It’s official. On December 29th, Penn State will tangle with the Aggies from the Big 12. Texas Agricultural and Mechanical ended the season 4-4 in conference and 7-5 overall. Their coach resigned immediately after the Aggies beat Texas in their home and season finale. A&M named defensive coordinator Gary Darnell interim head coach for the bowl game after Dennis Franchione left his position. After this game, former Packer coach Mike Sherman will take over as head coach in College Station. Look for some breakdowns and a preview of this game in the next few weeks.

Penn State accepted a bid to play in the Valero Alamo Bowl in Texas on December 29th at 8pm. PSU will most likely take on a team from the Big 12. At this point anyone’s guess is valid as to who their opponent will be, but if it is a team from the Big 12, it could be Texas A&M, Texas Tech, or even Texas. This will be JoePa’s 34th bowl game, and his 500th game coached. Joe is 22-11 in bowl games in case you didn’t know.

As for the Alamo Bowl, this will be the second trip to San Antone for PSU. Their first experience was a nice one as they opened up a can on Texas A&M in 1999, winning 24-0. Here’s hoping for a similar outcome in this contest.

This was not how it was supposed to be. Penn State (8-4) was supposed to pad their postseason resume with a win over Michigan State to close out the season.

All looked to be going as planned as PSU captured a 17-point second-half lead on Saturday. Kicker Kevin Kelly scrambled into the end zone midway through the third quarter and it looked as if the Nittany Lions were going to cruise to a laugher. Two touchdowns by MSU, though, in the final 11 minutes of the contest, were too much for the Lions to overcome.

As has been the case for much of his career, quarterback Anthony Morelli was anything but consistent. The senior completed just 16-of-35 pass attempts and finished with only 188 yards and one touchdown through the air. He made numerous poor decisions throughout the game, including missing receiver Deon Butler on fourth down with just over a minute remaining in the game.

Nearly all of PSU’s offense on the day came from fellow senior Rodney Kinlaw. The running back finished with 125 yards on 28 carries as well as four catches for 22 yards. He racked up two touchdowns in all.

 Joe Paterno remains two wins shy of Bobby Bowden’s 371 victories for most wins among major college coaches. Paterno will look to add to that win total when the Nittany Lions play in their bowl game. It is unclear at this point as to where they will end up.

This was not how it was supposed to be. Penn State (8-4) was supposed to pad their postseason resume with a win over Michigan State to close out the season.

All looked to be going as planned as PSU captured a 17-point second-half lead on Saturday. Kicker Kevin Kelly scrambled into the end zone midway through the third quarter and it looked as if the Nittany Lions were going to cruise to a laugher. Two touchdowns by MSU, though, in the final 11 minutes of the contest, were too much for the Lions to overcome.

As has been the case for much of his career, quarterback Anthony Morelli was anything but consistent. The senior completed just 16-of-35 pass attempts and finished with only 188 yards and one touchdown through the air. He made numerous poor decisions throughout the game, including missing receiver Deon Butler on fourth down with just over a minute remaining in the game.

Nearly all of PSU’s offense on the day came from fellow senior Rodney Kinlaw. The running back finished with 125 yards on 28 carries as well as four catches for 22 yards. He racked up two touchdowns in all.

 Joe Paterno remains two wins shy of Bobby Bowden’s 371 victories for most wins among major college coaches. Paterno will look to add to that win total when the Nittany Lions play in their bowl game. It is unclear at this point as to where they will end up.

Penn State snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in East Lansing, Michigan. Early in the third quarter the game appeared to be well in hand after Kevin Kelly scooted into the end zone on a fake field goal direct snap to the kicker. At this point PSU led 24-7, but MSU was not to be denied. Wide receiver Devin Thomas caught three touchdowns in the game, including two in the second half to keep the Spartans close, and torched the Lions’ secondary with seven receptions. Thomas looks to be talented enough to play in the NFL, following in the path of former Spartan Plaxico Burress.

The Nits had a chance to regain the lead after falling behind 35-31 late in the fourth quarter, but a maddeningly inconsistent Anthony Morelli missed connecting with Deon Butler in the end zone on fourth down with around 1:30 left to play. Morelli ended up completing just 16 passes on 35 attempts. He did throw for a touchdown to Butler in the first quarter, but looked a bit like a Pop Warner player the rest of the game, running around and throwing the ball to everywhere but to his receivers. The Lions finish the regular season with eight wins and four losses. All of their losses came in conference play, along with four of their wins. A bowl game and many legal issues await this year’s team.

Sitting at 8-3 and entering their final game of the regular season, the Penn State Nittany Lions will look to improve their postseason resume when they battle Michigan State on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Spartans currently hold a 6-5 record and are bowl eligible, but likely need a win against PSU to receive an invite to the postseason.

Since getting dismantled by Ohio State at home a few weeks ago, Joe Paterno’s squad has put together a two-game winning streak and has looked strong doing so. After a narrow victory over a quality Purdue squad, the Lions pulverized Temple last week, topping the Owls 31-0.

PSU, who is ranked #22 in the coaches poll, has benefited from strong rushing performances the past two weeks. Against Purdue, it was freshman Evan Royster who led the way as he racked up 126 yards on 21 carries. Last week, Rodney Kinlaw stole the show, rushing for a career-high 168 yards.

Michigan State just defeated Purdue to end a three-game skid and would love the chance to move up from the second-to-last spot in the conference. Running back Javon Ringer has been their stud as he has torched the opposition for nearly 1300 yards this season, a 6.2 yard-per-carry average.

 Prediction: Both teams need the victory, but PSU should want it more. They have been playing well the last few weeks and should be able to handle a not-so-great Michigan State squad. They will continue to run the ball and control the clock. I see this one ending with PSU having a few extra td’s. Penn State 38, Michigan State 20

Anthony Morelli tossed a pair of touchdowns to Jordan Norwood to help the Penn State Nittany Lions cruise to a 31-0 victory over the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday. The win helps Joe Paterno continue his sheer dominance of Temple as he is now undefeated in 24 contests against the Owls. With the end result, PSU improves to 8-3 on the season, while the TU drops 3-7.

More than 69,000 (a record for a Temple home game) watched as PSU running back Rodney Kinlaw put forth the best performance of his career, finishing with a career-high 168 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He has now rushed for 1061 yards thus far this season.

Morelli, who was coming off an average game against Purdue, racked up 260 yards on 22-of-33, including three touchdowns. His favorite target on the day was wide receiver Derrick Williams. The junior finished with seven grabs for 104 yards, including a 54-yard catch.

For the Owls, this game was very similar to all of the other losses this far this season. The team, which entered the game ranked 107 in rushing, racked up a staggering four yards running the ball. As always, that meant that the quarterback had even more pressure put on his shoulders.

In his second consecutive start, Vaughn Charlton hid an admirable job considering the circumstances. The sophomore put the ball in the air 43 times and completed 26 of them. Although he did not throw any touchdowns, he also did not turn the ball over.

 Mistakes, though, once again was what doomed Al Golden’s squad. Playing with the adrenalin that comes with competing against a top-notch program, Temple was sharp on a 69-yard opening drive. The offense picked up three first downs, but was unable to put any points on the board due to a missed 23-yard field goal attempt by Jake Brownell. 

That was followed by a holding penalty in the second quarter that negated a 28-yard touchdown pass. The Owls then attempted a fake field goal that was run perfectly, despite the fact that Matt Balasavage dropped a perfect pass in the corner of the end zone.

 The Owls will now host Kent State on Saturday at noon before ending the season with a visit to Western Michigan. Penn State, who continues to improve their resume for a bowl game, will finish out their regular season with a game at Michigan State.

The Lions won by a bunch as expected. The Linc was turned into a de facto home game for PSU as almost seventy thousand fans packed Temple’s ‘home’ stadium. Some highights from this game: obviously the defense not allowing any scoring, Rodney Kinlaw going over 1,000 yards rushing for the year while obtaining a career high 168 yards on the ground, and Anthony Morelli throwing two touchdowns to Jordan Norwood. Morelli finished with 3TDs and one interception on the day.

An interesting note from this game: Temple has not defeated PSU since shortly before the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor (1941). While the two schools do not play each other each year, this is still an amazing streak. Joe Paterno is personally 24-0 against the Owls. PSU must now prepare for Michigan State, a team that will give the Lions many problems when the Spartans host the Nits next Saturday.

For one team, anything less than a BCS bowl game is considered a failure. For the other, just finishing with a handful of wins would be tabbed as a monumental occasion.  One squad has a coach that has been around for over 30 years, while the other has a leader that is in just his second year. One packs a stadium with over 106,000 crazy fans every game, while the other probably wouldn’t reach that number for about 2 years combined.

When #25 Penn State (7-3) “visits” 3-6 Temple on Saturday at noon, this will pit two teams that are as different from one another as they possibly can be. Also, despite this being a Temple home game, more than likely 2/3 of the crowd will be rooting for the Nittany Lions.

After suffering an embarrassing loss to #1 Ohio State two weeks ago, PSU regrouped quite nicely to edge the Purdue Boilermakers last week, 26-19. Derrick Williams pulled in 10 catches for 95 yards and reached the end zone twice, while Evan Royster racked up 126 yards on 21 carries.

Quarterback Anthony Morelli, who had a solid game last week, should be able to put up monstrous numbers against the Owls. Last year, it was current-Philadelphia Eagle Tony Hunt who crushed Temple and he rushed for 167 yards. This year, in his last game in the state of Pennsylvania, it may be Morelli who gets a chance to pad his stats against TU’s defense.

Temple has not defeated Penn State since 1941 and has only captured three victories in 36 opportunities. The Owls do have three victories this season (should have four if they weren’t robbed of a win over UConn.), though, and could be pumped up to play in front of possibly the largest home crowd in school history.

Despite all that, the Owls offense has been anemic since Adam DiMichele went down to an injury. Temple rushed for just 48 yards and finished with a measly 209 total yards of offense. The squad also punted six times and missed two field goals. Vaughn Charlton, who has done as much as he really can, will try to direct the offense down the field. He is coming off a performance in which he completed 17-of-25 for 161 yards.

Prediction: I really cannot see this being much of a game. While Temple has made strides this season, they are not anywhere near the level of Penn State. The Nittany Lions will likely win this game by four or five touchdowns. Penn State 42, Temple 13

Just a week after being embarrassed at home by top-ranked Ohio State, the Penn state Nittany Lions regrouped and bounced back with a 26-19 victory over Purdue.

In the final home game for the seniors, senior Derrick Williams helped make it a memorable one. Williams reached the end zone on a 12-yard end-around and a five-yard reception, while Dan Connor and Maurice Evans led a stingy defense that held Purdue in check late to secure the victory. Williams finished the contest with 10 catches for 95 yards and two rushes for 21. 

A balanced attack is what helped PSU prevail in this one. Something that has been lacking for much of the season, Penn State racked up 210 yards passing and 251 yards rushing. Evan Royster led the way on the ground as he racked up 126 yards on just 21 carries. Quarterback Anthony Morelli was not great, but he was consistent. He finished completing 22-of-35 for 210 yards and a touchdown.

On the defensive side, Connor broke the school record for career tackles previously held by Paul Posluszny (372). The defense also allowed just 68 yards on the ground and forced one turnover.

Despite escaping with the win, the Lions were far from perfect. The team committed 13 penalties and turned the ball over once. They also allowed 255 yards passing on the day. The Lions will next travel to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls, which will feel more like a home game for the Lions.