The buzz now is Temple has its best chance to defeat Penn State since coming close in the Wayne Hardin-coached losses of 26-25 in 1975, 31-30 in 1976 and 10-7 in 1978 before Penn State lost the national title game to Alabama in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, 14-7. Last season, at Beaver Stadium, Temple was only 9 points worse, losing by 22-13. Penn State leads by 36-3-1 in the series that began in 1931. When the State Legislature mandated in 1970 the renewal of the series so Pitt, Temple and Penn State could play each other, Paterno quipped: “Who's the drunk who scheduled Temple?”

But the sobering thought, when the teams meet Saturday at high noon in Philadelphia, is Temple (2-0) may have a better managed team under its new coach, Steve Addazio, who designed the Florida offense that befuddled Penn State by 37-24 in the Outback Bowl last January.

“This is the best Temple team I've ever seen in all the years I've been here,” Paterno said Tuesday. That means it's the best Temple team he has seen since 1950, a 7-7 tie on "new" Beaver Field.  “I don't think we are in a position but to run scared ourselves. We need to play up to our potential. We got to make sure we don't panic.”

Penn State (1-1) has yet to find a starting quarterback to manage its offense or its passing game to prevent dropped balls or a consistent rushing game to avoid three and outs that wear out the defense, which was on the field for 72 plays over 34 minutes 5 seconds in the 27-11 loss to Alabama last Saturday. The Nittany Lions have zero touchdown passes in eight quarters. Zero.

Is zero a record for Penn State football, collegeBLITZ.com asks Harvey Pollack, the 89-year-old statistical maven who was a sophomore at Temple when he saw that last 1941 victory and who is expected to be a human computer again at Saturday's game.

“And how does the old man wind up with yet another quarterback controversy?” a septuagenarian chronicler of Penn State football since the mid-60s asked about the 84-year-old Paterno. “Trouble is, they both suck.” He added: “Temple wins if they can overcome the home-field disadvantage,” referring to the traditional Penn State Occupation of Lincoln Financial Field.

Against No. 3 Alabama (2-0), Penn State's sophomore starter Rob Bolden completed only 11 of 29 passes for the team's total 144 yards, averaging only 5 yards a completion, and his competitor for the starting job, Matt McGloin was 1 for 10 and zero yards. Bolden threw one interception.

So has there been identity theft of the Penn State offense?

"It's definitely still a work in progress," McGloin said Saturday. "Today was definitely a football game to be able to see we're at offensively. In my opinion, we're not where we want to be yet."

But Paterno had a different spin from the coaches' box, where he has been confined on game days after the Aug. 7 blindside hit in practice left him walking with an aluminum arm cane.

“I thought the two quarterbacks played a pretty good football game,” he said. “We've got to catch the ball for them. Let's be realistic, there were a couple of big-time throws out there that we didn't come up with the ball. I thought the offensive line over all played well against a good defensive football team. Alabama didn't give us anything easy; they didn't turn the ball over.”

But Paterno's overall team assessment was: “There were too many turnovers, dropped catches, and we went for a couple big plays and didn't make them. I think we just have a lot of work to do. I was disappointed, obviously, that we didn't do some things in the clutch that we had been doing in practice. We had a couple guys just get a little tired.”

The bumbling began early when Penn State made a 16-play, 54-yard drive consuming 7 minutes 26 seconds but used all three of its timeouts at 13:42, 11:59 and 9:23 because of confusion, and settled for only a 3-0 lead.

''There's no excuse for that,” an angry Paterno said Saturday. “I think that's a legitimate criticism. We got ourselves into a situation where we were trying to take advantage of the audible defenses that they use. We got too involved with details. I blame myself for that one. That didn't really have an impact on the game; we survived that.” (But Penn State could have used a timeout later to challenge a bad spot by the SEC crew on a fake punt that gave Alabama a first down on its first touchdown drive. )

CBS.com senior writer Dennis Dodd observed: “Nick Saban said, 'Let's wait until they (Penn State) get off script.' By that he meant their first series where they have everything scripted out. That was Penn State's only really drive of the day, when they got the field goal. After that Alabama dominated them.”

Mindful that Alabama has outscored his team by 51-14 in the last two games and that his program has not beaten a top-5 team since 1999, Paterno said: “We've been here before; I've been here before. It's no fun. I think we have a good football team. We have to figure out why we're not catching the ball better. We've caught the ball pretty well in practice. These kids have been good kids, worked hard, and been good to be around. My job is to make sure that we do a good job with them.”

Asked if there was a big discrepancy between his program and Alabama's, Paterno said: “I think they just played better than we did. Their kicking was solid, they didn't turn the ball over, and they caught the ball well. How much difference is there in the quality of the two teams? We'll find out.”

Inside the three Fullington buses that brought Alabama to Beaver Stadium, the mood was this was just another game, business as usual, in the only regular-season matchup of Big Ten and Southeastern Conference teams.

Saban solved his quarterback controversy by starting a calmer A.J. McCarron, who said his offensive line, tight end and receivers all played well. “Everybody came to play today,” McCarron said.

Heisman Trophy candidate Trent Richardson, who rushed for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns on 26 carries, said of McCarron: “He's going to be a leader.”

The offense was as methodical as a surgical theater. Saban credited McCarron for “taking what the defense was giving him.”

Alabama's defense, led by defensive end Jesse Williams, the Arizona Western junior college transfer who is a native of Australia's Torres Strait, near New Guinea, evoked comparisons to the 2009 defense.

By 7:44 P.M., only 47 minutes after the game ended, the three buses headed for the airport. Alabama even showed speed while showering, dressing, snacking, interviewing and packing. The Alabama tractor-trailer, idling for the 918-mile trip home, glowed with crimson and white sides and back proclaiming 13 national titles, with rings from 1925 and 1926, the year Paterno was born, to 2009; 22 SEC titles; 57 bowl appearances; 97 all-Americans. And, of course, “Rollin With The Tide.”

Get the paint sprayers ready.

THREE AND OUT – Denard Robinson led Michigan to 28 fourth-quarter points that overcame a 24-7 Notre Dame lead for a 35-31 victory. His final touchdown drive took only 28 seconds. He completed 11 of 24 passes for 338 passing yards and 4 touchdowns, and he rushed 16 times for 108 yards and 1 touchdown. That's 446 total yards and 5 touchdowns. Notre Dame radio announcer Don Criqui is still trying to figure out his misplay-by-misplay. … The Pennsylvania floods impacted travel to Beaver Stadium, but the expected rain, like the offense, never showed up. … Alabama fans travel well. Nearly 10,000 rimmed the top of the south end zone with crimson and sprinkled some crimson among the White House crowd.

More on the Penn State-Alabama game:

A CBS Sports wrapup (Sept. 10): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFNxW8e7rCw

David Jones's column (Sept. 11) in The Harrisburg Patriot-News:
http://blog.pennlive.com/davidjones/2011/09/when_elite_teams_come_to_penn.html

Cory Giger's column in The Altoona Mirror (Sept. 11) "Identity Crisis: What Is PSU football?":
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/553469/Identity-crisis--What-is-PSU-football--Not-what-it-used-to-be--that-s-for-sure.html?nav=5017

A preseason video on Alabama defensive end Jesse Williams:
http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CxTnoKfW5s