Temple vs. Penn State: 10-7, 31-30 and 26-25

By Mike Gibson
Temple vs. Penn State wasn't always one-sided.
When the Owls played the Lions during the Wayne Hardin Era, the games were often close.
Penn State won, 26-25, in 1975, 31-30 in 1976 and 10-7 in 1978.
I was in the press box for the 1978 game.
"Hardin's outcoaching Joe again," yelled out long-time Allentown Morning Call columnist John Kunda in the Vet Stadium press box.
Much laughter, followed by much nodding of heads.
The assembled press corps knew exactly what Kunda was talking about. Those games often featured a football version of the shell game.
Hardin would run when Penn State expected to pass, throw formations at Paterno that Penn State never saw before, run a shovel pass here and a flea-flicker there to keep the Lions on their toes.
Largely because of Hardin, Temple had the deserved reputation of a school that was outsmarting the other schools during a football game.
It made those of us traveling with the Temple party very proud.
Yet a win would have been nicer.
During the 1976 game, Hardin went for a two-point conversion that would have won the game instead of going for a tie that would have ended it at 31-31.
"You play the game to win," Hardin said then.
Last week, Hardin told me now that he had 30 years to think about it, he'd have gone for the tie "because of what it would have meant to Temple."
The Owls enter this week a 35-point underdog and virtually no one expects a win. But current coach Al Golden shows a lot of the qualities Hardin had and the two appeared together on a radio show last night.
Golden is moving the Owls in a direction that Hardin is familiar with and appreciates.
The following is a story that appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News after the 10-7 1978 game .....

By THOM GREER
Joe Paterno's Brooklyn accent was nearly scared off last night. His coaching career surely flashed before his eyes. His 1978 football season almost went up in smoke.
The mythical national championship, about which Paterno insists he never concerns himself, was a gnat's eyelash from being farther from University Park, Pa., than Mars. All those Lambert Trophies Penn State have amassed over the years were mere seconds away from being revoked.
AND ALL BECAUSE of a Temple University football team that hasn't gotten a whiff of the Top 10 rankings since the days of Pop Warner.
Playing football like Attila instructed the Huns in pillaging, the fired-up Temple Owls dueled Paterno's Lions to a chest-to-chest standoff that required a final Herculean drive capped with a 23-yard field goal by Matt Bahr with 10 seconds left for Penn State to salvage a 10-7 victory at Veterans Stadium. A crowd of 63,103 (the largest home crowd in Temple football history, sounding much like a Big 5 crowd _ half rooting for one team, half for another) sat stunned for 59 minutes and 50 seconds, refusing to believe what was unfolding before them.
In fact, those in the crowd who had been neutral swung to Temple's side by the end _ or at least sounded louder, perhaps wanting to be a part of history, perhaps in respect for the effort of the Temple kids.
Perhaps even more astounding than Temple's superhuman team effort was the performance of Owls' punter Casey Murphy, who kept the Lions penned deep in their own territory most of the night with 11 punts that averaged 48.2 yards each time he thundered his foot into the ball. Included were a 69-yarder on the first play of the fourth quarter and a 51- yard shot that kissed the out- of-bounds line at the three.
It didn't matter that Penn State recorded more first downs (16-10) or ran more offensive plays (78-51) for more than twice as much yardage (299-126).
WHAT MATTERED was that Temple Coach Wayne Hardin brought his team into the game better prepared and emotionally higher than anything Paterno claimed to have seen before. And it almost produced a bigger upset than the Jets over the Colts in Super Bowl III.
"That was the best coaching job anyone has done against us ever," a shaken Paterno said when his team had finally escaped the Owls' claws. " We are as lucky as hell. "
Hardin, although pleased with the performance of his club, flatly rejected Paterno's show of coaching kindness.
" It's like throwing flowers at the horse that finishes second in a two- horse race," Hardin said of Paterno's reference to Temple's preparation. "A football game is a two-horse race. Fortunately, I've learned there is a lot more to life than a scoreboard. I didn't always believe that. I just thought our kids gave one helluva an effort. "
IT WAS A FACT no one questioned . . . especially no one in the Penn State locker room, where soiled uniforms and bruised pride were stuffed into blue duffle bags for the long trip back to Happy Valley.
" They gave us so many different looks on defense," Lions' tailback Mike Guman said of the first half in which his team never crossed its own 48 yard line. " We had trouble blocking. They were slanting a little and playing games that seem to confuse everybody.
" We started playing scared or something. We lost our poise in some situations. Our intensity was not there. They (Temple) played good defense. You can't take it away from them. But we were not firing off the ball and knocking people back. "
Paterno agreed and apparently considered Guman as one of the culprits. He replaced Guman with Booker Moore in the second half, a move that proved the difference in the contest.
Moore slashed around left end the second time he touched the ball, broke free, sidestepped two would-be tacklers and pranced into the end zone with a 26-yard touchdown with 56 seconds left in the third quarter.
" MY RUN WAS a combination of me being fresh and the Temple defense being tired," Moore said modestly of the game's first scoring play.
But the 7-0 edge was short-lived. The Owls hung tough. They continued to capitalize on the mighty right leg of Murphy and mistakes of the vaunted Penn State defense. And lightning struck for them 4:11 into the fourth quarter. Quarterback Brian Broomell, who kept the Lions' defense off balance most of the night, had sent fullback Anthony Anderson into the line on consecutive plays for gains of 15 and three yards. The third time, Broomell faked the dive play to Anderson and fired a strike into the arms of running back Zachary Dixon, who was all alone in the left flat. Dixon's 21-yard path to the goal line was unimpeded.
There was every indication a turnover would determine the outcome of the game. It appeared to come with 5:44 left in the game. Penn State quarterback Chuck Fusina was looking for split end Scott Fitzkee, but instead found Temple free safety Mark McCants. It was little more than a teaser.
The key turnover struck two plays later. Anderson fumbled a Broomell handoff at the Penn State 42. Lions linebacker Lance Mehl pounced on the ball and there seemed little question Temple's upset bid had fallen short.
IT WAS AS IF the real Penn State offense took the field for the final 4:52. Moore and fullback Paul Suhey inhaled real estate in chunks of six and 10 yards. Fusina kept the drive alive with a third-down pass to Fitzkee. Indeed, it was a life-or-death march and the Lions answered the challenge. Bahr's game-winner split the uprights on the 13th play of the drive.
" It shows the character of this team," Fusina said. " No one was thinking about a national ranking. No one was thinking about Ohio State. Every man was thinking about the job at hand. We had to get it within field goal range. "
" There was a feeling of togetherness each time we went in the huddle on that drive," Moore said. " Everybody kept saying, 'We can do it. We've got to take it down there. '"
FINAL DRIVE notwithstanding, Joe Paterno was not too impressed to say, " I'm not so sure what kind of football team we have. The Temple kids played tough. They've heard so much about Penn State this and Penn State that. They came out and looked us in the nose . . . fought for the game. We've got to be aware of that if we're going to be a good football team. We've got to be aware of it. "
Perhaps Penn State took Temple for granted, although it seems unthinkable if you consider the last three Lions-Owls' wars in Philadelphia have been won by a total of five points - 10-7 last night, 31-30 in 1976 and 26-25 in 1975. The fact each was a Penn State victory is not important.
Perhaps Paterno's team was looking ahead to Ohio State in two weeks. Or maybe even thinking about national ratings.
Whatever, as Guman was careful to emphasize, " We did not come close to playing up to our potential. "
Paterno was right. Penn State was lucky last night.
"Wait now," the Lions' Moore said. " I don't know if lucky is the right word. " He rubbed his chin and thought a few seconds. "Yeah. I guess lucky is the only word."