Sunday, September 23, 2012
Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, PA.
One defender latched on to Matt McGloin as he trudged toward the goal line, then a second. Carrying two players with him, the senior quarterback took two laborious steps forward before falling on his right knee in the end zone for a touchdown.
The 1-yard run, like the rest of the game, wasn’t pretty — but it got the job done for Penn State.
McGloin threw for a career-high 318 yards and ran for two short scores, and linebacker Michael Mauti led another strong defensive effort to lead the Nittany Lions to a 24-13 win Saturday over Temple.
It was another blue-collar effort for Penn State (2-2), which had to overcome nine penalties, an interception in the red zone and a couple other mistakes to extend Temple’s decades-long streak of misery against its in-state rival.
“I think we left a lot of points off the board,” said rookie head coach Bill O’Brien.
Officially, the Temple (1-2) losing streak in the series stands at 23 games since the seven Penn State victories between 2003-2011 have been vacated because of NCAA sanctions. The Owls tied Penn State 7-7 in 1950, but otherwise have been winless in the series since a 14-0 shutout on Oct. 18, 1941.
Temple couldn’t capitalize on a number of Penn State penalties and mistakes. The Owls finally got a touchdown on Matt Brown’s 1-yard catch off a shovel pass with 1:33 left in the game.
It was way too late for Owls’ coach Steve Addazio.
“We made our mind up going into that game that we were going to try to be more balanced. We’re going take our shots,” Addazio said. “When we did, we missed on the plays that were there to be made. We missed on them.”
Penn State held decisive edges in first downs (27-13) and total offense (491-237). Running back Michael Zordich (Cardinal Mooney) himself had 101 total yards of offense by halftime — or five more than Temple’s entire team for the half.
After early struggles against Temple’s blitz, Penn State moved the ball at will on the Owls but tripped themselves up with penalties. At one point late in the second quarter, two consecutive long gains into Temple territory were negated by offensive pass interference and holding penalties, respectively.
Zordich finished with 15 carries for 75 yards and four catches for 39 yards before leaving with a left knee injury in the fourth quarter. A team spokesman said it was just a bruise, and the senior said afterward he would be fine after icing down the knee.