Of all the interesting numbers coming out of a distressing 38-31 loss to winless Charlotte, a couple of things stood out for Temple football.

One, Temple was a 24-point favorite on Friday and that dropped to 16 points on Saturday.

That begs the question: What did Vegas know and when did they know it? That kind of stuff doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

For a school burned by the Hysier Miller basketball gambling scandal, that alone had to sting. Not saying there is any funny business going on, but it’s not a good look for Temple sports in general and Temple football in particular.

Something had to be done.

Then Temple head coach K.C. Keeler jettisons defensive coordinator Brian L. Smith and replaces him with Henry Baker and, in the same breath mentions that some Temple players could be dismissed.

Got to wonder what the hell is going on?

From this 30,000-feet view, what I saw was a lot of defensive players “giving up” on certain–not all–plays and those plays and players should be disciplined because I saw a Charlotte quarterback allowed to do whatever he wanted without impunity. I’d rather have had 10 roughing-the-passer penalties than allow that guy to do what he did against Temple. I’d like to see any Temple player who stopped rather than hitting the Charlotte quarterback dismissed, and I don’t care how good they are.

That’s up to the coaches, though.

Baker, in my mind, is an upgrade.

First, because after the UConn game that saw Huskies running free through the Temple secondary without impunity, Keeler mentioned that he walked down the hallway to the “DC coach’s office” each time he watched the game film and noted to Smith each time an Owl was in the wrong gap.

He got a lot of steps in and that can’t be good.

Then he sat down and talked to Baker and asked him what he thought and Baker’s answers were the same thing Keeler jotted down on his yellow legal pad while watching the film.

Baker and Keeler being in sympatico has to be a good thing and not a bad one. Presumably, Keeler and Smith did not see eye to eye in those walks to the DC office after UConn.

This happened before with Keeler and another current Temple coach. In 2009, current Temple special teams coach Brian Ginn was Keeler’s OC at Delaware and he was demoted after a 2-2 start.

After that game, Delaware went 4-1 and finished 6-5.

My guess is that most Temple fans will sign off winning the next four of five and accepting whatever happens at Memphis in the finale.

That’s where we are now climbing out of a hole none of us ever wanted to be in at the start of the season.

The fact that Keeler gave the first shovel to someone he trusts has to be encouraging. Will it work out? It’s better than sitting in that hole and yelling for help.

Monday: Game Week