Penn State didn’t make it look easy early. But sometimes college football is simply about surviving the ugly stretches, making adjustments and leaving with a win.

That’s exactly what the Nittany Lions did Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.

After struggling to finish drives early against Temple, No. 16 Penn State eventually settled down and pulled away for a 27-9 victory at Lincoln Financial Field, improving to 2-0 under head coach Matt Campbell.

And once again, Rocco Becht showed why his arrival at Penn State could be one of the biggest pieces of Campbell’s rebuild.

 

Penn State Couldn’t Finish Early

This looked nothing like Penn State’s 45-0 season-opening win over Marshall. The opportunities were there immediately. The execution wasn’t.

On Penn State’s first offensive play, Becht connected with Koby Howard for a huge gain that, combined with a Temple facemask penalty, put the Nittany Lions inside the 10-yard line.

They came away with nothing.

Later, Tony Rojas intercepted former Penn State quarterback Jaxon Smolik and returned it to the Temple 5.

Again, Penn State came away with nothing. Two golden opportunities. Zero points.

Temple took advantage of Penn State’s inability to finish drives and actually grabbed a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter. Penn State didn’t score at all in the opening quarter and led only 10-3 at halftime.

For a team coming off a dominant opener, it was definitely a wake-up call.

 

Becht Settles Everything Down

The encouraging part for Penn State was that Becht never seemed rattled.

The veteran quarterback stayed patient, continued taking what Temple gave him and eventually started finding the end zone.

Becht finished 21-of-27 passing for 268 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Two of those touchdown passes went to tight end Benjamin Brahmer.

Through his first two games at Penn State, Becht has now thrown seven touchdown passes without an interception after tossing four touchdowns against Marshall in Week 1.

That’s a pretty good way to introduce yourself to Happy Valley.

Against Marshall, everything came easily. Against Temple, it didn’t.

In some ways, Saturday may have told us more about Becht.

Quarterbacks aren’t always going to play with a big lead. There will be missed opportunities, penalties, dropped passes and drives that stall. The question becomes whether your quarterback can remain composed when the game isn’t going according to plan.

Becht did.

 

Temple Made Penn State Work

Give Temple credit.

The Owls weren’t intimidated by the name across from them, and they made Penn State work much harder than most expected.

Temple held Penn State scoreless in the first quarter and kept the game within striking distance through the first half. But eventually Penn State’s talent and depth began taking over.

After Temple went ahead 3-0, Penn State scored 27 consecutive points.

That was the difference.

Penn State didn’t panic because the game wasn’t pretty. It simply kept playing.

The defense also did its job. Temple finished with 283 total yards and was kept out of the end zone until late in the game.

 

The Running Game Still Has Work To Do

If there is one area Penn State will probably want to clean up as the competition gets tougher, it’s the running game.

Carson Hansen led Penn State with 78 rushing yards on 19 carries, while James Peoples added 38 yards on five attempts.

There were flashes, but Penn State hasn’t yet established the consistently dominant rushing attack people are accustomed to seeing from the program.

That might not matter against Marshall or Temple. It will matter in the Big Ten.

 

2-0 Is 2-0

Was it perfect? Not even close.

Was it as impressive as the 45-0 win over Marshall? Definitely not.

But Penn State went on the road, dealt with some early adversity and still walked out of Philadelphia with an 18-point victory.

There are going to be games during a season when everything clicks. There are also going to be games when you have to figure it out.

Saturday was the second kind.

Penn State is 2-0.

Rocco Becht has seven touchdown passes and zero interceptions through two games.

And while there is plenty for Matt Campbell and his staff to clean up, the Nittany Lions are still exactly where they want to be after two weeks: Undefeated.