Temple hopes to mute the Penn State crowd
Jalen Fitzpatrick mostly remembers the silence. He was a senior wide receiver at Temple in 2014, playing at Penn State, in front of a frenzied crowd of 100,173 at Beaver Stadium.
Jalen Fitzpatrick mostly remembers the silence. He was a senior wide receiver at Temple in 2014, playing at Penn State, in front of a frenzied crowd of 100,173 at Beaver Stadium.
Fitzpatrick was responsible for the longest stretch of silence when he caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Phillip Walker that cut Penn State's lead to 20-13 with 5 minutes, 8 seconds left in the third quarter.
"I remember it going from really loud to really to really silent," Fitzpatrick said in a telephone interview. "That feels just as good as a home crowd with everybody screaming."
On Saturday, Temple (1-1) returns to Penn State (1-1) for the first time since that game. The Owls trailed by just a touchdown entering the fourth quarter, but Fitzpatrick provided the last extended silence as the Nittany Lions won, 30-13.
Last year, Temple earned its first win over Penn State since 1941 with a 27-10 triumph in the opener at Lincoln Financial Field.
On Saturday when the Owls visit Beaver Stadium, they not only have to deal with a Penn State team smarting from a 42-39 loss at Pitt, but also with the crowd.
"It was so loud there that you couldn't hear the coaches through the headset," said Temple coach Matt Rhule, a Penn State graduate, who knows all about the home-field advantage the Lions enjoy.
At Temple's practice on Tuesday, in which the last 15 minutes or so was open to the media, the Owls had loud music blaring, trying to simulate the chaotic atmosphere they expect to experience in State College.
"It really gets loud toward the student section, and the more you get backed near the end zone, that is when the noise really affects the offense," said Walker, who threw four interceptions and the one touchdown pass that day. "You have to try to make plays and work more on silent count, something we are doing this week."
Temple's players who competed in the 2014 game admitted they were momentarily taken aback by the atmosphere. Senior offensive tackle Dion Dawkins played his first college game at Notre Dame, where the Owls lost their opener, 28-6, before 80,795 in 2013.
When Dawkins stepped onto the field before the Penn State game the next year, he briefly soaked up the surroundings.
"I was saying, 'Wow this is college football,' " Dawkins said. "Temple is definitely college football, but that type of environment is something special."
And when the game started, it was even more electric.
"It was the loudest place I have ever been in," Fitzpatrick said about Beaver Stadium. "It was even louder than when we played at Notre Dame."
The key for Temple is not to be awed by the surroundings, a truly difficult task.
"When I first stepped on the field and looked at the crowd, I was amazed," recalled junior safety Sean Chandler, who was a starting cornerback that season as a freshman. ". . . As the game went on, the crowd wasn't a factor for us on defense, but it was for the offense."
Fitzpatrick, who had four receptions for 113 yards and the long touchdown, all in the second half, said the loss in 2014 set the tone for future Temple success.
"We made a number of mistakes and were still in the game," Fitzpatrick said. "It gave a blueprint on what it takes to win those types of games."
That was quite a blueprint, evidenced by last year's opener. Now the task is more difficult on the road, where silence is the goal in the noisiest of venues.
@sjnard