Penn State vs. Temple ‘75-’76
Back-to-Back Bicentennial Battles—
1975 Penn State vs. Temple at Franklin Field
The 1975 season opener played on Sept. 6 in front of 57-thousand-plus fans at Franklin Field was originally slated for Beaver Stadium on Nov. 15. This was, at the time, the earliest start ever for a Penn State football season. Interestingly, tickets exist for both game dates/locations because Penn State season ticket booklets were printed long before the decision to relocate the game to become part of a larger Bicentennial celebration that already included the scheduled 1976 meeting between the two. The move left Penn State with only 5 true home games within the 11-game slate that fall. Although, it was probably an easier decision for Joe Paterno to move a game in this era because Beaver Stadium only seated about 62-thousand fans at most in 1975. And, despite the shift to Philly, this was still technically a “home” game for the Nittany Lions for a number of reasons including proximity to many fans. PSU printed and sold the tickets, issued the media credentials, and published the gameday program which remains the only Beaver Stadium Pictorial that was never sold inside Beaver Stadium (see below). The move also allowed for the game to be played at night (7:30pm EDT kickoff) which would not be possible at Beaver Stadium until lights were installed in 1984 (and those lights were not actually used until the 1986 Penn State-Temple game). So, this game was technically the first ever night “home” game for Penn State.
Penn State was ranked #6 in the nation to open the season, and they nearly blew the ranking on opening night. Temple surprised the Nittany Lions on the first play of the game as Bob Harris charged right up the gut on the draw for a 76-yard TD run to give the Owls a stunning 7-0 lead. The Nittany Lions struggled to get moving especially in the passing game behind first-time starter John Andress who completed only 6 of 15 passes for 61 yards with 2 INTs (PSU’s best pass was a halfback option from Woody Petchel to Jimmy Cefalo for 26 yards). Penn State was trailing 10-3 in the first period, when it finally struck back. Rich Mauti (the father of legendary All-America LB Mike Mauti) returned a Temple kick right up the middle for 100 yards and the touchdown. But, the 2-point conversion try failed, so PSU continued to trail, 10-9. The Lions finally grabbed a lead right before the half, when Chris Bahr delivered a Penn State record-breaking 55-yard field goal for the slim 12-10 advantage. Bahr’s kick (initially reported by the media as a 54-yarder) broke the record of 51-yards that had been set in 1912 at Pitt (Forbes Field) by Pete Mauthe. The PSU lead didn’t even survive until halftime because the Owls immediately responded with their own 40-yard field goal for the 13-12 edge at the break (Temple also missed a 62-yard FG attempt in the first half).
The game shockingly remained in doubt until the end. Fourth quarter, State down 23-18, Woody Petchel (son of 1948 Cotton Bowl star Elwood Petchel) takes a punt 66 yards to the Temple 3-yard line to set up a Duane Taylor touchdown run putting Penn State back in front. The 2-point conversion pass from John Andress to Mickey Shuler is good and the Lions lead 26-23. Temple kept up the pressure all the way forcing Andress to take an intentional safety from punt formation with 11 seconds left, so that the Lions could safely kick the ball out of harm’s way and eeck-out the 26-25 victory at “home”. The win still saw Penn State drop in the polls to #10 ahead of their official home opener with Stanford a week later.
1976 Penn State-Temple at Veterans Stadium
The 1976 meeting took place at the Vet for the first time in this series (Temple would make Veterans Stadium their primary homefield from the mid-70’s until it was replaced by Lincoln Financial Field in 2003). Unranked PSU (4-3) started off on fire with Chuck Fusina hitting Scott Fitzkee for a 66-yard TD pass on the third play of the game. But this would turn into another nailbiter for the Nittany Lions who held a 31-24 lead into the final two minutes of the game. Penn State had ended two Temple drives with fumble recoveries and watched a 50-yard Owl FG attempt fall in front of the crossbar in the 4th quarter.
But, in the end, the Nittany Lions let a 14-point lead slip away as the Owls drove the field (80 yards) getting to the goal line without any timeouts. Two Temple runs from the 1 went nowhere and probably lost a yard, or so. Temple caught a break when the game was briefly stopped for a fan who had run out onto the field forcing an official timeout. The Owls scored on the very next play (a 3rd and goal pass to wide open Flanker Mike Hober who never joined the huddle and was unaccounted for by the PSU defense). After a Penn State timeout, Temple coach Wayne Hardin opted to go for the win and not the tie, but the 2-point conversion pass with no time left from Terry Gregory QB was incomplete, and Penn State survived their second consecutive Bicentennial squeaker with a second 1-point victory in Philly, 31-30. Win #99 for Joe Paterno.
FYI—Penn State and Paterno also had some other seriously close calls in this series, notably in 1978 (10-7), 1985 (27-25), and in 2011 (14-10). Only the 1985 win was at home.
Nittany Notes:
As mentioned above, Penn State published the gameday program for the 1975 Temple game at Franklin Field, not Temple. The cover was patriotic in nature using the official Bicentennial “Liberty Bell 76” logo that was seen everywhere in ‘75 & ‘76 (see above). And, yes, the cover (as always) was approved by Paterno. Inside, the magazine itself was a typical Beaver Stadium Pictorial that treated the “neutral site” game as a home game in virtually every way. One key difference, however, was that the “Philly BSP” had a $1.50 cover price instead of the standard $1 cover price for the ones sold at Beaver Stadium that season.
Since the 1975 Temple game was originally scheduled for November at Beaver Stadium, there was, in fact, a Beaver Stadium Pictorial cover created for that date. And it still exists although very few people have ever seen it.
The original Nov. 15 game was slated to be Band Day (a now forgotten PSU football tradition), so the original cover art featured a tuba over a red, white, and yellow background. The art was approved by Paterno, and a 4-color (CMYK) separation proof was prepared for the printer. But the game was moved to Philadelphia just before the printer got the proof. So, it is only believed to exist in that form, and it resides in a private collection (see below).
Also mentioned above, 1975 PSU season ticket booklets were printed and issued with a ticket to the Nov. 15 game included. So, it is very common when one of the ‘75 booklets comes up for sale to see that it still contains the Nov. 15 ticket attached/unused inside the booklet.
