So you’re telling me there’s a chance?

Since I had a couple of teeth extracted on Thursday, my literal grasping of straws has taken a doctor’s ordered week hiatus.

They say that you can’t drink anything through a straw because the “sucking motion” impedes healing.

The dentist didn’t say anything about grasping for figurative straws, which I’ve been doing for most of the last couple days after watching Temple head coach Stan Drayton’s performance at this week’s AAC Media Day Extravaganza.

The one biggest straw is the fact that Drayton has one scholarship remaining in his pocket and is holding it as a wild card for someone currently in the transfer portal who can immediately help the Temple football program.

All I could think about is that one Jim Carrey meme: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

I don’t want Drayton’s ace in the hole to be used for anything other than a starting quarterback. There are a few left in the portal who still haven’t found a home if one shakes free, there’s a pretty good chance that guy is better than any guy who has been at the E-O facility over the last seven months.

Any real success that Temple will have this year will depend on how Drayton uses that one remaining scholarship and whether he is able to talk an upgrade into coming to Philadelphia.

Drayton hit on some themes he’s always hit on and, while that sounded nice, it’s not as important as upgrading the quarterback room. He talked about the No. 1 thing being that the players love one another and know each other “well enough” to hold everyone in the room accountable.

Whatever.

Those are things that he’s talked about for the past two years and all that’s gotten him is a couple of 3-9 seasons.

So the biggest thing he said was that he was holding a scholarship for an impact player. There is no more impactful player on any team’s roster than a quarterback.

If he’s not able to grasp that last straw and turn it into pixie dust, watching the Owls probably will be as painful as getting a couple of teeth pulled and any sucking motions will be reserved for a three-hour period every weekend.

9 thoughts on “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?

  1. Hi Mike very sorry about two things:

    Your tooth/teeth situation and the state to TU Football.

    A few years ago my Dentist told me they know that the days of old silver fillings I had as a youth often leads to cracked teeth years later , which I am now enjoying big time now.

    Football, they have more than cracked teeth now.

    • Thanks. Sitting there in that chair yesterday I thought the fact that most Saturdays could be like this rare Thursday in July. Temple has upgraded every position with the possible exception of OT and definite exception of QB. We can live without the OT. We can’t live without the QB.

  2. “Excited” has become an overworn cliche and now means “we have no idea.”

  3. One or two open scholarships? Big board lists two open.

    Realistically, what is the best we can hope for? IMHO, another 3-9 would be awesome. It would keep us off the ESPN floor.

    Let’s not diminish the reality. Our two leading candidates for starting QB would not start for any teams in conference.

    • Drayton said at Media Day he will probably give one of the two to a walk-on but he will keep the other one in his back pocket for immediate portal help if that guy presents himself. My thought? Let’s present ourselves to that guy first. My dream as a kid was to play football at Penn or Temple but I don’t think any of the big-time kids in the portal have that same dream. So let’s go recruit them and show them they can get to the NFL here by starting at QB over making a million in the NIL as a backup elsewhere.

  4. Take good care of your teeth, man!

    I hear you wanting a four star transfer qb, but what we really need is a Temple guy, a Matakevitch, a Reddick, a Sharga, a Wilkerson, someone who wants to play blue collar football and bust some heads. We need a guy who really wants to be at an underdog school and lead his teammates in overachieving.

    We need the attitude back.

    Does it still exist? We’ll see.

    • When he comes to Temple, he’s a Temple guy. Can’t believe the 2022 New Mexico Bowl-winning QB, the offensive MVP in that game and a high school teammate of probable Temple starter Antwain Littleton II, is still in the portal. Hopefully, Stan Drayton knows. Time’s a wasting. (Side note about the teeth is that I can’t have a brewski for 10 days. I had a dry January by choice. Now I’m having a forced dry July and first week of August. Eating a lot of mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. Can’t even have a soda for 10 days. Ugh.)

  5. Drayton lost his job when he failed to keep EJ concussion free and content. He has been a dead man walking ever since.

    Grim Reaper when the concussed son of a HOF QB leaves your program. Rival recruiters won’t stop telling that story until Drayton leaves.

    Our top 2 candidates for QB would not start for any other team in the conference. Not even Army or Navy bc neither of them can run the option.

    • Agreed. Really head-scratching to me that he never even tried to get one of the 15 quarterbacks in the portal between Dec and August who were demonstrably better than not only Brock and Simon but E.J. himself. Has he given up on his HC career? Certainly seems so. I will apologize if he brings in another quarterback who actually did something in FBS or FCS by Thursday. Something tells me I won’t have to make that apology.

Leave a reply to Mike Gibson Cancel reply