Temple nearing Top 25

TEMPLE CONTINUES to be the best football team in town, a fact being reinforced on a weekly basis - not only by its play on the field, but also by the voters in the Associated Press weekly poll.

On Friday night, in a game that appeared to have been televised by a camera lens covered by rain goggles - mostly because it was that kind of night in Charlotte - the Owls pounded the 49ers, 37-3. The win left Temple with a 4-0 record for the first time since 1974.

And with that, the poll numbers keep inching higher. In the latest AP poll, the Owls have 23 points and are 29th. The four teams that would need to climb over in order to reach the Top 25 are Boise State (which is 25th), Oregon, Duke and Houston.

Penn State coach James Franklin does not like your negativity. He will not stand for it. His team beat Army, 20-14, in a game that was simultaneously hideous and unwatchable. And after it was over, when the tone of the questioning concerned hideousness and unwatchability (and underperforming compared to public expectations and point spreads and such), Franklin said he would have none it. None!

From the press-conference transcript:

"First of all, I have no concern about point spreads - I couldn't tell you what they are. I can't tell you a coach in the country who does. I'm going to come in here every single week and be positive, even if it kills you guys and you want me to be negative. I love our players, I love our school, I love our colors, I love Penn State, I love Happy Valley, I love the community, but do we need to get better? Yes, but you guys can ask me every question in the book and try to get me to be negative, but I'm not going to do it. We have to get better. I know it, you know it, the fans know it. Point spreads and those things I don't even understand them. I lost $20 in Atlantic City when I was 24 after college and I almost threw up. That was the last time I gambled. I couldn't tell you anything about it. I'm worried about making sure our guys go to school, get an education, make great choices in the community, and find a way to win games. We won today, we are 1-0 and we are going to do everything in our power to be 1-0 next week and I'm going to come in here and I'm going to be positive. I'm not going to go down that road with anybody. Love our players, love our coaches and love our media."

Love is a many splendored thing, unlike the Penn State offense. But that would be negative, and we're not going there.

Penn had a once-in-a-century win over a top FCS team and a local rival, Villanova, on Sept. 24. But then the pope left town, and Dartmouth took his place. And Saturday at Franklin Field, the result was not pretty. Dartmouth 41, Penn 20 doesn't quite do the debacle justice.

Penn fumbled on the opening drive, and things pretty much went downhill from there. The Big Green led by 27-0 in the middle of the second quarter and 41-6 early in the fourth, dominating throughout.

Penn's next game is against another FCS Top 25 team, the Fordham Rams, on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Franklin Field.