11.30.24
by

The most painful error of TU football is over

When the history of Temple football is written, the period between 2021 and 2024 will be forever known as “The 3-9 Era.”

You can’t go from 9 bowl games in 10 years to four-straight 3-9 seasons. That’s unacceptable, even in the NIL/transfer portal era.

That’s because in the long and often painful history of the sport at Temple there is arguably no worse era. You can’t go 3-9 four years in a row after teasing your fans with nine bowl games between 2009-2019.

Here’s my argument: I suffered through a 20-game losing streak and 30 years between bowl games only to see that losing streak end when Adam DiMichele threw a flea-flicker touchdown pass to Travis Sheldon to beat Bowling Green. Sheldon was the hero that day, also taking a kickoff return to the house.

After a rough first start against Layton Jordan and Temple for Rutgers in 2022, Evan Simon has proven to be if not a great Temple Owl a very good one. I would be happy if this kid is K.C. Keeler’s starting quarterback next year.

The coach that day, Al Golden, got an ice bucket bath.

It was onward and upward after that.

Three years later, Temple was in its first bowl game in 30 years.

Two years after that, Temple won its first bowl game in 32 years.

Four years after that, Temple was the major story in the nation with a Prime Time Game on ABC-TV that broke all kinds of ratings records. To this day, that was the No. 1-rated college football TV game in the nation’s fourth-largest market.

Any college football game. Ever, including Penn State-Notre Dame games, college football championship games. From the time Philo Farnsworth invented the TV set in the 1930s until 2024 and probably way beyond.

Unless Temple gets a prime-time game again, I doubt that record will ever be broken. (For the record, I doubt Temple will ever have a prime-time game again. Unless a Saudi billionaire wants to make a statement by backing the Temple NIL fund. Shoutout to MBS, who reads this website occasionally.)

Did I think Temple could sustain that kind of success?

Hell no. (I was just happy I lived long enough to see it.)

Did I think Temple could be a regular visitor to great bowl games and win its share?

Hell yes.

What happened?

Two buddy hires (Pat Kraft/Rod Carey and Arthur Johnson/Stan Drayton) poisoned the well of success we’ve been drinking from. Kraft and Johnson were responsible, but so was the BOT which should have provided oversight.

Today’s 24-17 loss to North Texas was bad, but proved the kids never quit and that is important.

They were down, 24-3, and had enough pride in themselves, the school and their teammates to compete.

The second half was 0-0 against a bowl team.

IF … and that’s a big IF .. the next coach can keep the core base of talent (I’m thinking QB Evan Simon, RBs Torrez Worthy, and some guys on defense) here and supplement them with P4 backup talent and FCS stars (not JUCOs), Temple has a chance at a winning season.

Not far in advance like the old days. Next year.

It also has to have a good coach who understands that the way to beat offenses is an attacking defense (which means sacks and strip fumbles in the backfield or forced interceptions) and an offense that supplements its base philosophy with surprises (i.e. halfback passes, double reverses, shovel passes and jump passes ot the tight end).

The last three years we saw nothing of that at Temple.

Disappointing but not surprising that this offensive staff played backup QB Tyler Douglas at RB on several downs but never realized they had a RB who could throw a halfback pass. North Texas might have been fooled by that but we will never know because Temple never tried to fool the opposition.

Wayne Hardin, who fooled Temple’s opposition for many years, was probably turning over in his grave.

The next four years we should see plenty of fooling the opposition or there will not be four years after that. Pain should be followed by gain, but we will see.

After four years of the most painful Temple football watching in history, no fans deserve that kind of future more.

Monday: Season Review

17 thoughts on “The most painful error of TU football is over”

  1. History repeats. TUFB finds itself back in 2011, before the E-O renovation.

    Back then universities were forced to step up and commit resources to improve facilities in order to compete.

    Reluctantly Temple was one of the last schools to renovate. They watched peer institutions pass them by.

    Now it is NIL, same story different noun. The fact is it doesn’t matter who Temple hires to coach football if the school doesn’t commit to NIL.

    “Tulsa is expecting to move quickly in its search, and sources tell FootballScoop that Tulsa leaders are letting candidates know that they are taking a highly aggressive approach for the next leader in the NIL space, with one source saying the program is positioned to be among the top-funded in the American Athletic Conference.”

    Will Temple make the same commitment as Tulsa? Or will Tulsa be the next school to leave Temple behind?

    Failure will follow if Temple chooses to abstain, again.

    Reply

    • Agreed. Amazing that Utah State, a team that Temple beat, 45-29, beat Hawaii, 55-10. To me, the key that day was that Simon made about 10 hellacious throws under unbelievable pressure. Can you imagine what would happen if Keeler is able to bring above JUCO level pass protectors to keep him clean? No doubt in my mind Warner would have had about 5 concussions with this line if he had stayed. Simon is smart with the ball.

      Reply

  2. I was at the game this afternoon, tough loss but it was good to see the team play with some heart til the last whistle. Defense was flying around and playing physical from the 2nd quarter on which was exciting to watch. I just watched Evan Simon’s postgame presser, he seems unsure if he’s going to return for his final season of eligibility. Would love to have him back, him and Dante Wright were really fun to watch this season. It’s ashame Dante couldn’t play today, too,

    Reply

  3. Another name I’ve seen mentioned on several sites is Charles Huff at Marshall. Like his background as well. Winning HC record at Marshall, did coaching stints at Maryland, Buffalo and Penn State so should have familiarity with the northeast/mid atlantic regions, only 2 years older than Robinson, for those who seem to have an issue with Keeler’s age and with a listed salary of $755 K TUFB should be able to offer a nice. Seems either Keeler of Huff would be a good choice.

    Reply

    • I would have no problem with Charles Huff. He’s one of about 10 guys who can move Temple football forward. Problem is we’ve hired two people who moved them backward. The difference between a guy like Huff (and Keeler) and, say, Carey is that they both have a rudimentary knowledge of what it takes to win in the East/Mid Atlantic and Carey did not. Both made the kinds of decisions on the fly as HCs that beat big-time teams and would not have to learn that end of the job on Temple’s dime and time as Robinson would.

      Reply

      • Plus two seasons in Tuscaloosa for added seasoning in so far as teaching the players the importance of details and “doing your job.”

  4. So what and/or who was the incentive to buy out Drayton? Two times in a row – highly unusual for Temple. Hope it means the school is serious about improving football. Enjoyed the game yesterday, showed some competitiveness.

    Reply

    • The kids were flying around on defense, particularly in the second half. That was enjoyable. Really pisses me off that nobody realized that kickoff was a live ball. That turned out to be the difference in the game. Under the next coach they will.

      Reply

  5. Philadelphia media is saying Keeler is the leading candidate. Texas media is saying he has already accepted the offer. I like this pick . Sam Houston is 9-3 in only their second year of FBS. Probably has less NIL money at Sam Houston. Most seasons he has had a winning record. He has connections in the Philadelphia area from his days at Delaware. If he does a good job, he might give us 4-5 years before he retires. That is a plus as if he has a great first year he won’t leave.

    Reply

  7. KC Keeler is a dick. But so are the majority of football coaches.

    I was recruited by him years ago at Rowan while John Bunting was the HC. Keeler’s recruiting pitch was mostly bragging about his career at Delaware and especially his time spent with the Eagles pre-season camp as a free agent. He made it to the final cut, so he said. It was nauseating. Almost as shitty as his wrap around sunglasses.

    I ended up walking on at Delaware for a couple of seasons. The level of the feeling of superiority of Tubby Raymond over Temple was expressed frequently. Tubby boasted about his record versus TU all the time. I’m sure Keeler feels likewise.

    Obviously, KC Keeler will be a huge upgrade over Drayton and Carey. Keeler is an asshole…just like Tubby Raymond.

    Reply

    • I’ll take your word for it but give me an asshole who wins over a nice guy who doesn’t. We’ve had the nice guy for three years now and he hired a DC who gave up about 100 points a game at FIU (exaggerating for effect here) and compounded the problem by giving up 100 ppg at Temple (ditto).

      Reply

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