Temple September 8, 2015
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VOLUME 78 ISSUE 1 Penn State vs. Temple September 8, 2015 The Letter Poor Harvey Pollock. Follow us on Harvey covered Temple sports Twitter and forever and was reputed to be Check out the new one of the last living persons who Football Letter Blog witnessed Temple’s last victory over Penn State 74 years ago, when he was a sophomore at the PSU 10 0 0 0 - 10 school. TEMPLE 0 7 10 10 - 27 This respected and affable fellow would sometimes regale young CONTENTS writers in the press box with tales about that 14–0 Temple win in 1941. The Letter And he longed to see another one. Notes from the Cuff Alas. Poor Harvey passed away in the spring without seeing that Other Sports milestone. News of Note Game Photos While the long-suffering Harvey was not there to savor Temple’s 27–10 Statistics triumph over the Nittany Lions in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field Saturday, several younger generations of Temple alumni, fans and students were. In fact, the announced sold-out attendance of 69,176 was a historical record for a Temple home game. Although probably half that crowd wore blue and white, those in cherry and white enjoyed it PAST ISSUES immensely—and deservedly so—as they rollicked in the stands View past issues and on the field after the game’s end. FAN ZONE It had been a long time in Football Schedule coming. And that made so much Team Roster sweeter their team’s domination GoPSUSports.com over the visiting rivals, as the Radio/TV Listings Owls plucked the Nittany Lions clean and squelched all the pre-season Big Ten Football TV excitement and expectations that accompanied the 2015 Penn State Schedule team. Big Ten Standings Big Ten Schedule and Temple, which had come close in a number of those contests, finally Results broke the streak of 31 Lion wins, since the Owls spoiled the first Penn Staters in the Pros Homecoming of Penn State coach Rip Engle in 1950 with a 7–7 tie. For advertising info, contact: And they did so in convincing fashion, holding the Lions to 180 yards of Angelo Scialfa total offense—their fewest since their 6–4 loss to Iowa 11 years 609-259-1910 [email protected] ago—while wearing down State’s defense with P.J. Walker’s crisp passing and Jahad Thomas’ relentless rushing through the last three quarters. Walker completed 15 of 20 passes for 143 yards, and Thomas carried the ball 29 times for a net of 135 yards and two touchdowns. On the other side, Christian Hackenberg completed only 11 of 25 aerials for 103 yards, as blitzing Owls victimized State’s offensive line to sack Hack 10 times. His one interception was almost a pick-6. Junior tailback Akeel Lynch gained 78 yards on just 10 carries and true freshman Brandon Polk gained 33 and 17 yards on his two carries. Defensive end Carl Nassib and linebacker Brandon Bell led a Lion defense that itself inflicted 15 tackles on the Owls for 49 yards in losses—the most in the nation Saturday. Third-year Temple Head Coach Matt Rhule, a State College native and former Academic All-Big Ten linebacker at Penn State in the mid-90s, accomplished what Wayne Hardin, Bruce Arians, Jerry Berndt, Ron Dickerson, Al Golden, and Steve Addazio had not been able to as Temple coaches, while Penn State established a 39–3–1 series advantage during the last seven decades. Ruhle said he followed the example of his Penn State mentor Joe Paterno in counseling his team to be respectful of their opponents and contain their celebration until after the final whistle. He actually gave them a walk-through Friday on how to comport themselves and show that they expected to win. Rhule was stoic in his public comments preceding the contest, saying only that Temple needed to win one of its first two games. Actually, the Owls’ encounter next week in Cincinnati is more important to their season’s outcome, because it is with one of the other favorites to win the American Athletic Conference crown. (The fledgling 12-member conference will hold its first championship game Dec. 5, pairing the winners of its East and West divisions.) But based on the post-game celebrations in the Linc parking lots and all the way up Broad Street to the Temple campus, the Owl fans may have felt differently. The Temple headmaster—one of the 10 youngest in Division I football—said he was proud of and happy for Temple’s players, fans, faculty, administration and trustees. Penn State, favored by a touchdown, started the game smartly, as its defense did not allow the home team a first down until the last play of the first quarter, and the offense marched quickly to a field goal and touchdown. On the Lions’ first offensive snap, Brandon Polk came in motion from the left flank, took a handoff from quarterback Hackenberg and sped around right end and down the sideline for 33 yards. Tailback Akeel Lynch rushed for five yards. Wide receiver Geno Lewis dropped three passes from Hackenberg but caught two others for 15 yards to put State on the TU-17 on fourth down. From there freshman Joey Julius split the uprights on his first collegiate field goal try of 34 yards. On the Nittany Lions’ second possession, Hackenberg converted a third- and-nine situation with a crisp pass to Chris Godwin, slanting across the middle for 18 yards. On the ensuing play, Lynch sliced through a hole on the left side and scampered untouched on a 42-yard touchdown jaunt. And it began to look like the oddsmakers were conservative in their predicted 7-point margin for the visitors. But suddenly, with six-and-a-half minutes left in the first quarter, someone in the cavernous NFL stadium flipped the momentum switch. Penn State’s offense went into hibernation, and the cautious Owl offense, which had gained only 25 yards to that point, opened up for 292 yards, three touchdowns, two field goals and 27 points the rest of the way. For those same 53-and-one-half minutes, the aggressive Temple defense, which returned 10 starters from last year after ranking No. 4 nationally in scoring defense, shut out the Nittany Lions. The visitors were limited to only 57 yards of total offense, including a net of minus-13 on the ground and 70 through the air. Unleashing a barrage of blitzes, the Owls sacked Hackenberg 10 times for 64 yards in losses, while allowing him to complete only eight more passes in 18 attempts for 70 yards. In the first quarter, the unruffled Owls hadn’t gotten beyond their own 32-yard line and punted on fourth-and-one, fourth-and-three and fourth- and-one situations, before finally converting a third-and-four from their own 28, as quarterback P.J. Walker completed a 13-yard pass to wide receiver John Christopher. Still, it wasn’t until the middle of the second quarter that Temple mounted its first scoring drive, after the Owl defense had stymied Penn State’s offense by sacking Hackenberg four times on three successive Lion possessions. Even when Lion linebacker Brandon Bell sacked Walker for a five-yard loss and forced a fumble that was recovered by State defensive end Torrence Brown at the TU-43 early in the second quarter, the Owls didn’t panic. Starting from the TU-7 after a Penn State punt, the Temple offense, which had heretofore managed only 46 yards in 16 plays, caught fire and traveled 93 yards on a 12-play drive. Walker directed the march, while completing back-to-back passes to Ventell Bryant for 25 and 16 yards. Even a monster sack by Lion defensive end Carl Nassib, who tossed Walker for a 12-yard loss, could not stop the Owls. Tailback Jahad Thomas covered 53 yards on six carries. His longest rush of the day—31 yards—put the ball on the PS-2. Two plays later Walker faked a handoff in the middle then pitched out to Thomas who waltzed around left end the final yard to paydirt. And Temple put its first seven points on the board with just over two minutes left in the half. Penn State’s defense suffered a severe loss in the second frame, when middle linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White went down with a season- ending injury on a special teams play. The Philadelphia native, who was so eager to play in the Eagles’ stadium, had gotten tickets for at least a dozen family and friends who came to watch him. The second leading tackler on the squad as an outside backer last year, Wartman-White was moved to the middle to replace graduated All-Big Ten linebacker of the year Mike Hull as the quarterback of the defense. He called the signals, made sure everyone knew their assignments and was the heart of the front seven. His replacement, Gary Wooten, was banged up later, as was Brandon Bell, forcing Coach James Franklin to burn the redshirts of true freshmen Jake Cooper and Manny Bowen. True freshman John Reid started at one corner, when it was determined before the game that starter Grant Haley could not play. Akeel Lynch ran for 16 yards on the first play of the second half, but Temple quickly retook control of the action for the final 29 minutes of the game. Three completed passes by Walker, a little trick-er-ation and a seven- yard run by Thomas set the stage for Austin Jones’ 40-yard field goal to tie the score at 10 with 6:32 left in the third quarter.