Philadelphia— Penn State could have ended the game in the first half.
Instead, PSU led Temple just 10-3 going into halftime, with the last seven points coming in the last 10 seconds of the half.
The reason Penn State wasn’t comfortably ahead was simple: it couldn’t score in the red zone.
Three times, Penn State had the ball inside the Temple 20, and those three trips resulted in just three points.
On the first play from scrimmage, Rocco Becht completed a 56-yard pass to Koby Howard that turned into a 66-yard gain thanks to a facemask penalty on Temple.
This set up Penn State with first and goal from the 9-yard line. PSU couldn’t score a touchdown in three plays and had to settle for a 33-yard field goal attempt from Ryan Barker.The usually reliable Barker missed, and Penn State came away with nothing.
Two Temple drives later, Penn State got its second monster play of the day, this one from linebacker Tony Rojas.
Rojas picked off his former Penn State teammate, Jaxon Smolik, and returned it to the Temple five.
Again, Penn State came up empty, not scoring in four plays.
In the second quarter, Penn State drove to the Temple 19, before the drive stalled out and PSU had to settle for a field goal, which Barker converted.
Penn State knows it must fix this come Big Ten play.
Coach Matt Campbell and a trio of offensive players discussed the issue afterward.
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“I don’t think there’s any explanation other than we didn’t play very well,” Campbell said. “We didn’t play very well in the first half or the first quarter of the game offensively. I think you go back and you look at those three runs down in the red zone like they’re all there. You know, the first one, it’s a bad run. The second one we get beat on the inside, and then the third one we get beat at right guard.
“We’re off by an inch, but it’s a game of inches. And especially when you play on the road, you have to have great execution. We didn’t do it. And then defensively, we give up two 40-yard plays because of lack of detail. Where does that start? I think it has to start as the head football coach, right? Then it goes to our coaches, and then our players, and accountability.”
CARSON HANSEN
Hansen carried the ball three times for seven yards during Penn State’s three red zone trips, and feels he could have been better.
“We just got to like clean up, you know, when it comes to the running back position,” Hansen said. “I need to be able to break some of those tackles in the red zone. I need to get in the red zone. I got to, you know, hold myself accountable for this and have urgency this week to be able to break tackles and go for long runs.”
CHASE SOWELL
On Penn State’s third drive of the game, Sowell could have had a touchdown.
But Temple defensive back Adrian Laing broke up the pass at the last second.
Breakup or not, Sowell feels he should have held onto it.
“I got to catch the ball,” he said, “so that’s the main (detail).
Sowell isn’t concerned long term.
“I’m trusting our guys, and I’ve seen them do it countless times in practice, so I mean, I’m not worried, I’m not scared,” he said, “I’m not nervous that we can’t run the ball. It’s just one of those days where we got to look in there and we got to, you know, be ourselves.
ROCCO BECHT
“Yeah, obviously not the best,” Becht said, “and I think that’s on us as a as the players. We worked a lot of great stuff during the week. Had a lot of great stuff in. It’s just we have to communicate better. We have to be better at the quarterback position, and we have to be better, everywhere else. So we’ll make those adjustments. We’ll be better in the red zone, and we’ll come back better next week.”
