Author Archives: Mike Gibson

10.11.16
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5 Reasons To Roll P.J. Out

Click on this great photo of P.J. Walker for details.

When I first saw P.J. Walker play quarterback for Temple University, I had two overriding thoughts.

One,  he reminded me of a fellow AAC quarterback at the time, Teddy Bridgewater, and, two, I thought there was a good chance he would be gone by his senior season.

That’s how good I thought he was and that’s how good I thought he was going to become. He took over as a starter a few games into his true freshman year and compiled 20 touchdown passes against only eight interceptions. If the numbers kept going up, I imagined he’d have 25 touchdowns as a sophomore and 30 as a junior and 30 touchdown passes is a ticket to getting drafted.

A couple of things happened on the way to him not declaring for the NFL draft a year early. One, he was the victim of a horrific coaching scheme as a sophomore that gave him no pocket protection from a tailback or fullback and plenty of empty backfields. It was not his fault that he regressed to 13 touchdowns against 15 interceptions. (And I told him that after the next Cherry and White game.) He bounced back nicely as a junior with 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions, but that was in 14 games. He had better stats in nine games his freshman year and he started only seven games that season.

That was P.J. Walker and I want the old P.J. Walker back. As Phillip Walker, he has only eight touchdown passes against nine interceptions. To get the old P.J. back, the Temple coaches are going to have to roll him out—if not all of the time, at least 80 percent of the time.

It should be a no-brainer and should have been done about six games ago.

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Here are five reasons why you do that:

He Sees The Field Better

At 5-foot-11, when he drops back, guys who are 6-foot-5 are running  and jumping at him. It’s only logical that he sees the field better when he leaves the pocket and rolls out to his right. It also opens up the other side of the field for wheel routes and throwback passes to the tight ends (hint: Central Bucks School district products Colin Thompson and Jake O’Donnell).

The Threat of Running

By rolling out, P.J. brings up the linebackers and the safeties to cover the threat of him running.  The linebackers and safeties have to make a quick decision. Quick decisions lead to bad decisions.

If Temple rolls the pocket and throws off play action, it will win. If it keeps asking P.J. to throw into tight windows, it will lose. Simple as that.

If Temple rolls the pocket and throws off play action, it will win. If it keeps asking P.J. to throw into tight windows in the pocket over taller linemen, it will lose. Simple as that.

Coverage Mismatches

Those linebackers and safeties have pass coverage responsibilities and, by coming up on run support, they leave the Temple receivers they are assigned to cover. P.J. can then see the field and toss the intermediate pass to Temple tight ends or wide receivers who now are running free through the secondary.

Spacing

By rolling out, P.J. is no longer the sitting duck he is when protection breaks down on a more conventional dropback pass. He now has the option to run in open space and pick up a first down should the linebackers and safeties stay back. That leaves the No. 1 reason why P.J. should roll out.

Red Zone Offense

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Nothing drives defenses more insane than the threat of a running quarterback near the goal line. They are damned if they come up in run support because the option of throwing to the back of the end zone is always there. They are damned if they do not come up on run support because P.J. has the speed to get to the pylon.

Temple becomes a much better team if the Owls stop trying to jam Phillip Walker into a square Tom Brady peg when P.J. Walker fits more nicely into a Russell Wilson hole.  The sooner the Owl coaches realize that, the better their chances of getting out of the quicksand of mediocrity where Phillip and his teammates are mired now.

Thursday: Meet Your New Kicker

10.09.16
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Mediocrity Is Not My Cup Of Tea

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Coach Hardin during game at Temple Stadium.

The last time I saw Wayne Hardin in his official duty as Temple University head football coach we were both in a side interview room of the Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, New York.

There was me, coach, and two other reporters, and it was there that he dropped his bombshell announcement that he was retiring from coaching at the all-too-young age of 55.

That came after a season-ending 24-17 loss to host Colgate, which gave the Owls a 4-6 record. It was only the third losing season for Hardin in his 13 years as head coach at Temple (he never had one in his five years at Navy), but this one stung a little bit more.

I was stunned, but it was a stunning afternoon.

“Why?” I said.

“Mediocrity is not my cup of tea,” he said.

I remembered that exchange late Thursday night after Temple’s 34-27 loss at Memphis because a 3-3 record is the definition of mediocrity.

I mentioned this quote to coach Hardin, who is now 90, two weeks ago when I caught up to him for a 45-minute talk prior to the SMU game. Since that Colgate day in 1982, I’ve spoken to him about 20 times, but the resignation day never came up.

Now, prior to SMU, it did.

 

There were some extenuating circumstances that day that made this loss more painful than some of the others. One, Colgate was then, as now, a 1-aa (FCS) team and Temple was then, as now, a FBS team. Two, and more importantly, Temple quarterback Tim Riordan completed a 31-yard pass in the corner of the end zone on the game’s last play. The Temple receiver—whose name escapes me—clearly caught the ball with both feet (you only need one) inbounds, but the home cooking got to the ref, who ruled it out. There was no replay in those days; otherwise Wayne might have been in a better post-game mood.

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“The Monday after that game,” coach said two weeks ago, “the Colgate coach called me and asked if I was OK. He said, ‘You are not retiring because you lost to us?’ I said, no, I just thought it was time.”

Even though his sense of time came much earlier than other coaches who retire at ages considerably older than 55 years old. The conversation touched on a lot of topics but he told me not to quote him only on one subject and that was the proposed new stadium at Temple. He had an interesting take on it, and maybe someday he will be comfortable making it public.

Former Temple quarterback Joe Morelli accompanies coach Hardin to the games, even though Joe never played for him.

“Joe takes good care of me,” coach said.

I mentioned to Joe and coach how great it was that Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick, who never answers questions with more than one or two words, went into this long detailed answer about how Hardin’s coaching influenced his.

Hardin was thrilled many of his old Temple players get together before and after every game. “The fact that they have remained close all of these years is great,” he said. I then walked him over to where they were and he got to shake hands with many of them.

“God bless him,” former great Mark Bresani said. “In 30 years, if I’m still around, I will be here, too.”

That, and the fact that Temple won, 45-20, made it a very good day.

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About as bad a series of play calls as you will ever see at TU

Ironically, while mediocrity was not Hardin’s cup of tea, it is the brand Temple is drinking now with a 3-3 record. Watching the Memphis game, I could not help but think that Hardin would have called a much better series after recovering a fumble on a kickoff at the 5. He would have probably pitched to Jahad Thomas because he always wanted to put the ball in the hands of his best player. If that did not work, he probably would have rolled P.J. Walker out a couple of times to give him a run/pass option on the goal line and create space for Temple receivers in the end zone.

There was a reason Temple had only three losing seasons in those 13 years and that reason was Wayne Hardin. Hopefully, he will keep coming to Temple games for as long as he is physically able to do so.

Related:

Hall of Fame story

Bill Belichick on coach Hardin

Lou Holtz on coach Hardin

Tuesday: 5 Reasons Why You Roll Phillip Out

10.07.16
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How Do You Lose? Let’s Count The Ways

Ample evidence in this film to make P.J. a full-time rollout passer as we’ve been saying all year.

Up 13-0, you’ve got to win the game.

So, how do you not?

Let’s count the ways.

The first and most important is that you cannot come up with empty possessions. An empty possession is one without a field goal or a touchdown and, after 13-squat, the Owls came up with seven empty possessions.

Watching on TV, it only seemed like 70.

Phillip Walker had a career night with over 400 yards worth of passing, but most of those 400 yards were needed with a 13-0 lead and the Owls were way too comfortable walking off the field as it went to 13-3 and 13-6.

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For the Wildcat to work, got to throw off it from time to time.

There has got to be a greater sense of urgency at 13-0 than there was Thursday night.

The body language was “la-dee-da, we’ll get them next time” but, in big-time college football, there is no next time.

The sad truth is that there will be no AAC championship for the Owls this season and it was left on a football field in Memphis when the score was 13-0. They had a chance to put the hammer down and make it 20-0 and 27-0, but refused to see how important that was.

You can talk all you want about a kickoff return for a touchdown or two long touchdown runs before that, and even the two missed field goals from a guy who had hit 17 in a row (I know, the announcers should have never mentioned that), but this game, this night, was lost when it was 13-0.

The Temple coaches were far too comfortable is “managing” the game at 13-0 rather than putting it away when the pedal needed to be put to the medal. Nick Sharga and Brian Carter, two standouts in their limited time on defense stopping the run up the middle, were nowhere to be found and the Owls were gouged up the middle late without them. Does this coaching staff even know they are on the team? From the 120 yards in penalties at Penn State to the horrific defensive game plan against Army’s triple option, to the lack of killer instinct at Memphis, one thing is clear about this 2016 version of the Temple Owls.

This is a poorly-coached football team. How does Memphis hire a 34-year-old guy with no head coaching experience who goes 4-1 when the same guy Temple hired in his first year went 2-10? You thought Memphis would have the coaching growing pains, not Temple. Turned out the opposite was the case.  The Wildcat Offense is an absolute joke when you have someone running it who has not demonstrated he can complete a pass out of it. What do you think the scouting report for Temple is when Isaiah Wright comes into the game? That he’s going to throw the ball? They just load up on the run.

Late in this one, I thought the law of averages would catch up to Temple and the Owls would be the ones benefitting from a Hail Mary pass instead of the ones suffering from it (Fordham, Buffalo, UCF). Instead, this game was lost long before then when the game was sitting on what turned out to be unlucky 13.

Now the only thing left is to figure out what crummy bowl game the Owls will be sent to, if indeed they are that lucky.

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Even before the game, not a whole lot of belief in Temple anymore (Sad).

Sunday: Catching Up With Greatness

10.05.16
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The Whole World Is Watching

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Memphis’ Jake Elliott is the best kicker on college football.

There will be a couple of things on the television in every sports bar in America on Thursday night.

One will be an NFL game involving Cardinals and 49er; the other will be Temple football. Since the NFL game will not be on until 8:25, Temple football will be the only thing on TV in every sports bar in America between for an hour and a half. In that time, the Owls have a chance to make their game compelling television.

When it comes to Temple University and national branding, Thursday’s game at Memphis (7 p.m., ESPN) will be a chance to show the product to a wider audience than it has been since the Notre Dame game on Halloween Night last year.

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Memphis weather.

In essence, the whole world will be watching and this will be a bigger audience than the last two Penn State games and a chance for Temple to walk away a winner, and not the gallant loser it was seen to be against the Fighting Irish a  year ago this month.

So this is a very unique chance for the kids and the coaches to show what they are made of tomorrow night. Will the nation see the sloppy Owl team that committed 120 yards in penalties at Penn State or will they see the crisp Owl team that raced out to a 34-12 lead at Cincinnati a year ago? Will the nation see a defense that was aligned improperly against Army in the opener or one filling the gaps and making life miserable for Memphis quarterback Ryan Ferguson?

Largely, that’s up to both the Temple kids and the coaches. Let’s put it this way: Probably more people will be watching Temple football tomorrow than watched the Vice-Presidential debate on Tuesday night  or at least they should because football is more entertaining than politics.

The Owls have not played their best game yet, but Thursday night will be a good time to start. They seem to be vulnerable to runs up the middle on defense, but that can be shored up by shifting backup offensive guard Brian Carter (6-1, 303) to his old familiar spot, which was as a starting defensive tackle before he was forced to move over to the other side of the ball. Fullback Nick Sharga, a tremendous run-stopper, would also probably be better-suited to play linebacker from here on out because, frankly, he’s more needed there.

Hopefully, the coaches are using their heads for more than a hat rack.

There is not a whole lot of belief in the Owls among the general public because the line jumped from Memphis favored by 6.5 to Memphis favored by 10.5. Maybe the line is telling the nation something.

Or maybe the Owls should take things into their own hands and tell the line something that cannot be printed. A statement for Temple football on a night the whole world is watching is the perfect prescription to get national respect again.

Friday: Game Analysis

10.04.16
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Guest Post From Fizzy

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The following is a guest post from Fizzy, who played for George Makris in the `1960s. 

Adventures in Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda land

 

RUN PHILLIP RUN

Operating a college spread offense without having your quarterback run the football, is like taking a shower with your golashes on.  

Why doesn’t Matt Rhule allow his quarterback to run the football?  Doesn’t he see how much it limits his play calling by eliminating the threat of forcing linebackers to hold their pursuit until they see who has the ball?  In all the last five winnable games that were lost, if Walker had been a force on the ground, the outcomes may have been different.

running

This year, Phillip Walker has been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  He’s thrown some fantastic passes for long touchdowns.  On the other hand, he has thrown too many interceptions, and made un-senior like decisions.  The one thing missing, and it’s been missing from his sophomore year on, is he rarely runs the football.  Walker is very good at running the football, and it adds so much to the offense.

After the second straight week of watching Temple blow out an opponent, you would think I’d be happy. But keep in mind these were both soft teams.  The offense didn’t do well against Army and Penn State, and playing at Memphis Thursday night will certainly be more of a test.        

This past week, Coach Rhule employed the “Wildcat” against SMU with freshman Isaiah Wright playing tailback, and it was mostly successful with jet sweeps and tailback keepers.  However, the Wildcat is a gimmick.  If you take out your quarterback and put in a runner, who are you going to fool?  It hasn’t worked well in the NFL, nor in college for that exact reason.  The quarterback is the one who should be doing the keepers, roll-outs and bootlegs; that’s what will surprise the defense and energize the offense.

I’ve been advised that Walker has an ongoing shoulder problem on his non-throwing shoulder, which continues to plague him.  That puts Rhule in the tenuous position of being damned if he does, and also if he doesn’t. As a former coach, I’ve been in that situation too.  But Walker’s been playing and there’s always the possibility he will take a shot on the tender shoulder, anyway.  So my suggestion is to allow Walker to run bootlegs, keepers and roll-outs, to the outside only.  That way, he can go out of bounds or slide to protect himself.  It won’t protect him all the time, but neither does staying in the pocket to throw the ball.  

In the past two weeks, I’ve watched Houston’s quarterback Ward, and Louisville’s quarterback Jackson, bring their offenses to life with scintillating runs.  We can do the same.  

I’m just sayin…

 

Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

10.01.16
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Long Day, Short Week

Love the acceleration of Ryquell Armstead on that last score.

If a team could feel a tinge of sadness coming off a 45-20 win, there is no blaming the Temple Owls after that score was completed at the end of a long day on Saturday afternoon.

Just before the game, it was learned that star safety and kick returner Sean Chandler could be lost for the season with a knee injury sustained in practice and that backup defensive linemen Julian Taylor and Sharif Finch are definitely done for the season.

Fortunately, Matt Rhule called this version of the Owls the “deepest and most talented team I’ve ever coached”  (even after the Army debacle) and we will learn shortly if that is true because Saturday’s long day will be followed by a short week.

natel

Nate L. Smith

There are signs, though, that Rhule could be onto something here because Chandler was replaced by a player we feel has been underappreciated in his four years at Temple, safety Nate L. Smith. All Smith did was pick up an interception and add seven tackles. If Smith is indeed The Guy in the middle of the field, nothing he did on Saturday indicates there will be a significant drop off in play.

Smith is one of those guys who all he does is make plays and that has held true for the few times he has gotten into games over the last four years.

The same could be said of Finch, with his five blocked kicks and his spectacular near-pick 6 of Christian Hackenberg last year. Still, for all of the Finch plays, he was a backup to both Praise Martin-0quike and Haason Reddick at defensive end this year.

So the bad news might not be so bad and the good news is that the Owls’ offense is now showing signs of being the dominant unit. Phillip Walker is going to have to stop throwing interceptions, because SMU’s pick 6 was the only thing keeping this from being a 45-13 final.

There is much talk on social media about the poor crowd, but we told you here in writing what was going to happen in this post entitled “Unintended Consequences” after the Army loss. It was plain to see then and there is no surprise it is happening now. There is going to be no crowd redemption this season and that is the fault of the coaches who had eight months to prepare for that triple option. The Owls had a legitimate crowd of 34,005 on opening night and pretty much said goodbye to that kind of crowd with that loss. When Buffalo gets the job done that Temple should have, it gives those casual/fringe/lazy/softcore fans pause. We hardcores, the 20,000, will always be here. To use a double Biblical analogy, it’s the Prodigal Son fans who are the Doubting Thomases (not Glenn or Jahad).  They need to be wooed by early wins. That’s the way it’s always been at Temple and that’s the way it always will be.

For now, though, the emphasis will be on getting the most out of this season and, despite the injuries, there is some promise for better times ahead. Memphis, the Thursday night opponent, will be a sterner test than SMU, so we should know more in five nights.

Monday: The Best Images From Saturday

09.30.16
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Sound Bites or Empty Words?

Not thrilled about the players talking about those other games as not counting.

Our only post-debate reference of the evening refers to the Donald Trump statement about Hillary Clinton’s “empty words” and “sound bites.”

By no means are we taking sides in this particularly onerous election, but the phrases reminded me of Temple football’s AAC opener on Saturday afternoon (noon) against visiting SMU.

That’s because if the words “Temple TUFF” are something other than empty words or sound bites, we should be able to discern that by 3:04 p.m. tomorrow. For the past 365 days, we’ve seen videos of Owls in the weight room, Owls doing sprints on the snow in February, even Owls toasting marshmallows in the Poconos.

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                       Romond Deloatch

All of this physical and mental bonding was supposed to make the Owls “Temple TUFF” which is to imply that the Owls are tougher than their AAC foes and that, by taking things into the fourth quarter, that toughness is the difference between victory and defeat.

The Owls are a little less than two-touchdown favorites and should take care of business in workmanlike fashion on Saturday. We also thought that on opening night and we were, if not shocked, surprised that things went the other way.

bulk

                                   Bulk of the rain should be gone by start of tailgate and remain that way throughout the day. Don’t be fooled by the high of 71. I froze wearing my Eagle Bank Bowl T-shirt even though last week’s high was predicted as 76.

As I see it, this team is tough enough but doesn’t play smart enough. When you lose the cerebral game, that usually falls back onto the coaches. In my mind, this team should have beaten Army and Penn State and because of a flawed game plan (Army) and some undisciplined play (Penn State), they have two losses.

The trouble aspect is that players have been quoted as saying that those games are practice games or, as one player said, tune-up games, and did not count. In college football, where you have only 12 games to show people how good you are, every game counts. It took the Owls four games to figure out that Romond Deloatch is their best rush end, but that’s something that should have been figured out by Cherry and White Day, not as the result of a sack in the fourth game of the season. Hopefully, the coaches have figured out that Nick Sharga and Brian Carter would be more helpful as full-time defensive players than part-time offenders. Maybe that will take until the sixth game of the season but, geez, we hope not.

While it would be nice to see TEMPLE SMART for a change, a heavy dose of TEMPLE TUFF should be able to get this job done.

Otherwise, Temple TUFF is nothing more than a couple of empty words or a nice soundbite.

Tomorrow Night: Game Analysis

09.28.16
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Double Death Penalty

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Sean Stopperich, who helped bring down the SMU program, ended up at Temple with BA.

Both SMU and Temple have something in common in that both school’s received the Death Penalty for their football program.

SMU had the formal one, the first “modern” death penalty—the NCAA’s power to suspend a program for a year—while Temple had a self-imposed one based on years of neglect.

You decide which was worse, but sitting through an 0-11 season and a 20-game losing streak which I did as a Temple fan in the Bobby Wallace Era was pretty bad.

stopperich

Temple never paid players $1,000 a month and with free cars—like SMU boosters did in the 1980s—but some of the 1980 Temple teams probably could have given the pay-for-play guys a pretty good game. The late Sean Stopperich, whose family was relocated from Pennsylvania, reneged on a scholarship with Pitt and signed with SMU and his story was featured on ESPN’s 30 for 30 expose on the SMU Death Penalty.

Ironically, Stopperich ended up at Temple, where he played a few games before a shoulder injury ended his career. He was part owner of a gym in the Pittsburgh area when he died in 1995.

In those days, under Bruce Arians, the Owls went 6-5 twice and both winning records were posted against the then-No. 10 schedule in the country. Arians’ 6-5 seasons were in 1984 and 1986.

To show you how much times have changed at Temple, the current Owls are playing against the 126th-ranked schedule in FBS football. That’s pretty hard to do when you are in highest-rated G5 league, the AAC, but thanks to Charlotte and Stony Brook, the Owls are doing it this year.

SMU’s highly-paid players lost their entire 1987 season due to sanctions and could play no home games in the 1988 season. The Mustangs went 52-19-1 from 1980 through 1986.

The 1984 SMU team went 10-2 with no common opponents with Temple. The 1986 SMU team went 6-5, like Temple, and beat Boston College, 31-29. That year, the Owls lost to BC, 38-29.

When SMU and Temple played in the 1940s, neither was a national power as the 2-4-1 Owls tied the 4-5-1 Mustangs in 1946 and 3-6-2 SMU and 2-5-3 Temple tied, 6-6, in 1942.

Decades later, both programs lost their way because one put too much illegal money into the program and the other did not put enough legal money into the program.

Now, both are trying to come back from the dead and the Owls have had more recent success than the Mustangs. It was a long, hard, climb, but both appear headed upward.

Friday: Game Preview

09.26.16
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5 Things We’ve Learned So Far

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Romond Deloatch is probably more valuable to the Owls as a rush end than a WR.

To me, the big surprise has that Temple football has not been as good as expected.

So far, but that does not mean it has to last so long.

That’s not just a Temple fan talking here, it is from the perspective of places like The Sporting News that picked the Owls to finish first in the AAC East. That still can happen, but the results of the first four weeks gives even the most optimistic fan pause.

Temple could not get the job done against Army, despite having eight months to prepare for the triple option. Somehow, Buffalo—a team with considerably less talent than the Owls—did get the job done. The Owls could not get the job done at Penn State, committing 120 yards in penalties (including numerous false starts and offsides). Had the Owls been a disciplined-enough team to cut those penalties in half they likely would have won. Mike Pettine Sr. proved the way to eliminate penalties at Central Bucks West was repetition, repetition and more repetition and then by grabbing a few facemasks and yelling a few choice words to offenders at practice so they do not become repeat offenders during games. Temple could use a Mike Pettine now. That’s where you clean up penalties, in practice, not in games.

That does not look like it happens at Temple or at least has happened so far. These are the five things we’ve learned about the AAC and the Owls through 1/3d of the regular season:

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Noles scored 55 on USF.

  1. USF Might Be Vulnerable

For the first couple of weeks, USF established itself as the clear favorite to win the AAC East. It showed some vulnerability, though, in a 55-35 home loss to Florida State on Saturday. Remember, this was the same Florida State defense that allowed 70 points to Louisville the week prior to the game against the Bulls. Temple DC Phil Snow will have to devise a specialty defense, perhaps involving a spy on quarterback Quinton Flowers, to slow down the Bulls’ offense. As we learned against Army, though, Snow is not comfortable devising specialty defenses.

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Nick Sharga and Jahad Thomas

  1. Nick Sharga More Valuable At Linebacker

As valuable as Nick Sharga is as a blocking fullback, he’s a better linebacker and moving him to defense would help the Owls shore up a hole on that side of the field. Sharga had 15 plays as a fullback and 15 more as a linebacker in a 31-12 win over Memphis last year, and he was easily one of the defensive stars of that game. Rob Ritrovato has shown to be a serviceable blocker at fullback and can do that job.

  1. Pocket Needs to Roll

When Phillip Walker rolls one way and throws the other, as in the wheel route throw to Jahad Thomas, he is a lethal passer. The same can be said when he rolls one way and throws on that same side, as in the touchdown pass to Brodrick Yancy. The more the Owls can roll the pocket, the more dangerous their offense becomes. That needs to grow exponentially going forward.

  1. Knack For Sacks

When Marcus Smith was a backup quarterback at Louisville,  he asked for a few snaps on defense and ended up with seven sacks at practice one day. The coach at the time, Charlie Strong, then moved him permanently to defense. Romond Deloatch set what is thought to be a Temple practice record for sacks with the same seven, but the difference was that head coach Matt Rhule moved him back to offense. Deloatch has a knack for this sack thing, and since none of the other Owls have shown it, he needs to be moved back to defensive end—at least for third and longs. Who knows? Maybe he could become a first-round pick, too. Temple has plenty of good receivers; it needs a sackmeister and Deloatch is certainly that.

  1. Temple’s Slow Start Is Fixable

Temple has shown flashes of brilliance on offense and probably will continue to improve in that area. The Owls, though, need help on the defensive side of the ball. They have a former defensive tackle starter as a backup offensive guard, Brian Carter (6-1, 304), and they could use that experience and bulk back on the defensive side to stop the run. Add Sharga and Deloatch and hit APPLY, and that could be the fix the defense needs. We know one thing.

It could not hurt.

Wednesday: Not-So-Sudden Death