The Penn State athletic department announced its agreement on Monday with Temple on a three-year extension to their football series.

The teams’ current seven-game series ends in 2012 and the teams will take a year off before rekindling their battle on August 30, 2014 at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions will take to Philadelphia to take on the Owls in 2015 and Temple will make a return trip to Happy Valley in 2016 to close out the series.

It is good to see Temple coming back onto the schedule on two accounts:

1. The Owls are an ever-improving team that is on the cusp of becoming the toast of the Mid-American Conference. Now, yes, I know it is the MAC, but would you rather see Temple or Eastern Illinois/Youngstown State/St. Mary’s School for the Blind?

2. If Temple can become more competitive in the next couple of years,  totally possible if they keep winning and attract some higher-profile(ish) recruits, this can becoming a budding in-state rivalry which would be fun for everybody.

Maybe an even more interesting related question will be this: Who has a better shot at coaching Penn State once 2014 comes around: Joe Paterno or current Temple coach Al Golden?