Nittany Lions overcome mistake-prone Owls, 23-10

State College, PA - Collegefootballfan.com attended its 250^th collegiate game since 1978 to watch Penn State put away a game but mistake-prone Temple Owl team to win its opener, 23-10, before 101,533 fans in Happy Valley. Three FGs by PK Robbie Gould and some big gains by the Lions made the difference for the Lions who were out-gained by the visitors, 357 yards to 310. Temple missed two short-range FGs and dropped passes in several key situations that could have made a difference in this game.

Temple PK Jared Davis missed a 22-yard FG attempt with :45 remaining in Q1. After the scoreless first quarter when the Owls had established its offensive dominance 70 yards to 24, the Lions roared when WR Tony Johnson beat the Owl coverage down the right sideline as QB Zach Mills connected with him for a 56 yard bomb to go up, 7-0. After several exchanges, the Owls took over with :50 remaining in the half from their own 33 to get Davis into position to convert on a 33-yard FG with :02 remaining to close the gap, 7-3.

Temple opened the second half moving to the Lions’ 44-yard line where WR Sean Szarka dropped his third pass of the day which would have garnered the Owls a first down deeper into Lion territory. After taking over after a punt, Lion QB Mills (6 of 17, 79 yards) “telegraphed” an interception into the hands of TU SS Lawrence Wade who returned the ball 29 yards to the Penn State 11. The effort went for naught, however, as PK Davis kicked the ball wide right from 26 yards out to give the ball back to the Lions still down, 7-3. Freshman RB Austin Scott (12 rushes for 69 yards) made a big gain for the Lions on the ensuing series to get PK Robbie Gould into position to convert from 37 yards to widen the margin, 10-3. Scott ran for another key gain of 18 yards during the next series, but an errant pass by Mills stalled the Lions at the Owl 20. Gould missed the 37-yard attempt, but got a reprieve from 32 after the Owls erred on a running onto the kicker penalty. PSU was up 13-3 at the end of three quarters.

On the Lions’ first series of Q4, RB/WR/QB Michael Robinson (8 runs for 82 yards) bolted 43 yards to get the Lions to the TU four-yard line. Then 6’6”, 263 lb. FB Sean McHugh ran over the 5’10”, 185 lb. DB Yazid Jackson on the left side for the score. TU’s Szarka dropped another opportunistic pass on third and ten during the Owls’ next series, but TU maintained control on a fake punt-pass completion to the PSU 20. RB Makonnen Fenton (23 rushes for 118 yards) went in from three to cut the lead in half, 20-10, with 7:45 remaining. PSU recovered the ensuing onsides kick at their own 45 and would control the ball until 1:48 remained when Gould knocked through his third FG from 40 yards out to seal the PSU, 23-10.

The Lions’ offensive line play seemed to improve late in the game, which made a difference, but earlier mistakes by the Owls put PSU into a position to take this one. The PSU O-line will need to solidify itself during the next few games and Zach Mills needs to look off his receivers to help the passing game. The running game looks solid with Ricky Upton, Austin Scott and Michael Robinson. The inexperienced DL needs some experience to pressure the QB and tighten up against the run before it gets into games against some rugged Big Ten running games. Temple has improved this year despite the losses of DL Dan Klecko and RB Tarnardo Sharps. The defense isn’t bad and the offense looked more team-oriented than it did when CFF saw the Owls host Oregon State in 2002. QB McGann looks better and Wayne Washington seems an adequate fill-in from the JC ranks. WR Zamir Cobb hauled in six passes for 105 yards vs. PSU. Makonnen Fenton can be a game breaker and if other wide-outs can hold on to some passes, the Owls are going to surprise some Big East foes this year. Next week, PSU hosts Boston College (0-1), a loser to Wake Forest on Saturday while Temple returns to Philly to play 1-0 Villanova, a 1AA cross-town rival, for the first college game to be played at the new Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Extra Points: The victory was Joe Paterno’s 337th win as PSU’s mentor, and it was the 50^th PSU victory attended by CFF.com. The Lions are 50-16 in the presence of CFF.

The game was generally played in sunshine after a very rainy Friday night and Saturday morning. The Penn State Blue Band refrained from its typical pre-game festivities prior to the game. The concessionaires ran out of frozen lemonade by halftime on what turned out to be a hot, sunny day.

Thanks to Bob Jones (the original Rock from Slippery Rock), Guest Game Analyst Laurie Koreivo (BCC) was spoiled by sitting in the newer south end zone seats in the upper deck where all the seats have backs, whereas most of the stadium has aluminum bleacher seats. She says she never wants to sit in regular seats again! Oh, well! That’s the last PSU game she’ll attend this year.

GGA Eric Koreivo, age 8, wondered where PSU’s #8 was. He was referring to his namesake, Eric McCoo, the RB who graduated two years ago. Shows how kids remember certain things. We can’t figure out if Eric will be a ref or a coach some day as he tries to determine each flag before the call, and was particularly interested during this game in the man-in-motion strategy. His sister, Alex, wants to go back up to State College when the Lady Lions play basketball.

Perennial GGA John Massimilla was absent for a PSU game for the first time in decades to attend his son’s baseball game. If PSU had lost, CFF knew where the blame was to be pinned.

CFF stayed at the Comfort Inn in New Columbia for two nights that had been the LLWS hotel host for the Saugus, MA Little League baseball team. On Friday, 1AA Duquesne stayed there also the night before its game versus Bucknell in nearby Lewisburg. The Dukes fell 28-21 in the opener for both schools.

CFF went to Knoebel’s Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA on our return trip home. The kids enjoyed it. There were some good rides, it was economical and it was a fun way to wrap up the summer season. Now we’re ready for some football!