Box Score
PHILADELPHIA – It was as if the sun hung over the south Philadelphia sports complex and positioned directly above Lincoln Financial Field was a magnifying lens only heating up the stadium even more.
It was uncomfortable for a mid-September Saturday as Penn State took on Temple, and for a while, the game was uncomfortable for Penn State and its fans that had invaded the Linc.
But after a two-minute drill at the end of the second quarter, Penn State cooled the game down to beat the Owls, 27-9.
Penn State was far from perfect on Saturday – particularly in the first quarter. After Rocco Becht opened the game with a 56-yard completion to Koby Howard, the Nittany Lions failed to convert on the big play. Then after settling for a field goal attempt, Ryan Barker – who set a single-season school record for field goal percentage last season – missed a relatively automatic 33-yard kick.
Later in the first quarter, Penn State’s Tony Rojas snagged an interception that he returned to the ball to the Temple five yard line. Yet Penn State struggled to establish a run game before failing to convert on the field position as Andrew Rappleyea missed a blistering pass from Becht on fourth down.
Penn State was not the same crisp team that opened the season a week ago. It missed tackles in the first half and dropped passes.
A big run by former Penn State backup turned transfer quarterback Jaxon Smolik set up an Owl field goal that opened the scoring.
But as the sun continued to beat down on the 61,714 crowd – mostly full of Penn State fans, a stop on defense as the Owls pushed into Penn State territory seemed to wake the Nittany Lions up.
With 1:57 left in the first half, Becht pushed Penn State down the field with five completions while James Peoples and Carson Hansen provided several key runs. Then in the final seconds of the half, Becht found Ben Brahmer wide open for a touchdown that Penn State never looked back from.
It was a clear turning point that Penn State scored before half – working with a sense of urgency for the first time all season. It was one of two touchdowns between Becht and Brahmer, a connection which particularly stood out on Saturday. Brahmer finished with 79 yards on five receptions while Becht backed up his strong week one performance with 268 yards while completing 21 of 27passes.
Meanwhile, Penn State’s defense also settled into the game in the second half. The Owls’ only touchdown of the game came when Penn State’s bench was in – late in the fourth quarter.
There are things to work on for this Nittany Lion roster. A lackluster start like the one it had on Saturday in Big Ten competition could result in a bigger hole to dig out of. The running game in particular struggled in the first quarter with just eight yards of rushing and the two failed chances inside the red zone.
But Penn State handled its small test of adversity coolly by the time the sun started to dip behind the western side of the stadium. It was the type of effort that will lead to a mostly forgettable game by the end of the season and that’s exactly what Penn State needed out of its first road trip of the season.
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