Temple tries again to knock off Penn State

IT'S A GAME between two 5-4 teams that, for different reasons, are both trying to become bowl-eligible for the first time in three seasons. One has lost three of its last four. The other just won on the road by six over a 3-6 team to end a four-game losing streak.

But it's Temple-Penn State, so it means something to somebody. Probably more so on North Broad. That's what happens when you haven't beaten the commonwealth's team in 73 years.

And maybe that's been part of the problem. Sure, 1941 was a long time ago. Yet the history has little to do with the people who'll be playing at Beaver Stadium Saturday afternoon. And if Temple finally does win, it still has to play again in 2 weeks. If it loses, too. It's an AAC game against 5-3 Cincinnati, which you could argue is actually more relevant.

"I'm not smart enough to know in the overall what it would mean," said second-year coach Matt Rhule, a former Penn State linebacker, whose Owls already have three more victories than they did last season. "For us, it would just be another step. If they can do it this week in that environment, then we're a lot further along than we were last week. That's my focus with this team. Then hopefully we can finish the season off doing that. The key to this game is go play.

"I'm not going to do anything any different. Anytime you try to do something different to get ready for a game you've already lost the game. So we're going to do what we do. If we have problems we'll have problems."

From 1994-97, when Rhule played, the Nittany Lions went 41-8 and won three bowls, including the Rose. The Owls, meanwhile, were going 9-37 in Ron Dickerson's last four seasons. The scores of the Penn State games were 48-21, 66-14, 41-0 and 52-10. But the last three meetings (they didn't play last season) were 24-13 in Happy Valley, 14-10 here and 22-13 there. The Owls were in position to win all of them. Rhule was an assistant for two of those, under Al Golden and then Steve Addazio.

"There's been some great games," Rhule said. "At the end Penn State won by picking off a pass, [converting] a fourth-and-1. They didn't win because Temple wasn't mentally ready to play. They won because they made the plays."

The Owls lost to Memphis Friday in South Philly because they didn't. Funny how that works.

"That's how close we are," Rhule noted, not for the first time. "It's also how far away you are. You can't keep doing those [wrong] things [at the wrong times] and expect to win. That's the next step in growing the program. You have to understand what it takes to win those kind of games."

Fortunately, the next opportunity is already staring right at them.

"I'm not making a big deal about [the venue]," Rhule said. "We've been to Notre Dame [28-6 loss in 2013 opener]. That was something to walk in there. We went out and eventually got themselves playing. I'm hoping we're beyond the point where the stadium and things like that hold us back. I think our kids have to recognize that and move on from it.

"They'll have a great crowd and all that. But at the end of the day it comes down to blocking and tackling and running and catching. I told our guys if any of them are saying, 'Hey, this is Penn State week,' they've got the wrong mindset. I'll promise you Penn State isn't saying this is Temple week. We've got to play for 60 minutes and see what happens. Friday night we played about 58 . . . I'm not going to get caught up in anything.

"I don't want to demean it. I don't know how I'll feel when I get there. Maybe I'll feel different. But right now, it's all about this week, what we're getting done today. It feels about the same as any game . . .

"I'd love to go play well," he concluded. "I'd love to win. I'd love to be the first team to do that. But the way you do that is by playing. If we're talking about anything else other than playing, you're taking yourself away from how to beat them."

Rhule isn't into excuses. But he's got fewer seniors than anyone in FBS (eight). Next season he'll have 20, when Penn State visits. Maybe the Nits will be trying to avoid their first losing streak in the series since 1931-32.

And maybe the Owls won't still be waiting for next year for a change.

This does have to end sometime, right?