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Opportunity Missed: 10 Observations from Penn State 27, Temple 9
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That was disappointing.
Penn State didn’t play very well on Saturday afternoon, and still beat Temple (score). It was a weird game, an ugly rock fight to start, with the visitors missing an early field goal and blowing a second red zone trip on downs. “Impotent” would be a good way to describe PSU’s first-half offense.
But Temple’s offense couldn’t do anything either, so it was the #16 team in the nation that slowly pulled away, and with relative ease.
The Owls weren’t expected to win this game, coming in as a 24-point home dog with injuries on the offensive line. They pulled off a backdoor cover in garbage time. But Penn State propped the door open in the 1st half and Temple left it ajar. They did not walk through this door, which was a bummer because you don’t get a lot of opportunities against teams like this.
To the observations:
1) It looked like it was going to be one of those days when Koby Howard went 56 yards on the first play of the game. But the Temple D held and Penn State’s kicker hooked one wide left from 33 yards. No good!
2) Temple started with Jaxon Smolik under center, same as Week 1. Ajani Sheppard got his first look on the third drive, but it was almost entirely Smolik before garbanzo time, and outside of some key situations, for instance, Sheppard coming in on third and goal to throw a slant, which made no sense. What was that all about? That drive went 15 plays, 91 yards, but they had to blow a timeout to prevent a delay of game. Afterward, they came right back out in the same formation and had Sheppard throw an incomplete slant that Smolik could have thrown. I hate that they settled for 3 points there after a long drive, and made a goofy play call with the other quarterback.
3) Penn State’s 1st quarter play calling was terrible. Hideous. They picked off Smolik to create incredible field position, then ran three times in a row for 3 yards, getting stuffed twice. Then they went for some shallow crossing routes and a pick play on 4th down and Rocco Becht held the ball for some reason when it looked like he had an easy pitch and catch for a touchdown. I’m not sure why PSU was hesitant to throw the ball at that point after opening the game with a 56-yard gain.
Maybe it’s because Patullo was on the headset:
4) Call me crazy, but on the third Penn State drive, I thought Chase Sowell caught that sideline shot and then was stripped after catching it. Fumble out the back of the end zone? It was pretty close.
After watching it back 700 times in a row, I begrudgingly came to the conclusion that he just never had full control of the ball. Great play by the Temple DB to not give up:
ehhhhhh I don't know pic.twitter.com/efgGhaejWH
— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) September 12, 2026
5) Smolik can scoot a bit. That makes Sheppard’s usage somewhat redundant I think, though it’s not like Smolik is going to do his damage with designed runs. He had a nice read and pull for a big gain, but it was the off-schedule scrambling against a stout defense that looked better than expected.
6) Penn State honoring 2001 Andy Reid with the highly questionable clock management at a South Philadelphia football stadium. They wasted a lot of time right before the half, then said “fuck it” and finally threw the ball downfield for a touchdown. That was a really annoying way to end the half considering that Temple had kept it tight for two full quarters.
7) Temple opened the third with a blocked 52-yard field goal. It didn’t have to be from 52 in the first place, but a good drive stalled when they decided to throw three straight times from the Penn State 34 after running for 41 yards on three straight carries. If the run game is cooking, then continue to run the ball. Roll that Blount.
8) Becht really settled in after a slow start. He was up to 12 straight completions through the early part of the third quarter, which would have been 13 if not for a bad drop from one of PSU’s 37 tight ends. He looked more decisive overall. More assertive.
9) It’s tough to think about going for it on 4th and 1 from your own 34, but the Penn State offense was rolling at the midway point of the third quarter and K.C. Keeler decided to punt it back to the Nitters instead of taking a risk. Again, I just think you get so few opportunities in these types of games that you have to attack and be aggressive at certain points. Keeler coached a conservative game.
10) There was much ado about the lack of Temple branding on the field. No midfield or endzone paint because the Eagles play on Sunday. This isn’t anything that should surprise anybody, since the Birds run the show around these parts, and it’s their stadium, but sure, it does make Temple look like a small beans program. It absolutely does look amateurish to play a big game against Penn State with Eagles logos all over the field. They gotta get out of the Linc. Go somewhere else. Go anywhere else.
bonus observation #11 – Keveun Mason is a good back. He can tote the rock. The Owls have a tricky game in Toledo next week, and a win there will get them 33% of the way to bowl eligibility. I think the key to victory out there is 20 Mason touches, minimum.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com