Temple

Disrespectful Penn State Blog Ranks Temple as Worst Football Opponent

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Sep 1st, 2026 · 4:50 PM EDT

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I was made aware of a blog post from Jason Perry at Onward State, titled Power Ranking Penn State Football’s 2026 Opponents.

Perry puts Temple dead last, writing this:

Temple is a mid-tier Group of Five school that finished the 2025 season with a 5-7 record.

Even if the Owls remarkably improve this year, I can’t see this team giving the Nittany Lions much trouble. There was that one time in 2015, however.

Ehhh, I dunno.

Penn State also plays Marshall and Buffalo in the non-conference, and both schools are coming off 5-7 seasons in the Sun Belt and MAC, respectively. The American was much better than those conferences last year, with Tulane, North Texas, and Navy all winning double-digit games. The Sun Belt and MAC combined only had three teams with 10+ wins in Western Michigan, James Madison, and ODU. I think Temple easily wins 7 or 8 games playing against conference opponents like South Alabama, Georgia State, and Ball State. In fact, I think Temple would win 6 out of 10 against both Marshall and Buffalo on a neutral field.

The list of Penn State opponents ranked by difficulty, and not accounting for home/away, should be:

1. Southern Cal
2. Michigan
3. Washington
4. Minnesota
5. Northwestern
6. Wisconsin
7. Rutgers
8. Maryland
9. Purdue
10. Temple
11. Buffalo
12. Marshall

It’s not a difficult schedule. They can win 9 games. Rocco Becht is a good quarterback. James Franklin is long gone, now coaching the VPI Hokie Chokers in Blacksburg. I’d take the over on Penn State total wins of 8.5.

Temple is gonna be ready to play. K.C. Keeler will have the boys rearing to go. I’ve heard they’re printing out this Onward State article as we speak and using it for bulletin board material.

You don’t disrespect the Temple Owls.

after the Owls win OUTRIGHT on 9/12 pic.twitter.com/yVBIYVwEgF

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) August 26, 2026