The Temple Owls have not beaten Penn State since 1941 and were two minutes and 40 seconds from ending that streak. But a crucial mistake from QB Mike Gerardi ended the Owls hopes and saved Penn State from an embarassing upset loss at Lincoln Financial Field. The Nittany Lions now extend their winning streak to 29 over Temple.
Gerardi threw an interception to a diving Michael Mauti to give Penn State the ball on the Owls 26. Down 10-7, it was the break the Nittany Lions were looking for and they would take advantage. Ten plays later and after eating up almost six minutes of clock, Penn State found themselves with a fourth and one on the Owls' two. Down three, Joe Paterno could have kicked the FG to tie it, but perhaps thanks to the fact that his team had already missed three FGs on the day or perhaps because he was going to play scared of Temple, Joe Pa decided to go for it.
On 4th and 1 from about the two yard line, Penn State handed off to Brandon Beachum who appeared to be be stuffed short, but on what was probably his third effort, the RB powered his way through for a first down. On first and goal the Nittany Lions called the number of FB Michael Zordich (son of the Eagles secondary coach), who scored to give Penn State its first lead of the day.
Temple got the ball back with 2:40 left and actually drove the ball into Nittany Lion territory, but Sean Stanley was able to strip sack Mike Gerardi on a 4th 10 to ice the game for Penn State. It was the first loss of the year for the Owls, while Penn State improves to 2-1.
Notes:
Temple QBs completed only 42% of their passes throwing 2 INTs and no TDs. Penn State was only 6-17 on third downs. Penn State WR Derek Moye caught 7 passes for 112 yards while RB Silas Redd carried 16 times for 86 yards and a TD.
For more on Penn State, head over to Black Shoe Diaries; for more on the Owls, check out MAC blog Hustle Belt.