West Virginia women’s soccer is about to do what every elite program eventually does when the stakes get high: host a top-20 opponent and ask the entire stadium to dress like it’s late for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. No. 16 WVU returns to Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 8, to face No. 20 BYU in the Mountaineers’ annual Pink Match, complete with bracelet-making, an “I Fight For” bulletin board and a pregame check presentation to the WVU Medicine Cancer Institute. It is, in other words, a soccer game with the pageantry of a pep rally and the emotional gravity of a cause that actually matters. (wvusports.com)

And make no mistake, this is not some soft-focus exhibition where everyone waves politely and goes home. WVU has been playing like a team that enjoys making life difficult for ranked opponents, coming off a 2-0 win at Houston on Oct. 2 that featured Sophia Nickel doing Sophia Nickel things — again — with her fifth game-winning goal of the season, while Olivia Shertzer added another goal and Bailey Herfurth helped lock down the clean sheet. BYU, meanwhile, brings a 7-2-2 record, a 3-0-1 mark in Big 12 play and the kind of resume that says this trip to Morgantown is more than a themed night out. So yes, the Mountaineers can support a great cause and chase another statement win at the same time, which is basically the sports equivalent of multitasking with a chainsaw. (wvusports.com)

The funniest part is that the Pink Match has become so normal at WVU that it now feels like a tradition with a rivalry attached. This is BYU’s first-ever trip to Morgantown, and the two teams are tied 1-1 all-time after WVU’s thrilling 3-2 win in Provo last year. So the Cougars arrive not just for a ranked showdown, but for a matchup in which the crowd will likely be louder, the color palette more aggressive, and the stakes somehow both deeply meaningful and annoyingly competitive. If WVU handles business again, the Mountaineers will have done the rare double: made a powerful community statement and won a major soccer match without needing to change out of pink. (wvusports.com)

Penn State enters Evanston at 3-1, but the Lions aren’t exactly riding into battle untouched. After opening the season with three straight wins-including a 55-13 win over Buffalo-their first Big Ten test ended in a 24-20 loss to Wisconsin. The defense is still creating havoc, with eight takeaways through four games, but now the Lions leave Happy Valley needing to prove that one defeat didn’t crack the armor.

Waiting on the shores of Lake Michigan is a Northwestern team that has been a lot more dangerous than anyone should assume. The Wildcats opened 2-0, crushed Colorado 41-7, then went into the home of No. 5 Indiana and nearly pulled off the upset before falling 29-23. Now they return home for the first game ever at the new Ryan Field-and they already beat Penn State 22-21 last season. The Wildcats have their castle. The Lions are at the gates.

Friday night, the battle begins.

Man, this sucks. Joey Porter Jr., who was already playing like a stud, just got traded. As if the news couldn’t get any worse, he’s going to a semi-rival with a lunatic fan base and an even crazier owner: the Dallas Cowboys. Yes, the Steelers have trade history with the Cowboys, and they happily took one of our head cases in George Pickens. However, this is not even close to the same situation. JP Junior and management couldn’t make the numbers work. It’s just so disheartening considering we could’ve had eight more years of lockdown corner.

According to Yahoo Sports, the Steelers are sending Joey Porter Jr. to Dallas after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on a new contract. The reported return includes a second-round pick and a conditional sixth-rounder. So that’s it. A contract dispute ends with a 26-year-old homegrown corner packing his shit for Dallas. (Blogging The Boys)

And this isn’t some case of Steelers fans wildly overrating one of their own. Porter was already becoming one of the better coverage corners in football. In 2025, PFF gave him a 76.6 coverage grade, ninth among qualifying corners. He allowed just a 47.8% catch rate, fourth-best in that group, while his 0.58 yards allowed per coverage snap ranked second. His 23.9% forced-incompletion rate ranked third, and he allowed an explosive completion on just 0.8% of his coverage snaps — best in the NFL among that qualifying group. PFF went as far as putting him among its four best perimeter corners following the season. (PFF)

Even crazier, Porter went 1,467 consecutive man-coverage snaps without allowing a touchdown, dating back to Week 8 of his rookie season. In 2025, quarterbacks had only a 55.9 passer rating when targeting him overall, third-best in the league, while his 47.8% completion rate allowed ranked sixth. In other words, when the Steelers told JPJ, “Hey, see that really good receiver over there? Go ruin his afternoon,” he was pretty fucking good at doing exactly that. (Pittsburgh Steelers)

This wasn’t some sudden Year 3 breakout, either. Porter showed almost immediately that he belonged. As a rookie in 2023, opposing quarterbacks completed just 47.6% of their passes when targeting him, the second-lowest rate allowed by any qualifying NFL defender. He allowed a 70.1 passer rating, earned a spot on the PFWA All-Rookie Team, won the Steelers’ Joe Greene Great Performance Award as the team’s top rookie, and finished as a finalist for AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. (Pittsburgh Steelers)

Through three seasons, Porter leaves Pittsburgh with 47 games, 41 starts, 165 tackles, 31 passes defended and three interceptions. His interception total was never enormous because that’s not really what his game was about. He was a giant, physical pain in the ass whose job was to attach himself to the other team’s best receiver and make throwing in that direction an increasingly stupid idea. (Pro Football Reference)

And that’s what makes this one sting so much more than the normal NFL business bullshit.

This was Joey Porter Jr. His dad won a Super Bowl here, made three Pro Bowls as a Steeler and became one of the faces of that nasty 2000s Pittsburgh defense. Junior grew up around Pittsburgh, attended North Catholic and North Allegheny, went to Penn State, became an All-American, and then somehow fell right into the Steelers’ lap with the 32nd pick of the 2023 Draft. (Pittsburgh Steelers)

You couldn’t manufacture a more Pittsburgh football story if you had Primanti Bros. cater the damn draft room.

And unlike plenty of great hometown stories, the kid could actually play.

That’s the part that’s going to piss people off. The Steelers didn’t have to project what Porter might become. They already had three years of evidence. He was 26 years old, 6-foot-2, entering his prime and already producing high-end coverage numbers. Sure, paying a corner around the top of the market is expensive. Welcome to the NFL. Good young players are expensive. That’s generally what happens when they’re good.

Now Dallas gets to deal with the contract, and Pittsburgh gets draft capital and the privilege of hoping one of those picks eventually turns into…a young starting corner capable of locking down NFL receivers.

You know, like Joey Porter Jr.

In conclusion, JP Jr. should’ve been a priority over some of the other pieces that we brought in over the past two years. It’s sad to see a top-notch talent leave, especially one that grew up with black and gold in his blood.