Bucknell: The Horse that had to be put down

As a recent horse racing aficionado, I’ve learned that I enjoy going to see the ponies for more than monetary reasons:

First and foremost, I don’t want to see any of the horses hurt so that’s my first and really only fervent hope.

Second, it would be nice to see my horse win. Third, I enjoy seeing great athletes compete against one another and the thoroughbreds are great athletes. With that in mind,  full disclosure: I had no interest in seeing a horse go down like I knew Bucknell would so I skipped the game and had better things to do on a Labor Day weekend. I did check the ESPN+ feed (at $4.99 ESPN+) is the best buy in sports. To me, the great thing about going to a sporting event is the competitiveness. I knew there would be no competitiveness here. Great athletes against so-so athletes do nothing to move the competitiveness meter.

My horse won against this claimer.

The other horse had to be put down.

I  knew it would happen. You knew it would happen.

It didn’t have to happen but the Temple administration allowed it to happen.

Same thing with the Maryland administration that allowed a 79-0 win over Howard to happen.

The season really starts in two weeks against Maryland and the Owls will have to establish a running game that they did not even try against Bucknell.

Or at least not enough.

Screenshot 2019-08-31 at 4.49.35 PM

That they can do it was established because this is the same offensive line that hammered Houston for 59 points a year ago and they have a promising freshman in Re’Mahn Davis and an improved senior in Jager Gardner to block for.

What they did against Bucknell is something that they should not be doing–at least twice giving an NFL prospect in Anthony Russo a chance to run in a run/pass option. I don’t know who designed those type of plays but those pages need to be ripped out of the playbook immediately if not sooner. First, as much as I love Anthony as my quarterback–and that’s at least as much love that I had for P.J. Walker–he is no threat to run. Second, if head coach Rod Carey gets my quarterback killed on a similar play, I will never forgive him.

Nor probably will any Owl fans.

Temple TUFF means establishing the run and throwing the pass off play-action.

What we saw on Saturday was a team trying to establish the run off the pass and that is ass-backward.

Hopefully, that’s something Carey saved for his back pocket against Maryland.

If not, the Owls probably won’t achieve their potential.

To me, as I wrote on Friday, beating this team 65-14 would have been just about right. Since it was “only” 56-12, there is a lot to work on in two weeks.

More than I thought because Howard is better than Bucknell.

Tuesday: Fizzy’s Corner

Thursday: The Newbies

Saturday: Things to Look For

 

 

 

 

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14 thoughts on “Bucknell: The Horse that had to be put down

  1. How much did we really learn from the scrimmage against Bucknell?

    One thing for sure, Re’Mahn Davis is the real deal.

    Maryland vs Syracuse will be worth the watch.

  2. Establishing the run off the pass is a good strategy if you have an outstanding passer, and I think we do.

  3. It’s less important than the gameplay, but the uniforms were right. Conwell would like diamonds and the T is our visual brand. Wouldn’t mind seeing Mike’s favorite TEMPLE helmets here and there but overall our Owls look sharpest in the Cherry and the White.

  4. I was thinking the same thing Joshua – the helmets were just the ticket with the diamonds on the stripe and the Temple T. Also like the diamond at the top of the traditional blocks on the pants stripe. Basic Temple with all the right symbols.
    Your last sentence Mike is a bit scary. Maryland must be pretty darn good, but we’ll see. The Owls are still having trouble defending those shorter passes underneath. Hope they work on that for Maryland. Even the announcers mentioned that every opponent will be noticing that. Maybe Carey was saving the running backs so they wouldn’t get hurt, but they looked good. Go Owls.

  5. Yesterday’s game tells us nothing about the team other than that the team took care of a weak opponent unlike Collins, who seemed to always have a problem with such teams. (Think Nova and UConn). I was on the sidelines for the game and it was clear that the team was all business and treated it like a scrimmage. Good that so many players got game action. The coaches will learn a lot about Maryland from their game this week. By the way, Collins has not stopped making anodyne statements saying little and meaning nothing. This is what he had to say after getting pummeled.” On Georgia Tech’s perseverance:

    “They’re special. We’re going to be so good moving forward. We’re just going to get better and better every single week. The conversations as we’re coming to the locker room, the belief, the love, I think that will transcend and we will continue to get better every week. Just proud of them. I told them last night how much I love them, how much I respect them and it might even be stronger after the way they fought and stayed together.”

    He essentially has said the same thing after every game for years. Yea clown boy loves you until he decides to leave. This time, leaving won’t be his choice.

  6. The Owls will be in a gun fight vs Maryland.

    Early optimism for the season is now cautioned after the first week.

    2019 Temple is a better team than last year. Elusive will be a better record. Memphis, UCF, Cincy, Tulane, and SMU all played at a very high level last week. SMU racked up over 500 yards against a defense twice as good as Bucknell’s.

    The Memphis and Cincy defenses played lights out.

    This season compares most to the 2014 season, every game (except Delaware St) was hard and hard fought.

    Check out the 2014 roster. AN AMAZING 15 PLAYERS FROM THAT TEAM ARE ON NFL ROSTERS TODAY. That team had next level talent and went 6-6. Why? The schedule was just plain hard.

    The 2019 schedule is harder. Do we have 15 NFL players on this roster? Will this coaching staff be better than the 2014 staff?

    A 6-6 finish topped with a bowl win will make for a very successful season.

    • Vegas has it at 6.5. I’ve got the over and I think it will be done in the regular season. After the first week, moved Maryland into the loss column but this team will comfortably beat Georgia Tech.

      • If we get to Maryland’s new QB we can win that one. Gotta hit him early and often. Other side is our own O-line play. We’ve got the talent and depth to win in the trenches, gonna come down to coaching and execution.

      • the other amazing similarity with the 2014 season is the offense. Temple ran the one back, no QB under center spread 100% of the time.

        2019 looks to be the same.

        Carey, like Rhule, will learn the hard way.

  7. Watched Houston-OU last night and for much of the game Houston’s defense looked like the one Collins had; defenders out of place, receivers wide open, and no one checking the QB. Houston made a mistake hiring Holgorsen. I never thought he was that good at WVU. Memphis and Cinncy are the early leaders in the conference. Although Cinncy won the other night, they made a lot of mistakes and could have lost had UCLA not made more mistakes than they did. Memphis beat possibly the worst team in the SEC. Both are beatable. Cinncy’s good sophomore back hurt his ankle in the game and if it’s a high ankle sprain he could be hobbled the entire season.

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