11.30.25
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Season post-mortem: Good, so close to great

Plenty of good to like about K.C. Keeler’s first season as Temple head coach, so the grade has to be a Solid B.

Good, but could have been better so no A.

Refs also made a mistake in the Navy game that was just as important as Temple not kicking the field goal.

The Owls finished 5-7 and were only three knees away from 6-6 and a bowl game.

We’ve harped on this before, so won’t spend more than one or two sentences on the Navy game. Tied, 24-24, with 1:16 left and a first-and-goal from the 1, the obvious move was to take three knees and get that clock down to about 20 seconds before kicking a field goal from extra point distance to win it, 27-24.

Carl Hardin then squibs the ensuing kickoff, and Navy does the five backward passes on the kickoff that never works and somebody like Curly Ordonez falls on the ball to end the game. Then Hardin gets carried off the field, the Homecoming crowd of nearly 27,000 goes home happy and maybe a good portion of those folks come back for the final two games.

Wasn’t to be.

The worst errors are the unforced ones and that was doozy of the year. Didn’t buy Keeler’s post-game explanation that the Owls didn’t practice the kneel down and he wasn’t comfortable doing it. That was the same play the Owls executed flawlessly at the end of four of their five wins, so they must’ve practiced it. That was the difference between 6-6 and maybe playing another 6-6 team in a bowl game and getting about three weeks extra practice time for next year.

Live and learn.

Temple was 3 points away from beating three bowl teams (Navy, Army, UTSA, which they did beat) and a 7-5 record.

The one-point Army loss was hard, but easier to take than the loss to the other service academy.

Now let’s get to the good part.

They did beat a UTSA team that WILL be bowl bound and handed Charlotte a worse loss than either Tulane, North Texas or Army did.

They added a road win over Tulsa, something that the old coaching staff never did.

They upgraded the roster significantly all the while keeping every single player on scholarship who wanted to stay.

Even though they lose a record-setting quarterback in Evan Simon, they were thisclose to bringing in a Heisman Trophy candidate (Trinidad Chambliss), who was scooped up by Ole Miss the Friday he was supposed to sign at Temple.

They probably won’t find a Heisman candidate to replace him in the transfer portal this time, but they will find a QB or two good enough to win in the American Conference. Pretty sure they will upgrade the entire roster the same way, while keeping a good portion of the two-deep who do return.

At 6:46 here, Yale demonstrates the general principle of what TU should have done against Navy.

Keeler and roster-building guru Clayton Barnes built a nine-win FBS roster with fewer NIL resources at Sam Houston State than they have at Temple and probably will build a nine-win roster at Temple either next year or the year after.

All they have to do is improve to 6-7 next year and continue the upward curve.

Unlike basketball, there is reason for optimism with Temple football and the structure Keeler put in place is it.

Fairly certain there will be a better grade a dozen months from now, whether it’s a B+ or an A.

Friday: Signing Day Analysis

Monday: Room at the Top

3 thoughts on “Season post-mortem: Good, so close to great”

  1. Just saw the list of HS recruits: big on D-backfield, some really big O-linemen and a couple QBs who sure look good coming out of HS. Also lots of receivers. Hard to tell but could be a good haul.

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  2. Temple did the unthinkable, they lost the last four games. The team did not have enough talent to overcome a few bad calls and critical coaching mistakes.

    Reasons for optimism in 2026. KCK wonʻt make the same mistakes twice. And, I hope TUFB sent the American Conference tapes of the bad calls, it canʻt get any worse next year.

    The staff has capitalized on the time not spent preparing for a bowl game to build a stronger roster in 2026. Barnes is a walking made for TV type character.

    Now Temple must defend against and attack the portal.

    If Temple doesnʻt hit a home run with a QB from the portal, we could see another 2013. That year Connor Reilly started the season before giving way to PJ Walker. Could Tyler Douglas start the year before giving way to one of the freshmen? Letʻs hope not, the 2013 finished at 2-10.

    Aside from QB, the line of scrimmage needs work. The OL stopped improving midway through the season. Why? The question needs a great answer since most of those guys will be returning.

    Temple needs to build a DL to defeat the triple option. Army, Navy, and Rice next year. If not, three automatic losses.

    Identify the next QB and control the line of scrimmage and the 2026 will go bowling, bet on it.

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