Saturday will mark just the second time that Penn State has played Villanova since 1951.
You’ll likely remember that relatively recent 38-17 win that the Lions had back in Beaver Stadium in 2021 – a game where Sean Clifford passed for more than 400 yards, but Penn State couldn’t establish the run.
That’s enough of that one.
Instead, this week’s Lion Tales takes us to Oct. 1, 1994 when the Lions went to Philadelphia’s Franklin Field to play another completely overmatched squad from the City of Brotherly Love.
By now, the 1994 team is idolized – the best Penn State team, and maybe best college football team ever, to not win a national championship.
Through four games, the Lions had been dominant, outscoring their four opponents 89-6 in the first quarters. This included 21-0 against eventual Pac-10 runner-up USC and 35-0 against Iowa.
In the pregame, Nittany Lion radio announcer George Paterno said the key words that we’ll be coming back to: “The approach to this game is a little different.”
Temple, who it should be noted was coached by former PSU assistant Ron Dickerson, took the opening kickoff, hit a huge screen pass against a Penn State blitz, breathed a sigh of relief when Willie Smith dropped an interception and took a 3-0 lead five minutes into the game.
Penn State trailed for the first time all season, but no worries. The star-laden offense took the field. Ki-Jana Carter fought for a few yards. Then, Kerry Collins missed two open receivers – including one that Geoge Paterno called “an easy throw.” It was a three-and-out and Joe Jurevicius’s punt traveled only about 35 yards.
The Owls, who were 2-1 with wins against Akron and Army, had Penn State on its heels and a pass interference penalty put Temple back inside the PSU 10-yard line.
Ultimately, Temple settled for another field goal and a 6-0 lead as the quarter ended. It was one of only two games in the whole season (Illinois the obvious other) where Penn State was down after one period. During that second scoring drive, George Paterno noted that Joe Paterno had subbed in some defensive linemen who he was intending to give rest to that day.
Penn State would score to take a 7-6 lead, but would have to revert to a reverse to Bobby Engram to finally hit a big play. Temple drove into Penn State territory again, but a Terry Killens sack kept the Owls from retaking the lead. Then, Collins hit two big pass plays to Engram and Freddie Scott to help Penn State to a 14-6 lead.
Temple closed the gap to 21-12 late in the second quarter, but a Scott touchdown in the waning seconds of the first half made it 27-12 at the break.
Penn State would ultimately win 48-21, falling short of covering a 44.5 point spread.
George Paterno used the word “sloppy” over and over on the broadcast. Penn State also lost Ki-Jana Carter to a dislocated thumb in the second quarter.
The Lions headed into the bye weekend ahead of a nationally televised afternoon game at Michigan. Penn State jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter start against the Wolverines, won 31-24, and Freddie Scott graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in the aftermath.
Penn State would, of course, finish the season unbeaten and a big part of that was the explosive first quarters that they patented. For the year, in 12 games, Penn State outscored its opponents 148-54. As mentioned earlier, only twice did they trail and only twice were they tied (Michigan State, Oregon). Meanwhile, Temple would go winless the rest of the season and wind up 2-9.
But on that rainy afternoon at Franklin Field ahead of their bye, the Lions looked…an awful lot like what we’ve come to expect at least once out of Penn State each non-conference season.
Will Penn State win the national title in 2025? Maybe? Maybe not? But, as George Paterno said before his brother’s team took on Temple, sometimes there’s a different plan that day. Rest some players? Work on some things? Try different combinations?
That’s all possible, so too is a bad quarter and sloppy half against an overmatched team from Philadelphia – or elsewhere.