08.21.25
by

First things first: Single Digits

Must admit that the only thing that generated any interest in my watching the sad 2024 season of The Temple football Owls was The Evan Simon Story.

It might make for a pretty good movie someday.

Was miffed when then head coach Stan Drayton picked a JUCO quarterback over him to start the season at Oklahoma and then watched in horror as said JUCO (Forrest Brock) played like Forrest Tucker (F-Troop fame) and became, at least in my mind, the worst starting quarterback in Temple football history.

The miffing turned to anger when I saw Simon throw four touchdowns and run for another in a 45-29 win over Utah State. (Yes, the same Utah State that handed Hawaii a 55-10 loss and Hawaii is favored over P4 Stanford this weekend.)

Me, a mere fan who sits in the stands was right and the freaking CEO of the entire program who made $2 million more than me to watch this garbage was wrong. My first thought was that the Owls might have won as many as three more games (certainly one or two more) if Drayton had might the right decision.

I cheered my ass off when Layton Jordan sacked Evan Simon here in 2022. Little did I know I would become Simon’s biggest fan a couple years later.

That wasn’t when I became a big Evan Simon fan.

I became a big Evan Simon fan when, during the later stages of a 53-6 loss at Tulane, he fumbled the ball and crawled on his hands and knees for 5 yards at midfield to outfight four bigger faster and tougher Tulane defenders and recover the fumble. He sacrificed his body and health for the ball and, in some respects, for Temple University.

That’s Temple TUFF.

On Thursday, Simon was rewarded not for that but what he has done since and his leadership of this team as being one of the new single digits. One of the other single digits was a punter, Dante Atton. Let’s hope this is one single digit the Owls never have to use.

The big story is Simon, though.

There are two ways to look at this.

One, it’s an indication Simon will start at UMass in about a week.

Two, new head coach K.C. Keeler is throwing a bone to Simon with the single digit for his leadership and accepting last year’s Oregon State starting quarterback, Gevani McCoy, into the fold.

I don’t know. We will find out the answer to that question in eight days.

This I do know: Both are AAC championship level quarterbacks and Temple can win with both and need both to win.

I only know one who I can be sure will crawl forward on his hands and knees for a full 5 yards to recover a fumble. I can hope the other guy has the same level of courage.

Or never fumbles.

If Simon gets the job and wins a championship, though, that would rival “Rudy” for the best college football film ever made.

Monday: Game Week

11 thoughts on “First things first: Single Digits”

  1. Simon starts vs UMass, even though by most accounts McCoy outplayed him.

    Drayton never broke the code on single digits, and now Keeler comes with a different spin. Canʻt sit Simon after the single digit recognition. If a single digit isnʻt on the field how much can he impact the outcome of the game?

    IMHO, your play on the field comes first, the other criteria follows.

    AG and MR got it right, everyone else has struggled with single digits. Season hasnʻt started so Keeler deserves the benefit of doubt…, we shall see.

    Situation reminds me of Nutile. He wore a single digit and was benched in favor of Russo.

    Reply

    • It’s a very hard decision (not for me because I would start Simon) for the staff. One, they invested in McCoy (if Temple gave the big back from Maryland who flopped 100K like I heard they must’ve given McCoy a lot). Two, they are risking a disgruntled McCoy. Three, McCoy fits the Tyler Walker OC scheme more than Simon does. To me, you win with both and you keep both interested. That means starting Simon and then bringing in McCoy if the Owls go three-and-out on two or more series. Not a fan of the two-quarterback system usually but this transfer portal era dictates keeping everyone happy and moving the ball forward (in this case literally).

      Reply

      • The byproduct of that is Simon knowing if he doesn’t get first downs he will be pulled. Temple’s never had a quarterback who feared that since Hardin and Joachim/Ginestra.

  2. Two single digits for the d-line. A big question going into the season start. Is the D-line that good, or is the O-line subpar?

    Everyone has been raving about the D-line play. It is the same line that gave up the most rushing yards in the conference last year. No new players, so what has changed? Can the new coaching staff make that much of a difference?

    One thing to note. Both coordinators bought their previous line coaches to Temple. Stark contrast to the pick-up team of coaches assembled under Drayton.

    Reply

    • DL had a lot of injuries last year and those were to the best players. All of the DL guys are back and they got a starter DT from UMass who might not start here. Watch out for Morris and Kromah. They could wreak havoc. Brian Smith is only about 10x better than Withers and that should be a big difference.

      Reply

  3. Watching the Hawaii game. Hawaii’s stadium has a capacity of 15,141 and every seat is taken and the atmosphere is off the charts. Put that same crowd at the Linc and some people would call for the home team to drop football. There is a lot of wisdom to downsizing.

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  4. Thank goodness no local TV blackout.., old Aloha Stadium scheduled for demolition soon. New stadium will take years to build.

    HS football is quality. Temple should recruit this state.

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  5. Why TUFB could TUFB surprise to the upside? The 2025 is loaded with 29 seniors, 22 of whom will either start or get significant playing time.

    Two, Keeler got seven quality starters from the portal, assuming McCoy starts. He also bought in depth.

    Three, Special Teams should be among the best in conference.

    And, the season should start with two straight wins. When was the last time that happened.

    Reply

  6. Four, Keeler Dots the I’s and crosses the T’s. He’s had referees in practice almost every day the last two weeks and told them to be hard on the kids, to call penalties on 50/50 calls. I could be wrong but I don’t think you’ll see any Tik-Toc dances like the Stanford kid did after the 20-yard sack that pretty much cost his team a touchdown in a 23-20 loss.

    Reply

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