Author Archives: Mike Gibson

08.28.17
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Game Week: Most Exciting Season Yet

kraft

The guy who is the new head coach at Temple has this fascinating way of answering questions he does not want to answer.

Geoff Collins just shakes his head.

Up and down for yes.

Side to side for no.

Smiling all the while, but not a single word uttered.

Watching Collins do this the last three or four times sold me. Simply not because of that knee-jerk reflex, but because of a thousand other idiosyncrasies he has shown since being hired as Matt Rhule’s replacement. Answering questions is just one endearing quality. More so, to me at least,  he could cite to me chapter and verse every important play a current Temple player made on film in every game he ever played. For someone who felt that Rhule never looked at tape either of his players or opponents, that was a very good sign. If this guy pays that much attention in the film room to what his current players have done, this is likely  a guy who will study opponents’ film and attack their weaknesses. I was never sure Rhule did that, at least enough on a consistent basis for my taste. To Rhule, it was enough to focus on “the process” and “controlling what we can do.”

That’s nice, but college football is a big war game and encircling your enemy and exploiting his weaknesses is at least as big a part of it.

Collins, from what I’ve seen, seems to understand that’s a part of the process, too.

Judging from the focused practices, this is a guy who won’t stand for the Owls having 120 yards in penalties at Notre Dame, like Rhule brushed off after last year’s Penn State fiasco.


This is Pat Kraft’s “Home Run”
hire and, if that lands in the
upper deck like a Rhys Hoskins’
one, we will have a repeat
championship team
at 10th and Diamond

This guy has the “it” factor that even Al Golden and Matt Rhule did not have. This is Pat Kraft’s “Home Run” hire and, if that lands in the upper deck like a Rhys Hoskins’ one, we will have a repeat championship team at 10th and Diamond.

He’s genuine, not a bull-shitter who will tell Temple fans he wants to be here 1,000 years like the message the last guy perpetuated. He just avoids that question and that’s fine. As John Chaney once said, don’t tell me you’ll love me forever if you won’t.

This guy, Collins, has the kind of charisma those two did not with the attention to detail Golden had.

Golden was the meticulously organized guy, building a binder of how to construct a program based on his years of being an assistant at Penn State, Boston College and Virginia. Rhule observed Golden and tried to follow the same blueprint. Collins believes in those concepts, but thinks just outside the box enough to be able to implement new and improved ideas.

That’s the primary reason why I am more enthusiastic about this season than I have been for any one since the late, great Wayne Hardin was head coach.

Here’s the nut graph: This Temple team can win anything from 6-12 games and that’s why I’m fascinated more by going into this season than any other in the last decade or so. Last year was the so-called “step back” year and we debunked that theory the first week before the season because we felt the guys returning were more than capable of getting the Owls the league championship.

It turned out they were.

I’m not calling for a league championship here, or even a win over Notre Dame—I think the Owls fall just short of both goals—but don’t sell this guy Collins short.

He could very well prove me wrong and I think he might. This is one time I very much want to be wrong and one guy who is capable of debunking my theories. I will be hanging on his every word of this incredibly fascinating season.

Or every nod of the head.

Wednesday: Enemy Territory

Friday: Game Preview

 

 

 

08.25.17
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Eye Of The Needle

needle

In Mark 11-23-27, a God-like figure who goes by the initials JC and is not John Chaney said, “it is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.”

Whew.

I guess you and I dodged a bullet by not winning that $700 million lottery on Wednesday night, simply because eternity is just a bit longer than the 50-100 years we get to live on this planet and, if you had to chose one, you’d chose eternity.

What has proven to be just as difficult, though, is for a Group of Five team to enter the Kingdom of College Football Heaven. That’s how corrupt college football has become in an era where the Power 5 sets the rules and the Group of Five must follow or go home.

The bad news is that Temple is PROBABLY not going to get into Paradise this year. The good news is that it’s possible should this scenario occur:

  1. Temple beats Notre Dame
  2. Notre Dame beats everyone else
  3. Temple beats everyone else

Crazy, because crazy things rarely happen. Yeah, we know that’s pretty nigh impossible but, on the eve of a college football season, we can dream, can’t we?
Really, the MOST crazy part of this equation is if Notre Dame loses to Temple, it’s hard to see the Irish run through the rest of a schedule that includes teams like Southern Cal and Georgia. Still, after losing to Army in the opener last year, did you ever envision Temple winning the toughest G5 Conference?

I did not think so.

So say both Temple and Notre Dame run through their regular seasons unbeaten. It would be pretty impossible for even a P5-stacked selection committee to pick one-loss ND over unbeaten Temple for a slot in the Final Four given the fact that the unbeaten team won at the one-loss team.

There are not many G5 teams that have a similar pathway into the Final Four because they have not scheduled a marquee team.

If the G5 is ever going to crash this rich man’s party, then this year is the year and Temple is the G5 team and the first step is winning at Notre Dame.

Somewhere, the real Touchdown Jesus would probably look down and at least crack a smile if that happens.

We can pray Notre Dame does its part. The Owls will have to handle their part on their own accord by winning three more games than we predicted them to two days ago.

Can’t happen?

Yeah, probably, but as long as both teams are unbeaten (and both are now) we will dream our dreams and others are free to dream theirs.

Monday: Game Week (Can You Believe It?)

Tuesday: Enemy Territory

08.23.17
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A Step Back, Albeit Tiny

EA Sports likes Notre Dame, 14-9; we’ll go with 17-13. Love the Temple fight song being played in this simulation.

Time waits for no man, even if that man is as affable and amiable as Geoff Collins, Temple’s new head coach.

While Collins might not be ready to name a starter at quarterback, a couple of outlets already named one for him.

sked

Your turn to pick the scores

EA Sports has Logan Marchi starting the Notre Dame game, while USA Today confidently predicts that Todd Centeio will be Temple’s starter.

Others closer to the program swear Frank Nutile will get the nod and this reporter hopes that all four players—all four—get a chance to show their stuff in a real game against real competition. If that never happened, Temple fans would not have gotten to see arguably the best quarterback of the last decade, Adam DiMichele, because he was a notoriously bad camp and spring ball quarterback who clicked once the lights went on during the regular season.

Well, in the spirit of time waiting for no man, at this time every year we like to look into our crystal ball and give a game-by-game breakdown and we’ve run out of patience waiting for a starter.

Last year, fans from opposing teams and members of the Fake News wrote “Temple will take a step back in 2016” from its 10-win season. Au contrare, we said, just the opposite. Last year was the step forward year, not the step back one. We predicted an 11-win season and an AAC championship. We did not get the 11-win season because the coach who claimed lifetime fidelity to Temple jumped ship and took his coaches with him, but there can be no doubt the season was a step forward with a title.

birmingham

A victory over Florida in the Birmingham Bowl would be a satisfying end to a successful season.

In all fairness, in that prediction, we wrote that “next year (2017) will be the step back year and not this one” so, while it would be tempting to predict the Owls go 15-0 and win the national title, that would be, at best, intellectually dishonest.

EA Sports got it right with its simulation of the ND game. In my mind, this was going to be a low-scoring one and EA has Notre Dame winning, 14-9. We’ll go two touchdowns and a field goal for ND and two field goals and a touchdown for Temple. ND, 17-13. What most of the nation doesn’t know, but will know soon is that this Temple defense will be better the last two. The offense will determine the season.


IF Collins loves the Temple
kids as much as he says he
does, he stays through the
Birmingham Bowl and completes
a successful season with a
27-20 win over his
former SEC team, Florida

Villanova at Temple (0-1), Sept. 9 _ If Temple only gets one touchdown in the opener, expect a new quarterback for this one. The last time the Owls hired a SEC coordinator to be head coach, he understood the importance of a beatdown of the crosstown rival and won two games, 42-7, and 41-10. While losing to ND can be considered acceptable, losing to Villanova cannot. Temple, 41-3. Temple is now 1-1.

UMass at Temple (1-1), Sept. 16 _ Too much drama in the last game between these two teams. Playing at home makes a world of difference here. Temple, 35-10.

Temple (2-1)  at USF, Sept. 21 _ Much as it pains me to say, Quintin Flowers and the Bulls have been circling this one on the calendar for a full year and they will be ready for the ambush. USF, 34-24.

Houston at Temple (2-2), Sept. 30 _ Never a big Major Applewhite fan and losing Greg Ward will adversely affect Houston more than the loss of P.J. Walker with Temple. Owls, 28-14.

Temple (3-2) at ECU, Oct. 7 _  ECU loses its best player, Zay Jones, to Buffalo of the NFL and, judging from its 37-10 loss to Temple last year, it needs more good players, not less. Temple, 27-14.

UConn at Temple (4-2), Oct. 14 _ UConn brings a new coach, Randy Edsall, and a new quarterback, David Pindell, into Philadelphia. Collins wanted Pindell, but Edsall got him.  This game will be closer than last year’s game. Temple, 21-17.

Temple (5-2) at Army, Oct. 21 _ A good sign for this one is that Collins has watched so much Temple film he can recall individual plays current Owls made from 2015 to now. At times, it seemed that Matt Rhule’s staff never opened a film projector and one of those times was in game prep for Army a year ago. If Collins watches as much film as we think he does, he will give Army a heavy dose of the running game on offense and plug the A gaps on defense with two tackles and a nose guard to bust the triple option at the point of attack. Temple, 63-23.

Navy at Temple (6-2), Nov. 3 _ The 5-2 defense that Temple employed at Army comes in handy against Navy. Temple, 31-19. (Interestingly, Phil Snow went mostly with a 5-2 in a 34-10 AAC title win over Navy with Averee Robinson and Freddy Booth-Lloyd alternating as the nose guard.)

Temple (7-2) at Cincinnati, Nov. 10 _ The Bearcats also have a new coach, but the culture of winning is not as entrenched as it is with the Owls. Temple, 30-7.

UCF at Temple (8-2), Nov. 18 _ Scott Frost has UCF improved, so this won’t be easy but Temple TUFFs it out, 21-20, on a late Austin Jones’ field goal.

Temple (9-2) at Tulsa, Nov. 25 _ With the AAC West on the line, Tulsa’s offense is just too much for Collins’ Mayhem defense. Tulsa wins the shootout and gets to play USF in the title game. Tulsa, 31-27.

IF Collins loves the Temple kids as much as he says he does, he stays through the Birmingham Bowl and completes a successful season with a 27-20 win over his former SEC team, Florida. The Owls might rather play Baylor, BC or Penn State but those opportunities will not be on the table. An SEC opponent like Florida would present an appealing story line. The Owls finish the regular season 9-3 and sneak into the final Top 25 poll, making them a real Top 25 program and not a self-proclaimed one.

For Collins, that opens up some interesting options.

His name becomes a hot one for after the 2018 season. Maybe he breaks the mold and becomes the guy who figures out that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the 10th and Diamond fence. Or maybe the maddening cycle continues and Ed Foley coaches the 2018 bowl game. If that’s the case, football bowl time at Temple unfortunately takes on the feel of Groundhog Day once again.

Friday: Eye Of The Needle

Monday: Game Week Begins (Can You Believe It?)

08.21.17
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Vesting The Temple QB

vested.png

There’s a spot right there in the pocket to put the starter’s name.

Now we know why Geoff Collins wears that ubiquitous vest all the time.

He needs to keep something important close to it. Somewhere in one of those pockets is the name of the starting quarterback for Temple against Notre Dame on September 2. One of these days, maybe this week, Collins will pull a name out of a pocket and tell the press.

Or not.

He doesn’t have to name one until maybe an hour before kickoff, but the guess here it will be sometime before that. One thing is certain: No one will ever be comparing Collins’ vest to Al Shrier’s briefcase. The legendary Owl has never disclosed that information and maybe won’t ever.

Collins has to tell NBC-TV who his starter at quarterback will be.

Depending upon whom you talk to, the Temple head coach  is down to two quarterbacks who are “above the line.”

(That’s the new Temple football nomenclature for depth chart, since the new regime doesn’t believe in them. Above the line refers to guys who will play in the actual games.)

A few of the alumni—who had full access—say it’s Frank Nutile and Todd Centeio.

One of the reporters I respect enormously, Shawn Pastor of OwlsDaily.com, say it’s Logan Marchi and Frank Nutile. Pastor and the rest of the media had only second-half access.

The guy whose opinion counts the most, Geoff Collins, isn’t mentioning names.

Yet.

He will by the end of the week, which is one week later than the ideal time offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude set a month or so ago. At that time, Patenaude said that “you would like to name your starter two weeks before the opener” and Saturday was two weeks.

More kicking the can down the road.

This can has been kicked so far down the road on Broad Street over the last seven months that it probably has reached the Naval Yard by now.  At first, we thought we might have a starter come out of spring camp. That did not happen for a number of reasons, chief among them that no one created the necessary separation to be The Guy.

No worries.

Patenaude has always said from the jump that this was never a case of not having someone who was good enough, but having four guys who are good enough to be a championship Top 25 (at least regular season, until Temple can figure out this bowl thing) starting quarterback. Even though he’s coming to Temple seeing only Coastal Carolina quarterbacks, I tend to believe that reasoning.

Collins, for his part, pretty much said the same thing in his post-Franklin Field scrimmage talk with reporters on Saturday. He also let something slip: “We have packages ready for Toddy.” To me, that means two things. Centeio will not be redshirted and “Toddy” will be second team. You usually don’t have “packages ready” for the first-team quarterback.

Unless that means Toddy is taking a job at UPS during his redshirt season and I don’t think he will get one judging from what Collins says.

That leaves the first-team “above the line” guy and we should find that out in a week. After seven months of watching that can kicked down the road, it should be nice to pick it up and take a look inside for a change.

Or it that crunched up tin can might have been in Collins’ vest pocket all along.

Wednesday: Our Game-By-Game Analysis

Friday: The Eye of The Needle

Monday: Game Week (Can You Believe It?)

 

08.18.17
by

Perception Versus Reality

touchdown-jesus

Father forgive them, for they know not what they say.

Very few things surprise me these days, but I will have to admit I was surprised by this post that appeared on OwlsDaily.com by a Notre Dame fan who has been trolling that site all summer:

ndfan

That Notre Dame fan could not be more wrong.

“Both defensive end starters?”

Hmm.

Jacob Martin, one of the replacements, has a single digit for a reason. His teammates consider him one of the nine toughest players on the team and they have for the past two years. The other defensive end, Sharif Finch was a starter for the THREE previous years before being injured a  year ago and was the key defensive playmaker in a 2015 win over Penn State. He is also one of the nine toughest players on the team as voted by his 105 teammates.

Funny, I looked very hard for that qualifier in the Notre Dame fan’s post but could not find it.

He just assumes that because Temple lost two DE starters, it will have a dropoff in that area. Sorry to disabuse him of the notion, but it is not happening.

The same can be said for his other incorrect assumptions regarding the rest of the interior defensive line. Freddy Booth-Lloyd was not a starter at nose tackle/DT but certainly logged as much time as the starter, Averee Robinson. Michael Dogbe and Greg Webb were starters, as well as Karamo Dioubate. This line might be better than last year’s group.


In another post, the same
Notre Dame guy says,
“the more I read about
this game the more convinced
I am that it will get ugly early.”

In another post, the same Notre Dame guy says, “the more I read about this game the more convinced I am that it will get ugly early.”

There are no such assumptions from the Temple side, even though the Owls entered the last two bowl games ranked in the Top 25. The only expectation that the Owls bring  is that they will be ready for a street fight and really that’s the only way to approach this one. Respect everyone, fear no one.

What the linebackers lack in experience, they more than make up for in talent. Linebacker coach Andrew Thacker said the two units are so talented, he might run in two sets of starters. We all know the secondary is the strongpoint of the defense. Even the ND fan will admit that.

Of course, the quarterback situation is a bit of a concern but the same could be said for Notre Dame’s starter, Wimbush. Nice QB, with a high pedigree, but the Owls have a guy in Anthony Russo, who was recruited by LSU, and, if he’s beaten out, they will have more than a capable replacement for P.J. Walker.

If perception versus reality is an indicator of how things will go on 9/2/17, I like the Owls’ chances. I really like from a psychological standpoint how this game is shaping up for the Owls. There are a lot of guys who think this game will get ugly on their side and a lot of guys on our side who will be ready to go to war.

As someone whose image is plastered in one Notre Dame end zone once said, “Father Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Or, in this case, say.

Monday: The Final Scrimmage

08.16.17
by

Collins Rings In New Year

mobile

They could have held this party in a phone booth 20 years ago.

As careers go, I’m so glad I got into the writing end of the media than the photographic one.

Exhibit A was the annual Season Ticket Holder Party at the Pavilion.

Pointing my cell phone as steady as I could at head coach Geoff Collins, I recorded this statement:

“People asked me tonight since I was from the SEC, that this was probably not as good as the SEC. Let me tell you this was better than anything in the SEC.”

I tried to download the video to post here only to get this message:

“Can’t attach file over 25 MB.”

It’s all Greek to me.

myring

My keepsake (I know, terrible photo)

Oh well. Taking the video seemed like a good idea at the time because Collins can hold the interest of a crowd maybe even better than his predecessor, Matt Rhule.

Collins, as always, seemed pretty sincere. Maybe they don’t have season-ticket-holder parties in the SEC but Temple’s season ticket-holder party went from a small-time deal in the Bobby Wallace days to filling every inch of an indoor football field with fans last night.

I finally got to meet the man last night and I was very impressed with him.

I told him how much I thought Nick Sharga needed to be involved in the offense this year, particularly with his blocking, and Collins agreed and one-upped me by saying that Nick not only blocks but gets in a healthy share of carries every practice. To me, you can talk about the quarterback all you want but if Sharga isn’t back there to be the last line of defense against a blitzing linebacker, the quarterback is probably going to end up on his back side. Before Sharga got here, that was pretty much the fate of P.J. Walker his first two years on the job. Rhule’s spread offense was a disaster because every time Walker went empty backfield, opposing coaches routinely blitzed one more player than the Owls could block and Walker had to run for his life.

Hopefully, Collins won’t make the same mistake by exposing an inexperienced quarterback to limited pocket protections.

We talked about coach Hardin and Collins said he was thrilled the coach made it to the Saturday practice before he passed, but I dared not ask him who the starting quarterback would be. Collins made clear before the first of two scrimmages that he would not decide who the quarterback would be until the second scrimmage and we’re just not there yet. I’m sure others asked the question, though.

I told him jokingly they could have held the season-ticket party in a phone booth in the 1980s and he laughed and said he was aware the program has come a long way. (Heck, he was the Albright College defensive coordinator in nearby Reading in the 1980s so he probably knew the Temple fan landscape in those days well.)

Speaking of ringing in the New Year, the season ticket holders were given a terrific keepsake in a quality championship ring.

I told Scott Walcoff, the associate AD, that whoever came up with that idea is a genius. Scott gave all the credit to his boss, Pat Kraft. Walcoff said that fans who still want the ring should keep an eye out because the university will make it available on a limited basis and it still might be available for those who purchase season tickets between now and the Villanova game. This is a quality item, far better than the kind of thing you might find in a cracker jack box. To borrow a phrase from Abraham Lincoln, “it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” The fans who have been through more thin than thick but remained true to the program are champions in my mind.

Believe me, it’s worth it, but don’t take the accompanying photo as proof.

Photography was never my strong suit.

Friday: Perception Versus Reality

08.14.17
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QB Casting Call

The Temperors held the first of two closed scrimmages on Saturday as even the Temple fans are getting ready. This should be on the Jumbotron pregame for Villanova (our suggestion).

If hint-dropping is taken into account, Frank Nutile would be under center when the Owls travel to Notre Dame on 9/2/17.

Hint 1: Nutile has been taking MOST of the snaps with the first team during camp so far. When Keith Kirkwood, Adonis Jennings and Ventell Bryant are all on the field at the same time, it has been Nutile throwing the ball to them.

Hint 2: On Media Day, Collins said “the team seems to move the ball better with him in there” and “guys tend to gravitate to him when he’s in the room.” That was all on a question about how he got the nickname of Frankie Juice.

Of course, Collins could be throwing us all for a loop and saying these things to throw the speculation one way and then call a play that goes the other. He does not strike me as that kind of guy, though. He did have his first of two closed scrimmages on Saturday night and the word was that “all four” quarterbacks looked equally good.

What Collins does have is not unlike a director looking for a lead man. He has four distinct types.

jimnutile

FRANK NUTILE_ Much more of a “Jim Plunkett” type than the other four quarterbacks. Not very mobile or flashy, but gets the throws where they need to be. Plunkett won a Heisman Trophy and two Super Bowls, so the strong silent type could be what Collins is looking for right now.

ANTHONY RUSSO_ Definitely more flashy than Nutile and called “the light who brightens up a room” by no less a quarterback authority than Trent Dilfer. Russo has been compared to the Atlanta Falcons’ Matty Ryan, because he is a similar “type” quarterback with functional mobility (the ability to get out of trouble in the pocket to make a throw downfield). Ryan, like Russo, is from one of the three Philadelphia City Leagues (Inter-AC, Catholic, Public) and Russo had the better high school stats against better competition. Getting Russo to stay home at Temple was, as Joe Biden might say, a big f’ing deal and Russo’s success with the Owls might have a Pied Piper effect. Temple tried to recruit two players from the Catholic and Inter-Ac Leagues before, one was Ryan and the other was Rich Gannon. Both became NFL MVPs. Russo had a more outstanding Philadelphia scholastic career than those two and his getting on the field sooner than later might to out to be a big benefit for the Owls.

russo

LOGAN MARCHI _ When a group of Temple fans first saw Marchi’s high school film, they pretty much agreed that they were watching Johnny Manziel. The then Texas A&M quarterback used to duck out of trouble, like Marchi did in those clips, and make something happen with his feet—like a big gain in the run game or an explosive play in the passing game, even if the pass was thrown off the back feet. Marchi threw a couple of those back-feet passes in the spring game and was intercepted. Maybe it was more of an aberration than the norm, but he’s had to catch up since.

TODD CENTEIO _ Reminds me particularly of the guy they are trying so hard to replace, Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Phillip “P.J.” Walker. Like Marchi, he has more than functional mobility in the sense that he can get out of the pocket and make a big gain in both the running and the passing game. Walker looked to run a lot in his first two seasons, but enjoyed more success when he became a pocket passer in his final two seasons. Now the Owls are desperately seeking a guy like him and may be forced to burn a redshirt to get another version of Walker.

The first scrimmage, or reading, is in the books. It may take a second casting call before all the characters in this movie are aligned.

Wednesday: Ringing In The New Year

Friday: Perception Versus Reality

 

 

08.11.17
by

QB Dilemma: Nutile Looks Like The Guy

gelbster

Zach Gelb at the EO interviewing Chris Coyer’s kid back in the day.

Make no mistake, Geoff Collins has a quarterback dilemma.

Not necessarily a quarterback PROBLEM, but certainly a dilemma.

A “problem” is picking between Chester Stewart and Vaughn Charlton. Both came to Temple with dubious credentials, with Charlton throwing for only nine TDs as a high school senior at Avon Grove. The Strath Haven assistant coach who called in track results to the Philadelphia Inquirer had this to say about him: “Mike, what is Temple thinking? That guy blows.”

A little harsh, but Charlton was never a high-end FBS quarterback. Or, in my humble opinion, a quarterback you could win a FBS championship with under center.

These four guys new coach Geoff Collins has to work with all had much better high school careers than Charlton or Stewart and these are four guys Temple can win a championship with now.

This group of guys is a significant upgrade from those days.

The press is allowed only to see the last 10-15 minutes of every practice, so the appearance of the Zach Gelb Radio Show on campus recently gave some clues about what will happen. Two hours of unfettered access on one day tells you a lot more than 10-15 minutes on every day.

Gelb, a Temple grad, got really the first unfettered press access but, despite his pleas of “it’s my birthday” Collins wasn’t going to give him the icing on the cake with a premature anointing of a starter.

Suffice it to say that a parade of guests—heard through the prism of what sounded like someone stepping on the transmission lines—indicated that the guy throwing to the ones (Keith Kirkwood, Adonis Jennings and Ventell Bryant) the most this summer camp was Frankie “Juice” Nutile.

juice

In other words, there is a scrimmage on Saturday at Franklin Field and Nutile (pronounced NEW TILE) would have to throw about three interceptions to cause the quarterback depth chart to shift.

Combine that with the fact that Collins himself let slip the quote “the team seems to move the ball best with him in there” and the unmistakable notion is that in the next week or so Nutile will be named the guy.

Is that reading too much into it?

Perhaps.

True freshman Toddy Centeio also has received high praise from his teammates, but he unmistakably is running with the third team and throwing against third-team DBs. He appears headed for a redshirt.

That leaves Anthony Russo and Logan Marchi and those two mostly with the “twos” (in other words, Jager Gardner is the back he hands off to most, while Nutile hands off to Ryquell Armstead).

Collins told Gelb a lot will depend on this weekend’s scrimmage at Franklin Field (closed to the public) and how they do against live bullets. He also told Gelb that this isn’t a “gut” decision and that he and offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude (pronounced Patton Nude) have set up a baseball-like metrics system that tells them which quarterback moves the team better. That’s comforting to know the decision won’t come down to pulling the name out of the hat.

Other gems from the interviews:

kid

Stadium: All talk, no action.

 

Pat Kraft (Temple AD):

Gelb, who asks the best questions of any of the Temple media (hell, Pravda could learn a lot from his questions), started out by asking Dr. Kraft what he knew about the stadium situation and Kraft said: “You know more about it than me.” Not an exaggeration, since Kraft has been taken out of the loop because, as he explained, a “subcommittee of the Board of Trustees is handling all of that now and that’s where it is.” So, in short, the stadium is all talk and no action.

Scott Walcoff (Temple associate AD): 

The intro at the stadium on the Jumbotron will be new and improved, but he could not spill the beans despite Gelb waving the birthday card. Also, people going to the Billy Joel concert the day Temple plays will get into the Temple game for $10 by simply showing their Piano Man ticket.

Delvon Randall (safety):

Said that no Temple player sits and “chills” during practice, like they did with Matt Rhule, but that the drills going on can look like a cluster. “You want to add another word after that, don’t you?” Gelb said. OK, we’ll say it: Cluster Fuck. That might not be a good thing for game-day preparation, but we shall see. All I want out of Temple practices this year is so much concentration on detail that we will never again see a 120-yard penalty day like we did at Penn State last  year. Matt Rhule screwed the pooch with his preparation the week of that game and it cost Temple a win over a P5 champ.

projectmayhem

Collins:

Said the best thing about being a Temple coach is “being around these kids. They are the best group of kids I’ve been around as a coach anywhere. They are competitive. They love to practice. They love to compete and they love to be coached” and that he doesn’t want to put the pressure of getting another 10-win season on them but “I want to take all of that on myself.”

Monday: Quarterback Casting

 

 

 

 

08.09.17
by

King Solomon’s Kicking Solution

jones

Austin Jones kicks arguably the most clutch FG of the last 10  years of TUFB.

Other than the quarterback dilemma, probably the toughest decision facing Geoff Collins in these weeks before the Notre Dame game is the kicking position.

Both Aaron Boumerhi and Austin Jones are, by all accounts, even this season.

One is a senior and one is a sophomore.

For the solution, Collins only needs to open the Bible and look for the story of King Solomon.  Two women claimed to be the mother of the same child and the King ordered the child be split in two so that the women could share him. One of the women objected, saying she’d rather see the child live with the other mother than be killed. Solomon saw that and declared her the real mother and awarded the child to her.

Collins should, in reality, split this baby this way: The senior, Jones, should get to kick this season and he should redshirt Boumerhi so he has him two years after that.

That’s the logical way to do it. All things being equal, the guy who put the blood sweat and tears into the program longer should be given the benefit of the doubt and Jones seems to be that guy. It was not Jones’ fault that he was the victim of a cheap shot at Memphis and probably should not lose his job because of it. Boumerhi is good, but I don’t see this as a Wally Pipp/Lou Gehrig-type situation where Pipp lost his job because of injury. Jones is not as bad as Pipp nor is Bourmerhi the Lou Gehrig of kickers.

Of course, if the reports are wrong out of camp and one is, err, kicking the crap out of the other than that guy should get the job and the other guy should be redshirted but, according to special teams’ coach Ed Foley, that’s not the case. Foley said that both are outstanding and both are doing well.

On the surface this is a tough decision.

King Solomon, though, would beg to differ.

Friday: The QB Dilemma

08.07.17
by

Double-Jointed

At least the quarterbacks are not being forced to play other positions.

If we take what Geoff Collins has said as Gospel so far, this season should be interesting.

Take a look at his views on “position flexibility” and depth charts.

One, he believes in; the other he doesn’t.

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Collins has so much position flexibility his roster is double-jointed. Wide receiver Keith Kirkwood has played defensive end, as has fullback Nick Sharga. Linebacker Shaun Bradley has played fullback. Wide receivers have played cornerback.

How much flexibility is too much, though?

To me, position flexibility has always been appealing only in certain areas. The offensive and defensive lines should be interchangeable due to depth concerns. Tackles should be able to play guard and guards tackle and there should be a number of guys able to go in if the center goes down.

Other parts of the field, though, and position flexibility gets you diminishing returns.

The NCAA gives you a finite time to practice and having definite units running plays and schemes has to have priority.

Whether this hurts or helps Temple is one of the things that will make this season interesting.

Another is the depth chart.

Collins doesn’t believe in them, only in a vague concept of “being above or below the line.” Above the line means that you will play and below it means you won’t.

Wonder how NBC-TV broadcasters will react when Collins says he can’t give them a depth chart. Walk into any TV booth, as I have done over the  years as a journalist and the two-deep is right there next to the microphone.

I do not know what an “above-the-line” depth chart looks like.

I guess we will find out soon enough.

Wednesday: Getting Their Kicks

Friday: Quarterback Battle Narrows