Penn State football is 2-0 under Matt Campbell after beating Temple 27-9 at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday.

The Owls proved more of a nuisance in the first half than Penn State fans anticipated them to be, but the Nittany Lions took care of business behind 27 unanswered points.

Our staff woke up at the crack of dawn to make the trip to Philadelphia and experience a true #TempleTUFF gameday. Here’s what we saw.

Obsession With 2015

Temple’s pregame hype videos made it clear that the Owls really wanted to replicate 2015 and sneak out a win over the heavily favored Nittany Lions in front of their home crowd. After all, the matchup was their Super Bowl.

Temple’s pregame hype videos featured clips from the game (including numerous of the Owls’ 10 sacks on Christian Hackenberg) and callbacks to that fateful day 11 years ago.

Temple even went so far as to honor its lettermen from that day at halftime, as well as get a video from former head coach Matt Rhule. Rhule led the Owls to an AAC East Division title in 2015 during his first head coaching tenure.

Rhule is now Nebraska’s head coach, a position he’s held since 2023. He played linebacker for the Nittany Lions under Joe Paterno from 1994 to 1997.

Dream Runout, Nightmare Game

Philadelphia’s own Meek Mill led the Owls out of the tunnel ahead of kickoff. The video board displayed him hyping up Temple players from the locker room all the way out onto the field.

I’m not going to lie, Meek Mill got the crowd going. It didn’t matter that he ran out with Temple; his importance to the clearly dominant Penn State fanbase in the building was obvious. We listened to “Dreams and Nightmares” on the way into the stadium, so it was pretty cool to see the man himself.

The Temple student section was very loud pregame and through the runout. They definitely brought the energy, and it was a commendable showing.

Penn State Home Game

As expected, Penn State fans crowded the Lincoln Financial Field stands to support their Nittany Lions. From the tailgate lots to the end of the game, it was clear that the Nittany Lions would have vastly more support than Temple in its own home stadium.

If I had to guess, it looked as big as an 80/20 split in favor of Penn State fans. The only true Temple sections extended to the left of the Owls’ student section. White jerseys extended the rest of the lower bowl and upper bowls. Folks did their thing when it came to supporting Campbell and the squad away from home.

There are a LOT of white shirts in here if you ignore the window panes. pic.twitter.com/ISg2HARkVS

— Onward Sports (@OnwardStSports) September 12, 2026

Philadelphia Eagles Field Paint

Temple wasn’t just playing an away game; it didn’t even have its own field paint at Lincoln Financial Field. The Philadelphia Eagles played their home opener on Sunday, which meant the Nittany Lions and Owls had to rock out with the Eagles’ midfield logo and end zones.

This usually wouldn’t be a big deal, but Pitt at least had its midfield logo painted for its matchup against UCF at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday. The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted the Atlanta Falcons in their opener on Sunday.

I guess Temple just doesn’t have enough pull for that.

Lincoln Financial Field Pyrotechnics Were Awesome

I was very taken aback by the awesome pyrotechnics display at Lincoln Financial Field. I don’t really know what I expected for Temple (I’m sure it’s also pretty cool for the Eagles), but the team runout was well orchestrated, with cherry-colored smoke.

There were also fireworks later in the game for Temple’s sole touchdown. I know that’s common, but seeing it in an almost-empty NFL stadium was cathartic. The stadium operations team deserves its flowers.