10.25.25
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Learning lessons in a win goes down easier

A couple of weeks ago, the Temple football Owls learned a hard lesson in a bitter loss.

Today, they learned the same kind of lesson in a win, a remarkable 38-37 overtime one at Tulsa that has to rank with one of the top college football games in Week 9.

Give me the second option any day of the week.

Put both lessons up on a blackboard, add one plus two and come up some basic arithmetic that could result in the Owls controlling their own destiny–as much as they can–to get to the American Conference title game.

First, the old news. Temple head coach K.C. Keeler probably learned that taking three knees with a first-and-goal at the 1-inch line and then kicking a field goal with either no (or very little time) on the clock for the bad guys was the preferable option to scoring too soon and giving Navy time to do damage.

Water under the dam and a damn hard way to lose a game.

Today, he learned that trying to reward a guy with a touchdown after a long run is definitely not preferable to giving it to your Mr. Inside (Jay Ducker) after your Mr. Outside (Hunter Smith) put you in a similar spot at the 1-yard line.

That’s why Ducker is Mr. Inside and Smith is Mr. Outside. They both have specific roles on this team and the play-calling took both out of their roles.

Ducker is the inside run specialist but it looked like Temple OC Tyler Walker was trying to “reward” Smith for his effort with a touchdown and Ducker never got back in the game on that series. One, Smith had to be gassed after that long run yet he got the next carry. Two, Ducker is the better runner between tackles.

To me, that was the key to the game being a 31-14 Temple win and a 38-37 Temple win (or worse) because Tulsa made that a 14-point swing. Stopping the “sure” seven of Temple and scoring seven on its own on the next series.

Afterward, Keeler said he was “doing other things” and that Walker was responsible for those four ill-fated calls. That would have made it 21-7, Temple. Instead, the Hurricane used that goal-line stand as momentum to go up, 17-14.

Can’t do that going forward against anyone and, hopefully, this hard lesson was learned.

When the Owls wear Cherry helmets, they usually don’t lose.

Fortunately, the Owls survived because my favorite Temple quarterback (now officially of all time, supplanting Adam DiMichele, sorry Adam), Evan Simon, threw five touchdown passes and, once again, no interceptions.

For those counting, that’s 21 touchdown passes against zero (that’s right, zero) interceptions for the season. Simon is only two touchdowns from tying E.J. Warner’s record for touchdown passes at Temple (23) and is almost a sure bet to eclipse it. Look who is on that list. One, is the son of a Super Bowl winning QB (Warner) and Brian Broomell (who had 22 TD passes) is QB of a Temple team that finished No. 17 in the nation in 1979 and beat two other bowl teams, West Virginia and Syracuse. Another (Steve Joachim, 20 TDs in 1974) only won the Maxwell Award as the best college football player in the nation, beating Heisman winner Archie Griffin.

Now back to Simon, who is going in the books as better than all of them.

This was the sequence that turned a potential blowout for Temple into an overtime game. I get that you are trying to reward a guy who had a 72-yard run with a touchdown but, if after the first play, he doesn’t score, give it to your inside run specialist.

That won’t be the first time he’s ever beaten Warner because, in 2022, Simon was the winning quarterback in a 16-14 Rutgers’ win at Temple. The key play was when Temple’s tiny quarterback tried to throw over a lineman who tipped it and took it the other way for 6.

The hard lesson that day for Temple was if you are a vertically challenged quarterback, don’t throw when a big guy is coming at you with outstretched arms.

The hard lessons the last two times for K.C. Keeler and his staff include a smarter approach when you get to the bad guy’s 1-yard line.

How they apply those lessons will go a long way in determining whether the Owls reach “just” a bowl or something much sweeter.

Much, much sweeter.

Monday: The scenarios

12 thoughts on “Learning lessons in a win goes down easier”

  1. The team is chasing history and running away from demons. The demons will win if they wear white helmets before becoming bowl eligible.

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    • Cherry helmets can’t lose. Better use them in the title game at Memphis or USF (if the Owls get there). Love to see a rematch with Navy but I see the Middies losing twice. That puts USF, Memphis, Tulane, North Texas and the Owls in the same blender. Hope that mix comes up Cherry.

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  2. I can’t recall any game quite like this one. A game where we had a first and goal at the one or two yard line and couldn’t score. Too many tries up the gut when an off tackle slant (yeah, that’s what we called it in HS) or around end might have worked better. So Tulsa takes the ball from their own end zone and quickly roars down the field for a touchdown. Our pass defense was definitely lacking for this game. But it was an exciting (if not frustrating at times) game overall. We won and are 5-3 overall. I’m still holding out for 7-5 and a bowl bid.
    Jim Graham

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    • It’s almost like the Eagles eschewing the tush push for a handoff to a backup running back. Makes no sense whatsoever. Temple doesn’t have a tush push, but it does have an accomplished inside tackle RB and to not give it to him is a Stan Drayton-level of incompetence. Hopefully, the “other stuff” that KC Keeler said he was doing was important. I doubt it.

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      • Coach KC Keeler’s second major mistake, the other one being in the Navy game when they should have taken a knee to run the clock instead of scoring and giving the ball back to Navy with ample time for them to score and win the game. But I still love the guy! Nobody’s perfect.

  3. I said the exact same thing after the play was over. Let Ducker run it now for at least one or two plays. Maybe reward him on third down.

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    • Both of these decisions were easy calls. Anyone who has watched the NFL regularly knows those coaches and players routinely have special plays for first-and-goal at the 1 or so. Except for the Eagles, nobody runs the same play four-straight times to the same running back. Every Temple fan was screaming at the TV for Ducker to get the ball after Smith didn’t get in the first time. It’s not second-guessing. It’s first-guessing. As far as the three knees thing, look how many NFL players slide at the 1 rather than score in order to kill the clock and not give the other guy any time. Same principle should have applied in the Navy game.

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  4. those two series’ almost cost us two games. Luckily only one.

    I love Keeler. Absolutely awesome hire, but these two decisions were huge.

    but I’m rolling with Keeler. Let’s go bowling with another win or two

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  5. Whew!!! If ever there was a “50-50” game, this was it. Got to say it but our D backfield is not doing a very good job – allowing far too many long pass completions the last few games. It’s killing the team effort. At least this time we won the one-point game. Seems like the D-backs are lining up too close to their receivers and get out sprinted down field (but I could be wrong). But 2 of our guys on the receiver on the one yard line and still he caught it? Jeez…

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    • I wrote last week in this space that I hoped our last week’s Tuesday practice emphasized the importance of playing the ball and not the man and turning our heads toward the ball and keeping our hands off the man. I hope we have a better Tuesday practice this week because the ECU QB is going to be flinging it. That said, with Kromah and Badmus coming back, the best pass defense is putting the QB on his ass and I hope those two get that message as well.

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      • Absolutely, but the D-back play needs to improve also – the way they line up or different schemes – whatever…..

      • Agreed, but there needs to be an improvement with the D-back play, whether its lining up differently or different schemes, whatever….then we’ll have a killer team overall.

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