Teams with Temple’s resources poised to do better

Had to laugh at one of the responses to my last post demanding do better in football. He responded saying that college football has devolved into a transactional business and that Temple football can’t compete because it can’t match the transactions.

What that comment missed was the fact that there are teams in the same boat as Temple but they are paddling upstream while the Owls are letting the tide take them downstream.

Same money. Same boosters. Same transactional problems.

The smart guys figure out a way to win with roughly the same NIL money. The dumb guys write down excuses they will mention on the way out.

Mike Farrell Sports did a nice job with this theory mentioning that the G5 schools most aggressive at the highest-profile positions will probably leave the Temple’s of the world behind.

General Phillip Sheridan (err, Arthur Johnson) appoints General Custer (err, Stan Drayton) a couple of years before Little Big Horn.

While Temple “settled” for the second-best quarterback from the 130th-best FBS offense, a team like FAU went out and got QB Cam Fancher from Marshall (who was available to Temple for the four months immediately after E.J. Warner took the lateral move to Rice).

In that story, Farrell mentions that Sam Houston State, Bowling Green and Colorado State–all with coaches making a fraction of what head coach Stan Drayton makes–upgraded their rosters with a slew of P4 talent to move to the head of the G5 class this season.

There is no way you can convince me that UL Monroe– located in the highest crime city per capita in the entire United States–can get a General Booty transfer from Oklahoma to be its quarterback and Temple, located in a world class city (the only World Heritage city in the United States) has to settle for a Rutgers backup and a JUCO who got beat 55-0 by SMU last year as its triggerman at the most important position on the team.

General Booty is only about 10x better than Evan Simon and Forrest Brock combined and but he will play in Lafayette, Louisiana and not Philadelphia, Pa. Hard to believe, Harry.

In a roundabout way, that’s exactly what Stan Drayton told some boosters at a “Temple Takeover” event a couple of days ago.

It was almost a decade ago now since a magazine correctly predicted that the Temple Owls would be No. 1 in football. Now the Temple football coaching brain trust should be concerned that the Owls are being picked for last.

Drayton correctly identified the No. 1 issue for the Owls has being that triggerman but said that it’s between the guy with more career interceptions than touchdown passes vs. the guy who got beat 55-0 and gave no indication that there is any interest in a player currently in the portal.

Hmm.

There is a player currently in the portal who was named MVP in the New Mexico Bowl in 2022 and beat that team who beat his favorite 55-0 losing JUCO QB.

Not only that, but the quarterback also still available is the former high school quarterback teammate of Drayton’s projected No. 1 RB, Antwain Littleton.

We won’t name names because a head coach getting paid $2.5 million per year by Temple should know who is in the portal and who played with his RB starter.

The fact that he has not indicated to any Temple boosters that help is on the way is really discerning and should temper any enthusiasm for Temple’s chances in September.

The message Drayton conveyed to the Temple faithful at Little Big Horn (err, The 1912 Club) was that the Cavalry in the form of a big-time quarterback was not arriving and the Owls will have to circle the wagons around the current meager QB ammunition they have now.

Captain Frederick Benteen and Major Marcus Reno figured that out in 1876 and were smart enough to watch from a distance as a clever enemy scalped General Custer.

If anyone is surprised at the imminent outcome, they never took a post-Civil War history course at Temple.

Watching a massacre is never a pleasant experience.

2 thoughts on “Teams with Temple’s resources poised to do better

  1. That shot of the magazine page reminded me once more it really wasn’t that long ago this was a football program that looked like it had a good future. It could have one again. It just seems so very, very far off right now.

    • I’ve been thru many decades of watching Temple pretty much suck at football with the exception of a few mostly lucky HC hires. But I agree Bruce that there COULD be another bright spot in the future but only if the brain trust at Temple starts getting smart about their HC hires – otherwise forget it. Maybe, let’s hope, Drayton has something up his sleeve with the QB situation?

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