Leave it to Shawn Pastor to put the 2025 football Owls in perfect perspective.

On a recent post, the Owlsdaily.com editor compared the 5-5 current Owls to the 5-7 2008 ones.

That was Heartbreak City for Temple fans.

That team deserved much better. This team does, too.

If this current version finishes with the same record, it will be Heartbreak revisited again.

Like then, the current version has a great head coach (K.C. Keeler/Al Golden), a great quarterback (Evan Simon/Adam DiMichele), and a great defense.

The 2008 team also had their share of heartbreaking losses (a Hail Mary at Buffalo and overtime losses to UConn and at Navy). This team had heartbreaking one-point losses at home to Navy and on the road to Army. The next year, without DiMichele, the Owls won nine-straight games and made their first bowl game in 30 years.

I don’t want to wait until next year, nor do any other Owl fans.

The difference this time is that team can do nothing about the 5-7 outcome.

This team can.

At the end of that season, I wrote a tribute to DiMichele saying we might never see his like again at Temple. Fortunately, I was wrong in that Evan Simon probably will finish with a better career. It would be nice to see him get what eluded Adam. I do know this. The Simon I saw crawl on his hands and knees to recover a meaningless fumble last year in a 53-6 loss at Tulane will move Heaven and Earth to beat Tulane this year.

Let’s hope the other 54 Owls who dress for the game take the same approach.

The path to a bowl game is difficult because both Tulane and North Texas will be double-digit favorites.

Think of it this way, though.

Temple beat UTSA, 27-21, and Tulane was blown out by UTSA, 48-26. That doesn’t mean Temple will beat Tulane by 30 points or even 20, but it does suggest that Temple has a chance.

What will have to happen that hasn’t happened the last few games is for both Sekou Kromah and Sultan Badmas to get healthy and get on the field and cause Jake Retzlaff the same kind of agita they did to Owen McCown in the UTSA win. McCown, after leading the Roadrunners to a 14-3 lead at halftime, was constantly running for his life in the second half when the Owls outscored his team, 24-7. He was either sacked or running 20 yards in the wrong direction and making throws off the wrong foot. (Hell, this was the same McCown who was 31-for-33 for 370 yards and four touchdowns against Tulane demonstrating how important a pass rush is in college football.)

There are a couple of lessons in those stats for both Brian L. Smith, the Temple DC, and Tyler Walker, the OC, and, ultimately, Keeler, the CEO, to consider why devising the Tulane Game Plan:

One, if McCown can put up those numbers against Tulane’s secondary, unleash Simon. Two, put relentless pressure on Retzlaff.

That kind of thing MUST happen in one week or the Owls season will be pretty much over. It would also help if every Temple fan within an hour of the game puts down the remote and comes out to support the Owls.

That’s the Tulane game, which is all important.

If you are looking for a silver lining in the game at North Texas, it’s that the Owls of Stan Drayton … yes, Stan Drayton and Everett Withers … lost by only a touchdown to North Texas last year at the Linc.

Gotta think both Keeler and Brian L. Smith give the Owls a better chance this time, but you don’t want to let it come down to that.

For the Owls to avoid the same kind of Heartbreak that happened 17 years ago, it’s not up to Tulane. It’s up to the Owls themselves. They know how they beat a better team in UTSA. They know how hard it was. They have to take things into their own hands and take care of business at home in eight days.

Otherwise, it will be the kind of de ja vu nobody wants to revisit.

Monday: Survival Week