Temple football: Finally, Game Week

Since Wayne Hardin transitioned the Temple football Owls from what was then called the college division (roughly FCS) to the university division (FBS), football here could be broken into five eras:

One, The Hardin Years (1970-82)

Two, The Arians Years (1983-88)

Three, The Dark Ages (1991-2005)

Four, The Golden Rhule Era (2006-2016)

Five, A Mini-Dark Age (2017-2024)

Some pretty good times and a couple of rough patches.

There are signs with the season opener at UMass on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ESPN+) that the Owls are coming out a rough patch and into good times and that’s encouraging because one of the lessons of the Golden Rhule Era should have been the Owls were not going back the dark ages.

After Al Golden righted the ship, the prevailing thought around here was that there was no reason for Temple to return to losing seasons and breaking even should have been the minimum standard for every season.

Nobody could have predicted that after being bowl eligible for nine of a 10-year period, they would slump to a 1-6 season followed by a lot of 3-9 ones.

What happened?

After Rhule, the university went away from the formula that caused the revival in the first place–instead of hiring coaches with local connections, the administration hired either big-time coordinators from elsewhere or “a fish out of water” head coach from the middle of the country.

By returning to the formula that worked, the Owls got the best of both worlds–a big-time winning head coach with Philadelphia roots.

Everything K.C. Keeler has done since his arrival in Philadelphia screams he gets Temple as a university and gets both this city and the Temple football program.

Now emerging from the dark tunnel into the sunlight begins and winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

The first game won’t be an easy one as the Owls have to take to the road to take on another revitalized program in UMass. Temple is a 4-point favorite and Vegas is usually pretty good so very few expect a blowout (although I wouldn’t mind the Owls getting one).

This is the type of confidence UMass fans have (LOL).

As much as the Owls expect to win, that’s how much the UMass fans expect to win because they, too, have a first-year coach who understands their region as much as Keeler does his. While this is head coach Joe Harasymiak’s first FBS head coaching job, he’s was a successful head coach at Maine. Many of their fans think they can win.

Still, Temple plays in a tougher conference and has a four-year head start recruiting a superior pedigree of players so the Owls have reason to be confident. The last time Temple played UMass, even a Stan Drayton-coached team came away with a 28-0 win.

With a better coach and better players, the Owls need to start fast and, after 231 days of hard work under a guy who knows what he’s doing, they are hungry to show how far they’ve come.

They’ll have that chance in six days.

Friday: Temple-UMass Preview

Saturday Night: Temple-UMass analysis

12 thoughts on “Temple football: Finally, Game Week

  1. Temple wins, 27 – 19. Keeler does something in his first game TUFB hasnʻt done in nearly four years, win on the road.

  2. I will be at the game. Are there any organized tailgates at this game?

    Thanks!

  3. …outside of maybe 5-10 schools (and even that might be a lot) the overwhelming majority of FBS programs (P4, G5, doesn’t matter) are literally one bad head coaching hire away from falling off the edge of the proverbial cliff no matter how good the previous 5-10 (and maybe even 15-20) seasons were.

    Joe P.

    • The funny (curious, not humorous) thing was we were able to predict in this space that both Manny Diaz and Drayton would be hired a good 5-10 days before each were and we wrote at the time how disastrous both hires would be and why. Temple didn’t listen and went right off the cliff. Calling it now like Babe Ruth. Keeler will be a home run hire.

      • Keelerʻs interview today wasnʻt noteworthy, but it was calm and relaxed. This isnʻt his first rodeo, he feels confident about how he has prepared the team.

        This is in stark contrast to Draytonʻs body language during interviews. You never got that calm and relaxed vibe. The play on the field followed.

        IMHO, Temple may or may not win, but they will play up to their ability without anxiety.

  4. His knowledge and grasp of what each individual Temple player can do is so impressive. I’ve watched every single one of these press conferences and “I truly believe” (in my Ron Jaworski voice) that he knows more about the football ability of all these players who Drayton had more than Drayton himself. He seems to be impressed by what he inherited and for a guy who has a history of doing more with less that’s a good sign.

  5. Kind of excited, first time in years, ufortunately.

    • Amazing that the Owls went 8-5 in 2019 but I wasn’t excited by that season at all because three of the four losses were by blowouts and it was obvious Rod Carey was butchering the career of a terrific dropback passer named Anthony Russo by putting him in a read option. Guarantee that Keeler is such a good coach he will have dropback plays for Simon and read option plays for McCoy. That should keep UMASS off-balance. To Carey, it was his way or the highway. Great coaches adjust their schemes to the talents of the players they have and not try to fit square pegs into round holes.

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