I'M AFRAID I'VE GOT SOME BAD NEWS: Temple Edition

You know what? We haven't just completely curb-stomped Temple in awhile.

YOU, TEMPLE, WILL BE CURBSTOMPED BY PENN STATE IN 2014.

Here's how the last three meetings in the Penn State-Temple series have gone:

• 2010 - Down at halftime of a 3:30 kickoff, Penn State rides five Collin Wagner field goals to a 22-13 win over the visiting Temple Owls.
• 2011 - In Philadelphia, Rob Bolden starts the game, is pulled for Matt McGloin in the second quarter and then comes back in for the final Nittany Lion drive as a Michael Zordich touchdown run with less than three minutes left allows the Nittany Lions to escape Lincoln Financial with a 14-10 victory.
• 2012 - Still adapting to the new Bill O'Brien offense, Penn State is never threatened by Temple, but never really pulls away either in a 24-13 victory. (This is the game where Matt McGloin called his own number twice near the goal line and people got pissed at him for scoring touchdowns for some reason)

I don't like feeling uncomfortable in games against Temple. When you're playing a team that hasn't beat you since World War II, you should be able to go to the bathroom or grab another beer or finally clean the gutters like your significant other asked you to without fear of losing. Penn State fans haven't been able to do this in awhile. Why is it going to be different this year?

Good news! Most of the players that Al Golden recruited and turned Temple around with (the Owls DID go 26-12 between 2009-11) are gone at this point and Steve Addazio didn't really do much before bolting to Boston College. Former Penn State linebacker Matt Rhule is at the helm now, going 2-10 in his first year. The Owls lost to Fordham and Idaho... in consecutive weeks. They ended the season at a "respectable(??)" 2-10, hanging tough in losses to SMU, Connecticut and Big Ten Powerhouse Rutgers and even pushing Central Florida to its limits in a 39-36 loss in November. Still, it appeared Temple reverted back to their lowly mean.

The Owls do return a star-in-the-making with quarterback P.J. Walker and his 20-8 TD-INT ratio returning. The problem is that his only real receiving threat from last year, Robbie Anderson, has graduated, leaving Walker with returning leading wideouts who both stand below six feet and 190 pounds. Walker also loses four starters on the offensive line to graduation which may not be a bad thing considering he was sacked 23 times in 2013.

The defense has bad last year (that's how you lose ten games) and with only six returning starters back, Rhule has rolled the dice on a few junior college transfers to help in the secondary and some decent recruiting pickups in the front seven to turn the ship around. That may be a lot of pressure to put on a unit, though, even if these teams don't play until mid-November.

I'm afraid I've got some bad news, Temple. Penn State runs that unbeaten streak to 39 games this year in dominant fashion, 41-10.