Over the past three seasons, many have become used to seeing Penn State's defense control the tempo of a game.

On Saturday against Temple, though, the Nittany Lions were downright suffocating.

"This team is used to winning and they know how to step on somebody's throat," said Al Golden, Temple's first-year head coach. "They got after us pretty good."

Temple scattered 74 yards of total offense and two first downs -- both the lowest numbers allowed by a Penn State defense in the Joe Paterno era. The previous low for yardage allowed in a game under Paterno came in 1972, when the Lions held Army to 97 yards.

"This is one of the best jobs defensively that I've ever been a part of," middle linebacker Paul Posluszny said. "The coaches did a good job of preparing us, and we played well all around."

The senior co-captain paced all starters with seven tackles, three stops behind the line of scrimmage, a sack and a forced fumble.

On the Owls' first play from scrimmage, Posluszny met Temple wideout Travis Shelton in the backfield, jarring the ball loose upon contact. Tim Shaw recovered, and the tone of the game was established.

Penn State recovered two fumbles and intercepted one of Adam DiMichele's fourth quarter passes. Even the throws that weren't picked off tended to result in failure for the Owls.

Temple had 58 passing yards, the fewest allowed by the Lions since Notre Dame passed for 47 yards in 1989.

"This is one of the premiere defenses in the country. Period," Golden said. "Their strength right now is our weakness, in terms of the offensive line and the disruption they can inflict on you."

Though they recorded just two sacks, the Lions frequently applied pressure when DiMichele dropped back to pass, and they didn't exactly take their foot off the gas when it came to run defense.

Sixteen rushing yards in total was all Temple had to show for 29 attempts, as the Owls' running attack was the most futile against Penn State since the Lions held Wisconsin to -11 yards on the ground a year ago.

"On the practice field, we had a great week," hero-back Anthony Scirrotto said. "We kept it light and still got everything done that we needed to. So, we had fresh legs. We're playing together. We're playing as a team. We're playing as one unit and we're playing very well right now."

Indeed, Penn State has allowed only one touchdown in its last 17 quarters, and recorded two shutouts in its last three games -- making this the first time since 1996 that the squad posted two goose eggs in the same season.

"We expected to have more than two shutouts," linebacker Sean Lee said. "We expect better from ourselves, and when we don't perform to that level, we get mad and we try to work harder."