Three immediate cures to what ails Temple

You can learn a lot about a football problem by reading a play-by-play sheet.

Certainly, a lot more than walking around a locker room and listening to post-game platitudes or excuses from a head coach.

Admitting mistakes is the first step to fixing them and you couldn’t find many admissions from Temple head football coach Stan Drayton in the post-game press conference after a 38-11 loss at Navy on Saturday.

Thirty-five rushing yards won’t cut it against anyone.

Not worth delving into every Drayton word but what he essentially said was that they were going to have to find players who had the right mindset to be out there.

Little was said about the coaches but, after looking at the play-by-play, sheet, that’s probably where the emphasis should have been. All week long, Drayton said “getting off to a good start” was priority No. 1.

What did the Owls do on the first drive?

Quarterback Forrest Brock throws 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage, a catch by Dante Wright. Then E.J. Wilson rushes for 0 yards and Brock throws a 9-yard pass to Antonio Jones, which was complete but short by 3 yards. Just a bad scheme all around for a coaching staff that supposedly put a high priority on getting off to a fast start.

Got to throw the ball past the sticks, not behind them, on that first drive.

Worse was the penalties.

On the drive that resulted in a safety, offensive lineman Wisdom Quarshie was penalized for unnecessary roughness.

Joquez Smith was called for offensive pass interference on Temple’s next drive.

An illegal formation penalty ended Temple’s drive right after that one.

The next drive featured a false start.

The next one was ended by an offensive holding.

You can learn a lot about a football problem by reading a play-by-play sheet.

Certainly, a lot more than walking around a locker room and listening to post-game platitudes or excuses from a head coach.
“Hey, it’s on us coaches when we line you up in an illegal formation but it’s on you guys not to draw unnecessary roughness penalties.”

No penalties on the next drive but the one after that featured an illegal formation.

By then, the score was 22-0 and the game was pretty much over.

The No. 1 fix has to be to eliminate the penalties, particularly the illegal formation and illegal shifts. That doesn’t speak well for the staff and begs the question “what does this team do during the week?” Do they even practice?

No. 2, REPLACE THE QUARTERBACK! Either Evan Simon or Tyler Douglas but a message has to be sent to the rest of the team that seven turnovers in two games is unacceptable.

Brock isn’t cutting it and sending him out there is sending a message that while offensive linemen who miss a block are pulled or defensive backs that blow a call are pulled, nothing happens to a quarterback who keeps giving the football to another team.

The team has to rally around another quarterback. Accountability should matter for the coaches and the players. A quarterback being exempt from accountability is a recipe for disaster.

No. 3, on defense, the tackling was abysmal and, when that happened in the Bruce Arians era, he made the team hit the field the next morning and put the pads on for the hardest-hitting practice he ever coached. The Owls became a great tackling team the rest of the year. Maybe putting the pads on for the four practices prior to Coastal Carolina would have a similar impact.

Many problems were on display against Navy. Business as usual won’t solve them. Shaking up the troops with extended practices to fix the penalties and hitting might not, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.

Friday: Coastal Carolina Preview

4 thoughts on “Three immediate cures to what ails Temple

  1. Mike,

    I was surprised to see this morning that Temple moved up two spots in the Athletic/NYT rankings to #132.

    Kent St and UTEP both got creamed by FCS schools thus sinking them below the Owls.

    It is my opinion that Temple could lose to any FCS school we play if given the chance. I’m also pretty sure that they’d lose to UTEP or Kent St for that matter.

    I want #134 back!!!

  2. By the way, Kent St lost to St. Francis of Pa. St Francis are the RED FLASH, so in a battle of the Flashes, Red was better than Golden this week.

    • The reality of our predicament.

      Nova and Delaware could both beat Temple.

      Will Drayton emphasize fundamentals, blocking and tackling, in hard practices?

      Block, tackle, and don’t beat yourself is what Mike has outlined above. And, sticking with Brock amounts to reinforcing failure.

      Or, is it that Simon and Douglas are really that bad? If not, Drayton is stupid and stubborn.

      Will beating Utah State even matter? 0-12 vs 1-11? A win at home in an empty stadium over a scandal ridden team..,

      Where is the justice? At $2.5M for another two years Drayton could self fund his own annuity – set for life. Fry thanks him and drops football. Geez, it may happen, we get closer with every week of bad publicity and dings to the reputation.

  3. Maybe USU comes in tired after played USC in LA last week.

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