Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/415089
Returning to a town in which you graduated high school and then college, the stadium in which you played four years as a walk-on line- backer, the area in which some of your family still re- sides and where you're now going to be an opposing coach against your old team – all with bowl eligibility on the line – it's only reasonable to have some jit- ters. But Matt Rhule, Temple's second-year head coach and a Nittany Lion from 1994-97, in- sists that's not the case. "Honest to goodness, you probably won't believe me – I know this is a great opportunity this week – but I haven't really had any special feeling about it," he said. Rather, he wants to remain "cool, calm and collected" when he leads his team into Beaver Sta- dium Saturday and try his best to stay focused on the present, rather than his past. P R E G A M E R E P O R T T E M P L E @ P E N N S T A T E N O O N , N O V . 1 5 E S P N 2 TEMPLE FACTS COACH Matt Rhule (PSU, '97) COACH'S RECORD 7-14 in his two seasons as head coach; ca- reer record: same 2014 RECORD 5-4, 3-3 American Athletic Conference RECORD VS. PSU The Nittany Lions lead this in-state battle, 38- 3-1. MOST RECENT MEETING Matt McGloin threw for a then-career high 318 yards as Penn State held on to beat Temple 23-13 in Beaver Stadium on Sept. 22, 2012. GOOD NEWS No team in the nation has forced and recovered more fumbles than Temple (17). Its defense has also nabbed eight interceptions, good for 25 total takeaways and a turnover margin of 0.67. BAD NEWS Similar to Penn State, Temple has had offensive line issues all sea- son – "We've had some injuries and we've had some guys fight through injuries," Rhule said – and as a result it ranks No. 109 in the country with just 118.8 rushing yards per game. DID YOU KNOW? Of all the former Penn State foot- ball players who went on to join the coaching ranks, only one – Al Golden – has led a team as head coach to play against the Nittany Lions. On Saturday, Rhule will be- come the second. With bowl status on the line, PSU faces a familiar foe T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 1 HOMECOMING GAME A graduate of State College High and Penn State, Rhule comes home for the first time as Temple's head coach. RETURN RHULE Joe Labolito/Temple University