The New Reality: Is it sustainable?

From my seat at the Army game this year, I decided that Temple is going to have to find a way to beat the academies on a regular basis to have any success in this league. I was only able to attend due to the generosity of TFF readership. If you want me to attend a road game in 2026, please consider a small contribution today.

After watching one of the classic Fiesta Bowl games of all time, there is a reminder out there that not all that long ago Temple beat one of the two teams in that game by a couple touchdowns.

UConn was that team and Temple beat them, 30-16, a few weeks before that.

Both teams finished the regular season the same 8-4 record but the Huskies ended up in the Fiesta Bowl and the Owls bowless because one team was in the Big East (replacing Temple) and the other in the MAC.

That was exactly 15 years ago and college football has changed a lot since then.

Not for the better.

Short answer for players: You’re as fucked as the fans are and probably more because they have a regular job and you don’t. My advice: If you have a scholarship, room, board and cost of attendance, please keep it and stay at the school who showed you loyalty in the first place.

Temple was able to beat a Fiesta Bowl team back then because the playing field was relatively even as the Owls were able to identify top high school talent and keep those guys through all four years.

Now, no matter how good a job K.C. Keeler does on that end, he risks (and no doubt will) lose the best of that talent either the next year or the year after that.

The players don’t seem to notice how they are being played for suckers and that’s that sad thing. According to Rivals247.com, 3,156 players entered the portal last year at this time and only 1,511 found new spots. What happened to the others guys? In chasing riches, they ended up out on the street and losing a very valuable scholarship, room, board and cost of attendance … which, in the G5, usually averages about $3,500 a player.

The players (among them, a lot of really good ones) who lose it all in chasing the money and end up out on the street would be a terrific story for Dateline, 60 Minutes or any of those other news magazine shows but nobody seems interested in that cautionary story.

That leaves the fans holding the bag for players who make incredibly bad decisions due to predatory agents.

When you lose the fans, you lose the sport.

I don’t think it’s sustainable because North Texas lost its entire team after going 11-1 and will have to rebuild all over again.

Temple, on the other hand, is on the rise but what happens if the Owls overachieve and go 11-1?

They likely lose the entire team and start over again.

It’s not just a Temple problem or a North Texas problem. It’s a Tulane problem. It’s a Memphis problem. It’s a USF problem.

Ironically, it’s not an Army or Navy problem because those two schools have the Kryptonite that kills the NIL and transfer portal.

Yet for any team to win consistently in this league they have to figure out a way to beat Army and Navy by loading the box and selling out for the run. That usually goes against most coaching instincts.

And, after doing that, have a contingency plan on how to rebuild quicker than the competition.

Unless Congress acts and protects the smaller schools, that means a lot of winning seasons followed by a lot of losing ones and a wash, rinse and repeat cycle. Hard to build a loyal home fanbase that way.

Do you see a Congress that protects the big guy in other endeavors ever sticking up for the little guy in college football?

I don’t.

To Congress, I say: Surprise me.

Monday: Temple’s Secret Weapon

2 thoughts on “The New Reality: Is it sustainable?

  1. Mike, Great write up and summary. No doubt, I think every Temple football fan and alum agrees that the portal has hurt college football and college athletics. This article today is a reality check to the G5 schools that success is not sustainable.

    A life where every college football player is essentially a free agent every year make me ill. One thing that I do feel better about is KC’s General Manager. I feel between our Coach and GM, we can rebound and get an American championship and Bowl victory.

    Finally, your reality check on the portal kid that miss the boat. Horrible situation for these young kids. A bad “business” decision when you are 19 or 20, and a well earned college education is lost.

    I truly thank God for my Temple experience, and the education and friendships. But most of all, growing up.

    Keep it up Mike.

    • Thanks, Don. As good a kicker as Carl Hardin was, you wouldn’t have missed the 38-yarder against Navy or the 45-yarder at Army and we would have finished 7-5. That record was a more accurate reflection of the work the other kids put in than 5-7 was. While that doesn’t have much impact on the larger discussion above, it certainly would have made offseason recruiting easier for K.C. Keeler and company.

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