By The Numbers: Temple

From the NCAA stats page:

NCAA Stats Comparison
Category:	Penn St.	Temple
Rushing	94	67
Passing Offense	14	12
Total Offense	39	28
Scoring Offense	53	78
Rushing Defense	10	23
Turnovers Gained	69	105
Passes Had Intercepted	59	93
Pass Defense	28	107
Net Punting	67	24
Punt Returns	90	84
Kickoff Returns	112	43
Turnover Margin	94	120
Fumbles Recovered	99	64
Passes Intercepted	15	104
Fumbles Lost	93	53
Turnovers Lost	86	86
Passing Efficiency	24	16
Pass Efficiency Defense	52	104
Total Defense	12	74
Scoring Defense	9	83
Fewest Penalties Per Game	2	7
Fewest Yards Penalized Per Game	2	8
Punt Return Yardage Defense	94	5
Kickoff Return Yardage Defense	106	114
Offense Third-down Efficiency	6	13
Offense Fourth-down Efficiency	51	50
Defense Third-down Efficiency	31	50
Defense Fourth-down Efficiency	1	50
Tackles for Loss	11	3
Offense Tackles for Loss	43	2
Pass Sacks	18	2
Pass Sacks Allowed	47	1
Time of Possession	19	96
First Downs	19	34
First Downs Allowed	9	66
Red Zone Efficiency	110	95
Red Zone Efficiency - Defense	2	80
Average NCAA Rank:	045.49	056.19
Weighted Avg. Rank:	040.67	064.42

Keep in mind that Penn State's numbers reflect games against Bowl Subdivision Teams-Akron and Syracuse. Temple has only played FCS Villanova.

So to say that Temple's offense is better statistically than the Lions is misleading. But what really separates these two is the scoring offense--while neither offense is overwhelming, Penn State converts yard to points better.

Temple is actually worse than Penn State in turnover margin. Penn State defensively is better (rush, pass, scoring and total.) Temple is pretty good in sacks--both made and allowed. Neither team is very good at defending kickoffs.

Penn State is also much better in time of possession which is really amazing when you consider how poorly we run the ball.

Overall, I think the stats indicate a closer game than what we will see on the field.

Sagarin has PSU ranked 17th in the nation. Penn State is 5th in both the USA Today and AP poll. Temple is unranked in the polls and is 146th. (Eastern Illinois is 145th.)

I look for Penn State to dominate the game overall, but like the first two games, they may not light up the scoreboard so much. It will be interesting to see if we can get the running game moving against a Temple defense with a decent D-line and whatever changes on the offensive line the staff tries this week.

GO STATE! BEAT OWLS!