CBS play-by-play television broadcaster Brad Nessler was on the call when Penn State’s offense moved the ball up and down the field against Nevada in their season-opening 46-11 victory.
Five weeks later, Nessler, now in his eighth year as the top college football broadcaster for the company, did not recognize the Penn State offense that struggled to move the ball and score for the first 3½ quarters last Saturday night in a 30-24 double overtime loss to No. 2 Oregon.
“At the beginning of the season, I picked Penn State to win the Big Ten. I’m not going to back off on that because of one game, but I think the lack of big plays has kind of amazed me,” Nessler told The Inquirer. “And you start looking down the list and you’re looking for big chunk plays, and I expected them out of Nick [Singleton] and Kaytron [Allen], and they’re really not there.
“The things that I had anticipated after watching them in game one [against Nevada] just hasn’t come to fruition. I don’t see it. I don’t see any big plays from [quarterback] Drew [Allar].”
The light finally did come on in that fourth quarter, as Drew Allar led the offense on two consecutive scoring drives in 11 minutes, 55 seconds of game time. But once again, on a big stage, James Franklin’s offense was far below expectations, as the team finished with just 276 total yards.
In years past, the season outlook was different, but now the Nittany Lions must quickly put another disappointing offensive performance behind them. And the remedy is a UCLA program that fired its head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator over the last two weeks.
“I don’t think Penn State’s going to have any problem bouncing back. I think they will play their best football on the road this week, even though they got to travel a long ways,” Nessler added. “I think part of it’s because of the opposition, and part of it’s because I think they’re going to be a little ticked off that they didn’t play with more urgency the first three quarters like they did in the fourth quarter.”
The season is far from over, though fans were not pleased with last week’s outcome, which has become the norm in big games under Franklin. A three-game stretch in October and November will likely decide the fate of the season and whether it ends in another College Football Playoff berth: at Iowa (Oct. 18), at No. 1 Ohio State (Nov. 1), and home vs. No. 8 Indiana (Nov. 8).
The next two weeks, at UCLA and home against Northwestern (Oct. 11), are games Penn State’s “got to have.”
» READ MORE: James Franklin and Penn State working to ‘not let one loss define our season’ with UCLA up next
“They could afford to lose one of the [games between] Ohio State or Oregon. Well, they already dropped the Oregon game,” Nessler said. “You don’t want to be living on the edge with three losses and hope you’re going to make the playoffs.”
Nessler and Gary Danielson, in his final season calling games at CBS, will be on the call for Saturday’s Penn State-UCLA game at the Rose Bowl (3:30 p.m., CBS3).
Temple’s ’50-50′ proposition
Five weeks into the season, and it’s still impossible to know what to expect from Temple. Its quarterback is all-in on revitalizing the program, going to lengths as far as sleeping in the team’s facility to be closer to the action.
Its coach is a proven winner and isn’t taking monster losses to a pair of teams in the Power Four as an accurate representation of what he’s got. It’s why the next eight weeks will explain a lot, starting with the Owls’ opening American Conference play this weekend against Texas-San Antonio (3:30 p.m., ESPN+).
K.C. Keeler views each upcoming conference game as a 50-50 split, with the potential for either team to come away with the win.
“The next eight weeks, we kind of find out who we are,” Keeler said this week. “Every game on this schedule in our minds is a 50/50 game.”
In many cases, it’s a fair assessment.
» READ MORE: Which Temple is the real deal? The conference season will provide the answer.
Even with scheduled games against top American teams in Navy (Oct. 11), Tulane (Nov. 22), and North Texas (Nov. 29), who have been on a tear en route to a 5-0 start, the Owls’ chances bode well to book a trip to their first bowl game since 2019 if they can play like they did in the first two games against the rest of the pack.
You should know …
… That just 28 days remain from the time of this report until Lincoln Financial Field hosts Norfolk State and Delaware State in an HBCU showdown. The significance here is that the game will be the first time former teammates Mike Vick (Norfolk) and DeSean Jackson (Delaware State) square off as head coaches.
Just a kid from Villanova
The Wildcats can boast of finding another former player who has officially cracked the NFL.
On Wednesday, the team announced via social media that the San Diego Chargers added former Wildcats defensive back Isas Waxter II. The Chargers picked up Waxter after the 6-foot-1, 205-pound rookie was put on waivers by the Seahawks due to injury.
A native of Newark, N.J., Waxter was a two-time All-Coastal Athletic Association recipient and made the Commissioner’s academic honor roll three seasons running, in fall and spring.
Speaking of ‘Nova …
As for Villanova, it’s coming off a monster win against William & Mary, a program it hadn’t beaten since before the pandemic, with the hopes of winning its second straight this season when it takes on New Hampshire (1 p.m., FloFootball).
While that game will be on the road, you should know that the Wildcats have the second-longest active home win streak in the Football Championship Subdivision with 18 straight inside Villanova Stadium. They’ll look to make it 19 when they host Hampton on Oct. 18.
… Hopefully, we didn’t just jinx it for you superstitious fans, out there.
The BIG number
474: The number of yards West Chester put up in a 38-7 drubbing of Millersville last weekend to improve to 3-1 on the season. The Golden Rams threw for 285 yards and rushed for another 189. It was the second straight game of 200+ passing yards and over 150 yards rushing for the program. Next up, homecoming weekend awaits against East Stroudsburg (Saturday, 2 p.m.).
Game of the week
No. 3 Miami vs. No. 18 Florida State, Saturday (7:30 p.m., 6ABC)
This is THE rivalry when it comes to football on the East Coast. Miami enters as a 4.5-point favorite, with a pair of Top 25 wins against then-No. 6 Notre Dame and then-No. 18 South Florida. However, this game is in Tallahassee, and if you’ve ever witnessed this matchup before at Doak Campbell Stadium then you know you’re in for a treat.
A little bonus game that stays in the swamp if you want a little afternoon treat is No. 9 Texas against Florida, and with the Longhorns in free fall, there’s no reason to believe the Gators can put the clamps on and get themselves back into Top 25 conversation.