Let’s Get Rowdy

Matt Rhule hints at changing up the defense for dual-threat QBs

Sometime into the debacle against Army, I urged my fellow Temple fans to stand up on a critical third-down stop the Owls needed to make.

Much to my chagrin, only about half of the fans in Section 121 and fewer in others bothered to stand and make the necessary noise needed to maybe, just maybe, be at a high-enough decibel level so one of the 11 Cadets might not hear the cadence. Needless to say, the Cadets got the first down they needed.

inkycover

                                                                            Sunday’s Inky cover has a regular-season hockey game on the cover and an out-of-town baseball game, but the Owls’ historic comeback is inside.

 

“Sit down,” the guy in front of me said, “it’s a long season, dude.”

Well, a long season has now turned into a short one and the Owls are going to need every single fan to stand up and make some noise—at the very minimum on every third down South Florida has on Friday night. Win, and the Owls own all of the tiebreakers for the AAC East title against, quite frankly, the only other team that can win the title. Win, and the Owls will be favored in every regular-season game the rest of the way. Win, and the Owls COULD host an AAC championship game in December. Even against Notre Dame and Penn State, the stakes were not this high. The kids have never needed their fans more than they need them now.

In other words, let’s get rowdy.

I do not have too many pet peeves—sports bars that do not turn up the sound, Philadelphia newspapers that cover a college football team 250 miles away better than the one less than one mile up the road and, right at the top, Temple fans who treat a home game like a concert at the Kimmel Center.

The Temple players no doubt need to play well, but the kids really do hear and feed off the crowd and that can have a cumulative effect.  Certainly, the home crowd at the Penn State game a year ago was a big part of the win and the crowd did more than its part to beat Notre Dame a year ago. The only thing stopping the Owls from going 8-0 with a win over the No. 6 team in the country was a safety who was in position and did not reach up to deflect a pass.

Win or lose, the kids playing for Temple on Friday will leave everything on the field. It might be nice if the fans gave that same sort of effort and carried them across the finish line.

Saturday: Game Analysis

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14 thoughts on “Let’s Get Rowdy

  1. “…I’d like to ask your help. Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry.” – John Lennon

    I like the cheap seats away from the elderly, the snobs, and the whiners.

    • Don’t knock the elderly. We will all be that way sooner than we want. 🙂

      • As long as we stay young-at-heart One octogenarian called me “a nut” for cheering too loudly at a MBB game (he’s correct), so I moved up to the Bob Ueker seats. I do not want to offend anyone. Note: As I recall the 700 level was the place to be for Eagles games back in the 70’s. I recall seeing a keg of beer and a deli up there at one game.

  2. The kids work hard. They deserve good support with butts in the seats and loud cheering.

  3. Never happen. Can’t get the tailgaters away from their bottles. They stagger in during the 2nd quarter and stumble out during the 3rd.

    • I tailgate with a few friends. We all go in at least 15 minutes before every game and most do not leave until the end. I think that’s the case for all but a few tailgaters, but I’m in the stadium so I would not know. I do know that we need all hands on deck this Friday.

  4. I saw a couple dudes “partied out” during the Army and Charlotte games (bowing to the porcelain gods). I hope by Game 5, smart students will learn to pace themselves so they have fun and make it home safely.

  5. That was one of the best TU games I’ve ever watched. The Owls met every challenge and played Temple tough. They kicked the you know what out of SFU in the second half. The Owls grew up the last two weeks and I think had it been earlier in the season they would have folded after SFU took a 23-20 lead. The championship game is in their reach. I hope Navy doesn’t lose because the Owls have a better shot of beating them than Houston. If Navy does lose hoping that Memphis wins the conference because the Owls know they can beat Memphis and would relish a rematch.

    • This team is finding its identity. What a great game plan by the coaches and execution by the players. I read a lot stuff about team speed on this site, I think we can put that to rest. We played fast and Temple tuff. Walker was excellent, Raquel was lights out, Sharga was crushing people leading the backs and the young kicker looks like he has been kicking for four years. The d was solid against a very difficult duel threat QB. Great team win.

  6. Right on Hadley. For once, a total game. BTW, what happened to Jager-Gardner. Are they redshirting him, is he injured? Temple’s run game is getting downright awesome. Keep it going Owls.

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