11.08.25
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Flirting with a bowl game was nice while it lasted

For most of the upcoming bye week, what we are going to be hearing from both the Temple coaches and players (and maybe some fans) is that the Owls can win one of their two final remaining games and reach bowl eligibility.

A lot of people (raising my hand here) who have watched this team know what we saw over the last 10 games and come to a competing conclusion.

The Temple fan section in one end zone at the game today.

The flirtation with a bowl was nice, but it’s probably over.

Nobody would like to see the Owls win one of their two remaining games (hell, both would be preferable) more than me but wishing and hoping isn’t going to make it happen and the Owls’ one-point losses to the service academies set them up for having to beat better teams than both Army and Navy.

That will be a nearly impossible task.

Both the Navy and Army games taught the Owls a valuable lesson in the way to close out a football game going forward.

Had the Owls did against Navy what Army did against them–slide at the 2 and milk the clock to end the game–we’d be talking about which bowl game we wanted to attend. The Navy game, a 32-31 loss, should have been a win had the Owls taken three knees and kicked the game-winning field goal.

Army quarterback Cale Hellums illustrated that point with an exclamation mark when he slid at the 2 in a 14-13 win on Saturday. He could have done what Temple head coach K.C. Keeler elected to do a couple of weeks ago and score but that would have given Evan Simon the same kind of time to beat his team that Keeler gave Blake Horvath and Navy.

It was almost like Cale turned to K.C. and said, “This is what you guys should have done against Navy.”

The Owls played dumb football then. Army played smart football today. The hard reality is for all of the great compliments Keeler had about kicker Carl Hardin is that he missed makeable field goals (45 and 38 yards) against both service academies. Just one would have put the Owls in a bowl game. Keeler said Hardin can hit it from 60, but I’d rather have a consistent kicker from 45 and in than the threat of hitting one from 60. Give me a guy like Cap Poklemba–who went 5-for-5 in field goals at Pitt–over someone who might hit it from 60.

After the Tulsa win, Keeler said OC Tyler Walker told him the Owls’ offense was better when it played aggressive. They were anything but aggressive against Army. They should have thrown downfield on 75 percent of the plays against a team that couldn’t defend the pass.

Instead, they relied on the run way too much. If the Army defense is good at anything, it’s playing against a run they see every day in practice. The few times Temple threw the ball on Saturday it was successful.

Clock management is an important thing going forward for next year not this one because it likely won’t be an issue over the final two games.

What will be an issue in the final two games is the same one we witnessed two weeks ago against East Carolina, a roster gap that can’t be bridged by getting all the injured players back over the bye week. Make no mistake about it, the rosters of North Texas and Tulane are every bit as good as the ECU roster.

After that ECU game, Keeler alluded to that issue by saying “we’re not there yet” in the area of talent.

Expect all the quotes over the next week to be of the “we can do it” variety but the quotes over the two weeks after that being of the “we’re not there yet” realm. Or “those guys have had a couple years to build the roster and we’ve had only one.”

You know what I’d like to hear?

“Tyler said to me we’ve got a great QB so let’s put the ball in his hands the final two weeks and that got us a couple wins nobody expected,” Keeler might say.

Doubt we’d hear anything like that, though.

Damn.

When that happens, the story of the 2025 season will be so close yet so far away. Maybe no more than one foot far right twice with the kicker being it should have never come down to one.

Monday: Caution to the Wind

10 thoughts on “Flirting with a bowl game was nice while it lasted”

  1. Mike, more people read this blog than you think. These comments matter.

    Army, Navy, and Rice all run some version of the triple option. Temple will play at least two of those three teams every year. Keeler needs to build a defense accordingly. Itʻs an added burden but it is the TUFB reality. Staring at two probable losses if he doesnʻt.

    Perhaps we get healthy during the bye, and catch Sumrall thinking about his next job. Who knows? Temple has just enough talent to pull an upset with a perfect game plan. Start by keeping Retzlaff in the pocket, and between the tackles on designed runs.

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    • It’s quite possible Sumrall could say yes to Auburn by the time we play them. Hopefully, his players will check out with him. Me? Put the ball in Simon’s hands and have him fling it all over the place. Use Ducker and Smith as change of pace guys to keep the rush off him. Check off to screen passes to Mason and Smith when Tulane or NT blitzes. With JoJo and Hollawayne, we do have explosiveness at receiver and reliable hands with guys like Clarke and Chase. Don’t put your backup QB in to throw a ball. Let the WR who played QB at UCLA do that. When No. 14 (Douglas) came in every Army player pointed out that he was the backup QB. Doubt that any of them knew No. 11 played QB at UCLA. What does Walker have against Hollawayne throwing that pass? Makes no sense.

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  2. Better yet, use the bye week to put in a small package for Hollawayne inside the 15 yd line. Pre snap move Simon to wr and have Hollawayne run the wildcat. He can run it, or throw it. Not a trick play, but a package designed to take maximum advantage of the talent you do have.

    https://www.hudl.com/video/3/9825687/5e5fe5c6c119de09d8c7b6a9

    Reply

    • The Tyler Douglas package has been an unmitigated disaster. Rather see double reverses, wraparound draws (ala Hardin days), jump passes to a 6-6 tight end), etc. etc. Colin Chase is a great player but has he broken a single tackle this year after a catch? He reminds me of Zack Ertz in that regard. Guy has got great hands but we need some explosiveness on the edge.

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  3. Was thinking about making the trek up to West Point as I have never been. But boy am I glad I decided to watch this one on my couch.

    I don’t know what to say about the defense. They only let up 14 points yet couldn’t get off the field to save their life when it mattered.

    We knew the offense wasn’t going to be on the field much today – which made it so much more frustrating when they couldn’t capitalize. Questionable play calling, once again, was to blame. As soon as temple went three and out on their only 4th quarter possession back I knew there was no chance we were getting the ball back. Although I wasn’t a fan of the trick play call with Douglas, if you are going to run that type of play all 11 players have to be on the same page. Clearly there was a miscommunication as according to the broadcasters (who were clearly Army biased) Chase wasn’t even looking for the ball.

    Is 5 wins an improvement? Of course it is. Am I still unhappy because this is a squad that should be going bowling but won’t be barring some divine intervention? 100%.

    Reply

    • I don’t get why Chase wasn’t looking back. I have a feeling that there must have been a communication issue with the play. Speaking of that, does anyone else find it fishy that Temple’s headsets weren’t working at the end of the first half and Army’s were? Or that the Army band had to be told to stop playing? This kind of stuff happens at all academy road games.

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  4. offense was brutal for two weeks. Can’t win with 14 or less points a game. What happened to the passing game?

    and enough Tyler Douglas. 3 rushes this season, minus 3 yards?

    last year fumble in the biggest game of the year. Let Simon throw the ball or run it. Enough Douglas

    Reply

    • I agree. We only had two possessions in the second half but we helped Army by running the ball. They want to shorten the game. We don’t. Throw the ball. Since Simon doesn’t throw INTs, the worst thing that can happen is the clock stops and our drives might have been more productive.

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      • The KCK irony of it all.., Delaware could become bowl eligible next week in their first year at the FBS level. Probation period precludes them from accepting an invite, but a win against Sam Houston gives them 6 for the year. Meanwhile back at the ranch the owls are licking their wounds.

        Itʻs only a matter of time before the CFB Playoff Committee abolishes the automatic bid for the Group of 5. The inequities increase every year, and powerful P4 teams will claim harm. Equity and inclusion has lost favor. Now is the time for the Group of 5/6 to start planning their own championship game.

      • Agreed. I’ve been waiting for almost 10 years for sanity to return to CFB and give the G5 an equal chance by splitting 50 percent of TV money equally over 130 FBS teams to be used as the sole source of NIL funding. The Bamas and the OSU’s won’t go for it because that means a Kent State or a South Alabama might be given a chance against them. It’s insanity now and, unlike Byberry, nobody is willing to destroy the insane asylum. Nobody. Not Congress, not the Supreme Court, not the NCAA (which has no power). Given that, let the G5 split.

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