Biggest worry of the season: Big Bodies

This $10 million addition to the E-O was built to win titles and not to lose to an FCS team.

Normally in this space on every Friday of the football season you will read a “real” preview of the next day’s game.

No such preview is needed today.

If my beloved Temple football Owls don’t take care of business and destroy Norfolk State, there is no reason to open up the Edberg Olson Football Complex on Monday. The university spent $7 million to build that complex in 2005 and $10 more million on improvements five years later to win FBS titles, not to lose to an FCS team.

Daz hugs Bill Bradshaw after beating Maryland 37-7 in 2011. These are the kinds of games Temple needs to schedule and win.

The reasoning is simple: Any team who loses to Marshall 55-3 and James Madison 63-7 last year deserves to lose to Temple by 48-7 or worse this one.

If we are not getting that kind of business done we should not be in this kind of business.

I will not be at the game because I’ve said for years that Temple should not be playing FCS teams and I will not pay a dime to see Temple play those teams. We will be back in attendance against Miami (9/23, 3:30) and hope to run into a lot of Temple fans there. (Aside to KJ–we’re no longer in that corner you saw us a couple of years ago, we are now alongside the primo row where the team walks into the game. Thank you, Arthur Johnson.)

Really convinced FIU will win outright over a UConn team that loses its starting QB for the season. NIU would have passed the eye test with the win over BC but the loss to SIU was the last straw. Akron passed the eye test for me against Temple so should not lose by 30 to Kentucky. NW’s 38-7 win over a decent UTEP team sold me on the Wildcats.

This Saturday, though, this 40+ year Owl fan will be watching from home (ESPN+, 2 p.m.) tomorrow and I am confident we will be able to deliver on this site a decent post-game report.

Temple’s main goal should be getting into a P5 conference and beating FCS teams does nothing to advance that goal. Scheduling and beating P5 teams does advance the football in that direction. The Owls beat Vanderbilt, 37-7, in 2014. They beat Penn State 27-10 in 2015. They beat Maryland 35-14 in 2018 and 20-17 in 2019. Those are the kinds of games they need to schedule and win.

Meanwhile, more pressing issues are at hand.

The biggest worry of the season is what we saw in the first few games: Temple is running out of big bodies on the offensive and defensive lines.

The Owls defensive line in particular got worn down in the fourth quarter at Rutgers, where a less-than-mediocre Big 10 team was able to score 23-straight points on them. Blowing that possible win really hurt.

Who to blame?

Certainly, the current staff is first in line. They should have known the Owls needed a lot more big bodies in the program that they were able to attract in the transfer portal. They should have over-recruited like an airline overbooks but didn’t.

Will it come back to bite them?

Geez, I hope not.

A possible fix that might work is a 3-5-3 defense–two DEs, a nose guard, five LBS (which we have plenty of) and three DBs.

Meanwhile, say a prayer that no one gets hurt along either line until after the AAC championship game is over in December.

If those prayers are answered, the Owls have a shot at being in that game.

If not, 6-6 will be a monumental struggle.

Let’s beat Norfolk State like a drum, go to the 3-5-3 defense and hope for the best.

Picks: Started out slow (3-3 against the spread). Would have definitely been 4-2 had Michael Pratt of Tulane played against Mississippi State. This week’s picks are above.

When you schedule Norfolk State, you don’t appear on “regular” TV. The Akron-Kentucky and VT-Rutgers games should be of particular interest to Temple fans. Owls are on ESPN+ at 2 p.m.

Sunday: Game Analysis

5 thoughts on “Biggest worry of the season: Big Bodies

  1. If I am not mistaken, Norfolk State lost to a D2 team in week 1

    • Powerhouse Virginia State. Sarcasm intended. This is the week to take out frustrations (and have Quincy Patterson PASS, not run) and Temple should be able to run it up by playing the second teams. Take care of business the way Memphis and Miami did to Bethune Cookman.

  2. EJ should start but needs to produce. Why shouldn’t we play FCS teams since most P5 schools do too? The Rutgers game showed we aren’t ready yet to play and beat P5 teams, sorry to say.

    • Here’s why: We’re not a Power 5 team. We need to become one. The only way to become one is to schedule them and beat them. Tough job but Al Golden, Matt Rhule, Daz and even Geoff Collins were able to beat Power 5 teams. Rhule beat them a few times. Temple’s profile rises with a win over Miami. Should have beat Rutgers but were content with getting shutout at halftime and left Warner in. There’s got to be a sense of urgency with winning at Temple and I’m not seeing enough of it.

      • This was the 1986 schedule, my first year at Temple. Other then the fact that we had only 4 home games, this would be the perfect schedule. Yes, I know Florida AM is 1AA but they had what today would be 8 p5 schools on the schedule. If you are in a p5 (soon to be p4) conference you can afford a cupcake. My formula today would be 3 p5 teams and maybe one MAC school but no 1AA teams unless you get in the P5.
        Temple @ (6) Penn State
        Ind
        2 Sep 13, 1986 Sat Temple @ Western Michigan MAC
        3 Sep 20, 1986 Sat Temple Florida A&M
        4 Sep 27, 1986 Sat Temple @ BYU
        WAC
        5 Oct 4, 1986 Sat Temple @ Pitt
        Ind
        6 Oct 11, 1986 Sat Temple
        East Carolina
        Ind
        7 Oct 18, 1986 Sat Temple @ Virginia Tech
        Ind
        8 Oct 25, 1986 Sat Temple
        Syracuse
        Ind
        9 Nov 8, 1986 Sat Temple
        Boston College
        Ind
        10 Nov 15, 1986 Sat Temple @ (11) Alabama
        SEC
        11 Nov 22, 1986 Sat Temple @ Rutgers
        Ind

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