We’ll have a more detailed recap up later, but here’s what you need to know about Penn State’s 45-3 drubbing of the Temple Owls:

After getting off to a very slow start, Penn State’s offense turned into Juggernaut Mode in the second quarter.  After a scoreless first, Penn State woke up and put up 31 on Temple.  But as well as they executed in the second quarter, they were that sloppy in the first.  An early Clark interception and fumbles by Derrick Williams and Evan Royster might not be a major problem against Temple, but this team can’t afford these mistakes in Big Ten play, and especially next week against Illinois.

Joe Paterno did not look comfortable today on the sidelines.  Certain sources had told us that Paterno planned on coaching the game from the Press Box today, but he came out through the tunnel with the team.  Still, he was limping around, and definitely favoring that right leg.  You could tell that the knee was giving him trouble, and when the second half came around, JoePa moved upstairs to the comfort of the Press Box.  Before going upstairs, Paterno was definitely a presence, and got in his players’ faces, but McQueary picked up the slack for him.  McQueary wouldn’t be an awful choice as the next Penn State head coach.

Aaron Maybin is an absolute beast.  He had 2 sacks in the first quarter, including one that knocked out Adam DiMichele on the final play of Temple’s first drive.  You can’t help but feel for DiMichele, I’m sure he wanted to get his chance to play against the team he once committed to.  Either way, the defensive line was getting pressure all day on backup QB Chester Stewart, who was sacked 6 times by Lion defenders today.  Also with two sacks was Josh Gaines, who has really stepped up in the absence of Maurice Evans.  Still, there were times when Penn State rushed 4 and got little pressure, so it would be nice to see Evans and Koroma back out there.

Stephfon Green is really good.  We all knew he had big play potential, and the ability to break one, but today he ran inside effectively.  His 69 yard rushing score was a designed run off Left Guard, but he broke a tackle and was gone.  His 132 yards on 9 carries equates to a 14.7 average, and unlike Evan Royster, he didn’t fumble at all.

We have great depth at Wide Receiver.  Both Brent Brackett and Graham Zug caught touchdown passes from Daryll Clark; Derek Moye nearly had a touchdown catch, but was led just out-of-bounds by Pat Devlin.  Andrew Quarless made his triumphant return, making 4 catches for 50 yards.  The only negatives: Mickey Shuler made an early catch but wasn’t seen after that.  Jordan Norwood’s hands are not, in fact, made of glue, as he dropped a pretty easy one today.

Penn State can stop the run.  Temple ran for a grand total of 16 yards on the day, but at the half, Penn State had held the Owls to -9 yards on the ground.  When QB scrambles by Chester Stewart are taken out of the equation, Penn State allowed 1 yard to running backs today.  The defense swarmed to the ball and forced Temple to throw the ball.

That didn’t work too well either, because Stewart threw 3 interceptions.  They couldn’t have come at a less opportune time for Temple, either, as two of them were thrown inside the Psnn State 20.  Forcing turnovers has been the one aspect of Penn State’s defense that we hadn’t seen so much against Coastal Carolina, Oregon State, or Syracuse, but congratulations to Tony Davis, Navarro Bowman, and Knoedge Timmons for their first interceptions of ths season.  Drew Astorino got a lot of meaningful playing time today, and looked solid, if unspectacular.

That’s all for now, folks.  Have fun, take it easy, and Go State.

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4. Blue/White Game Notes
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