Owls breakdown with Temple Football Forever

The Temple Owls roll into Beaver Stadium this week, a full two weeks after their shocking upset at the hands of cross-town rival Villanova. Temple had dreams of a bowl bid this year, and it's still attainable, but probably less so now. The Nittany Lions and the Owls have played 39 times, with Penn State owning the series, 34-3-1.

Today we'll hear from Mike Gibson, publisher of the outstanding [read:only] Temple Owls football blog Temple Football Forever.

ZN: Temple was minus-three in turnovers last week against Villanova. Does that tell the whole story of the Owls' loss, or was there more to it?

TFF: No, there was more to it. Al Golden played four linebackers (he usually plays three), so it was a 4-4-3 rather than a 5-3-3. Problem was he played all four almost exclusively in coverage and allowed a pretty good QB (Villanova's Chris Whitney) to pick apart was what essentially a prevent defense. Without the pressure on the QB, Temple had no chance to create some turnovers with blindside blitzes and interceptions caused by pressure. It's out of character for Al and Mark D'Onofrio and I could tell by some of the quotes that they were kicking themselves for it.

ZN: This was supposed to be Temple's best team in decades, but the Villanova loss took a lot of the air out of the preseason hype. Even with a loss at Penn State, how do you think this team will come out the rest of the season?

TFF: I was thinking 8-4, but I was counting a win over Villanova, so I think that's the best they can do. This team returns 17 of 21 starters, so if they finish 5-7 like last year, it's a disaster. 6-6 would be a slight improvement.

ZN: What's a unit match up you like going into Penn State this week?

TFF: Even though Temple's defense is its best unit, I like the Temple offense against the Penn State defense because the Owls finally have some game-breakers. James Nixon got behind the Nova defense for a 75-yard bomb last week. Bernard Pierce, the state 60-meter champ out of Glen Mills, carried 6 times for 44 yards and, unlike starter Kee-ayre Griffin, did not fumble so Golden says Pierce will "play as much as he wants to. .."

ZN: How about an individual player? Who could really give Penn State a headache?

TFF: I think defensive end Adrian Robinson from Harrisburg is a load to handle. He was the Big 33 MVP in the win over Ohio two years ago and if D'Onofrio moves him around and has him A-gap blitzing, he could cause havoc in the Penn State backfield. If D'Onofrio plays him as a straight-up defensive end, he's doing the Nits a favor.

Many thanks again to Mike! And check out Temple Football Forever this week.