So Vegas has us as a 5 point pick ......
- Thread starter dawgduice
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No surprise to me. Temple is a BIG RIVAL. Let's not forget that they beat us as recently as ....um...oh....1941. Yep. It's surprising alright.
It's only surprising to people who don't follow college football. People like you, apparently.
On second thought, Vegas is usually way off on these things. I usually place my bets based on comments by uninformed free message board posters.
Temple will be better, but so will we. I would not suggest that we will beat them by 30, but we will win by 15 or more. Temple will never be much more than it is...a lower top 50 program in their best years. Their fans can say otherwise, and they do, but until they prove it on the field, it means nothing.
Vandy was not even close to our best win. Our best win was vs. #23 ECU. And we return basically every player from that team, plus we've had the best 3 recruiting classes in school history the past 3 years.
I normally don't respond to trolls, but I will make an exception for just this one post to congratulate you, and Temple, on those 3 best recruiting classes in school history. Rivals had those 2013, 2014, and 2015 classes ranked 85th, 59th, and 73rd. The 2016 class is ranked 91st. Very impressive.
ECU wasn't close to top 25 team by the end of the season when it counts. They were a pedestrian 8-5 mid major team. Nothing to write home about.
Apologize for the lack of class shown here by some PSU fans. I hope the PSU coaches and players are not arrogant and complacent about the quality of Temple's recruiting, or this game could be ugly for PSU. Temple has really given PSU all it could handle the last couple years. They have a senior laden team that won't give this game away -- and they will find ways to cause trouble for PSU.
I think Temple's for real -- the program is going to be respectable because Temple the school is respectable. A lot of kids these days want to go to college in a big city, so the very thing that used to be a disadvantage for Temple is now an advantage.
Yeah, PSU should win, but anything is possible if PSU cannot field a decent O-line. On the other hand, if PSU can field a decent O-line, PSU could win handily. Given that it's the start of the season, being played in Philly, a tight game seems like the most likely scenario. 5 points is perfectly reasonable. The days when PSU could name the score playing Temple are long gone, but people wearing blue-white glasses get carried away sometimes and forget that.
I think Temple's for real -- the program is going to be respectable because Temple the school is respectable. A lot of kids these days want to go to college in a big city, so the very thing that used to be a disadvantage for Temple is now an advantage.
Yeah, PSU should win, but anything is possible if PSU cannot field a decent O-line. On the other hand, if PSU can field a decent O-line, PSU could win handily. Given that it's the start of the season, being played in Philly, a tight game seems like the most likely scenario. 5 points is perfectly reasonable. The days when PSU could name the score playing Temple are long gone, but people wearing blue-white glasses get carried away sometimes and forget that.
That's the problem with the 10-2 predictions. We could be heavy underdogs in 2 games but only slight favorites in 4-5 games. Michigan would be a pickem game at a neutral site.
Thats about right I started following PSU football in 72 (I was 9) and I agree that Temple may be the toughest but in the first 5 games.
Lack of class? A Temple troll comes on our Board and insults me in his 1st post in this thread. That's OK, that's what trolls do and I'm a big boy now. Arrogant and complacent about the quality of Temple's recruiting? He talks like Temple's past 3 recruiting classes were something special. All I did was point out Rivals ranked them 85th, 59th, and 73rd, with a current class at 91. If they have any redshirt seniors, they came from a class ranked 108th. I didn't say it, but their best class was ranked lower than our worst class, and we were under sanctions at the time. If there is a lack of class, or arrogance, it is with the Temple poster, not with me, or anyone else in this thread.
Actually, for a fan of any team other that PSU to post on this board it is to stir things up most of the time. I doubt a "Temple" or "Rutgers" poster would post things like "you guys are the best" . It also leads to some "personal" stuff. But it is only a game, isn't it ? That's when someone pokes out an eye
I don't have a problem with the troll. I do have a problem when one of our own apologizes to the troll when no apology was necessary. Of course, given Erickson, Barron, and the November, 2011 BOT, I should be used to that by now.Actually, for a fan of any team other that PSU to post on this board it is to stir things up most of the time. I doubt a "Temple" or "Rutgers" poster would post things like "you guys are the best" . It also leads to some "personal" stuff. But it is only a game, isn't it ? That's when someone pokes out an eye
Technically on the road, but based on the last Penn State game at Temple (which I attended), it will be 6-1 Penn State fans to Temple fans. There will be zero home field advantage for Temple, guaranteed. Sure, Temple is improving, but so is Penn State. I'd take Penn State in a heartbeat on the current (pointless) line.
I'll be interested in the over/under on this game. This has all the makings of a 17-13 type game. Temple's defense is legitimately stout and very well may hold us in check all game long.
The thing is, I expect similarly out of OUR defense.
Probably the game comes down to which offense can limit turnovers (even if they cannot necessarily limit punts). PJ Walker, Temple's QB, had interception and turnover issues last year, but unfortunately so did Hackenberg.
It will be interesting.
The thing is, I expect similarly out of OUR defense.
Probably the game comes down to which offense can limit turnovers (even if they cannot necessarily limit punts). PJ Walker, Temple's QB, had interception and turnover issues last year, but unfortunately so did Hackenberg.
It will be interesting.
I think we win 28-14, and have a bigger spread in statistics. I have to think UCF was a better team last year than Temple is this year. The only thing close in the UCF game was the score. Check out the stats.
I've seen the stats --- shoot, I was there. By raw yardage, yes, we should have defeated UCF by 2 TDs last year.
Of course, we didn't win by 2 TDs. Which I guess says something in its own right. That our offense was not very efficient at turning yards into points.
UCF's 2014 defense is definitely worse than Temple's 2015 defense, IMO. I think it's fair to say that 2014 UCF = 2015 Temple.
Speaking of stats, if you look at Football Outsiders F/+ Rank metric, we played 7 teams that were worse overall than UCF last year. Those 7 teams were Rutgers, UMass, Northwestern, Maryland, Indiana, Temple and Illinois. Throw out UMass, because they were a REAL outlier compared to the other teams, the Minutemen flat out stunk. In those other 6 games, we went 3-3 with 2 of the wins by 1 score.
Point being --- one can also find statistics that indicate we struggled against teams worse than 2014 UCF. This game will not be a gimme.
I agree it will not be a gimme. But, if we do not win "somewhat" convincingly we may be in for another year like last year. I am "really" nervous about the OL. If it is not a good bit better then we will have a long season. We play a lot of "ok" teams. We should be better than OK. We are deeper than last year and it is the second year under a new coaching staff. Maybe my expectations are too high.
But, they usually are
Temple appears to have a decent defense but ours will be better. They also appear to have an anemic offense. They scored a total of 86 points in their last 8 games in 2014. We scored 154 in our last 8 games against vastly superior opponents. We have better athletes and better coaching. It is likely we will have more fans. This game may be close for a half, but we will wear them down and blow them out.
ESPN has Owls preseason ranked #50, which is better than exactly half of the B1G and by far the highest ranked OOC opponent PSU will face.
While it's not a true "road game" for PSU, in that the crowd should be around 50/50 Temple/PSU fans, it's still the Owls' home field; so there is a slight advantage there regardless.
Bottom line is that it may be hard to swallow, but Temple will likely be one of the more difficult games for Penn State to come away with a win this year.
While it's not a true "road game" for PSU, in that the crowd should be around 50/50 Temple/PSU fans, it's still the Owls' home field; so there is a slight advantage there regardless.
Bottom line is that it may be hard to swallow, but Temple will likely be one of the more difficult games for Penn State to come away with a win this year.
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