Temple 5 Keys to the Shock the World

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1. Keep your QB off his ass _ If you see a lot of draws and screens to set up a long bomb or two, that's a good sign of a well-designed offensive scheme.

2. Play mistake-free _ Easier said than done. When you tell a guy don't fumble, it puts the word fumble in his head. Don't fumble. Don't throw an interception.

3. Put the other QB on his ass _ Basically, send more guys than they can block. Challenge your extremely talented linebackers to make plays and send safeties, LBs and DEs from spots Penn State won't expect them. Keep blitzing blind side. Tell the blitzers to try to strip the ball as they arrive at the QB. If you can't get to Clark with five, send six. If you can't get to him with six, send seven and eight.

4. Get the ball to the playmakers _ That means if you hit James Nixon for another 75-yard bomb and find Michael Campbell on a jump ball in the end zone, don't forget that they are still on the team.

5. Play Neapolitan, not Vanilla _ Aggressive schemes often result in a plus-turnover ratios. It's risky, sure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. If the Owls come out and play vanilla on both sides of the ball, they will be nothing but a snack to the Nits. If they bring pressure and force turnovers, they have a chance to cause major mid-day indigestion for 106,000 people.

 

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Temple presents new look for Lions



The plays you've seen from Penn State on both sides of the ball through the season's first two games aren't necessarily the plays you'll see later in the season.

?Joe (Paterno) is big on being perfect at what you?re doing before you can expand,? tight end Andrew Quarless said. ?We have a lot more in the playbook. Once we get great at what we?re doing, then we can really open it up.?

The No. 5 Nittany Lions (2-0) are likely to show a little bit more when they host Temple (0-1) at noon today in Beaver Stadium against a team of Owls they expect to be different schematically from their first two opponents and, they say, improved from the squad Penn State walloped 45-3 here last September.

Since that game, Temple has gone 4-6, but the six losses have been by a total of just 26 points. In their first game of this season, the Owls out-gained Football Championship Subdivision Villanova 456 yards to 357 but committed five turnovers in a 27-24 loss.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno believes his counterpart, Al Golden (who played tight end for him at Penn State) will have his team ready to respond after a week off.

?His kids have come back and been competitive,? Paterno said. ?And that?s what we?re going to see this week. Al has not lost control of his football team. They?re well-coached and disciplined. At times maybe they?ve had some bad luck. But if you don?t lose your poise and you don?t start panicking, those things start to level off a little bit.?


Gone from Golden?s offense are run-pass quarterback Adam DiMichele and wide receiver Bruce Francis, but junior quarterback Vaughn Charlton and a host of young skill players, including running back Bernard Pierce and wide receiver James Nixon, will give Penn State?s defense a number of different looks. The Owls might also work backup quarterback Chester Stewart in for a few plays.

?They?re going to have some things in their offensive scheme that we?re not ready for,? Penn State linebacker Josh Hull said. ?We?re going to have to react and learn from it.?

The Nittany Lions, who are averaging 416.5 total yards per game, will give the Owls? defense, paced by safety Dominique Harris and nose tackle Andre Neblett, plenty to worry about as well.

?We?ve been working on the stuff that you guys have seen in the games, but there?s a lot left in the playbook,? wide receiver Graham Zug said. ?Each week we add a few things and change some things up, depending on the team we?re playing.?

There are a couple of advantages, though, in keeping the playbook vanilla this early in the season, say the Nittany Lions, particularly as 12 new starters continue their acclimation process.

?It allows not only myself but the younger guys to sit back and learn our basic schemes,? Hull said. ?It?s tough to play a lot of the blitz schemes and stunts we do if you don?t know the basic schemes.?

The Nittany Lions also like to keep a few things up their sleeve for their Big Ten opponents.

?It definitely gives us a little advantage,? Hull said. ?It allows (future opponents) to be surprised when we do show them the next couple of weeks.?