Kern: Weekend college football wrapup

TEMPLE STILL has never won at Penn State, although there was a 7-7 tie in 1950.

And since there are no future meetings scheduled, who knows when or even if the Owls will get more chances?

In last season's opener, they beat the Nittany Lions for the first time in 74 years by scoring the last 27 points. This time, on an afternoon when Penn State chose to honor the 50th anniversary of Joe Paterno taking over the program, they never led. It was 7-7 midway through the first quarter, 21-10 at the half and 27-24 with eight minutes to go. The Owls (1-2) got a 34-yard field goal with 2:10 showing to make it 34-27. After failing to recover an onside kick, they got the ball back at their 19 with 37 seconds left. But Phillip Walker was intercepted two plays later.

The Owls have lost six of their last 10. Before that they won eight straight. Next week they host Charlotte (1-2), a team they beat 37-3 on the road last season.

Penn State (2-1) now goes to fourth-ranked Michigan in a Big Ten opener. It has lost the last two to the Wolverines.

Penn State's Saquon Barkley, who limped off after the first play but returned in the second half, rushed for 68 yards on nine carries. Fifty-five of those came on a touchdown run with 7:20 remaining that put the Nits up 10.

Temple's Jahad Thomas, in his first action of the season (hand injury), ran for 52 yards on 14 attempts and two scores.

Walker (25-for-34) threw for 286 yards (to nine receivers). Penn State's Trace McSorley passed for 287 on seven fewer completions.

The Paterno decision was obviously controversial. Temple fans protested. Everyone else in Beaver Stadium cheered. I get it, even if it makes me shake my head. If you were a player who feels his life was largely molded by Paterno, he should have a certain place in your heart. But what happened still happened. We can argue all day about what Paterno might have known and when he might have known it. I always go back to this: When Mike McQueary told Joe he saw Jerry Sandusky abusing a young boy in a campus locker room, would Joe have taken the same course of action (which was simply reporting it to his superiors) if McQueary had told him the boy was Joe's grandson? If the answer is no, then this great man didn't do enough. And would any of those people who were cheering still have been doing that if someone they knew or loved had been one of the victims?

On the Main Line, the Wildcats (2-1, 1-0), ranked 21st in FCS, won their Colonial Athletic Association opener. They scored on all four first-half possessions to hold a 12-point lead at intermission. They added two late fourth-quarter TDs, one after they stopped the Tigers (1-2, 0-1) on a fourth-and-short from the Towson 28 and another on a school-record 100-yard interception return by Rob Rolle. Trey Johnson also had an end-zone pick early in the fourth to keep it a two-possession game.

One week after the Wildcats rushed for nearly 400 yards in a come-from-behind win over visiting Lehigh, Zach Bednarczyk threw for 230 and three scores. Most of that came in the first half. Taurus Phillips had seven catches for 110 yards and two TDs, all career highs.

In last year's seven-point loss at Towson, Bednarczyk had two interceptions returned for TDs, including the game-decider midway through the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats did miss their third extra point of the season, after their third TD, and opted not to go for a short field goal on their first drive of the third quarter (they were stopped on a fourth-and-3). That stuff can burn you at some point.

This week they're at Lafayette (1-2). The Wildcats should be favored in their next three games before they go to No. 2 Richmond on Oct. 15.

Last year, Penn opened with a 21-point loss at Lehigh. This time it was at Franklin Field, where Lehigh - coached by former Penn assistant Andy Coen - had last played in 2002.

The Mountain Hawks (1-2) had 34 first downs and 548 yards on 86 snaps. They had the ball for 21 minutes in the second half.

The Quakers (0-1) led 28-21 late in the second quarter. It was 42-28 at the end of three.

Nick Shafnisky threw for three TDs and rushed for three others for Lehigh.

Penn's Alek Torgersen passed for two, both to Justin Watson (eight receptions for 133 yards), and ran for two more.

The Quakers came in with a six-game winning streak in which they'd averaged over 38 points.

This week they're at Fordham (1-1), which won here last year on a late field goal after leading by 25. The Rams had a bye. On Sept. 10, they beat Division II Elizabeth City State, 83-21.

@mikekerndn

MICHAEL JACK'S TOP 10

1. Alabama (3-0). Beat Mississippi, 48-43. Saturday: vs. Kent State. After Kentucky in another week, Tide has four-game stretch of at Arkansas, at Tennessee, vs. Texas A&M and (following a bye) at LSU.

2. Ohio State (3-0). Beat Oklahoma, 45-24. Next: Oct. 1 vs. Rutgers. I'm sure Urban Meyer needs an extra week to get ready for Scarlet Knights. Next real game is Oct. 15 at Wisconsin.

3. Clemson (3-0). Beat South Carolina State, 59-0. Thursday: at Georgia Tech. Lost at Georgia Tech two years ago, 28-6. Tigers host Louisville after this.

4. Michigan (3-0). Beat Colorado, 45-28. Saturday: vs. Penn State. Will try not to be looking ahead to Wisconsin. Won by a dozen at Happy Valley a year ago.

5. Louisville (3-0). Beat Florida State, 63-20. Saturday: at Marshall. Good thing FSU scored the last 10 points in final 12:30, including 33-yard field goal at 51 seconds. Cards visit Houston Nov. 17.

6. Houston (3-0). Beat Cincinnati, 40-16. Saturday: at Texas State. Only trip to Texas State (San Marcos) was in 1946 (21-7 loss). Bobcats won 2012 opener at Houston, which was coming off 13-1 season, 30-13, in their first full FBS season.

7. Stanford (2-0). Beat Southern Cal (again), 27-10. Saturday: at UCLA. Has beaten Bruins last eight meetings, including five in a row when UCLA was ranked. Four of those five were by 14 or more.

8. Michigan State (2-0). Beat Notre Dame, 36-28. Saturday: vs. Wisconsin. Last three meetings decided by six or less. Haven't played since 2012. Wisky hasn't won at MSU since 2002.

9. Washington (3-0). Beat Portland State, 41-3. Saturday: at Arizona. Beat Arizona at home last year, 49-3. Lost in Tucson in 2014, by one. Hasn't won at Arizona since 2006.

10. North Dakota State (3-0). Beat Iowa, 23-21. Saturday: vs. Illinois State. Can only hope to contain the Bison. Imagine if they still had Carson.

Next five: Wisconsin (3-0), Texas A&M (3-0), Tennessee (3-0), Georgia (3-0) and Florida State (2-1).

MICHAEL JACK'S FRAUD FIVE

Florida State - I figured the Seminoles only gave up 63 to Louisville when Rick Pitino is coaching.

Iowa - I know North Dakota State isn't really an FCS program. But why the Hawkeyes would even schedule this game is beyond me.

Mississippi - I know that asking a team to beat Alabama three straight times is asking the seemingly impossible. Yet the Rebels were up 24-3 late in the second quarter before the Nick Sabans scored 45 of the next 51 over the ensuing 28 minutes. Of course, these are the same Rebs that couldn't hold a 22-point, second-period lead in the opener against Florida State.

Oklahoma - Yes, Ohio State was a slight favorite in Norman. Still, the Sooners were never in it. And so a season that began with such promise is already pretty much toast, unless you count a possible Big 12 title that's becoming mostly irrelevant in national terms.

Notre Dame - Maybe the Irish simply aren't good enough. But trailing Michigan State 36-7 late in the third probably isn't what the Golden Domers had in mind for commemorating the 50th anniversary of that 10-10 tie.