5 Questions Pravda would never ask

Effective July 1, 2014, softball was dropped as an intercollegiate sport at Temple.

No worries, though, because it continues to be played on a club level at the school–namely, Saturdays, Mondays and Tuesdays–the days when head football coach Geoff Collins meets with the media. Saturdays after the game; Mondays at the AAC teleconference and Tuesdays at the weekly media luncheon.

pravda-bg

Those aren’t just softballs lobbed up at Collins (for an example, listen to the AAC teleconference above), those are high-arc jobs.

In a way, it’s understandable. Pravda would never ask Vladimir Putin why he killed so many journalists. That Pravda reporter would probably turn up missing the next week. Temple has a similar situation where other Temple employees pose as journalists and ask Collins questions and, while Collins wouldn’t kill them for asking these five questions, things could get a little uncomfortable around campus. Still, that should not stop someone like Marc Narducci or Shawn Pastor from asking so, as a public service, we provide these five questions in hopes of getting answers in the next few weeks if not days:

Question One

Q: Geoff, Temple won 20 games in two years largely using the fullback as a lead blocker for guys like Ryquell Armstead. Under you and Dave (Patenaude), the fullback is either not used at all as a blocker or at the most two or three times a game. What is the thought process behind that? What happened to the fullback at Temple and will the position here ever come back on a meaningful level?

Question Two

Q: Geoff, late in the game in BC territory and facing a situation where both ESPN announcers said was a two-down situation with only 2 yards to go (and practically everyone in the stadium thought would be a two-down situation), Temple decided to pass even though Armstead had four touchdowns and 171 yards and BC could not stop him. What was the thinking there or did Patenaude have one of his usual brain cramps and is there any way to get  a jug of Dasani water sent to the press box to avoid similar brain cramps in the future?

Question Three

Q: Geoff, using the tight ends in motion on almost every play as H-back blocks for Armstead seemed to work beautifully against Maryland, establishing the run and setting up play-action situations for Anthony Russo so he could have time to see the field and pick out wide receivers. Why haven’t we seen that look against anyone else?

Question Four

Q: Geoff, given Armstead’s history of injuries and value to the team as a tailback have you ever considered using Karamo Dioubate–the No. 11 DE recruit in the nation three years ago–outside as the situational pass-rusher instead?

Question Five

Q: Geoff, instead of having the guys who dropped passes all over the place against Tulsa–most notably Nos. 80 and 81–working on the jug guns afterward, did you consider benching them for BC so they wouldn’t get the same chance to drop passes all over the place in Boston? I mean, shouldn’t Ventell Bryant, Branden Mack, Sean Ryan and Isaiah Wright be able to handle all of those snaps?

I would love to be able to ask those questions but, during those teleconferences, a real job gets in the way. The one interaction I’ve had with Collins was to ask him to never take Nick Sharga off the field as a fullback and he said not to worry that Sharga would have even a more expanded role under him than he did under Matt Rhule.

Collins, of course, lied. There is a chance Geoff could lie again answering those questions but those are some fastballs that need to be swung at and, for some reason, no member of the fourth estate feels the need for speed.

Saturday: ECU Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

Tuesday: Temple Football Forever and the National News

 

 

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13 thoughts on “5 Questions Pravda would never ask

  1. From top to bottom the AAC is strong, very strong. Let’s root for another P6 bowl win.

    Temple always beats ECU and this year is no exception.., hard to see wins after ECU besides UCONN.., Cincy should be a ranked team after next week, they are for real..,

    Temple never wins in Houston, this year will be bad business as usual..,

    UCF, Cincy, Houston, Memphis, Navy, USF, SMU, and Tulane are bowl bound..,

  2. Everyone else is thinking the same damn thing. Great post and questions! I wish Howard Eskin covered the Owls. He is someone who wouldnt be afraid to ask hard questions. I feel like Shawn Pastor does ask more pointed questions than the others. I think it would be funny if someone asked Collins why he opens every presser the same…we played a great team, we competed, we played tough/physical/etc. This is a waste of time for those listening. Not every team we play is great so be real and sometimes we aren’t great either! If you step on the field, you’re competing so that’s obvious. Not sure we play tough and physical every game either. All smoke and mirrors with this guy!

  3. I am glad to see you calling the “press” out about not asking Collins the hard questions.

  4. Mike, as you know, I took part in that conversation with Collins about Sharga at last year’s season ticket holders’ party and both of us left that discussion thinking that the Owls were in good hands. Then the Villanova and UMass games happened. There was no Sharga, no Temple Tuff, and no mayhem. I then concluded that Collins was a lying boob who should be fired immediately. It took him several bad losses to finally use some play action and they won five out of six. Did he learn anything from last season? Not Collins, who this season opened the season repeating the same mistakes he made last season in the first five games. This season though, he won’t be able to pull his rear out of the fire of his own creation because the schedule is much tougher down the stretch, something I pointed out in August.

    His speech during this season’s ticket holders’ party was not only a redux of last year’s speech and as pointed out in a previous post, merely more of the same pablum he’s been feeding us since he got here. If you go back and watch his press conferences, I bet if the questioners did not mention an opponent’s name you would be unable to guess what game it involves. If I hear one more time after an inexcusable loss that the kids played hard, i think I’m going to burn my season tickets. Just once I would like him to say that he and his offensive and defensive coordinators let those hard playing kids down by making them run schemes that they are not built to run and which are designed for the team to fail. I personally think this is all we’re going to get from him and in two seasons he’s going to be fired at which time he will enter the the TU Coaches’ Hall of Shame. Hey Wallace, Berndt, and Dickerson, you better move over because you are soon to be joined by the worst of the bunch given that he has far better facilities and players you guys had and still was an abject failure.

  5. Q6. Why was FBL on the sidelines while Nova, Buffalo, Tulsa, and BC ran it up the middle?

    • Good question. Leads me to believe that this Kennesaw Mountain State DC is in way over his head. I thought Taver Johnson was bad, but at least he coached at Purdue. Personnel groupings both on offense and defense have been horrendous …. HORRENDOUS … this year. We’re using a 6-1, 252-pound guy who could not get off a single block against Villanova as one of our starting defensive ends when we have a high school All-America defensive end playing inside. My front four for Temple would be Dioubate and Roche the ends, FBL, Dogbe and Archibong in the middle, period, end of story, on a 5-2 and pick your two best linebackers as the two. Create Mayhem at the point of attack, disrupt running lanes and get in the face of the passer. Don’t ever sit back. We’ve been sitting back way too much.

  6. All but one of the geniuses picking games in the Daily News have ECU as their pick.

  7. Would that we be so lucky as to have the opportunity for someone, anyone, put Mike’s questions to Collins. Look how much fun the Cataldi-Kapler exchange was. Kapler admitted he even read the article Angelo wrote which for coaches and managers is a major concession. Kap’s angst was the comments directed at his boss, so maybe Mike takes that into consideration in order to provoke a reaction?

  8. Like i said B4, why risk losing your lead running back to injury, when he doesn’t need to be playing on defense. It’s a knuckle head idea by Collins, that Kraft should insist be stopped immediately.

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