With very little daylight left and still wanting to get out for a bike ride, I put on my Temple game jersey and Temple hat and was going to flaunt my Temple swag on the way out the door.

After all, it was a great day topped off by a great Temple win.

As Lee Corso might say, not so fast my friend.

The Owls had just gone up, 42-28, on a Sam Brown 2-yard run and there were only 6 minutes, 40 seconds left on the fourth-quarter clock. Looked at my watch. It was 6:19 p.m. I remembered that because 6/19 is my birthday.

Rather than head for the door and get an early start, my 50-plus years as a Temple fan told me to stick around to see this out and watch the kids celebrate on the field. Or brace myself for the unacceptable I’ve seen so many times in the past.

Over the next 6 minutes, I could not believe what I saw. This might be the most brutal Temple loss ever and most of the blame goes not to the kids but to the adults in charge.

By 6:47 p.m., I ripped off the Temple hat and the Temple game jersey and went on the bike ride wearing an Eagles hat and an Eagles jersey because I didn’t want to listen to any Temple questions.

Temple lost, 49-48, in overtime in the most excruciating fashion ever.

First of all, you can’t let a quarterback put up 429 yards on you without putting him on his ass.

Temple didn’t even try to do that.

Where was that great defensive line we’ve been told about for the last six months?

Nowhere.

On Oct. 29, 1988, at Rutgers, then Temple head coach Bruce Arians watched as a similar quarterback, Scott Erney, did the same thing to the Owls that the Toledo quarterback did on Saturday.

Watched until he had enough and decided to put that guy on his ass.

“I was a college quarterback,” Arians said at the time. “I know the best pass defense is putting that guy on his ass. I told (defensive coordinator) Nick (Rapone), ‘Send everybody if you have to. Don’t let him sit back there. If I’m going to go down, I’m going down with my guns blazing.’ “

Temple won the game in the last minute with three straight sacks on all-out blitzes. That Rutgers team beat Penn State, 21-16, but could not beat Temple.

This Saturday was different from that Saturday because Temple went down shooting a water pistol, playing a prevent defense that only prevents winning.

So the No. 1 blame goes to defensive coordinator Brian L. Smith, who allowed that guy to pick Temple apart without ever making him feel uncomfortable. Even head coach K.C. Keeler shares some of the blame because he never whispered in Smith’s ear what Arians whispered to Rapone.

I know Keeler’s coaching style is to give his assistants a very long rope but he had to see what I saw.

There is also an element of blame to go to the American Conference officiating crew. On the drive that cut the Temple lead from 42-28 to 42-35, there were three straight brutal holds on Davier Bishop, Jaylon Joseph and Cam Jones that allowed three straight completions. Go back and watch the tape. One was a choke hold, one was a face mask, and the other was a trip. How they didn’t see that I will never know. Kind of thought they got the Colin Chase “catch” right later. They saw that. They looked the other way on the holds.

Offensive coordinator Tyler Walker, who otherwise had a good game, had a horrible call on the last play of the game. He basically gave Toledo the game with that fade pass to the tight end.

Why not have Ajani Sheppard roll out, pump a fake to the end zone and run in for the TD if that pass isn’t there? Sheppard was a nightmare all day for Toledo and causing them to account for him as a runner or a passer would have opened up a nice and easy swing pass to Chase, Clarke or Bermudez for a 50-49 win.

Instead, Walker did what Toledo’s defense couldn’t do all day.

Turn Sheppard from a dynamic run/pass threat into a stationary pocket passer.

Toledo should send him a thank you card.

This is the kind of loss that can turn an 8-4 season into a 4-8 one and will certainly make Lincoln Financial Field a mausoleum on Friday when there could have been a decent home crowd fueled by a 2-1 start. Nobody is going to rearrange their work schedules to see a 1-2 team. A 2-1 team with a respectable loss to Penn State would have drawn a much bigger crowd. Temple fans are tired of being disappointed and, after watching that disaster today, I can’t blame them. Crowd vs. Army with a 2-1 record and a win at Toledo: 25,454. Temple crowd on Friday after that disaster? 11,432 and most of them will be Army fans. Not a good look for Temple on national TV during Happy Hour. That defeat took a lot out of Temple fans, who have seen this way too much before and are sick of it.

The Temple adults in charge of the team were to blame for the latest disappointment. The Temple kids deserved better.

Monday: Ranking the moments