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— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) July 6, 2023

By Mike Gibson

Not for nothing, some numbers could mean big things for Temple football fans.

Hopefully sooner for some than later.

The Powerball for Saturday night is $610 million. I’m playing a lot of numbers pretty close together because they are the most important ones for Temple football this season.

I will take 15-6-10-7-24 with 13 as the Powerball and take my chances tomorrow night.

The reason is that I think those are the five most important numbers of players for the 2023 Temple football Owls. (Unfortunately, a lot of Owls who are just as good including tight ends David Martin-Robinson and Jordan Smith have numbers too high to qualify as Powerball numbers.)

If they don’t come through with the $610 million, my fervent hope is that even a slight improvement of their 2022 numbers will mean the Owls’ bottom line will be the best since 2019 when the number on the left was greater than the number on the right.

Let’s go through it and, for the record, I’m predicting the production for every single one of these players improves the Owls’ chances of winning.

15-WR Amad Anderson. The Purdue transfer had his best season for the Owls a year ago when he caught 38 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns.

My hope: He gets that number up to 60 catches, 700 yards and 8 touchdowns. My prediction: 514 yards, 6 touchdowns.

6-LB Jordan Magee. Last year’s stats: 86 tackles. My hope: 123 tackles. My prediction: 100 tackles.

10-WR Dante Wright. Called by one non-Temple person as “the steal of the portal” this guy is the most explosive wide receiver Temple has had since All-Pros Steve Watson and Leslie Shephard. He was a first-team freshman All-American at Colorado State where he caught 57 passes for 805 yards and four touchdowns. My hope: 1,000 yards and 10+ touchdowns. My prediction: 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns.

7-CB Jalen McMurray. The sophomore-to-be is easily the most talented CB to play at Temple since Rock Ya-Sin transferred from FCS Presbyterian. He already owns a Pick 6. My hope: He gets another Pick 6 and raises his interception level to his number (7). My prediction. He leads the team in pass breakups with 10 or more and picks off four passes.

24-RB Joquez Smith. Smith is the most heralded incoming running back at Temple since Al Golden signed state indoor 100-meter track champion Bernard Pierce out of Glen Mills. Pierce proved himself right away at Temple, getting over 1,000 yards freshman year, including a 268-yard, two-touchdown game in a 2009 27-24 win at 10-win Navy. Smith has a much higher ceiling than returning starter Edward Saydee and, if he wins the job, it will be a good sign. His best season was his junior year at high school when he went for 1,883 and 27 touchdowns for unbeaten Florida 6A state champion Tampa Jesuit. My hope: 1,500 yards, 15 touchdowns in his first season at Temple. My prediction: 943 yards, 11 touchdowns. Either way, it’s an upgrade over Saydee’s 639 yards and six touchdowns.

Temple’s Powerball: 13: E.J. Warner and Layton Jordan

For the first time in 15 or so years, Temple’s two best players are not wearing single digits (yet) but are wearing the same lucky number: 13.

A lot of people are predicting a sophomore slump for quarterback Warner. I’m not one of them. The simple reason is that this guy lives in the film room at 10th and Diamond and is getting great coaching not only from inside that building but from an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback. Joe Burrow from LSU went from 16 touchdown passes his junior year to 60 his senior one. Do I think Warner can go from 18 true freshman touchdown passes to 60? Not this year but it’s not out of the question he could hit 40. My hope: 40 touchdown passes, 10 or fewer interceptions. My prediction: A Temple season record 30 TD passes with the same number of interceptions he had last year (12).

Jordan is a remarkable playmaker with 18.5 tackles for losses, including a TFL that resulted in a touchdown in the checkered end zone at Navy. He had nine sacks and three defensive touchdowns. The grad student will earn his football Ph.D. at Temple with double-digit sacks, 20 TFLs and five defensive touchdowns. If he does all that–and I think he will–he will be a first-round NFL draft choice, joining former Temple Owls Haasan Riddick and Mo Wilkerson. He will also be the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, joining former Owls Tyler Matakevich and Quincy Roche in earning that honor.

That’s both a hope and prediction. Hitting all of those numbers tomorrow night would but a nice bonus but I will gladly setting for hitting the numbers associated with those numbers no later than the AAC title game.

If the hope outperforms the prediction, Temple will be one of the teams in that game.

Monday: Cheat Sheet