In another world outside of sports, the phrase “too big to rig” was used this week and, some would argue, achieved.

We won’t venture into that world now but, suffice it to say, for Temple to win at Navy (3:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network), that’s the Herculean Task the Owls face. That’s the world Temple lives in and, for the last two years, it hasn’t been a beautiful world for them.

Simply put, the Owls have found American Conference officials to be overly (let’s say for argument’s sake) “patriotic” in two games a year ago that robbed Temple head coach K.C. Keeler of a 7-5 season in his first Temple year.

First, the Navy game where a blown call on a two-point conversion (see inset) gave Navy a 32-31 win a year ago when it should have been a 31-30 loss.

Second, three terrible spots on Army’s nine-minute closing drive a year ago gave the Cadets a 14-13 win.

Now, Keeler has no chance of getting to 7-5 and very little chance of getting to 6-6.

Might have had half to do with the refs in both seasons because of those “patriotic” calls for the academies against Temple.

That’s not the only questionable time the refs picked up the flag against the Owls because the most recent one–last week at East Carolina–might have been the difference between the Owls going into the Navy game 3-5 instead of 2-6.

Simply put, JoJo Bermudez got “closelined” (ECU radio’s words, not ours) deep in East Carolina territory and the same ref who picked up the flag turned out to be the same ref who ended the season of an ECU player by sliding into him.

Would have been nice for that obvious call to play out and see if the Owls could win fair and square but we never got to see it.

Now we have to worry about the benefit of the doubt that goes to the academies when there is a 50/50 call.

Since, as Keeler likes to say, the conference games are 50/50 ones the teams who get the 50/50 calls usually win.

That’s what happened last year against Navy.

That’s what happened last week against ECU.

Navy right tackle Jaylin Acevedo was clearly guilty of a false start here as Navy first lined up to attempt its two-point conversion. Had the officials called it, Navy would have kicked the extra point from the 8-yard line and Temple has a timeout to use on its last possession. pic.twitter.com/O01XXNLsxa

— John DiCarlo (@jdicarlo) October 13, 2025

That’s not the only reason why things don’t look good for the Owls on Saturday.

One, Brian L. Smith got demoted from DC to safeties coach and he needed to after the Charlotte debacle but arguably the one thing Smith hung his hat on prior to Temple was stopping the triple option. Only two seasons ago, as Rice DC, Smith devised a defense to beat Navy, 24-10.

That Navy team finished 10-3.

Does Smith have any incentive to help new DC Henry Baker–who never stopped a triple option team–game plan to stop Navy?

Doubt it.

Between that, the, err, “patriotic” refs and refs that let other situations dictate their calls, things don’t look good for the Owls tomorrow.

Then again, things looked good before the Charlotte game and they lost. They probably won’t be able to make this one too big to rig but an honest win should be within reach if you believe in fair play.

After last year and last week, I don’t. Call me a cynic but that’s what I believe.

Late Tomorrow Night: Navy Analysis

Monday: Who Went Where?