Penn State Survives Scare To Beat Temple, 14-10
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)—It must be etched in stone somewhere. A silent decree beyond the comprehension of football fans. It's definitely been passed down as a family heirloom in the Zordich household. It's up there with those certainties in life: A Zordich will play football at Penn State. The other is that Penn State will never lose to Temple. It's a mantra that's gone from one Penn State generation to the next—spanning 70 years exactly.
Temple has come close a few times, losing by a point to Penn State in 1975 and again in 1976. But in terms of winning, you'd have to leaf back through yellowed pages of an aged history book to find the last time something rare happened, when Temple beat Penn State 14-0 on October 18, 1941.
It's something definitely verboten with Penn State's Michael Zordich, whose father, also named Michael (and who also happened played for Penn State and the Philadelphia Eagles and is now currently on coach Andy Reid's coaching staff): the Nittany Lions don't lose to Temple.
After a few major scares, Penn State scratched and clawed its way to a 14-10 victory over Temple before a 50-50 crowd of 57,323 clad in cherry-and-white mixed with blue-and-white at Lincoln Financial Field, the second-highest attendance to see Temple at the Linc and third-largest crowd to ever see a Temple football game.
It was Michael Zordich that plowed into the end zone from a yard out with 2:42 left to play providing the winning difference. The Nittany Lions lead the series 37-3-1 and are a pristine 28-0 in legendary Penn State head coach Joe Paterno's tenure against Temple.
With just under nine minutes left, and Temple clinging to a 10-7 lead, the first of a number of game-changing plays occurred when Penn State linebacker Michael Mauti stepped in front of Mike Gerardi's pass at the Temple 44. From there, the Nittany Lions strung together a 12-play series, converting two fourth downs on the winning drive. Zordich figured in the drive, too, coming up with a key fumble recovery at the Temple four on a third-and-two play. On the following play, Zordich rammed his way into the end zone and a 14-10 Penn State lead.
In the end, it was Penn State once again finding a way to win, and Temple, with two fourth-quarter interceptions (and three second-half turnovers), finding a way to lose.
"We turned the ball over three times, and three turnovers will get you beat in a game," Temple coach Steve Addazio said. "You can't win like that. The defense played hard. We wanted to play them in the second half. We did that. We wanted to play in the fourth quarter. We did that, too. I told the team we're not in this for morale victories. We're in this to win. so this means nothing. The two interceptions on our half of the field killed us."
Gerardi completed 9-for-22 for 95 yards. He started well, completing three of his first five passes, including a 33-yard connection to Deon Miller that set up the Owls' first score. But after that, Gerardi was 6-for-17 with two interceptions.
"This obviously is very tough, and we're all going to try and learn from the mistakes we made," Gerardi said. "They were two bad throws, and you can't make two mistakes like that against a team like Penn State. They'll make you pay."
Temple certainly had its chances to extend a 10-7 halftime lead. The Owls' Kee-Ayre Griffin made an amazing diving interception at midfield with just over six minutes to go in the third quarter, but the Owls couldn't move the ball going three-and-out.
Later in the quarter, Temple's Miller came knifing through the Penn State line to block a Nittany Lions' punt at the Penn State 39. But again, Temple squandered the chance and weren't able to do anything with the opportunity with another three-and-out.
It was a defensive tug-of-war throughout most of the game. Temple took a 10-7 lead into halftime, thanks to a two-yard touchdown by Bernard Pierce that closed out Temple's first drive and Brandon MaManus' 40-yard field goal with :37 left in the half.
Penn State put together a successful drive on its second series of the second quarter. The Nittany Lions playing musical chairs once again with its quarterbacks and this time working under Matt McGloin, who replaced starter Rob Bolden, scored on a seven-play, 50-yard drive that culminated in Silas Redd's 17-yard TD run with 4:47 remaining in the second quarter that knotted the game at 7-7. McGloin and Bolden were a combined 22-for-36 passing for 216 yards and an interception. The Nittany Lions grinded out 308 yards of total offense, but three missed field goals didn't help, and neither did going 6-of-17 on third-down conversions.
The Nittany Lions needed a Temple 15-yard facemask call to help their stumbling offense push the ball from the Temple 32 to the 17 for their first score. After a McGloin incompletion, Redd ripped through the Temple front, bounced to the outside and stepped into the end zone.
Reported by: Joseph Santoliquito
