Homecoming Must: Urgency to Win

UTSA coach Jeff Traylor pretty much tells you he’s not concerned with Temple here. Owls should take it as an insult.

Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s something else, but the way the Temple football Owls performed at the end of last season gave me significant hope for this season.

That’s pretty much all gone now.

At the end of the season, I wrote on this site that if the Owls got me a great running back from the portal (Western Michigan’s Sean Ryan and Ball State’s Carson Steele to name two) and two great FCS defensive ends to replace Darian Varner, the Owls were off and running not only to 8-4 but a possible AAC title.

Not having done any of that we recalibrated those expectations down to 6-6.

Stan Drayton needs to have a quick hook if E.J. produces zero or three points at the half again.

Now, with the biggest home game of the season less than 24 hours away (2 p.m., ESPN+), we might have to lower even those expectations.

Why?

The most disappointing thing about this 2-3 season so far is not the loss to Tulsa but the lack of urgency to win from this coaching staff.

I had us 3-2 at this point, not 2-3. Had the losses to RU and Miami but the loss to Tulsa came out of nowhere.

If this coaching staff really, really deep down inside had the urgency to win, they would not have handed the keys to the offense back to the driver who drove them into a ditch in the first half at Rutgers. After giving me 46 against ECU and 35 against Houston, no points there should have been a huge red flag.

If this staff really wanted to win, what was the same guy doing in the game down, 21-3, at half to a team that gave up 66 to Oklahoma and 43 to Washington and why were they allowing that to happen? I don’t get it.

They rolled the same guy out there expecting him to overcome a 21-3 deficit when it’s quite obvious he can’t move the sticks by running if a play breaks down or if he gets any pressure.

As the kids say today, “WTF?”

That cannot be allowed to happen. It just can’t. Next man up.

Our picks this week: Rutgers getting the 13.5 at Wisconsin, and the above four games, Rice blowing out UConn by more than 10, Texas State beating Louisiana, South Florida beating UAB by at least a FG and TCU winning at Iowa State. Season: 20-7 overall, 8-4 against the spread.

If the Owls only had a promising freshman from Ocean City, N.J., I can understand that. But they have a guy in the fold who not only beat North Carolina but engineered 47 points on them. They have a dynamic backup quarterback who can both run and throw.

Nothing would please me more than to see E.J. Warner turn the first-half scoreboard into adding machine against UTSA and, say, give the Owls a 31-14 lead at halftime.

Failing that, though, this staff has to show me inertia is not their middle name and show me another word that hasn’t been in their dictionary all season.

Urgency.

Get him out of there and at least show the fans you are trying to win by getting Quincy Patterson in there to create plays and move the ball not just with his arm but his feet.

Rally the defense and special teams around him.

Don’t wait to win.

Win now.

Or that biggest crowd of the season won’t come back this year or maybe even next.

Sunday: UTSA analysis

10 thoughts on “Homecoming Must: Urgency to Win

  1. I thought your optimism at season’s dawn was mere poppycock, however, I deferred to your expertise as the judicial voice of Temple Football. Here we are, 2-3 about to go 2-4. Stan is NOT the man. He should be honorable and resign…like Ron Dickerson. However, unlike Ron – no “take backs.” May fair thought and happy hours attend on thee!

  2. Maybe like Carey now, our HC will ride out the 2 mil/yr contract as long as he can ? He must know there is no hope, but at least he got the contract of his life in all this fiasco.. Nothing says he would have ever made as much anywhere else. Is it possible he is not a charismatic winning persona , needed today in order to get things improved, like Golden was ? I am thinking , ‘it is what it is ‘, now.

    • He’s already raising the white flag in pre-game interviews. “Injuries.” Don’t want to hear about it. Got plenty of linebackers but few linemen so get to work with a piece of paper and change the schemes. Two tight ends on offense. Three linemen and five linebackers on defense. Blitz the hell out of the opposing quarterback. Create havoc in the UTSA backfield. Don’t sit back and let them run you over.

  3. I don’t have any faith at this point that Withers can scheme a defense to take advantage of the personel available and will fall back on the injury narraftive. I was figuring on the team being 3-2 at this point as well with maybe a chance to “steal” a win for Homecoming. I hope the urgency is there but I’m not optimistic, even against Norfolk State neither line was dominant. Won’t be surprised if we have a repeat of Tulsa or worse tomorrow. Speaking of QB, if Warner continues with the sophmore slump for the entire season wouldn’t be surprised if Douglas pushed him for the starting job next season, saw him several time in HS and I think he’s got real potential.

  4. Is there really any reason whatsoever to believe that they can or will win this game?

    • No for a lot of reasons. One, they love EJ and he’s not putting up points at halftime for them (10 against Akron, 0 against RU, 3 against Tulsa). If he’s telling you that he doesn’t love you back, time to break up with him. Every minute of those three hours is important. Can’t afford to waste 1 1/2 hours so many Saturdays. That tells you a lot about their defeatism. Two, they made a lousy quarterback look like Patrick Mahomes last Thursday. Is the blitz even in their defensive playbook? Doesn’t look like it.

  5. With the program (still) in disarray and fewer people going to the games why is Temple continuing to spend millions to rent the LINC? It just doesn’t make sense. Lurie must have quite an influence on the members of the BOT because they’re sure not making any decisions that benefit Temple. Has to make one wonder…..what the hell is going on.

  6. Left Game at start of the 4th. The game was interesting, we listened to the end on the radio 97.5 on the way home. They tried, but that’s all they got, I think. They can not be much better than today. The D was gashed by several long killer run and pass plays for TD’s.
    San Antone had big big boys on the line for both D and O, I was pleased out Temple Tempe didn’t get crushed immediately, it took time.
    What could possibly help considering what they have ?
    Oh Well….

    • They have players but they don’t put them in the position to win the games. DC has no freaking clue how to stop a modern college offense. He hasn’t posted a shutout since 1985. Will Chuck Heater please report to the press box?

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