09.07.26
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It’s called Cherry on Top for a reason

To me, the best Temple helmet would be the King Solomon Solution of splitting the baby, with T on one side and TEMPLE spelled out on the other.

The phrase “cherry on top” is used metaphorically to describe an extra element that improves an already positive situation.

It’s high time Temple football’s equipment room and hierarchy understood that simple concept.

Maybe, just maybe, Temple’s win over Rhode Island on Saturday was the last time Temple will ever wear white helmets at home.

Temple beat Penn State with the Cherry helmets, Cherry top, White pants–the best uniform combination in the country.

We can only hope because it’s a documented fact that almost every time the Owls wear White helmets over Cherry uniforms they lose and play like crap.

Rhode Island was the exception to the rule. There’s always one.

Take just the K.C. Keeler “Era” for example. The Owls got spanked by ECU, 45-14, and Oklahoma, 42-3, and UNT, 52-25, wearing. ….

You guessed it. White helmets.

They beat Howard, 55-7, UTSA, 27-21, and played spectacularly in a heartbreaking loss to Navy, 32-31, won on the road at Tulsa (32-31) wearing Cherry helmets.

On the road, the White helmets with the White uniforms can be excused. Putting that ugly White helmet on top of a great Cherry uniform at home is blasphemy.

This would be the best road uniform combo, the same one the Owls had at Tulsa last year.

I mentioned that to Athletic Director Arthur Johnson on Saturday and he told me he had nothing to do with the helmets. I brought up the subject with K.C. Keeler’s secretary, Nadia Harvin, and asked her to leave a note on K.C. Keeler’s desk to ixnay the White helmets, at least in home games. Nadia said we are the Cherry and White.

I then said nobody uses the phrase White on Top. It’s always Cherry on Top.

Almost all of the great moments in Temple history were accomplished with the Owls wearing Cherry helmets. The Owls beat Penn State in 2015 wearing Cherry. They went down to the wire against No. 9-ranked Notre Dame in the highest Philadelphia TV rated game ever wearing Cherry helmets. They won the Garden State Bowl (1979), the New Mexico Bowl (2011) and the Gasparilla Bowl (2017) wearing Cherry helmets.

Owls finished No. 17 in both final polls in 1979 with these sharp helmets.

That got us to thinking. When was the last time Temple won at home (BEFORE) Rhode Island wearing a White helmet over a Cherry uniform. It was the 2024 Homecoming win over Tulsa. Before that, it was the 20-13 win over East Carolina in 2013.

Few and far between but Karma isn’t the only reason why Temple should stick with one helmet color.

The kids have a word for how the Cherry helmets look and that’s tight. The White helmets are the opposite of that.

Maybe loose. To me, the word I most associate with the White helmets is hideous.

Temple’s brand is the Cherry helmet and the Owls should stick to it.

When Al Golden was hired as Temple coach, he addressed the subject.

The 1974 Owls had their preseason camp at the Cherry Hill Inn and not the White Hill Inn for a reason. This team won 14-straight games and wearing Cherry helmets every game certainly didn’t hurt.

“When I was at Penn State, I remembered those guys who wore the word TEMPLE on their helmets as the toughest-hitting team we played every season and I wanted to bring that tradition back,” he said.

So for the rest of Golden’s career the Owls played every game wearing the Cherry helmet with TEMPLE spelled out on the side.

When Golden left, that tradition went with him, too. It’s time to bring it back.

Friday: Penn State Preview

Saturday: Penn State Game Analysis

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