The New Guys: Learning about Temple TUFF

Thanks to Joe Tolstoy for this compilation of a historic Temple football time.

Right about now, the myriad of new Temple football players are learning about both the city of Philadelphia and what it means to be a Temple Owl.

As of Monday morning, it has to be a good thing.

Being in Philadelphia a few months after the World Series was here and a few days before the NFC Championship game will be here has to be the definition of being in the right place at the right time. That’s not even including the Sixers, who might be the hottest team in the NBA right now.

More importantly, being at Temple University the day after its storied basketball program took down the No. 1 basketball team in the country.

All good things. All selling points for recruits.

Those things have been built already by clever drafting and solid management.

That’s how this Temple football program is being built, too.

Stan Drayton had a year of a learning curve and put in place a culture first and a plan second.

The culture resulted in a lot of effort and a significant improvement, if not in the bottom line record, in the scores of the games from the year prior.

Except for the Memphis game, the Owls did much better against every single league foe in 2022 than they did in 2021.

For example, the Owls lost to Navy, 38-14, in 2021 but took that team to overtime a few months ago. They lost to Houston, 37-8, in 2021. They lost to Houston, 43-36, this year. They lost to ECU, 44-3, in 2021 and it took a controversial third-down pass to take them down, 49-46 this year. Those are just a few examples.

With the culture changed, now the approach is fixing those areas.

Pretty much, the Owls have done that but stacking both lines with more size, talent and speed than last year.

Arguably, the only area they have not improved is the running game but there is still time to do that with a big-time portal back.

The Phillies and Eagles have ignited the city in the last few months. Maybe in the next couple the Sixers will,, too.

After that, it will be Temple football’s turn.

Maybe even a college gameday will be sometime in these “new guys’ future. If not in 2023, maybe against Oklahoma in 2024.

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4 thoughts on “The New Guys: Learning about Temple TUFF

  1. Good things for the city and for Temple University for sure. But I can’t help worrying that because the City of Brotherly Love is currently seeing a major increase in crime, especially in gun-related killings, it could have a negative effect on both recruiting for our athletic programs and on overall university applications as well. I hope not. Anyway, we have to press on and hope that things improve. I believe they will. Our basketball team knocked off the number one team in the nation Houston on Sunday! That gets us national recognition which is great. So we build on that. I believe we have a good one in Coach Drayton. I look forward to a much improved football team come September. Go Owls!🦉

    • I’ve listened to most of the people who have entered the race for Mayor understand the impact of crime and are running to be tougher on it. More police, less guns, etc. The pendulum seems to be swinging from letting the lesser crimes go. Hope it’s not just lip service. I don’t think it is.

    • I would flip one and two because Drayton is so skilled in the 1 area but it’s a solid list. If Al Golden can coach the special teams his first two years and be head coach as well in a complete bleepstorm, Drayton can coach the running backs until he finds his guy. Hopefully before spring ball so he still has time.

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