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5 Things About Penn State Vs. Temple

By Andrew Porter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Meaningful football!

On Saturday, Temple will host Penn State at Lincoln Financial Field (3:30 p.m.), as the 2015 NCAA Football season gets underway. The last time these two teams played at the Linc, Penn State squeaked by with a sloppy 14-10 win.

Here are five things to know about this Saturday's matchup.

5. The Matchup

Temple v Penn State
STATE COLLEGE, PA - SEPTEMBER 19: of the Penn State Nittany Lions during a game against the Temple Owls on September 19, 2009 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. (Credit: Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

 

This will be the 44th time these teams have met. Penn State is 39-3-1 and has beaten Temple 39 straight times, dating back to 1943. Last season, Penn State beat Temple 30-13 at Beaver Stadium.

4. Experience

pj walker / temple
(credit: Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

 

Both teams return a ton of starters. For Penn State, they return eight starters on offense and seven on defense, a defense that was ranked among the nation's best last season. For Temple, they return seven starters to the offense and 10 to the defense.

3. Temple head coach Matt Rhule

Temple v Vanderbilt
Temple head coach Matt Rhule (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

 

Rhule, entering his third season as Temple's head coach, is 8-16. Ironically, Rhule is a State College native and a former Penn State linebacker (1994-1997).

2. Penn State head coach James Franklin

James Franklin
PISCATAWAY, NJ - SEPTEMBER 13: Head coach James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions hugs quarterback Christian Hackenberg #14 after a game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Point Solutions Stadium on September 13, 2014 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Penn State defeated Rutgers 13-10. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

Franklin, ironically, is a Neshaminy native and former East Stroudsburg quarterback (1991-1994). He's entering his second season as PSU's head coach, after a 7-6 record last season.

1. Homecoming

Lincoln Financial Field
Lincoln Financial Field Photo credit: CBS

 

Penn State redshirt junior linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White returns home. His family moved from Philadelphia to the town of Archbald, in Northeastern Pennsylvania when he was in eighth grade.

"For the rest of my life, I'll see myself as a Philly guy," Wartman-White, who dreamed of playing at Lincoln Financial Field, said on Tuesday.

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