This week, Dan Connor's friends have been calling him, sending him e-mails and messaging him online.

They all want the same thing from Penn State's senior linebacker -- tickets to this weekend's game in Philadelphia between Penn State and Temple.

The Nittany Lions (7-3, 4-3 in the Big Ten) will travel to Lincoln Financial Field this weekend to play the Temple Owls (3-6, 3-3 MAC) on the road for the first time since 1994.

The game kicks off at noon tomorrow.

More than half the seats at Temple's home stadium were up for grabs to Penn State fans. The Owls gave Penn State about 10,000 tickets to distribute and put about 28,000 more up for sale on Ticketmaster's Web site. Many Penn State players are hoping to see a

crowd that's mostly wearing blue and white.

"I'm hoping that most of the fans are for us," said Josh Gaines, a Penn State defensive end. "It'd be like a home game. Hopefully, it's almost like a homecoming."

Temple's athletic ticket office is thrilled about the Lions' upcoming visit. They've been drawing about 22,000 fans per home game so far this season, but tomorrow's game is expected to be a sellout.

Temple's director of ticket operations, Owen Godfrey, called it "the biggest home game in Temple football history."

Penn State players insisted that this is a big game for them, as well. The Lions are undefeated in their non-conference contests this year, knocking off Florida International, Notre Dame and Buffalo in the season's first three weeks -- all games that the Lions were favored to win.

Las Vegas has the Lions pegged to win this one, too, by about 25 points.

Still, many pundits have labeled 2007 as a year when upsets are commonplace, citing Appalachian State's opening-day win over Michigan, Stanford's defeat of USC and the Navy's triple-overtime edging of Notre Dame last weekend.

"It's been an upset season," Gaines said. "We don't want to be a part of that."

Connecticut, now ranked 13th in the BCS, almost became a part of it in the season's third week, when it hosted Temple. The Owls led, 17-13, at halftime before the Huskies slipped ahead in the second half and held on for a 22-17 win.

"I think that's a wake-up call to everyone on the team," Connor said, referring to Connecticut's close call. "They can hurt you if you overlook them."

Connor was excited when he first saw this weekend's game on the Lions' schedule. From his hometown of Wallingford, it's only about a 20-minute drive to Temple's home field.

Tomorrow, some of his friends will be in the stands that haven't seen him play since high school. Tickets will be in high demand.

"We'll try to get as many as we can," Connor said.