Temple due to beat Penn State

OBSERVATIONS, insinuations, ruminations and unvarnished opinions . . .

When Penn State released its 1975 football schedule, Joe Paterno had not yet been infected by the political-correctness virus.

So Joe fired off a flippant wisecrack at a Friday-night press party.

"Who's the drunk that scheduled Temple?"

It was Lions athletic director Ernie McCoy, of course.

At least Wayne Hardin's Owls were not the sole targets of JoePa's zinger.

Franklin Field was a sea of blue and white. The Owls did everything but win the game. The Mt. Nits staggered to a 26-25 victory. The trend of the revived series was established. Whenever the Owls appeared on the cusp of victory, Penn State's depth prevailed in the end game.

In 1976, the game was played in Veterans Stadium. This time, Penn State escaped with a taut, 31-30 victory. Paterno later cracked, "I'm getting tired of selling out Temple's home games."

The Owls had Heisman Trophy runnerup Paul Palmer and Steelers No. 1 draft pick, guard John Rienstra, on hand for the 1985 game. Bruce Arians' Owls lost, 27-25, in Beaver Stadium, of all places.

When the 2-0 Owls and 1-1 Lions tee it up at High Noon tomorrow in the Linc, I believe new coach Steve Addazio will have an edge with his 22 starters.

He will have the best running back in NFL-bound Bernard Pierce and a bunch of holdovers from the 2010 Owls who outplayed Penn State for nearly three quarters.

Paterno is still mired in the quicksand of a quarterback controversy. The obvious plot line of Rob Bolden or Matt McGloin sticks out like the nose on JoePa's Appalachian countenance: Neither is good enough to compete at the top echelon of the Big Ten.

And with neither on the field long enough to establish any semblance of rhythm, Alabama's suffocating defense had little trouble stopping Penn State's outclassed offense.

After leading at the half last year, the Owls couldn't cope with Penn State's superior depth.

The man who asked what drunk scheduled Temple in 1975 has reverted to more traditional Joe-speak.

He now calls Addazio's Owls the best Temple team a Penn State team of his will play going back to the 1975 scare and the scares of '76 and '85.

But once again, when they enter the final 15 minutes, the deeper Lions will be grinding it out, probably taking or protecting a small lead.

It is the immutable law of the almost-had-its vs. the didn't-quite-blow-its that has ruled the on-again, off-again series since Temple last won, 14-0, on Oct. 18, 1941.

They should rename it the Close But No Cigar Bowl.

If Phillies uberstars Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee cancel each other out in the Cy Young Award voting, I like Dodgers lefthander Clayton Kershaw to win a photo finish with D-back Ian Kennedy also in the picture. If I were voting, Halladay's final pitch of his dominating, 1-0 shutout of the Astros - a plunging, unhittable splitter - might have decided my vote. It was a Cy-worthy pitch . . . I've always felt the BBWAA should add a Player of the Year award to be voted on after the postseason. This year, the Tigers' Ryanesque Justin Verlander would win by acclamation. Nobody would want to face a Tigers team in October on the kind of roll that can turn into a World Series parade.

Verlander would be some mountain to climb pitching a World Series Game 1, 4 and possibly 7.

But think of the great theater of two Verlander vs. Halladay matchups.

The Phillies don't do mail-it-in baseball very well, as you probably noticed during the Astros series, when the offense snoozed through three games against a team reeling toward 100 losses. Look as hard as you want in any dugout in the major leagues, there is no light switch on the wall . . .

Meanwhile, as Roy Oswalt is handed the fourth-starter keys in the postseason because he has been there, done that, hopefully, the same rule will apply when Charlie Manuel removes the dust cover from Chase Utley. Hunter Pence in the No. 3 hole has been everything Utley used to be.

Nor should running-sensitive Jimmy Rollins be plugged back into the leadoff spot when Shane Victorino is clearly better suited for that key role at this stage of their careers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a batting order of Victorino, Polanco, Pence, Howard, Utley, Mayberry/Ibanez, Rollins, Ruiz. Ahhhhhh, but we know that Charlie would never do that to J-Roll and Chase . . .

Meanwhile, Pence is hitting for power and average, running fast, fielding and throwing well. That's all five tools. Not many so-called five-toolers can wield them all at once.

The Phillies wasted no time indicating the resignation of perceived farm-system boss Chuck LaMar was no big deal. This "clarification" from a club spokesperson:

"While Chuck's title was Asst. GM, Player Development & Scouting, he actually had very little to do with amateur scouting and nothing to do with its budget. That is the job of Marti Wolever and Benny Looper. Chuck was given his title in November 2008, because at the time he was overseeing professional scouting and helping Mike Ondo in his new role as the coordinator of pro scouting. A year ago, Mike was made Director of Pro Scouting and Chuck's role moved exclusively to player development. He dabbled in amateur scouting, but that was far from his main focus."

Hmmmm.