In a minor upset on Saturday, the Temple Owls beat Penn State 27-10 for their first victory over the Nittany Lions in 74 years. In fact, Temple’s last win in the series came on October 18, 1941 when the late long-time Penn State coach Joe Paterno was just 14 years old. The Owls were on a 0-38-1 run until Saturday with just a 7-7 tie in 1950 to show for their efforts.
If it was going to happen, it was likely going to happen this year and there were many pundits that has the Nits on upset alert. Temple was returning 19 starters from last year’s 6-6 team that knocked on the door several times but was never quite able to kick it. The Owls were in last year’s game, a 30-13 loss, until late in the third quarter when two Temple QB P.J. Walker picks resulted in 14 Penn State points that sealed the deal. Saturday’s game opened at 7 before closing a six the Owls taking most of the late money Friday night and Saturday morning.
It looked like it was going to be another walk in the park for Penn State as the Lions scored on their first two drives to open up an early 10-0 lead. That was it for Penn State which was swarmed by the Temple defense the rest of the way while being outscored 27-0 the final three quarters. The game was not really close with Temple outgaining PSU 317-180 including a 149-77 edge rushing the football. The Owls also controlled the clock with better than 36 minutes time of possession.
Penn State was viewed by many as a dark horse to make some noise in the Big Ten this year with sanctions lifted and a returning two-year starting junior quarterback in Christian Hackenberg who was thought by many to be a surefire top ten pick in next year’s NFL draft. So who is to blame for Penn State’s slow start out of the box???
There is plenty of blame to go around. The coaching staff played a big part in that the team was not sharp and very sloppy in its execution. Missed blocks and penalties had PSU in second and third and longs all day which the offense was unable to convert. The defense played well but in the end was worn down by being the field most of the afternoon. The offensive line was PSU’s problem last year and while it was though that the problem was addressed. It wasn’t and Hackenberg was running for his life or on his back most of the afternoon but … much of the blame falls on Hackenberg himself.
Hackenberg has everything you look for in an NFL quarterback, good physical size at 6’4″ and 235 with decent speed and a cannon arm. Hackenberg and the offense were in a good news bad news scenario in 2015 with the good news being that four offensive lineman returning with a combined 51 starts under their belts. The bad news was that these same four were responsible for allowing an NCAA high 44 sacks (most by a PSU team ever) and were only able to rush the ball for 102 yards-per-game at just 2.9 yard-per-carry. The line is not very big and obviously not very good but a lot falls on Hackenberg.
Saturday, he was 11-25-1 for just 103 yards and was sacked 10 times. Hackenberg has a bad habit of hanging on to the ball much too long, possibly in an effort to avoid the costly and ill-timed interceptions that plagued him in his first two years as a starter. Bad decisions and indecision seem to be the legacy of Christian Hackenberg. Can James Franklyn get things turned around??? Only time and the play by the man under center will tell.