SB Nation - Adam DiMichele

Penn State vs. Temple Previews - Please Make This Be Over

BSD — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:43:13 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

3 months ago: Matt Sabo the drum major for the Penn State Nittany Lions marching band performs a flip as he marches his band onto the field before the start of an NCAA football game against Syracuse Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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This is the final game before Penn State starts their conference schedule. It's been like sleepwalking through NFL preseason exhibition schedule. Nobody cares, but every success is downplayed and every deficiency is blown up into a major problem. Let's see what your BSD staff is looking for this week.

RUTS Says...

Will Penn State wake up and finally hang half-a-hundred on an overmatched opponent? Probably not. The main intrigue will center around whether the offensive coaches can settle on its starting guards and the overall production of the running game. Maybe Collin Wagner will get a few field goal opportunities. Look, I don't care, okay? It's Temple. I'm done with the pastries, bring on Iowa already.

Prediction: Penn State 37, TempLOL 10

KevinHD Says...

Last year was intriguing because (1) Al Golden was on the up & up, had Penn State ties, and who knows maybe a chance at the PPJ (Post-Paterno Job), (2) quarterback Adam DiMichele had skillz, (3) Temple had a chance to win the MAC. None of that applies this year. The Villanova loss is extremely depressing, and breaking in a quarterback against Penn State's front can't be a good thing. Joe probably calls the dogs off early as this is the last chance to get Newsome some work, I think this one plays out like the other two laughers.

Prediction: Penn State 31, Temple 7

BSD Mike Says...

Yawn. I'm more excited about watching the Michigan State-Notre Dame game than I am to watch this one.

I think we all know what we're looking for in this game. Evan Royster needs a big rushing game. I'm talking 150 yards big rushing game. And Stephfon Green needs to add on at least another 50. And they need to look sharp with no turnovers. Anything less and we'll be facing another week of doubts and endless questions about the offensive line. I think this is the week Royster breaks 100 yards.

I'm looking for the defense to continue their domination. Temple turned the ball over five times against Villanova. This week I look for the defense to be particularly nasty and take the ball away at least four times. Penn State has this one put away early in the second quarter.

Prediction: Penn State 45, Temple 3

Malicious Internet Interrogation With Temple Football Forever

BSD — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:00:35 -0000

This week our blogger Q&A series brings us to longtime Temple Owl blogger Mike Gibson of Temple Football Forever. Having lived in the suburban Philadelphia area for ten years I always followed the Temple program on the side of my Penn State obsession, so I've been a fan of Temple Football Forever for a few years now and I suggest you include it in your daily reading for the sheer entertainment value of Mike's excellent writing.

Let's move on to the questions. Mike Gibson, you are officially on the BSD hotseat. Go.

I'm looking at the boxscore trying to figure out how Temple lost to Villanova. The Owls outgained the Wildcats by 100 total yards and 75 yards on the ground. What happened in that game?

I wrote before the game that "Temple's No. 1 priority should be getting to the quarterback." Evidently Al Golden and Mark D'Onofrio don't read my blog because, although they sacked Whitney five times, they played essentially a prevent defense (rush four, cover with seven) and he picked them apart all night. Inexplicably, Temple played a prevent on the final drive, which allowed Whitney to dink and dunk down the field or the game-winning field goal. When you turn the ball over at midfield with a minute left, it's time to blitz and get a sack. That never happened.

Vaughn Charlton threw three interceptions against the Wildcats. Is there a chance Golden could give Chester Stewart a shot in this game to see what he can do? What does each guy bring to the table?

I have a feeling Vaughn's going to be on a short leash. He throws an exceptional long ball, really one of the best deep throwers I've ever seen, but he has a lot of trouble on short timing patterns. All three of his interceptions were thrown right to Villanova players without a Temple player within 20 yards of the play. Really inexplicable. Chester's a threat as a runner, but he's no Randall Cunningham or even Adam DiMIchele. Chester's a better athlete and a better short tosser.

This is year four of the Al Golden era. Obviously great progress has been made since 2005 when the Owls didn't win a single game, but the loss to Villanova is a major setback for a team that was expected to compete for their division. Is there a sense among the Temple fans and alumni that maybe he has hit a plateau and taken this team as far as he can?

There definitely is a sense that he's a great recruiter who has come up short on a lot of game days, not just Villanova. Against Navy, he could have taken a knee, let the clock run down and kick to the Middes with a touchdown lead and 17 seconds left. Navy, a triple option team, would have had to go at least 80 yards with no time outs. Instead, he handed off to Griffin, who fumbled. Navy picked it up and ran it in to send the game to overtime. Against UConn, with a 6-0 lead and 3:39 left, Golden went for it on 4th and 1 at his own 34. His own 34. I could see if he was down, 6-0, but he was up, 6-0. Golden is definitely learning how to be a head coach on the job and Temple fans are the guinea pigs.

A poll ran on Owlscoop.com and asked "who is the better coach, Fran Dunphy or Al Golden?" Dunphy got 60 votes and Golden five. Sixty to five.

How do Temple fans view this ongoing series with Penn State? Is this just a friendly game among in-state schools that helps Temple pay the bills? Or is there some resentment for having to play three out of every four games in Happy Valley against a smug super power that doesn't respect them?

If you are Temple, you have no leverage. I would say the great majority of Temple fans are happy to get Penn State back on the schedule. Golden is gradually closing the talent gap. I think most Temple fans hope the talent gap closes soon, especially when blue-chip freshman quarterback Chris Coyer (who turned down an Ohio State offer) gets his sea legs.

Football is about maximizing your strengths while minimizing your weaknesses. What do you perceive to be Temple's biggest strength and weakness?

Temple's biggest strength: Overall defense, particularly linebackers Amara Kamara, John Haley, Alex Joseph.

Weakness? A playmaker at quarterback. Temple fans have been spoiled by Adam DiMichele, who always seemed to make a play to get the first down on every third and long. I'm sure it just seemed that way. It's a shame Penn State fans never saw the real Adam DiMichele, except for one productive series last year. The best Temple can hope from Charlton and/or Stewart is to manage the game. Last year, they had a guy who could win the game. Big difference.

How do you see the game playing out on Saturday?

Even though Akron's last two losses have been to Temple and Penn State by roughly the same scores (27-6 and 31-7), I think PSU poses severe matchup problems for Temple at the important positions of quarterback and wide receiver.

But I do think Temple will score 14 points and hang around for awhile, say a 35-14 PSU win. However, if Temple pulls another minus-4 turnover trick, it''ll be another 45-3 game. I don't think that'll happen twice in a row. Gosh, I hope not.

Thanks, Mike. You are officially off the BSD Hotseat. Good luck on your season.

Be sure to go read Mike's Penn State preview, and then check out his fascinating post about the history of this series. SPOILER ALERT: Despite the lopsided record in Penn State's favor, Temple wasn't always the pushover they seem to be.

Grading the Defense Against Temple

BSD — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:13:09 -0000

Lions always run in packs

Defensive Line

Everyone keeps harping on how thin the defensive line is. You could have fooled me. Penn State used ten different guys on the defensive line on Saturday. But it didn't matter who Larry Johnson sent in because the results were always the same. The Temple offensive line could not open any holes for the running backs to slip through. I suspect Temple knew this was going to be the case coming into the game since the runningbacks Jones and Liverpool only had eight running attempts. And once they fell behind the Owls had to abandon the running game. Quarterback Chester Stewart was the leading rusher for the Owls with 15 yards on 18 attempts. As a team the Owls only recorded 16 rushing yards on 28 attempts. That is domination.

Aaron Maybin came ready to play getting two sacks in the opening quarter including a vicious hit on DiMichele knocking him out of the game and ending any slim hope Temple may have had of being competitive. Looking at the picture of the hit below you can kind of see how Maybin had his arm tucked under DiMichele's armpit as he drove his shoulder into the ground. Then leverage took over.

Pop! Goes the Shoulder Socket

Josh Gaines had another all around great day. He was highly effective in stopping the run and also recorded two sacks. All-in-all it was a great performance for a defensive line supposedly short on bodies. The front four got good pressure on Stewart allowing the linebacker to just focus on their pass coverages.

Final Grade: A

Linebackers

Temple came out determined to test our linebackers with short passes and screens. A wise strategy in my opinion, and it worked early as Temple got a few first downs in the first quarter to shift the field position in their favor. But once the Penn State scoring machine got going in the second quarter Temple was forced to open things up and test the secondary by throwing deeper. That's when the interceptions started coming.

Hull and Gbadyu were ok, but not great. Gbadyu flies to the ball, but often misses the tackle or gets run over by the ball carrier. Hull is a sure tackler, but he always seems a bit slow in getting to the ball and often got dragged a few yards before bringing the ball carrier down.

But the good news is we have a young linebacker elevating his game and standing on the verge of becoming great. Navorro Bowman got his first career start and made the most of it. He was flying all over the field on defense and special teams seemingly always around the ball. Check out this stat line.

vs Temple / 9.20.08	Tackles						Sacks		Interceptions
	Solo	Ast	Total	TFL	TFL Yds	FF	Sacks	Yds	Int	Yds	IntTD
Navarro Bowman	8	3	11	5	17	1	3	13	1	29	0

If he doesn't win Big Ten Player of the Week honors it will be a travesty.

Navorro Bowman's Grade: A+
Everyone Else: C

Secondary

Overall I thought it was a good performance by the secondary. Last season Temple threw for 238 yards against Penn State. This year the same secondary, minus Justin King, held the same group of receivers to just 122 yards.

Tony Davis came up with a huge interception. After a shakey first quarter the Penn State offense was finally starting to get things going. After scoring a touchdown to take a 14-0 lead, Travis Shelton returned the kickoff 74 yards down to the PSU 26 yard line. But on their first offensive play Stewart badly overthrew a ball and Davis picked it off at the PSU 16 yard line keeping the Penn State momentum going. Temple wouldn't threaten again until the game was well in hand.

Drew Astorino continues to see his playing time increase. He played a solid game with seven tackles and a pass broken up. Knowledge Timmons stepped up with a late interception at the end of the game as well.

Final Grade: B+

Special Teams

The kickoff coverage was awful. It started on the opening kickoff when Kelly shanked the kick and Shelton returned it 33 yards to the PSU 43 yard line. Shelton's next return went 74 yards and nearly scored. They tried kicking away from him after that, but Schulters had returns of 33 and 29 yards, so they kicked it to Shelton one more time and he returned that one 42 yards. Just terrible. We need to put our best athletes on the field in these situations. I know there is a higher risk of injury, but kickoffs and punts are so important to control field position for the defense. We can't keep giving opponents the ball at mid field to start.

I mentioned that Kelly shanked a kickoff. He only had one touchback out of seven kickoffs, but Shelton's big return was four yards deep. He hit his one field goal attempt from 44 yards. It was true down the middle and would have easily been good from over 50. He seems to have made significant strides over the summer which has me feeling a whole lot better.

Jeremy Boone had one sensational punt that stopped dead at the Temple 2 yard line. He did ok on his other punts. Only one was returned, but it seemed like his kicks aren't quite as deep as he was booming them last year. Maybe it's just a lack of attempts. Maybe it's just me.

Derrick Williams fumbled a punt return and was lucky to have Scirrotto back with him to pick it up. Even after that play he ran up under a lot of short punts and had to make some awkward catches. He needs to just let those bounce and let the offense take possession. The important thing for this team is to just get the defense off the field and let the offense do its thing. We don't need a hero taking chances on the punt returns.

Please no more of this

Final Grade: C-

Defensive Coaching

It's hard to complain when you hold your opponent to three points and only 138 yards of total offense. But, it's Temple. They didn't blitz much and mostly just sat back in coverage playing the classic "bend-but-don't-break" defense. It was definitely an improvement over last year when the Owls seemed to move the ball at will just to turn it over in the redzone and shut themselves out. This year Penn State didn't get the shutout, but it was a better defensive performance that the shutout from last year. The defense looked prepared and focused and actually carried the offense in the early going for a change. They struggled a bit with the short passes over the middle, but made adjustments and took them away forcing Temple into throwing three interceptions.

I like that the corners appear to be more aggressive this year. And the defensive line rotation is more than covering for the losses of Evans, Koroma, Hayes, Still, Baker, and Taylor. But I imagine Bradley is pulling his hair out wondering how to cover for his linebackers. He has a slow guy in the middle that can't blitz and will get picked on by Big Ten teams. He has a senior starting outside who can't point to a memorable play in his career. Another linebacker flies all over the place but he lacks instincts and the probability of him making the tackle is slightly better than a coin flip. Bowman appears to have the most star potential of the group when he's able to stay out of Joe's doghouse.

Final Grade: B

Poll

Who was the PSU Defensive Player of the Game?

Aaron Maybin

76 votes

Josh Gaines

17 votes

Navorro Bowman

266 votes

Tony Davis

2 votes

Drew Astorino

17 votes

378 votes | Poll has closed

Malicious Internet Interrogation with Temple Football Forever

Kevin HD — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:00:05 -0000

When Temple moved out of the Big East and into the MAC, some may have worried that Temple football was in danger of coming to an end. Not this guy. Temple Football Forever survived his program's time on the Bottom Ten is here to talk about Penn State's clash with the Owls to the east.

Vegas has the Nittany Lions as 28.5 point favorites. A friend asked me if I thought that seemed low. My response was simply that Temple really isn't a 1-2 team, but the public will treat them like one. Can you help validate my comment?

Actually, some of the Vegas sites I've read really like Temple in this one. There's a big-time handicapper who goes by the name Doc who was all over the Owls in the first two games and made major coin, then backed off in the Buffalo game. He's kicking himself now. Still, the validation to your statement is the "general public" thinks this is the same old Temple and it would take more than a 1-2 record to change that perception. The general public sets the lines.

I know Temple has already suffered one league loss, but do you think they have a shot at earning a berrth in the MAC Championship Game this season? And if not, what are the missing pieces?

The Buffalo loss was a killer. I still think Temple is better than Buffalo and I think both of those teams are as good as any team in the West, maybe better. Even if Buffalo has a hiccup along the way and Temple runs the MAC table, Buffalo wins the East based on head-to-head.

The missing pieces are a running game and a pash rush. The bad news is the offensive line has been awful the first three games. The good news is that the running backs are good and the defensive line (with the same guys) generated a fierce pass rush all season last year. Some of the banged-up defensive guys will be back by the MAC games, so that's a plus. I don't think the Owls will generate much of a pass rush at Penn State.

Adam DiMichele, Temple's starting quarterback, was once a Penn State commit. Penn State did not release him from his scholarship when he decided he wanted to focus on baseball. Do you think this embitters him at all? If so, do you think that should make us as PSU fans worried?

No. He's over it. "Coming to Temple was the best thing that ever happened to me," DiMichele said. He really believes that. What a terrific leader, a tough kid with a universe of moxie and an athlete who was Pennsylvania player of the year in both basketball and football and a major league draft choice in baseball. He reminds me a lot of myself. ......Yeah, right.

No team has worked harder to shut themselves out quite like Temple did in last year's contest. The 31-0 score made it seem like a dominating performance, but as you know it was anything but. With a more experienced offense and solid coaching, do you think Temple will be able to get into the 20's against a Penn State defense that hasn't allowed anyone over 14? What makes this Temple offense better than that of Oregon State and Syracuse?

Temple left 21-24 points on the field last year. The Crudup catch for a touchdown (I still don't think it was a hold and I've watched the replay six times) and interceptions in the flat by Omar McDonough-Hales and Alex Joseph that were right between their numbers and dropped and a bad shank by the field goal kicker on the first drive. Both INTs had six written all over them. Penn State fans can counter with Morrelli's goal-line fumble but that was a FORCED error, a vicious hit by Terrence Knighton. What makes me think Temple can score in the 20s? Adam DiMichele. He's 10x better than Vaughn Charlton and has shown, unlike Charlton, an ability to finish drives with points.

While the Kremlin has remained totally mum on the situation, Golden appears to be on the very short list of Paterno replacements. What do the Temple faithful think about (1) Golden's willingness to leave Temple, and (2) Golden's ability to get it done at the next level?

Yes and yes. He's got one eye out the door, as evidenced by his dalliance with UCLA. And he can get the job done. All we'd like for him to do is give us one winning season first. At least one. That's not too much to ask.

Thanks to TFF, and make sure to check in over there for a different perspective on this weekend's events.