You know the drill here. Random thoughts during my Penn State/Temple rewatch.
1. What a start to the game. Koby Howard just DUSTING the Temple secondary for a shot play to open us up. Surely, this was going to be a sign of things to come for the offense…
2. Well, maybe not.
3. I talked about Rocco Becht yesterday in the Stock Up, Stock Down report, so I’m not going to use many (if any) random thoughts on him, but I’ll reiterate: really like what we’ve seen from him. I don’t know if he’s dramatically different from the Clifford/Allar half-decade we just went through, but he’s a fun watch and he at least has the aura of someone who knows what they are doing. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a big reason the offense at least got into second gear after the slow start.
4. On the 3rd & goal, give credit for Temple for bringing six when Penn State was going five out. No extra blocker back there and Rocco had essentially no time to even let the play develop. He has an extra half-second or so, he can try Koby on a fade or Brahmer coming across the middle.
5. I said this in the moment and it remains true: I was glad Ryan Barker missed that chip shot. He has been way too consistent and has made too many field goals. We need him to miss a couple here and there in inconsequential moments. Good miss. We continue to bark for Barker.
6. What are our takes on the Temple uniforms? I like them. Nice shade of red. The diamond usage is pretty unique to them, from what I can recall.
7. Zay Robinson is a fun player, man. Has shown nice chops back there returning kicks and punts, and in six offensive snaps on Saturday, he had 3 receptions for 34 yards. He’s someone whose stock is going up and I think we’ll see more and more as the season goes along.
8. This offense is funny because I think we all — the staff included, to be honest — had some questions about what the wide receivers were going to be. And through two games, they’ve answered those questions with really strong play basically across the unit of Koby, Chase Sowell, Brett Eskildsen, and Zay. I think they can go three or even four wide receiver much more often than maybe they originally thought.
9. Sorry to the 13 and 14 personnel. I still really like these tight ends, but as Gabe Burkle works his way back from injury, I think I’d go heavier on the two or even one tight end sets. These wide receivers are good! Let them cook!
10. I’d also be curious how that impacts the run game. When you have three or four tight ends on the field and you have them lined up tight, that’s bringing the defense in tight too and is taking away some space from the running backs. I’m not expecting the veer and shoot offense with the wide receivers lined up all the way out wide, but I do wonder if the running backs can find more success if you are — in theory — taking some defenders away from the box.
11. By the way, the running game: I don’t think it’s really on the offensive line. As Penn State fans, we’ve watched some *bad* offensive lines and this doesn’t seem like one of them.
12. Malachi Goodman might be a capital “D” Dude, by the way. He doesn’t look like a normal second-year player.
13. Josiah Zayas looked more like a freshman on Saturday, but look at where he lined up at one point in the first quarter.
14. That’s a true freshman corner/nickel/safety lining up as a standup defensive end. Shows you what this staff thinks of him to get him on the field this early and to line him up all over the place.
15. Pretty heavy snap logs for Keanu Williams (38) and Siale Taupaki (37) on a warm summer day in Philadelphia. That’s around 66% of the snaps, which is a bit on the higher side for a defensive tackle — especially ones in the 320-pound area.
16. Penn State was without Armstrong Nnodim and Alijah Carnell again, but it *feels* like those guys should be back for Big Ten play. Ideally though, would like to work them into the Buffalo game.
17. Pass rush wasn’t fantastic on Saturday, and the season-ending injury of Max Granville certainly played a part in that. Feel for the kid, who had just worked his way back from last offseason’s season-ending injury. That’s two seasons in a row down the drain for an uber-talented kid. Sucks.
18. Without Granville, I think defensive end is still in an OK spot, but it basically means Caleb Bacon is there full-time now. I imagine the original plan for him was to mostly play defensive end but get some linebacker looks against teams like Wisconsin, Minnesota, etc., but I don’t think Penn State wants to go super deep into the defensive end depth. It’ll need to be Bacon, Ikenna Ezeogu, Yvan Kemajou, and Alex McPherson.
19. Pray for health for the rest of those guys.
20. On the good news side of the injury front, good to see Alex Tatsch back out there. Didn’t do a whole ton, but did get 24 snaps in.
21. Kooper Ebel wearing #8 and Cael Brezina wearing #9 is going to confuse me all year. Even with Ebel’s hair coming out of his helmet, I still get them confused.
22. Got an extended look at Brezina — 21 snaps. Game was moving a bit too quickly for him at times. Took some poor angles and missed a tackle or two.
23. Ditto for Marcus Neal. This will be a game he’ll want to forget.
24. Tony Rojas’ interception really displayed his football IQ. He’s brought on a blitz and realizes he’s not going to get home, so he drops back into coverage and boom, right there was the football.
25. Penn State not scoring there was bad. Thanks for coming to my TEDTalk!
26. Peoples cutting this outside instead of right up the middle…not ideal.
27. This wouldn’t have been a touchdown or anything, but this was for sure blocked to be a run on the inside. Instead, Peoples takes it outside and the blocking isn’t right — stopped for no gain.
28. Second and third down, they go with 14 personnel and there’s not much of anything. Carson Hansen actually did a nice job making something out of nothing on second down to get three yards but both run plays had no shot from the snap.
29. I realize I am the Fullback Guy, so I’d like to point out all these guys are 6-foot-3+, none of them have neck rolls, and they would never take a handoff. You can line a tight end up at fullback, but that does NOT make them a fullback.
30. Like I said about Barker, I’m OK with a whoopsies from Taylor Mouser here on the run-run-run on the first three downs. It’s Temple, try to establish #culture and the running game. I just think with tight ends like Benjamin Brahmer and Andrew Rappleyea, they can get really creative in the red zone.
31. Tough misfire from Becht on 4th & goal. He had Rappleyea crossing and put way too much pace on the ball and it was a bit behind him. Game probably *feels* a lot different if that’s completed for a touchdown.
32. The keeper from Jaxon Smolik was nice. Shades of Sean Clifford against Michigan in 2022. Jeremiah Cooper has to make that tackle though. Look at this screen grab here:
33. If Smolik is doing that to ya, Colton Joseph, Bryce Underwood, and Demond Williams are licking their chops.
34. You just know Andy Kotelnicki saw Smolik take off and said “SEE!” #Iowa2025SmolikPackage
35. Temple not getting a touchdown on that drive sealed their fate. A drive like that — 91 yards, 15 plays, over eight minutes — needs to end with 6, not 3, in an upset bid.
36. Alright, I spent way too many thoughts on just the first quarter. Going to move this thing a long.
37. Chase Sowell had a very nice day, but the drop in the second quarter on what would have been a 47-yard touchdown is one he’ll want to have back.
38. Penn State started 1-5 on third down; ended 5-7.
39. 32 seconds. Slant to Brahmer for 9 yards to the 23 yard line. Clock does not stop at 26 seconds. Penn State has two timeouts. They snap the ball with 13 seconds.
40. That *has* to be a timeout there. If it was a goal-to-go situation, OK, you only have 3 more plays anyway. But they wasted anyway half the clock and were fortunate that the very next play was a touchdown.
41. That touchdown felt good though and was needed from a vibes perspective.
42. We’re only two games in, but I’ll be honest, Chase Sowell is better than I thought he’d be. I thought he’d be Saeed Blacknell-ish, but he’s much smoother than I anticipated. Intriguing kid at 6-foot-3, 203 pounds.
43. This fireball to Zay Robinson was sick.
44. Goes without saying, but a very good game from Brahmer. Quiet against Marshall for sure, but you saw Rocco go to Brahmer in some key spots on Saturday. The rapport they have is nice, and Brahmer can do some things with the ball in his hand. Fluid 6-foot-7 kid.
45. #18 is a great tight end number, too. Shades of Jesse James.
46. Count me in on the Koby Howard at running back package. Would like to see Zay Robinson there as well.
47. 3rd & 8 with under a minute to go in the third, ball on the 24, and Taylor Mouser fires up a run play that goes for 3 yards. Not really sure I’m following the logic on that one with the way Rocco was playing.
48. I’m good with Penn State not going for it on 4th down there. Field goal makes it a 20-3 game as you head into the fourth quarter, and it was clear Temple didn’t have three scores in them. Put the game on ice right there. I just don’t get the conservative run call given the game situation.
49. Loved the team coming to Rocco’s defense after the late hit by FORMER PENN STATE PLAYER Kolin Dinkins.
50. #66, redshirt freshman Will Tompkins, was the first one ready to go. Donnoe Harbour and Vaea Ikakoula were right behind. Cooper Cousins and Anthony Donkoh, former teammates with Dinkins, came in as well. Rocco was talking that good-good when he got up as well.
51. Just things you love to see, folks. The late hit being from a player who was on last year’s Penn State team feels symbolic too, doesn’t it?
52. Passable, middling game from Penn State, all things considered. The team — and the fan base — probably needed the B-/C+ performance after the A+ performance against Marshall. A performance to ground ourselves and remember: this is a long season. Not every game will be perfect, but game 2 of many more to come.
53. Shoutout the Philly-area Penn State faithful. We are Philadelphia’s college football team.
