The closest thing to a Temple football State of the Union address is what head coach Stan Drayton had to give to a group of supporters at the 1912 Club last week.

The biggest takeaway was Drayton’s statement that he expects the Owls will be a “totally different football team.”

Sometimes, different doesn’t mean better but Drayton went on to say that the team will be bigger, faster, stronger with greater depth on both sides.

Drayton will not be judged on what he says, though, but what he does. He knows the bottom line has to go from three wins to six wins. Or better. Three to four wins or three to five wins won’t cut it. This is his third year. Time’s a wasting.

Temple fans will see a five-win season as a fifth-straight losing one, not a significant bump from a trifecta of three-win seasons.

So, what has he DONE so far?

It looks like he’s used 1987 solutions (recruiting JUCOS to fill key holes in the lineup) when the 2024 solution is to get P4 backups looking for playing time. Drayton has done that with RB Antwain Littleton, who made an impact at Maryland, but with few other spots on the roster.

So far, no quarterback in sight with nearly the explosive ability of E.J. Warner and that’s a piece that doesn’t look like it’s coming.

What worked in 1987 probably won’t work in 2024 but that’s on Drayton.

The advantage Drayton has over back then is that his schedule is ranked No. 127.

The 1987 Owls of Bruce Arians also had three wins but played the 10th-toughest schedule in the country and won at No. 16 Pitt, 24-21, beat Toledo (13-12) and played relatively competitively in a 27-13 loss at No. 14 Penn State. (Pitt lost to Temple that year but shut out Penn State, 10-0.)

Back then, Arians filled areas of need with JUCOs.

Now Drayton, who played Division III in those days, is reaching back and going with an old solution in a brave new world.

He’s going to try to do it with mostly JUCOs.

That’s the State of the Temple football union and, while it doesn’t look good now, Drayton will look like a genius if the formula works.

For his sake, and Temple’s, I hope next year’s State of the Union address takeaway will be “I told you so.”