA didn't send Penn State's football program to the electric chair. But it came dangerously close. Some people will say the NCAA went too far. Others may contend it didn't go far enough. Opinions don't really matter anymore. The penalties, very significant ones, have been handed down. Now it is up to Penn State and new coach Bill O'Brien to deal with them as best they know how. He obviously understood coming in that there would be "tough times ahead.

It looked like a risky move at the time, when Bill O'Brien decided to resign as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, a perennial NFL contender, and become the successor to the iconic Joe Paterno to lead a Penn State program rocked by shame and scandal. So much has happened since O'Brien accepted his new post on that cold, early January day: former Penn State assistant Jerry Sandusky's trial and conviction on 45 counts of child sexual abuse; Paterno's death from lung cancer; the Freeh report critical of Paterno and university officials for not acting decisively to stop Sandusky; and severe NCAA sanctions designed to affect the team through the 2017 season.

WHAT FOLLOWS is based not upon somebody whispering in my ear. It is more about body language, and tone of voice, and reading between the lines, and understanding the history. It falls somewhere between an educated guess and a gut instinct. This: that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie likely wants either Chip Kelly or Bill O'Brien to be his next head coach. To understand why, it is best to begin with a statistic. It is a rather arcane number, to be honest. It isn't in the box score and people do not quote it very often.

Penn State moved quickly Tuesday night to respond to a Sports Illustrated story that appeared to paint an unflattering portrait of the university's medical operation as it applies to football. The article is mentioned on the cover of this week's issue of the magazine with the headline "Do Athletics Still Have Too Much Power at Penn State?" It is expected to be released online Wednesday morning. A statement issued by Penn State said: "To characterize the medical care Penn State provides our student-athletes as anything other than the highest quality is erroneous.

Now that incoming freshman Christian Hackenberg finds the competition for Penn State's starting quarterback job a two-man duel, he will be extra busy this summer getting ready for the task. "We can send him material, whether it's weightlifting material or different types of football information," Nittany Lions coach Bill O'Brien said Tuesday night at the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue, the second stop of the 2013 Penn State coaches caravan. "So there are ways for him to study and to get ready in different aspects of the program.

Penn State picked up its eighth verbal commitment to the freshman Class of 2014 on Friday when Marcus Allen, a safety from Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Md., accepted the Nittany Lions' scholarship offer, several recruiting websites reported. With Allen's commitment, the Nittany Lions are now more than halfway to their 2014 scholarship limit of 15 as mandated by last July's NCAA sanctions. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound Allen, who is ranked four stars by Scout and 247 Sports and three stars by Rivals, is the first safety to accept an offer for next year from coach Bill O'Brien.

A story Thursday on Penn State football coach Bill O'Brien, who was named college football coach of the year by the Maxwell Club, gave an incorrect age for him. He is 43. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357) at The Inquirer, Box 8263, Philadelphia 19101, or e-mail dsullivan@phillynews.com .

STATE COLLEGE - It didn't take long for Bill O'Brien to be back to his normal self. After Saturday's season-opening, 24-14 loss to Ohio, the Nittany Lions' first-year head coach was talkative at a Tuesday news conference after being terse in his postgame presser. And now that he has watched the film from Penn State's Saturday game, O'Brien gave his evaluation. He said there are no excuses. Coach Frank Solich brought one of his best Ohio teams into Beaver Stadium and did a great job. "There was nothing that really surprised me," O'Brien said.