Temple's Heroic Effort not Enough to Defeat PSU

The perfect season that was is no more, but that doesn't mean Temple shouldn't be proud of their 3-1 start.

For the first time in years, Temple competed with Penn State for nearly the entire game, and held the lead from 9:03 in the first quarter all the way to 1:38 in the third quarter.

Temple started off strong, scoring on a five yard run by Bernard Pierce to give the Owls a 7-3 lead.

With a 7-6 lead in the first quarter, Pierce continued to run strong, and found the endzone yet again, this time from three yards out. However, Temple failed on an attempted two-point conversion.

Speaking of Pierce, he left the game in the third quarter with an apparent injury to his ankle. He did not return to the game following the injury, and there is not word yet on the severity of the ankle injury.

If there's one area that Temple needs to work on, it's third down efficiency. The Owls went 1-11 on third downs, which proves that the Owls are not able to rely on the arm of Chester Stewart to convert on third and long.

Stewart didn't have a great day today, going 8-for-19 with a measly 49 yards. For the first time this season, Stewart had a problem with turnovers, throwing a combined three interceptions in the game, with two going to Penn State safety Nick Sukay.

The Nittany Lions didn't play good by their standards, but for the first time this season, running back Evan Royster was able to get off to a good start and carry that momentum throughout the game. He ran for a career-high 187 yards on 26 yards, but didn't reach the endzone once in the game.

Freshman Rob Boldin threw for 223 yards on 18 completions, and avoided throwing any interceptions.

The player of the game has to be kicker Colin Wagner, who made a career-high five field goals, with his longest coming from 45 yards away.

Penn State combined for 439 total yards compared to Temple's 202 yards.

Coach Joe Paterno is now 26-0 against the Temple Owls, who have won just three times against the Nittany Lions since the teams first started playing each other in the 40's.

Temple now stands at 3-1, and is off to a great start heading into conference play. They currently are 1-0 in their conference with a win over Central Michigan, and are now set to take on Army next weekend.