PHILADELPHIA– Penn State had two scoring chances early in its matchup with Temple at Lincoln Financial Field.
It didn’t cash in on either of them.
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.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Again, Penn State came up empty, not scoring in four plays.
So PSU, which came in favored by more than three scores, ended the first quarter scoreless with Temple, and it wasn’t for lack of opportunity. In between failed goal-line trips, Penn State started a drive at the Temple 44-yard line, but only gained six yards in three plays before punting.
This is the first time in the Matt Campbell era that PSU has struggled to get going.
In the season opener against Marshall, Penn State led 17-0 after the first quarter and never let up, cruising to a 45-0 win.
Week 2 didn’t end up being that easy, bringing back memories of Penn State’s slow nonconference start last season, in which the team won all 3 OOC games but didn’t look particularly impressive in any of them.
