Temple Owls vs Penn State Nittany Lions Match Player Stats On Sep 17, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Sep 17, 2016

Penn State avenged last season's embarrassing season-opening loss to Temple with a 34-27 victory on Saturday, which marked the 50th anniversary of the late Joe Paterno's first game as head coach.

Nittany Lions fans gave a standing ovation after the first of the university's three videos honoring Paterno, although some Temple fans took issue and turned their backs in protest. Penn State opted to honor the "impact to student-athletes" of Paterno, who was fired in 2011 amid the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Quarterback Trace McSorley completed 18 of 24 passes for 287 yards with one touchdown and an interception and rushed for another score for the Nittany Lions (2-1), who lost star running back Saquon Barkley after he injured his left leg on the first play of the game.

But Barkley would return in a big way. With his left leg taped, he rushed nine times for 68 yards and ripped off a 55-yard touchdown run to put Temple away with less than eight minutes left. To that point, the Owls had cut Penn State's lead to 27-24 having scored touchdowns off two turnovers.

Chris Godwin got the scoring started when he ran a post through Temple's zone defense and hauled in a 52-yard pass from McSorley.

Temple's Jahad Thomas returned after missing the first two games with a dislocated left thumb and tied it with an 8-yard run around Penn State's left flank.

Andre Robinson spelled Barkley and scored on a 3-yard run before McSorley beat Temple defenders to the pylon to put Penn State up 21-7.

Austin Jones kicked a field goal to cut Penn State's lead to 21-10 before halftime and Phillip Walker lunged over Penn State defenders for a 1-yard touchdown following a McSorley interception at the end of the third quarter.

Davis booted a 40-yard field goal but Thomas added a 2-yard score to bring Temple within three just four minutes later after the Owls took control near the Penn State goal line after a punt ricocheted off Penn State's Amani Oruwariye.

Less than a minute later, Barkley exploded up the middle, cut past two diving defenders and beat the rest of the Owls' defense to the goal line. Jones kicked his second field goal to cap the scoring.