Game 4 Preview: Temple @ Penn State

Gametime: 3:30 pm

TV: Big11Ten Network

Audio: Here

Weather: Partly cloudy and 72. Perfect September football weather.

Well, this is probably the least excited we’ll be for a game for a while. We’re playing Temple—an improved Temple team, yes, but it’s still Temple. At this point, we’re just ready for the Big11Ten schedule to start.

What can we say about this match up? Not a lot. Temple’s all-time winning percentage is .437, Penn State’s is .688. On Temple’s Wikipedia page, Penn State is listed as the Owls’ only rival. We’re not sure if we’d call it a rivalry per se, as Penn State leads the series 33-3-1. Usually both teams have to win to form a rivalry.

Temple could very easily be 3-0, and we kind of wish they were, as it would at least make the game slightly more interesting. They lost in overtime to UConn, in a thrilling 12-9 game. Actually, thrilling is probably not a great way to describe a game that finished 12-9. But we digress. The Owls lost last week to Buffalo on a last-second Hail Mary. That always hurts. It just so happens that one of us was sitting in a Niagara Falls bar during this game, and 2 of the 5 Buffalo fans in the world were having a wonderful time watching the game at the same locale.

Unfortunately for Temple, they’ll be just a touch out of their comfort zone, as Penn State generally gets a few more fans at their games than the Owls do at Lincoln Financial.

Typical attendance at a Temple game.

As far as Penn State, they just need to keep doing what they’ve been doing. Namely, humiliating opponents and showing the country that their offense is indeed a force to be reckoned with. We expect this game to be maybe a bit tighter early on (especially when compared to the Syracuse game), but eventually we’ll be seeing the third string guys.


Temple Player To Watch: Quarterback Adam DiMichele
DiMichele leads Temple in both passing and rushing, and he threw for 285 yards and 3 touchdowns last week against Buffalo.

Penn State Player To Watch: Derrick Williams
We said it yesterday in the roundtable, and we'll say it below in the predictions just for good measure, but we think D-Will is primed for a big day.

3 Bold Predictions:

• After this weekend, people will stop talking about Beanie Wells and start talking about Evan Royster
• D-Will will be the breakout wide receiver this game and go for over 100 yards
• A turkey will be cooked at our tailgate
  

Other Notes:
Evans and Koroma are still out.

Game Prediction: Penn State 52, Temple 14