Temple’s trip to face Penn State on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field is already looking thinner up front, and the Owls still haven’t settled the biggest question on offense.
On Monday, Temple coach K.C. Keeler said starting left tackle Giakoby Hills will be out for six weeks after suffering an injury in the Owls’ 34-16 season-opening win over FCS Rhode Island. Starting right tackle Kevin Terry is also up in the air and will be a game-time decision.
Keeler said a number of other players who were banged up in that win are expected to return against the Nittany Lions, but the tackle situation is the immediate concern for Temple as it prepares for Penn State.
The quarterback job remains unsettled, too. Keeler said he has not named a starter for Saturday, leaving open the possibility that Jaxon Smolik won’t get a revenge-game spotlight against his former school.
Smolik spent three seasons at Penn State and appeared in four games there. In Temple’s opener, he completed 4 of 6 passes for 57 yards and a touchdown.
He’s in a competition with Ajani Sheppard, and Keeler said neither player has separated himself yet.
“We’re still trying to figure it out,” Keeler said. “I don’t think either one of them was like, ‘It’s my job.’
I think they both did some good things. I would like to get away from, ‘You get a couple series, then you get a couple series.’
There might be some collaborativeness in the effort, but eventually someone is going to play more snaps than the other guy.”
In Other News...
James Franklin Debate Just Got New Fuel From Former Penn State OC
Ricky Rahne has been around James Franklin long enough to know how the Penn State coach is viewed inside and outside the program, and his recent comments added a familiar voice to an argument that has followed Franklin for years. Rahne, who worked alongside Franklin and still has a long-standing relationship with him, defended Franklins impact in State College and said fans have often undervalued what he has done.
Rahne pointed to the sanctions Franklin inherited as part of the backdrop that shaped the early years of the job, while also giving Bill O'Brien credit for the recruiting foundation he left behind. He acknowledged that Franklin has not delivered a national championship, but framed his tenure around passion and steady winning, the kind of rsum that keeps the debate alive whenever Penn States bigger-picture expectations come back into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Wrestling May Have A New Middleweight Logjam
FloWrestlings preseason individual rankings have offered an early glimpse at what Penn States lineup could look like next season, and the middleweights may be the most crowded part of the room. Mitchell Mesenbrink is listed at 174 pounds instead of his usual 165, while PJ Duke is pegged at No. 1 at 165 after a sophomore season that included a Big Ten title and put him in position to step into the spot Mesenbrink has owned.
The ripple effect could be significant for the Nittany Lions. Tyler Kasak is projected to hold down 157 and is ranked No. 2 in his class, but the bigger questions sit above him, where Levi Haines may no longer be in the picture and freshman Jayden James could be left waiting for an opening. For a program that usually turns lineup debates into national title depth, this one looks like it could take a little time to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Mourns A Former Star Whose Football Legacy Ran Deep
Matt Suhey, one of Penn States most recognizable running backs of his era before going on to become a fixture of the Chicago Bears, died in his sleep at 68. Suhey carried his Penn State roots into the NFL, where he became best known as the lead blocker for Walter Payton and for the kind of unglamorous, indispensable work that helped define championship football.
His pro career also had its own signature moments, including the first touchdown in the Bears Super Bowl XX victory, a reminder that his impact went well beyond blocking alone. Suhey finished with 2,946 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns and was later named among the 100 greatest Bears of all time, a fitting measure of how deeply his legacy ran in two football homes that will remember him well. [Read more 🡒]