Author Archives: Mike Gibson

11.05.17
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Fizzy’s Corner: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

fizz

Editor’s Note: I was asked some new tailgate friends on Thursday night who Fizzy is. He is in the photo  showing what Swag really means. Here are his thoughts on the win over Navy.

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Wow, Temple was up over Navy by three touchdowns. Frank Nutile’s passing was pinpoint, and everyone was catching the ball. Had Dave Patenaude turned over a new leaf, throwing early and often? Lots of folks left early, and missed the conclusion. It was probably better for them.

graphic

Graphic thanks to Brad Ford

All in all, the coaching was pretty doggone good… for 54 minutes, and then the wheels fell off… again. Up by three touchdowns with a little over six minutes left, Dependable Dave Patenaude did the same thing he did the week before vs. Army. Temple gets the ball at midfield, and Dave runs three times up the gut. Instead of trying a variety of plays and/or throw the ball to get one or two first downs and sew up the game, he starts playing not to lose. In one fell swoop, he gave the momentum back to Navy. (How many times have we all seen coaches in football and basketball slow up their offense too soon, and give the momentum back to the opponent?)

Once more, we barely had a running game. I attribute this to Dave’s, everything’s straight ahead, “Broad Street Offense.” After our ninth game and for the entire season, we’ve run one reverse, one jet sweep, and one bootleg. And where was the “Cheese-Steak” split offense? How about the “wildcat” with Wright at tailback; can’t he throw too?

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We had five, “first and goals.” On four of those, the first play was “up the gut” against a goal line defense. Finally, on the fifth try, he ran a play action pass on first down, which resulted in a touchdown. Hoorah!

The defense played spectacularly for 54 minutes, and almost completely slowed down Navy’s vaunted offense. That’s until Navy’s first string QB, Zach Abey, got hurt. His replacement had quite an arm, and if he wasn’t sacked, he easily picked apart Temple’s pass defense. There were guys open all over the place. When Navy went to a “trips-left” formation, Temple tried to cover it with one and a half defenders. How’s that possible? On some plays, our pass defenders were obviously confused, as they were at the end of the Army game. I truly believe had Navy recovered the last onside kick, they would have tied the game. This is the second week in a row, the pass defense has fallen apart at the end of the game. This time though, time expired before we did.

Tuesday: Be All You Can Be

11.03.17
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Blind Squirrel Acorn Night

On a night devoted to honoring the greatest Temple football coach in history, Wayne Hardin, the real find was the acorn the blind squirrel found.

The blind squirrel in this case was offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude and the acorn he found was quarterback Frank Nutile, who completed 22 of 30 passes for four touchdowns in a 34-26 win.

frankster

Frank Nutile on the day he signed with Temple four years ago.

 

After Nutile (pronounced NEW TILE), performed admirably in a loss at Army, Patenaude wasn’t ready to anoint Nutile as a starter even though just about every Temple fan felt Frank was a huge improvement over the guy,  Logan Marchi, who started the first seven games.

Now, no matter what Patenaude says in the coach’s conference room, there’s no way head coach Geoff Collins is going back to Marchi now. Patenaude’s past history with Marchi–he recruited him for Coastal Carolina when Marchi was at St. Paul’s (Conn.) High–might have clouded his thinking and cost Temple at least a couple of wins given Nutile’s performances.

At the very least, a Nutile who would have started the Notre Dame game might have developed the kind of confidence needed to beat UConn and Army later on in the season.

Hindsight is 20/20, but the Owls are already behind the eight ball now having to win two of their final three games against league opponents. Patenaude still does some crazy things, like leaving the best fullback in the country on the sidelines when the Owls could have used him to jump-start the running game with 24-6 and 34-13 leads, but this was his best game as OC and that’s not saying much.

It did not have to be this hard and the acorn they were looking for all season did not have to be found in the ninth game but, better late than never.

Sunday: Fizzy’s Corner

Tuesday: Be All You Can Be

Thursday: Cincy Throwback

Friday: Cincinnati Preview

Saturday: Game Analysis

11.02.17
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Navy-TU: Ships Sailing In Opposite Directions

navy

A year  ago, the late, great Wayne Hardin gave the Owls good luck with this coin flip. He will be honored tonight.

Almost a year ago at this time, the sports talk show host with the highest ratings in the country was singing the praises of Navy’s football team.

“The one team in college football that intrigues me most is Navy,” said Mike Francesa of WFAN radio in New York. “That’s the most exciting team in my mind and, to me, that would be the one team that could throw a monkey wrench into this whole playoff thing.”

Fast forward only a couple of weeks until the AAC championship game and Francesa was still singing Navy’s praises.

milder

The weather has been the only good thing so far about this Temple season.

“Oh my God, they just scored 75 points on SMU,” Francesa said in an interview with Gary Daniels, a CBS sports network college football analyst. “They play Temple this week in the league championship game. I don’t know how good Temple is … “

“Temple is pretty darn good,” Daniels said, interrupting The Sports Pope.

“They better be to stay with that team,” Francesa said. “I’m going to be watching that game for sure.”

After Temple beat Navy, 34-10, to win the title, I placed my little Radio Shack transistor job—the only one that can get WFAN inside the building—on my desk at work hoping to hear Francesa sing the praises of Temple football before his vast radio audience.

Not a peep on the first day or the second day or the third. Temple was never given props at all.

Navy lost, so that was a subject Francesca conveniently dropped and went onto the next big thing that interested him, like the NFL.

“Temple punched us in the mouth,” said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo after that game. “Usually, we are the ones punching other people in the mouth and we didn’t respond.”

Tonight (8 p.m., Lincoln Financial Field), Navy gets the rematch they have wanted a year for and they have the boxing gloves primed and ready. Wayne Hardin will be honored and, win or lose, that will be the highlight of the night for Temple fans.

ventell

The coaches keeping Bryant and Sharga on the field would be nice for a change.

Presumably, Temple will punch back but, on paper, at least, any hope of an upset here appears to be a ship that sailed a long time ago. The speed bags Temple has been working against don’t appear to be as big or menacing as the ones Navy has been punching.

The two teams have combined for four losses in the last few Saturdays but that’s where the comparison ends. These are two ships headed in opposite directions. Nick Sharga, who was so instrumental in that championship win, doesn’t even see the field for long stretches for this team. Ventell Bryant, whose touchdown catch started a good afternoon on offense for those Owls, seems to be an afterthought for these Owls. Blame it on the offensive coordinator all you want, but the CEO (Geoff Collins) bears ultimate responsibility.

Temple lost to a lousy UConn team, 28-24, and an Army team, 31-28, that the Owls had about 10x as much physical talent as two weeks ago. The blood for the scene of both crimes leads right back to the coaching offices at $17 million Edberg-Olson Complex.

During that same time frame, Navy lost to a great Memphis team, 30-27, and an even better UCF team, 31-21.

One of the more unabashedly optimistic followers on the Temple Fans Facebook page said “the Owls will NOT make  another service academy bowl eligible.”

To use another nautical term, I hate to torpedo his optimism but that assertion just doesn’t hold water. Right now, hours before the game, as far as an upset goes, it appears these are two ships sailing in opposite directions.

As a certain Commander-In-Chief might say: #Sad.

Friday: Game Analysis

10.31.17
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Losing Is An Attitude

litany

Watching Army march down the field a couple of weeks ago, a thought occurred to me even before the Cadets scored the game-tying touchdown. The defensive players were looking around for someone else to make a play instead of taking that bull by the horns themselves.

Losing is an attitude and it appeared as if Temple adopted that mindset early on in the season, but especially during the UConn game.

John Chaney wrote a great book called “Winning is An Attitude” with Steve Wartenberg about Temple basketball but this Temple football book appears headed for a less happy ending unless the Owls truly embrace the principles that gave them consecutive double-digit-win seasons.

Late in both the Uconn and the Army games, you could see the Owls—especially the defensive players—look around and wonder how their hearts would be broken now.

Instead of grabbing the game by the throat and sacking the quarterback, they allowed a 59-yard draw to a slow-footed Huskie quarterback and gave comfort to a triple option team that was very uncomfortable at throwing the ball by playing a prevent defense.

wartenberg

As Harry S Truman once said, “The buck stops here” and the buck of this losing attitude has to stop at the desk of Temple football CEO.

If Geoff Collins were to write a book about the 2017 Temple football season, its title would be “Losing is An Attitude” and the subtitle might be “How I Turned Temple TUFF Into Temple MUSH in 8 Games.”

Other possible titles might be “Unfulfilled Promises” or “Undelivered Mayhem” because  Mayhem–which really is attacking the quarterback relentlessly—would have probably gave Temple wins, not losses, in the last two games.

Basically, this whole attitude was established from the first weeks of Collins’ tenure when he gave the offensive coordinator job to a spread offense guy, Dave Patenaude, who gave only lip service tribute to the Temple style of play which produced consecutive 10-win seasons. You knew this thing was headed south when, in January, Patenaude said he was going to run the tailback behind the fullback but also incorporate spread principles into the offense.

You can’t do both.

At least not effectively, and Patenaude has strayed from what the Temple personnel if best-suited for—run a great tailback behind a great fullback—to the point where the great fullback seldom even plays. The running game always set up explosive downfield plays in the passing game for Temple, making great use of play-action. The spread lends itself to punting on 4th and goal, which is exactly what the Owls did in the Houston game.

Defensively, the pressure on the quarterback we’ve been promised and subsequent backfield fumbles and interceptions returned the other way (Mayhem) has been MIA for eight games, even in the wins.

There are four more games left. It’s up to the CEO, not the OC and the DC, to order that the Temple offensive brand be restored in full and give the home fans at least a hint of the Mayhem he promised nine months ago.

Thursday: Navy Preview

10.29.17
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Around The AAC: Another Hissed Off Saturday

saddest

Just when you thought a beautiful Saturday would be the antidote for the anger Temple fans justifiably felt after watching Temple lose two games it should not have the last two weeks, we offer you just two games you might have watched yesterday:

Missouri at UConn

Houston at South Florida

The loser in one of those games and the winner in another should have been games in the W column for Temple, but were not due to a long litany of bad coaching decisions in both games.

Just think about it: With USF’s loss to Houston, and Owls wins against two of the above teams, the Owls would be in the hunt to defend their title down the stretch.

That’s all we ever asked and it was never too much.

Now it won’t, thanks to a very poor choice of a coach and his choice of a coaching staff who combined to make the most dazzlingly poor decisions at the worst possible times against Houston and UConn.

We won’t get into those here, but just tell you that Temple had a first-and-goal at the 7 against Houston (and did not do the Temple thing of running the ball) and played a mistake-prone quarterback against UConn when it was apparent to all that the better choice all along was the guy who started at Army.

Ugh.

When the story of this Temple season is written, the author should have been John Greenleaf Whittier, who said:

“For all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.”

After all of these games, Temple head coach Geoff Collins talks about the mistakes and says: “These will be corrected.” (Hey, what, exactly, was the eight months of practice before Notre Dame for? Shouldn’t that have been enough time to clean all that up?)

Interesting that some of the same mistakes made in the first game against Notre Dame and the second against Villanova have never been corrected.

However, the Owls go from game to game and the head coach promises to make corrections that never come.

Missouri, a team that lost, 35-3, to Purdue (which lost to lowly Rutgers), took UConn to the woodshed. UConn has the worst pass defense in college football and Temple has among the best receivers, but the Owls were so stubborn in their desire to have a “running quarterback” that they gave up whatever advantage in the passing game they had by not giving the two better “passing quarterbacks” on the above-the-line chart a shot.

Houston, a team that the Owls should have beat, got the job done that the Owls did not at USF.

Talent?

No, coaching.

The solution is nowhere in sight as the powers-that-be at Temple don’t eat contracts nor do they have the appetite to dine at that expensive restaurant. In a perfect world, they would tell Al Golden to get the binder and the staff ready now so we can get back to the Temple football brand he created.

Temple athletics lives in another world, unfortunately.

Temple will have to face Navy, UCF, Cincinnati and Tulsa and the only realistic win right now is Cincy and it has nowhere near as much to do with talent as it does with coaching. Recruits will see that and it could have a effect that would cause this whole thing to spiral downward.

If that doesn’t hiss you off, it should.

John Greenleaf Whittier would be turning over in his grave.

Tuesday: Losing Is An Attitude

Thursday: Navy Preview

Friday: Game Analysis

Monday: The Kelly Solution

10.27.17
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Fizzy’s Corner: Coaches (Not Players) Lack Talent

Thanks to some puzzling coaching decisions in all of the eight  games so far, Temple fans can sing this song only a couple more weeks. 

Editor’s Note: Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub brings the perspective of a former Temple player (and coach and educator) to this space occassionally. Marc Narducci’s story the other day moved him to pen and paper this week.

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

I wasn’t planning on writing anything this week about the Temple football program because I couldn’t bear to think about it after the disgraceful Army game.  Also, I thought that anyone who really understands football, already knew what the problem is.  Even former Temple basketball star and procurer of Physiology finals (before they were given), JV John Koskinen, wrote about it.  Teammate Dick Gable said, “The worst since Pete Stevens.”

americansked

But then, I read today’s Inquirer column by the well respected Marc Narducci.  “The main reason [for Temple’s lousy season] is the talent level is below that of the last two years.”

OMG, did he really write that?  Has he really watched a whole game from start to finish? It’s the worst analysis of a football program I’ve ever read.

Actually, the only reason for Temple’s lousy season is lousy coaching.  We’ll have as much talent as probably nine out of our twelve opponents.  Without any stretch of the imagination, Temple’s record should be six and two at this juncture.  Coaching is responsible for the 3 & 5 record.  Let’s review what, “the not ready for prime time” coaching staff has done.

sportingnewsowls

It was nice while it lasted.

Foremost, is the play calling by Dave Patenaude, and let’s not make this second-guessing.

I know it’s four, and possibly five times we’ve had first and goal without scoring a TD, and three times, we got no points at all.  Those failures cost us at least two wins.  Every time on first down, Dave calls a run up the gut against a gap defense, and sometimes he runs that play twice.  He doesn’t understand that first down, on first and goal, is the only time you can really fool a defense. Also at the goal line, he makes no use of our wonderful fullback Sharga’s ability to catch a pass in the flat, from the “I” Formation.

Basically, Patenaude’s offense is straight, with little imagination.  I was talking with AD Dr. Pat Kraft before the Connecticut game, and told him I called it the “Broad Street Offense” because it was just as straight as Broad Street.  I said that Temple hadn’t run one reverse in six games, and guaranteed a thirty-yard gain if we did.  Well, finally, in that seventh game of the season, Dependable Dave ran a reverse and it gained thirty-five yards.  That was in the first half, and he never ran it again.  Nor did he run it in the Army game.

ride

I will mention one more time, the fourth and one for a touchdown call against Connecticut was the most bizarre I’ve ever seen.  Dependable Dave put Wright in the “Wildcat,” and ran a slow developing fake sweep, and by the time Wright turned for the goal, he was overwhelmed by the gap defense.

The play calling in the Army game was something to behold. Dependable Dave shocked me to my toes by coming up the split “cheese-steak” formation, with Isaiah Wright at tailback.  In the first-half, he called that formation about four or five times, and it was quite successful, with Wright almost busting off a long run for a TD.  Dave did not run that formation again until once in the overtime.

Another issue throughout the season, has been Dave’s call’s after turnovers in great field position, and second or third and one, in four-down territory.  These opportunities scream for play-action fakes, and deep throws or slant patterns. No way, Jose, it’s up the gut.

weinraub

In summary, if we reviewed the game films with a panel of experienced football coaches to come up with a rating for the play-calling, I don’t think it would come to even a “D.”

Unfortunately, I must now discuss Head Coach, Geoff Collins’ decisions.  It’s tough for us in the stands to determine what the head coach, and what the coordinators do, during the game.   One thing’s for sure, the head coach is responsible for calling timeouts in crucial situations.  Coach Collins did a terrible job at the end of the first half, and at the end of theConnecticut game.  I also thought the two, back to back, timeouts during the overtime vs. Army were puzzling, as was the “discussion” and indecision on the field between Collins and one of the other coaches that lead to single coverage on the last play.  Also, it’s the head coach who should have his eye on the clock when its ticking down before a field goal attempt.  Don’t blame that on the holder.

So far, the only negative Coach Collins has taken responsibility for, is the unbelievable amount of penalties.  And yes, that’s damn well his responsibility.  But please, don’t blame everything on the kids, the execution, and dropped passes.

Many of us have stuck with and supported the program since we played, and that’s a hell of a long time.  It pains us to see what’s happening this year, and we know it will affect recruiting.  So Marc Narducci’s statement that it’s talent, is correct.  But it’s the talent of the coaches, not the players.

Sunday: Analyzing The AAC

 

10.26.17
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Five Painful Throwbacks

One of the most revealing things about knowing the players of past Temple football teams is talking to them about the games that got away.

To a man, they don’t talk about the victories as they do about the defeats.

Mostly, gut-wrenching ones like the current Owls suffered the last two weeks, the ones that rip your heart out and should have never happened due to one coaching blunder or an officiating mistake.

This space today is dedicated to those guys who played in these games and our original intent was to rank them on the pain meter from less painful to most painful but, after taking a look at them, they are all pretty much equal in the sense that they should have never happened and will always be the ones that got away.

tearful

1996: Pitt 53, Temple 52

Holding a 52-33 lead with 2:44 left in the game, then Temple coach Ron Dickerson elected to go for it on fourth and two instead of punting at midfield. Pitt got the stop, scored quickly, then successfully executed a pair of onsides’ kicks to pull it out. After the game, Dickerson submitted his resignation, saying, “my players deserve a smarter coach than me.” Resignation was not accepted by the powers-that-be.

2007: UConn 22, Temple 17

Replays showed Bruce Francis clearly caught the ball on a pass off a reverse with one foot down in the back of the end zone to give Temple the lead with 12 seconds left in the game, but the MAC officials waved it off and a replay by Big East official Jack Kramer upheld the call on the field. All of the sports television network commentators said Temple was jobbed out of a win but that was small consolation to the Owls.

alex

Alex Derenthal consoles Kee-Ayre Griffin after fumble.

2007: Navy 33, Temple 27 (OT)

With 17 seconds a playing a triple option team with no timeouts, second-year head coach Al Golden eschewed the punt and went for the first down on a fourth-and-one in his own territory. The late Kee-Ayre Griffin fumbled the handoff, it was picked up by a Navy linebacker, who ran into the end zone for the game-tying touchdown as time expired. Had the punt been called, Navy would have had to go the length of the field with 17 seconds and no time outs. Probably wasn’t going to happen and Griffin probably wasn’t to blame as much as the decision not to punt the ball.

2008: Buffalo 30, Temple 28

On the final play of the game, Drew Wiley heaved a pass almost as far as he could throw it and it landed in the hands of Nathan Roosevelt for a 34-yard touchdown. That negated a heroic game by Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele, who did all that he humanly could in throwing what pretty much everyone thought was the game-winning touchdown to Bruce Francis with a minute left. That turned out to be too much time left on the clock. Incredibly, that was one of three close losses that year that made the difference between Temple being 5-7 and 8-4.

2017: Army 31, Temple 28 (OT)

This game might have been the most galling because Temple got a first down at the 1 with 3:16 left in the third quarter and, instead of pounding a tailback (Ryquell Armstead)  Army could not stop behind a fullback (Nick Sharga) who his head coach called “the best  in the country” the Owls inexplicably went to a shotgun formation on first down and got zero points out of that drive. Temple’s entire identity in back-to-back 10-win seasons was built around pounding the ball at the goal line and the Owls beat themselves by not being true to the Temple TUFF mantra. Temple would have been sitting on a 14-point lead, not a seven-point one, when Army hit a pass with one second left to send the game into overtime. That game wasn’t decided on the last play of overtime as much as it was when the head coach did not exert enough influence over his rogue offensive coordinator late in the third quarter.

Saturday: Around The AAC

 

10.24.17
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5 Quick Temple Football Fixes

sameold

The Owls should use this bye week to change the philosophy that led to 3-5.

What are we going to do without a weekend of Temple football?

To duplicate the kind of torture Temple fans experienced the last two weeks, we recommend stopping at the nearest police station and asking to be tased or making a trip across the Delaware and volunteering to be a waterboard subject at Fort Dix.

No thanks. I’ve had enough agony the last two weeks to last two years.

fixes

Losses to Army and UConn have been that painful.

If anything the last two weeks have taught the Temple football staff is to not allow the same thing to happen again. There are reasons the Owls are 3-5 and chief among them is an ill-advised offensive philosophy that caused the program to stray from what has worked here the last two years for something that might have worked at Coastal Carolina last year.

Are the Temple coaches sensible enough to understand that? Probably not, but this is the path from 3-5 to 6-6 and they better at least consider it or they risk not losing only this year but the next  five as well.

These five quick fixes that can be accomplished in the next nine days and implemented going forward:

Ditch the Spread
This team won the AAC championship last year by going fullback and play-action and that’s what this personnel is best suited to do. Put fullback Nick Sharga back there leading the way for a now healthy Ryquell Armstead and establish the run. Once that run is established, have Frankie “Juice” Nutile fake the ball into the belly of Armstead and pull it out. With opposing linebackers and safeties inching up to the line of scrimmage to defend the run, those great wide receivers—Ventell Byrant, Keith Kirkwood and Adonis Jennings—will be so wide open Nutile won’t know which one to pick out. That’s Temple football.

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Put Isaiah Wright at tailback
Wright in space in the open field is, as the announcers said on Saturday, a “touchdown waiting to happen.” To give Wright the kind of space he needs, run him at tailback. Throw him little swing passes out of the backfield or run screens for him. Use Wright–along with David Hood–as the change-of-pace backs when Armstead needs a break.

Goal-line offense
When the Owls get to the one, especially on first down, don’t try anything crazy like run out of the shotgun. Load Rock behind Sharga and pound the ball three times for six points. This team is built to run the ball at the goal. Doing anything else is asking for trouble. Owls lost the game against Army by coming away with nothing when they got to the one. They cannot let that happen again.

newfinch

Turn Sharif Finch Loose
Finch is the all-time leader in punts blocked at Temple for a reason. The Owls only have him for four more games and they should turn him loose on every punt the opposition attempts. They have been terrible on punt returns because there has been no blocking for Mike Jones, so they might as well be more aggressive and go after these punts.

No More Prevent Defense
Allowing Army to march down the field with no timeouts and 25 seconds left was a disgrace. The best pass defense, especially against a team uncomfortable with throwing the football, is putting the quarterback on his ass. If you can’t get there with four, send five. If you can’t get there with five send six. Just get there.

Anything less than these quick patches exposes your fans to a torture that makes the rack look like a feather-duster.

Thursday: Five Throwbacks

Saturday: Around The AAC

Monday: Game Week: An Attitude

Wednesday: Navy Preview

Friday: Game Analysis

Monday: The Kelly Solution

10.22.17
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Coastal Carolina Soft

Bye week has arrived for Temple football and, frankly, it could not have come at a better time.

An intervention is needed and someone needs to slap both Dave Patenaude and Geoff Collins upside the head. Not enough to hurt them or put them into the hospital, mind you, but just enough to slap them out of this soft Coastal Carolina poison they have fed as the antidote to Temple TUFF.


It’s one thing to lose,
but it’s quite another
to lose by tearing
apart what has been
the very fabric of
this program for the
last decade. This is
not on the kids, it’s
on the coaches.
It’s been on the
coaches all season

They need to get Patenaude and Collins into the conference room at the Edberg-Olson Complex. Maybe Matt Rhule and Al Golden can explain what Temple TUFF means to them in terms that only a fellow football coach understands. In the back of the room, Ed Foley and Adam DiMichele need to be nodding their heads in agreement.

Saturday’s excruatingly painful 31-28 loss at Army—easily the most painful of many painful losses I can remember in over 40 years as a Temple fan—wasn’t decided on Boomer’s two missed field goals nor the unexplainable final drive as much it was much with 3:16 left in the third when Isaiah Wright was tripped up on the Army 1.

The former Temple coaches who built this thing and do not want to see it collapse like a house of, err, straw, cannot explain to Patenaude and Collins what Temple football is as much as what is is not. This is the message that Rhule, Golden, Foley and DiMichele should deliver to Collins and Patenaude.

message

That other stuff, running Frank Nutile out of a shotgun on first-and-goal, is not Temple TUFF. That’s Coastal Carolina Soft.

Run Ryquell Armstead three times, four if you have to, behind Nick Sharga and get the seven right there and the game is over. Hell, my money is that Armstead and Sharga get the job done the first time, not the second or third–just like the two did here a year ago against Cincinnati. That time, Sharga pushed Armstead into the end zone. He does even better lead blocking. That’s Temple TUFF. I’m not sure these coaches understand that. As Harry Donahue might say, check that. I AM sure they don’t.

Temple got no points out of that possession when it should have gotten an easy seven. Get those seven points and the Owls are sitting on a  14-point lead, not a seven-point one and the Owls didn’t have to worry about any other sins that they committed. Playing a prevent defense against a team that is just not comfortable with throwing the football makes that team comfortable. Putting the quarterback on his ass, especially with his team having no timeouts, is the best pass defense that has ever been devised by man. If you can’t get there with four, send five. If you can’t get there with five, send six.

Just get there.

That’s Temple TUFF, too.

It’s one thing to lose, but it’s quite another to lose by tearing apart what has been the very fabric of this program for the last decade. This is not on the kids, it’s on the coaches. It’s been on the coaches all season.

Whatever happens in the remainder of the season, an intervention is needed now.

Tuesday: 5 Quick Patches

10.21.17
by

The Point of No Return

box

Temple stacked the box and made Navy pass. It should follow the same blueprint against Army

A college football game runs about three hours in real time, maybe three hours and 15 minutes.


Fast forward to today
and Rhule’s successor,
Geoff Collins, has
reached the point
of no return this
season. Lose, and
the Owls can kiss
any outside hope
of a bowl goodbye

When Temple visits Army at high noon on CBS Sports Network (94 on Verizon Fios, 221 on Direct TV and 734 on Xfinity Comcast), fans should be able to find out whether Temple will win or lose within about the first five minutes.

If the Owls come out in their usual 4-3-4 defense with the A gaps uncovered and no nose guard, Temple fans should probably find something better to do than torture themselves for the next three hours.

In fact, Army is hoping for that to happen because they run their fullback through the A gaps—the spot to the left or right of the center—to set up everything else.

Most teams fall for it and that’s why an undermanned Army can beat these more talented teams who recruit players with NFL aspirations.

A 5-2 defense, though, with the A gaps plugged is Kryptonite for even the best triple-option offenses.

There are some teams that go out of their way and change their defenses up to stop the triple option, though. Three years ago, Duke plugged the A gaps but going to a 5-2 and using two tackles and came away with a 34-3 win over Army. Last year, North Texas did the same in a 31-19 win at West Point.

A year ago, then Temple head coach Matt Rhule—given nine months to prepare for the Army triple-option—said he wouldn’t do anything out of the ordinary that he “we don’t worry about the other team does. We do what we do and concentrate on that process.”

That kind of stubborness led to a 28-13 loss against Army before 34,005 fans at Lincoln Financial Field and many of those same fans did not come back for the rest of the season.

Months later, both Rhule and defensive coordinator Phil Snow were able to turn that season-opener into a learning experience that resulted in a 34-10 win over Navy. Snow put Averee Robinson and Freddy Booth-Lloyd over the Navy center and started Michael Dogbe and Greg Webb alongside those guys as the starting tackles. Without a hole to run the fullback through, the triple option was plugged up and the Owls had maybe the most important win of their history. The Owls sold out and swarmed to the ball and that’s just the approach they should use these next two weeks. Eight in the box and let Sean Chandler, Artrel Foster and Mike Jones deal with any passes these teams attempt. Football is not rocket science.

Fast forward to today and Rhule’s successor, Geoff Collins, has reached the point of no return this season. Win, and there’s a chance to salvage something. Lose, and the Owls can kiss any outside hope of a bowl goodbye and they are staring at a three-or-four win season.

Let’s hope he studied film of the two service academy games the Owls played a year ago and applies the Kryptonite that keeps hope alive for the Owls and their fans.

Either way, the outcome could be decided in the first five minutes.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

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