There were 69,756 people in the stands for the last most important home football game in Temple history, the 27-10 win over Penn State on 9/5/15.

There will be roughly–give or take a couple thousand–22,646 announced for Temple’s next most important game, vs. Akron, in less than two months, 9/2/23.

Hopefully, the brain trust in the coaching room at the Edberg-Olson Complex is paying attention. Hopefully, they have been paying attention.

This will be the ultimate Xs and O’s vs. Jimmy and Joe’s game.

It might be more important than Penn State because the Owls are coming off a couple of 3-9 seasons after a decade of restoring respect for the program.

Beat Akron and hope springs eternal. Losing to Arkon and another 3-9 (or worse) seems unavoidable.

As a Temple fan, I’m very confident that the team wearing Cherry and White that day will have a significant advantage in Jimmy and Joe’s department.

The X’s and O’s?

I wish I could say I’m not sure but am fairly confident that the Akron coaching staff has that edge.

What makes me say that?

Akron’s head coach, Joe Moorhead, has already beaten better Temple players with worse players and a better head coach, Matt Rhule, than anyone Temple has seen since, arguably, Al Golden.

With gosh-darn Fordham football talent. That should set off all kinds of wake-the-bleep-up calls in the E-O.

Don’t fool yourself. He can beat Stan Drayton.

Will he?

Not if the defensive brain trust is studying the pin-and-pull offense.

Do I have confidence new defensive coordinator Everett Withers is in the film room studying Akron’s offense like Moorhead is studying Temple’s defense?

Hell no.

Unless he proves otherwise, Withers to me to a skate-through-life guy and Moorhead is a nose-to-the-grindstone guy. Withers hasn’t stopped any modern offense recently on a consistent basis, but Moorhead’s schemes have confused a more talented team more than once. Withers hasn’t shut out a college football offense as a sole DC in this century and he’s had a whole lot of chances. The evidence shows the opposite. Opponents pretty much have scored at will against Withers’ defenses. This is something Drayton has to take responsibility for since it’s his hire.

The pin-and-pull has been Moorhead’s bread and butter at Fordham, Penn State, and Mississippi State even before he got to Akron.

That’s a Moorhead staple and it’s been since he used it to befuddle a Phil Snow-led Temple defense.

Everyone on the Temple fandom side is going to approach this game like it’s going to be a 34-7 Temple win. Not me. Don’t fall into that trap. Temple is a 10-point favorite and Vegas is usually pretty good. On top of that, Moorhead’s offense is usually OK so I’m thinking somewhere near 31-21 Temple if everything goes right.

History is always a good teacher, though. In 2016, the Owls did not do their homework and came away with an opening-night loss to Army.

You had nine months to prepare for a triple-option offense and the best Snow could do that night was leave the A-gap open for the Army fullback and he gouged the Owls for 134 yards. By the time he inserted Averee Robinson in the game as a nose guard with 8;32 left in the fourth quarter it was too late.

Now the Owls have to be ready for the pin-and-pull.

Studying the Akron film should have been part of every Temple coaching meeting so far. If it hasn’t, there is still enough time.

Temple’s superior Jimmy’s and Joe’s deserve that much.

Monday: What if “they” are right?