For Penn State, No Sowell or Howard? No Problem

Adversity, thy name is Chase Sowell and Koby Howard. The news came down at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time, when the Big Ten Conference posted the latest and final availability report for the Purdue at Penn State football game on its website. It read, under the Nittany Logo:OutWR #0 Chase SowellWR #6 Koby Howard Howard wasn’t a surprise. He hadn’t played in six weeks, since Sept. 19 — the date of Penn State’s last victory, 55-13, over Buffalo. So much had changed since then. None of it good. Sowell had been “questionable” all week. He was hobbled — literally — two weeks ago against Michigan, when he had 11 receptions for 151 yards and a TD for the Nittany Lions, who turned the ball over three times in the second half to lose, 21-18. That defeat in The Big House was the bitter taste that lingered in Penn State’s mouth through two long weeks without a game. Sowell had two weeks to heal his body and Penn State had a bye week to heal its psyche, rebuild its confidence and find its wa