09.03.18
by

Fizzy’s Corner: Breaking Down A Bad Loss

Adventures in Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Land

 

Editor’s Note: Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub is a former Temple player and later a coach and educator. His recaps are a staple during the season.

                                            By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Well, it’s the day after… and I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am with the Temple coaching staff.  But first, kudos to the excellently coached Villanova team, and especially their offensive line, which kicked the crap out of our defense.

weinraub

Part of the reason their offensive line was so effective is that, once again, we didn’t adjust or do anything different than mostly stay in the basic four-man down line, that we always do.  Their traps and mis-direction plays consistently killed us. Our guys were always positioned exactly where Villanova knew they’d be.

As far as our offense is concerned, I could take any write-up I did last year, and plug it directly into yesterday’s game. The 2018 version of the 2017, junior high, “Broad-Street Offense,” was exactly the same. No mis-direction, no reverses, no bootlegs, no throw-backs to the QB, no halfback passes, and no screens. It was straight down Broad Street crap.

Oh yeah, I know you’ll say if Frankie didn’t throw the interceptions, we’d have won. Maybe so, but that’s not the problem. The coaching staff is the problem.  With all our talent, just the same old vanilla nonsense – never inventive plays to put the ball in the hands of our big play guys.  Let’s give just one lack of recognition on either side of the ball.

On defense, the giant Villanova left tackle (No. 73), would be the only protector when Nova would go strong right.  All we had to do to get to the QB, was put our defensive tackle head-up, and take an inside route.  Out linebacker to that side could then just loop around.  Didn’t our coaches see that?

On offense in the first quarter, Frankie handed off a sweep to Armstead and carried out the fake to the left side.  There was absolutely no Nova defenders on that side of the field.  So I figured they saw that upstairs, and would come back with a bootleg sometime soon.  Wrong!  The last true bootleg was when Joe Morelli ran it in 1960.

How about the lack of guts of the offensive coordinator.  In the beginning of the second quarter, we moved the ball out to our forty-two, where we had a third and three situation.  Of all the plays in all the gin joints in the world, we ran that deceptive Armstead up-the-gut for a one yard gain.  Now it’s fourth and two.  You know we punted the ball.

In the last quarter with another fourth and two, but at their thirty-something, again a chicken-out and a field goal try.  OMG, should we take a chance and see if we can ignite the offense and put the game out of reach?

Now we get to the timeouts at the end of the game.  With two minutes and thirty-two seconds left in the game, Nova has a third and ten around our forty.  I’m going nuts screaming timeout (we had two left), but it didn’t happen.  Collins let seventy (70) seconds run off before we got the ball back.  May I remind everyone, the offense can stop the clock whenever they want, but not the defense.  He then so muddled the timeout calls after that, I didn’t know what he did.

Well sports fans, this kind of muddled coaching is now into it’s second year.  I’m pissed beyond description.  I was going to hire an airplane to fly a trailer over the Eagles game on September 23, which read, “JEFF – LOWER TEMPLE RENT.”  It’s going to cost $1750, and I was going to ask everyone to contribute what they can.  Now, I don’t know.  Is anyone a shrink?  How do I get over this depression?  This coaching staff is stealing money on game day.

Wednesday: Ancillary Impact 

Friday: Buffalo Preview

23 thoughts on “Fizzy’s Corner: Breaking Down A Bad Loss”

  2. The biggest concern is the coaching. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is one definition of insanity. This crew of mediocre D-2 coaches fits that definition. Again, the administration has to tell Collins that Patenaude has to go. I know Pop Warner coaches who are more inventive and more aware of the skills of his players than this fraud. FRAUD PATENAUDE. Time for some signs to that effect Saturday. And as far as Collins goes, he ain’t no genius and got a reputation as one because he had 4 and 5 star athletes who bailed him out. .His defense at FLA in 2016 was mediocre. Up 20 against Tennessee they gave up 38 straight. So much for mayhem.

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  3. Saw that awful game Saturday, but this time the big Diff was , I didn’t care so much , lot less screaming and complaining here ’cause we saw this show before many times, didn’t we?
    Our players on D not knowing what to do, always looking sidelines for instruction. Nova Running Wild.
    Armstead running mostly into a wall of blue, I heard he lost 1/2 inch of height.
    The QB sure looked a lot like ‘Ol Marchim didn’t he ?
    Could not complete most touch passes, could he ?
    What the heck .

    Only 3 possible reasons at play.

    1 – Our temple players aren’t to good.

    2 – Luck be a Lady Tonight was on the side of Nova, and Temple had no Luck.

    ** 3** – Our coaches are arrogant fools. They think they are sooo smart. maybe because one of ’em came from SEC again they are just so much smarter than other ‘minor league’ football coaches they are up against.

    I say ##3, they are just too smart to be in this league. I bet they are in a league of their own , real basket of peached they are.
    Or may just goddamnedstupisassholes, yes maybe that’s it.

    Reply

    • Oh-Well:Ten years ago I wouldn’t have cared either. Golden and Rhule showed that TU doesn’t have to be a football laughingstock so when frauds and imposters take control and destroy all of the hard work it took to make TU football respectable it hurts a little more because I, and we, know it doesn’t have to be this way. As of today, Collins is another guy like Addazzio. He may have a better personality and appears to be more friendly, but he’s another slick talker who thinks he’s doing a fine job. As of today, his coaching puts him at the bottom of D-1.coaches’ ranking. I was critical of Rhule but even in losing he showed things that gave us glimmers of hope. Collins and his crew have shown us nothing at all.

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      • John, totally agree with your assessment of Collins. Leaving the game Saturday I said to the folks I hang out with that it feels like we’re watching years 3 and 4 of Addazio. With that I’m beginning to believe last season is kind of the best we are going to get with this guy and at least Addazio manages to get FBS level assistants instead of from Coastal Carolina and Kennasaw State. I also don’t see this recruiting the level of talent that would overcome their coaching eithet

      • Certainly you are correct, Mr. Belli, the disappointing game is hurtful and e know it. I think the yo-yo coaching of the last 5 boys in charge has given me a type of mental whip-lash in the stadium seats from watching and moaning.
        Anyway , next week vs Buffalo will be another downer when about 22K Max people show up. Seems like when TUFB has a chance to get fans they blow it more often than not, Army game last time, etc…..

  4. Last year Marchi was the starter although he was not the best QB on the team.., this year Nutile is not the best QB on the team.., AND, our OC is the worst in the league…, all spells for a very unproductive offense…,

    Kraft is the one who is wearing the bullseye.., he hired Collins, and he is allowing Collins too much rope, enough rope to hang TUFB…,

    this team has bowl talent, maybe next year

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  5. How ridiculous does this season’s hashtag #FillTheLinc seem now? They probably drove away half of the fan base after one game. I can’t even imagine what the recruits who came to that game thought. I’d be shocked if we landed any of them. I’m sick of slogans, hashtags, and swag. I want results on the field. Time for Collins and his band of high school level coaches to put up or shut up.

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    • It is not Collins or Patenaude or Thacker, it is Kraft. He hired these folks, and they are not what he thought they were.., so, what should he do now?

      Or, more importantly what should our absentia Board of Trustees do?

      As the last draft proved, Collins did not inherit a bare cupboard, he had/has talent. Enough talent to compete and win.

      What should Kraft do now:

      Step 1. Replace the OC now, Ventrell Bryant was right last year..,
      Step 2. Put Collins on notice, no bowl means no job
      Step 3. Draft a short list for his replacement

      If Kraft can’t make Steps 1 – 3 happen, then go to Step 4
      Fire Kraft

      Too bad our BOT is bad,

      oh yea., they don’t really care about Temple Athletics

      Reply

      • KJ, was saying the same thing about last year’s talent over on the FB page in 2017 till I was blue in the face. All I got back was that cupboard was bare nonesense. That was at lest a 7-8 win team before going to a bowl. Felt 2018 was going to be more of a rebuilding year, maybe a 6-6 record is the best we’re going to get from Collins. As John posted earlier he is like Addazio coaching wise and look at his record in 5 years at BC, 4 7-6 seasons and 1 3-9. Now if Temple were 7-6 in the ACC consistently, I think that is a better scenario then where we’re at now

  6. Big prediction: Year 2020. Villanova goes to the FBS, starts construction on a nice football stadium on the mainline, and out draws Temple at the LINC while the new stadium is being built, and switches all sports to the ACC.

    Meanwhile, it is more meh at Temple, embarrassed by Nova’s success, Temple drops to FCS and plays home games at Franklin Field.

    College Gameday goes to Nova to cover it’s first game in the new stadium

    Reply

    • While Nova may have fever dreams about jumping to D-1 in football, the numbers aren’t there and never have been. They barely had 3000 fans Saturday and at most home games, they can’t fill their place ever. That was the problem when they dropped D-1 football in the 70’s. Second, the school can’t build walkways, dorms, or most anything else without major push back from Main Liners. They will come out in droves if Nova ever proposed building a 35-40 thousand seat stadium on the Main Line. Lancaster Avenue is already too crowded on Saturdays. Third, TU has the Linc. Nova can’t play at Chester. It’s too small. Penn is out because the few Nova football fans there are will not go there. Also, the Eagle effect will limit the number of people who will go to Nova games just as it does TU games. Finally, other than Miami, VTech, and Florida State, the other ACC teams don’t draw in Philly as we’ve seen over the years when BC, Virginia, Syracuse and Maryland have visited.

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      • Excellent points John. I respect the program nova has built but I think they’re pretty much designed for that level. Even in national title years for them football wouldn’t sell out and IIRC they have like an 8k seat stadium. Also, the startup costs to move up without a dedicated stadium have to be fairly astronomical to put out up front. One of the situations that lead to the final dissolution of the Big East as a football conference was Marinatto’s ‘nova plan’ that was floated in 2011 in response to conference expansion. IIRC, the plan involved nova moving to 1A and eventually joining the BE by year 4/5, with the league fronting them something like 30/40 mil to help with startup costs and nova playing home games at the Union soccer stadium. Half the schools just about revolted (especially when UL, Rutgers and Cincy has just put out tons of cash to upgrade their own facilities) and the plan was quickly shelved. I don’t doubt that Pitt, WVU and cuse took one look at it and said, ‘we gotta get out of here ASAP’.

        Joe P.

  7. Villanova looks at ND and wonders why not us?

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  8. It’s bad when thread drift on a Temple site wanders to another school possibly moving up a level.

    From the first snap, VU simply out muscled, out-quicked the Owls on the line. Throw in outrageous play calling and the QB short arming his passes and it’s a wonder it got close at all. (Is Nutile’s arm sore?)

    As it was, the winning pass was able to happen because an all-out blitz call did NOT have the DE Roche keeping contain. He made a bee line for Bednarczyk who easily eluded him and had time to find a receiver. Contain is a basic responsibility coached into linemen, and blitz calls have specific responsibility for that. Wonder if that was covered in Sunday’s film session?

    Everyone correctly credits Villanova for their effort. That their coach has been there 30 seasons shows he knows his players and what they’re capable of doing, then game plans using that. I don’t see that kind of thing happening with this staff.

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    • I believe this the Nova first or at most second yearvin that role, I don’t know if he was on Talley’s staff before that or for how long

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      • Pretty much all of Talley’s staff and even Talley himself maintains an office in the Villanova football complex. Villanova’s kids are mostly from this area with an extended footprint of New York, NJ, Md., Delaware, which was exactly Temple recruiting footprint of the Al Golden years. Those kids are more likely to understand the importance of winning the Villanova game. Certainly Golden did and Daz did. Not so sure this carpetbagging staff mostly from the south and largely unqualified (at least from an OC and DC standpoint) understand that.

  9. A possible bright spot? Nova played brilliantly and TU played horribly and yet it was only a 2 point game that TU could and should have won. Within the last 10-12 years of rising respectability, albeit with down years too, how many times have we been asking for the coaches’ head? Almost every one of them, except Al Golden, at some time in their tenures. Speculation, not expectation, is the way of TU fans. Oh well.

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    • Joninohio: Of course many of us have called for the heads of coaches especially ones like Daz and Collins who have consistently falsely blustered about how good the team and the coaches are and then who go out and lose by making mistakes peewee coaches don’t make. Not just any mistakes but ones that prevent the team from winning like running the wrong offense, not making in-game changes, and not teaching defenders where to be. The blitz on the last Nova touchdown is a perfect example. Guys were out of position allowing the QBto beat the blitz by out flanking it. That’s inexcusable and is the result of horrible coaching. I played D end and the number one rule was play outside leverage and never let anyone outside of you.

      Just like the fans in Miami, FSU, and Michigan, TU fans have the right to expect competence concomitant to the level at which TU plays and the salary paid to the coach. D-1 is not the place where a coach learns how to be a head coach, a lessen TU has yet to learn as evidenced by their last four hires. Yes Golden was a success but when merely winning a game is deemed a success he really had a low bar and it was clear by the end that the bar was not going to move any higher with him.

      Now we have a guy getting in excess of 2 million a year and he does things the freshman coach at a high school would not do. We all have the right to expect that Collins and his coaches are as competent as the Nova coaches were and are, each of whom ran circles around our coaches. TU still hasn’t stopped the flare play Nova seemed to have run a thousand times. Every team we play will run it and if it wasn’t in their play book it will be shortly. You would think that at some point a coach would have assigned someone to cover the back or tight end on that play. Nope. Not our geniuses.

      TU may go 0-5 in September especially because Tulsa’s better, Buffalo is good, Maryland has a chip on its shoulder and exciting new players, and Addazio would like nothing better than beating TU by fifty. This loss, unlike so many past losses, was different because it was utterly the fault of our feckless and clueless coaches and not the result of a lack of talent or ability. TU football might have well put a closed sign up for the rest of the season because it’s already over but for the griping.

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      • I agree. It looks grim. Buffalo is flat-out better than Villanova. If you don’t play a fullback and shorten the game by running a proven tailback (Armstead) behind him, it’s just you (Patenaude) being stubborn over a game plan designed to win a damn game. Otherwise, clock stops on Nutile incompletions, giving Buffalo’s offense the ball many more possessions than necessary. Certainly a game plan the Buffalo coach, who Mike pointed out was 106-8 at a lower level, loves. That guy can coach. I’m not sure our guy can.

  10. Make no mistake John Belli, I agree with everything you are saying and am disgusted too. I was just trying to say (as I have said multiple times in the past) that TU has a “unique set of circumstances” that always seems to hold it back, that goes outside the athletic dept. up to the administration and BOT, starting with bad decision making for hiring coaches often times. They: can’t admit mistakes, can’t afford to buy out contracts, make contracts to begin with that don’t favor the school for coaches that don’t offer the level of experience that 2 mil a year should afford, etc. And therefore, us fans can never expect more than this kind of crap? I think we should be able by now and with the monies that have been expended to EXPECT consistent success, meaning winning seasons and bowl games every year and not losing to FCS teams. So John, that’s were I’m at as a half century long fan.

    Reply

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