Penn State fans and over-reaction

Proof positive that Temple fans outnumbered PSU fans on Saturday.

There must be a severe disconnect between Penn State fans and Penn State players.
To read the reaction on web sites like "Blue White Illustrated" and "Black Shoe Diaries" beating Temple "only by 14-10" was pretty darn close to the Apocalypse coming to State College.
Almost no one gave Temple any credit for being a good team.
Almost everyone says this means Penn State is no good.
Twenty-five years of building a ram shack house that was once the Temple program destroyed the brand name and it is going to take more than two years of winning for a home makeover.
Still, if you watch college football these days, teams that don't have "brand names" are beating teams with brand names.

Photos by friend of TFF, Tony Alessi

Someday, maybe Saturday at Maryland, that will happen for Temple.
It could possibly be Temple's last chance this year. If Temple doesn't beat Maryland and run the table, even if it wins the MAC, it is likely to be in a bowl game with another "brand less" team, say Troy. An 11-1 mark is probably enough to break Temple out of MAC bowl hell and into some kind of Heavenly bowl. An 11-1 record with Maryland winning the ACC and Penn State winning the Big 10 and that bowl becomes even more attractive.

An 11-1 mark is probably enough to break Temple out of MAC bowl hell and into some kind of Heavenly bowl

Penn State fans are over-reacting, just like UConn fans over-reacted after losing to Temple last year.
All you read on the Uconn message boards were "we won't win another game" and "I can't believe we lost to Temple" yet UConn went on to beat Pitt and West Virginia and win the Big East after that.
In a story about Kevin Kroboth by Brad Wilson in the Easton Express-Times on Sunday one of the comments below said: "Temple is much improved, but shows Penn Sate is going downhill."

Temple football fact:
Owls are 15-0 when Bernard Pierce
gets 16 or more carries

That kind of thought process is really disrespectful to Temple's kids.
Penn State's kids know better. "We beat a great football team," Rob Bolden said. Mike Mauti, who is a great player, said: "To come back and beat a team this good and we knew they were good coming in is a sign of what team we can be." (Ironically, Mike Mauti is Rich Mauti's kid and Rich Mauti beat Temple with a punt return in the final minute of PSU's 26-25 win at Temple in 1975.)
When you are out there knocking heads, you know a lot more about the program you are playing and the kids on the other side of the ball that some fan on a message board.
Al Golden recruited well and got a lot of three- and four-star recruits. His good looks and dogged personality opened a lot of doors for Temple that previously had been closed. That kind of talent showed enough to stay with PSU.
PSU will be fine, as UConn was fine after running into Temple.
PSU is going to beat Eastern Michigan, 44-7, or thereabouts. You can write that score down now. It won't be anywhere near 14-10.
Temple will be fine if it can somehow rebound from this psychological devastation and get a signature win at Maryland this Saturday.
Maybe both PSU and Temple fans will feel a lot better at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
For the sake of the two best college football teams in Pennsylvania, I hope so.