Owls improving, as well as attitudes among players

Guy Cipriano

PHILADELPHIA — Insert your own adjective to describe some of the Temple teams Penn State has faced through the years.

Heck, Joe Paterno snapped a hook toward the Owls’ of the past after Saturday’s 31-0 victory at Lincoln Financial Field. “They don’t have a lot of fat kids,” Paterno said.

Temple has turned into a leaner and more efficient program under former Nittany Lion Al Golden. The 37th meeting between Penn State and Temple did nothing to advance the discourse on these Nittany Lions. Only two regular-season games — Michigan and Ohio State — can be used to determine the state of Penn State’s program. As for Temple, many trends developed during the flogging.

The Owls are at least 16 points better than last year. They still can’t score against Penn State. Their expectations are changing. And, yes, Philadelphia fans will support college football if Temple exports the proper opponent. For Golden, that’s not a bad day’s work.

“There is no comparison between our team from last year to this year,” said Golden, whose team lost to Penn State 47-0 at Beaver Stadium in 2006. “Every coach on their team came up to me afterward and said you can’t even compare.” Golden will take those words seriously. He has too much respect for the program that shaped his life. But the shutout peeved Golden.

The Owls trailed 17-0 at halftime. The score could have been closer to 17-17 had the end of Temple’s drives resembled the beginning.

“It’s really frustrating,” Golden said.

The frustration started early. The Owls needed eight plays to travel 67 yards on their first drive. But Jake Brownell chili-dipped a 23-yard field goal attempt. It didn’t help that Golden turned conservative when the Owls reached the Penn State 12, running two straight run plays into the middle of Penn State’s defense.

Yes, we have seen this red-zone routine before. Perhaps Golden watched too much tape this past week. Penn State scored less than four minutes after the missed field goal. The Nittany Lions then stopped the Owls on their next possession and took a 14-0 lead when Anthony Morelli tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Norwood. The next drive displayed why Temple might not be Temple anymore.

The Owls embarked on a 13-play, 44-yard trek that consumed 5:11.

They attempted multiple slants and screens. Golden also called a reverse flea flicker that didn’t produce a single yard but earned style points which are never bad to obtain in this competitive sports market.

The drive featured an entertaining, yet telling, ending as tight end Matt Balasavage dropped a Vaughn Charlton pass in the end zone on a fake field-goal attempt. Charlton received six seconds to throw the ball, a sign the fat kids are becoming leaner.

Balasavage, who attended District 3 Lancaster Catholic, trotted off the field with his head down. The first person to console Balasavage? Golden.

Temple then moved the ball inside Penn State’s 20 for the third time in the half. The drive ended with Penn State linebacker Sean Lee recovering a fumble after a wayward reverse to Bruce Francis. So the Owls walked into the locker room with 194 offensive yards and no points. Not bad for a team that recorded just two first downs against Penn State last year.

But some of Golden’s players wanted more. Some expected more.

“It’s a disappointment because we came very far,” junior defensive end Leyon Azubuike said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on in-house where we view ourselves as becoming a respectable program. Everybody watching saw that we had an opportunity to win the game.

“If we were scratching and clawing and their guys had more size and heart than us, then it might be a different story. The fact that it was our game for the taking…It’s disappointing. But I’m proud of the way guys played. Hopefully next year it’s a different story.”

The Owls and Nittany Lions will meet again next September at Beaver Stadium. The business known as Penn State Athletics, Inc. should turn a tidy profit from the event.

But don’t expect the afternoon to resemble Saturday.

The Owls, okay the Nittany Lions, attracted a Temple-record 69,029 fans to the Eagles’ home. Both programs benefited from the game.

Temple football meant something. Penn State received an opportunity to entertain alums in the Philadelphia area. “We didn’t give ourselves any fool’s gold,” Azubuike said. “We knew we were going to come into the game heavily pressured by the crowd.”

The six largest crowds in Temple history have been recorded against Penn State.

The Owls must wait four years to increase that total to seven. Temple visits Penn State the next three years. The Nittany Lions return to Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 2011.

If Temple makes the progress it displayed Saturday…

Insert your own adjective. Guy Cipriano is a sports writer for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4643 or gciprian@centredaily.com.