Took a week off to recharge the batteries.

That was the plan.

Little did I know that would be literally.

In this case, not recharge but replace.

In the middle of three days where you couldn’t go outside and breathe without inhaling five packs of cigarettes in an hour, I turned over the engine only to find out my car wouldn’t start.

Three years of turning that key and never worrying about starting the car were out the window. Called Triple AAA and a guy named “Jack” came by and dumped a new battery in my car.

That was a $247 expense I didn’t count on but I need that car to go to work, doctors and shopping so reluctantly pulled the $247 out of my wallet and handed Jack a $10 trip for his trouble.

My high school basketball coach, George Paull (RIP), once told me, “the only thing I know about cars is that you turn the key and away you go.”

Me, too.

Most times.

K.C. Keeler has the keys to the Temple football vehicle and he better set the GPS for Rhode Island. (Yeah, we know they are coming here but in terms of preparation that’s the direction he should go.)

Now Temple football recharges the batteries starting today with the focus on directing that trip to the Rhode Island game.

Rhode Island?

Yes. Unlike Temple, RI has a tune-up game at Merrimack the last week of August and that factors into an already problematic opener for the Owls.

Because as tough as the Temple schedule is, the Owls didn’t schedule Howard as a tune-up game the first week of September. They scheduled a Top 10 FCS team and we all know the success FCS teams have against FBS teams in recent years, especially in the opening week of the season.

Temple knows for sure.

7️⃣ Saturdays to the show 👀#TempleTUFF pic.twitter.com/hBirKFMQR6

— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) July 18, 2026

In 2009, the Owls won nine-straight FBS games after losing to eventual FCS champion Villanova in the opener. While hoisting that FCS national title trophy, then Villanova head coach Andy Talley gave special thanks to Temple, calling the Owls, “the best team we faced all year.”

Then Temple head coach Al Golden would have rather had the win than the compliment, yet that Temple team was the first Temple bowl team in 30 years and gave Rick Neuheisel’s UCLA squad all it could handle in a 31-21 loss at the Eagle Bank Bowl.

This Rhode Island team has something in common with that Villanova team in that it kept almost all of its starters. The Rams only lost their All-American kicker to Louisville.

Yet they retained their most important two players, quarterback Devin Farrell and wide receiver Marquis Buchanan, who were sought after by many FBS schools. Farrell threw for 3,745 passing yards to earn third team All-American status while Buchanan was a first-team All-American with 1,124 receiving yards.

Farrell gives the Rams something the Owls don’t have–an experienced college starting quarterback while Jaxon Smolik–if he wins the job as expected–gives Temple something Rhode Island doesn’t have, a 4* high school recruit at that same position.

Something’s got to give and how much violence Keeler can convince the other 21 Temple starters to bring to the football between now and then will determine the outcome.

It probably won’t be the 55-7 FCS win the Owls experienced last year, but figure on a 34-14 type of outcome if the battery starts when Keeler turns the key.