Penn State vs Temple: Game Preview

Let's face the facts, Nittany Lions.

You didn't play well in the first two weeks of the season.

Thanks to losses for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, you're now in the fifth-best team (tied with the BYU Fighting Mormons) in the nation.

Darryl Clark's a good quarterback. The wide receivers look primed for a good 2009. And the defense—even without Navarro Bowman—is nasty. But from then on? Question mark, question mark, question mark.

Offensive Line: The Question Mark

Apparently Johnny Troutman might take up more time at left guard this week against the Owls. Frankly, if all the talk's about Troutman, why not try and clone him in the week off and get a bunch of Johnny Troutman's to get Evan Royster some running room. Because at the moment, the running game simply isn't working. And if they were incapable of running on Syracuse and Akron, then there are real problems.

Heart: The Question Mark

A kid called Isaac Luber called out the Nittany Lions because of their lack of passion against Syracuse. You could hear it in the crowd when the Lions came through the gate at the start of the game, and even a couple of touchdowns won't exactly see mass celebration in the student section. What the student section—heck ALL of us—want to see is the Lions playing with a bit more heart. I know you don't question a team's heart, but let's hope this article becomes bulletin board material and the Lions get historical on Temple's ass.

Running Game: The Question Mark

Sure, you need an offensive line to open up the running game, but the running game's hardly set me alight, either. I'm not happy with Evan Royster being the punt returner, and if people are already talking about Penn State and a predictable offense, then there are problems. Why use a predictable offense if it's not doing anything? Evan Royster WILL score a touchdown or two against Temple. But he will need to go over 100 yards to get any love from his critics, who are ganging up every day.

So what's going to happen?

The spread's apparently about 29.5, and I'm going for Penn State to beat Vegas and win by 31.