Author Archives: Mike Gibson

12.06.16
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The Wrong 6-6 ACC Team

This is the ceremony we stayed for despite being told to leave for the bus right after the game. Me and a fellow great Temple fan made alternate plans of Ubering it home if the bus left without us.

Obviously, the people who make the matchups on NCAA basketball Selection Sunday with an eye for storylines do not work on the NCAA football bowl side.

For years, the NCAA hoops people have been accused of pairing foes based on what would make a better story over legitimate seeding bracketing.

“I absolutely think that’s the case,” Temple head basketball coach Fran Dunphy said after the Owls were slotted down a couple of notches from what they should have been (2010 season) in order to play No. 12-seeded Cornell, coached by his old assistant, Steve Donahue.

That wasn’t the only instance on the basketball side, all you have to do is look at this year when Shaka Smart’s Texas team was paired against his old team, VCU, and Sean Miller’s Arizona team was placed in the same bracket as Dayton, coached by his younger brother.

Boy, they could have used that formula on the football side this year because they got the wrong 6-6 ACC team to face Temple in the Military Bowl in Wake Forest. They swung and missed on this one.

bowlgamephoto

It was a no-brainer to invite Boston College and old Temple coach Steve Addazio to the Military Bowl party. First of all, there is no love lost among the current Temple players for Addazio. Haason Reddick was not even allowed to take reps in practice under the Addazio regime. He will now be a first-round NFL draft pick or at worst a second-round selection.

The sight of that bald head on the other side of the Temple sideline probably would be enough to motivate even more Temple fans to go because there is also no love lost for a guy who was full of baloney the two years he was here. Addazio said Temple was his “dream job” and talked about how he wanted to stay in Philadelphia forever because he was an Italian guy who loved the South Philly macaroni. He never saw his third year and did the Owls a favor by leaving and taking his three-yards-and-a-cloud of dust offense with him. As soon as he got to the podium in Boston, he talked about BC being his dream job. A Delaware County Daily Times’ writer then came up with this clever line: “A football coach calling Boston College his dream job is a little like a chef calling  Boston Market his dream job.”

Instead of being sent to Annapolis on Dec. 27, Boston College was banished to Detroit to face Maryland the day earlier.

That’s too bad because the more compelling storyline is with a BC-Temple game and not a Temple-Wake Forest one. The ratings would have been off the charts because two large TV markets (Philadelphia and Boston) would be involved and not just Philadelphia and the small Raleigh-Durham market. Plus, there is a history between BC and Temple that dates even before the Big East. There is no history between Wake and Temple, other than one game played in 1930 that probably no one remembers. There also is a history between Wake and former ACC partner Maryland, so that’s a trade that benefits all four ball clubs.

It’s probably too late to send Wake Forest to Detroit to face Maryland, but it is a nice thought. While we’re at it, here is another one: Football should adopt the basketball version of the “eye test” because, if that were used, Temple’s wins over Navy and USF plus the championship of the sixth-best conference would have vaulted the Owls into the Cotton Bowl over a Western Michigan team that has no such credentials.

As far as Selection Sundays go, in at least a couple of important areas, football has a lot to learn from basketball.

Thursday: Elephant Hunting

Saturday: It Could Have Been Worse

Monday: The Clawson Cutoff

 

12.04.16
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There Are No Words

The morning after arguably the greatest win in Temple football history, there are no words.

Literally no words are coming out of my mouth, at least in the sense of being able to talk this morning.

The throaty and hoarse condition is more than OK because it was the result of cheering for the Owls at beautiful Navy-Marine Corps Stadium as they captured what really is their first-ever major football championship. The 1967 MAC title was admirable, but that was a day when the school played to a level of football that was beneath their status even then as one of America’s great public universities.

So this was it.

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Walking out of the stadium and into the concourse, I let out a very loud primal: “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT!!”

Fortunately, I got a few high fives and smiles from my fellow Temple fans and not fitted for a straightjacket. It also put the voice out for 24 hours, maybe more.

When it comes to Temple football today at least, you cannot think in terms of a national championship—the deck is stacked against G5 teams in an unfair system—so what happened yesterday was the pinnacle of Temple football success. Thousands of Temple fans, easily in excess of 10,000 Temple fans, made Navy’s 15-game home winning streak a moot point by turning that stadium into a Temple home field advantage and to get to that mountaintop and look down from it is incredibly satisfying.

Hey, it’s a pretty spectacular pinnacle. The only thing that would have made it better was a G5 slot in a New Year’s Six bowl against Penn State, but that’s not happening for a number of reasons that are not important today. (Objectively, would you take a team for the Cotton Bowl that has won seven straight against this schedule and beat a Navy team, 34-10, over a Western Michigan team that struggled to beat a four-loss Ohio team? I would but I don’t expect the bowl committee to be that objective. I can also grudingly see the WMU argument.)

What is important is that the Owls have gone from being a perennial Bottom 10 team and laughed at nationally to being ranked in the Top 25 for two straight years and going to a title game one year and winning it the next. When you think of the success P.J. Walker and Jahad Thomas have had here, there is a Twilight Zone quality to the parallel between this success and their success at Elizabeth (N.J.). In their freshman year at Elizabeth, they won one game; in their freshman year at Temple they won two games. In their sophomore year at both schools, they won six games. In their junior year at both schools, they reached the title game and lost and, in their senior year at both schools, they lifted the ultimate hardware together.

Truly amazing and I will miss both of those guys.

Back on Cherry and White Day, I wrote that this team will be better than last year’s team while people on other websites—notably, Rutgers and Penn State fan boards—insisted that Temple would take a step back. I was consistent in my belief that this was the STEP FORWARD year, not the step back one, and that belief was rooted in knowledge that both the defense and offense were significantly upgraded despite graduation losses. Only a Temple fan who follows the team closely would know that, not the know-it-alls who make assumptions on subjects they have no idea what they are talking about.

Today at noon, the Owls will know where they will go for a bowl game. They can finish the season in the top 25 and set the record for most wins in Temple football history.

It won’t be the cake because we saw that yesterday, but it will be the Cherry on top of that white cake and it will be delicious even going down past what promises to be a future sore throat.

Tuesday: The Bowl Game

12.03.16
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Game Day: Thanksgiving Plus 10

 

A lot of you experienced your Thanksgiving Day nine days ago.

Mine is today.

When you live long enough to see your brother, then father, then mother, pass on  all in a period of four years and realize that there is no place to go on Thanksgiving anymore, the feeling of loneliness can be overwhelming on that day.

That’s why I am thankful for my Temple football family and today’s championship game, no matter what the result, will be the best Thanksgiving Day ever.

I’ve always been at least a small part of the Temple football family and decided to step up to the plate a little over 10 years ago and give it a voice on the internet when the program was threatened by a short-sighted President. Over those years, it was a dirt poor family, then worked its way up to the middle class and now is on the verge of riches—all because of good, old-fashioned American hard work and upward mobility.

If the Owls win today (noon, ABC), they will have done it by beating a worthy foe and the trophy will be well-earned.

Temple would not have it any other way.

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The Temple football story is a great story because the Owls have been pushing that rock uphill in a BCS environment that is set up to reward the rich P5 schools and keep the G5 schools in “their place.” That’s why you see the same schools in the Top 25 just about every year.

If the Owls win today, they will finish the regular season in the Top 25 and might or might not be headed to the Cotton Bowl. Either way, a win will almost assuredly put them in a sweet bowl and assure another wonderful Thanksgiving with this beautiful family of friends, fans, players and coaches. Hoisting that trophy will be something no other Temple team can boast about.

There are a couple of things pointing to this victory. The Owls were just as impressive against SMU and East Carolina as Navy was and Tulane and UConn, while very competitive with Navy, were outclassed by Temple. The Memphis result was at Memphis, while Navy had Memphis in Annapolis. The distractions about possibly losing their head coach, which existed in the week before last year’s game, do not exist this year.

Most of the tea leaves are coming up Temple. That could all change in the first quarter, though, if the Owls line up in a 4-3 defense, but learning from mistakes should be part of any process.

It all comes down to whether the Owls can handle the road environment and, from what I hear, this will be as much of a home game from a crowd standpoint for Temple as it will be for Navy.

It should be a great trip for Owl fans and, if they bring the noise, a better ride home for a family that deserves a feast.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

 

12.01.16
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Playing Possum?

Temple TV maps out road to the championship.

A possum plays dead when it wants to defend itself from predators and, in at least a couple of respects, the lead up to the AAC championship football game could be a case of the Temple football brain trust playing possum.

By extension, it also means to lay low to surprise the bad guys.

At least you’ve got to hope so.

Divulging an injury to P.J. Walker—err, walking around on a boot all week—could be a way of the Owls sending a signal to the Navy that their star quarterback will not play. I am not buying it. Walker will play and he will play at a high level. You heard it here first. I don’t think Ken Niumatalolo is preparing to play against Logan Marchi.

warmer

                                                                        49 in Philly, but 54 in Annapolis. C’mon down and join us in the warmer weather.

The more concerning case of “possum playing” are the comments coming about defending Navy’s triple option. They indicate that the Owls have not learned anything, or at least much, from their season-opening experience against Army.

“It’s not the offense, it’s the players,” Temple head coach Matt Rhule said in the Daily News today.

Err, Matt, it’s not the offense or even the players as much as it is the defense. Air Force proved that by taking care of the A gaps and putting a nose guard over the center. If Temple lines up in the same 4-3 it lined up on Opening Night, it will get carved up like a turkey. Navy had the same players against Air Force it will have against Temple and it scored 14 points on Air Force. Temple has better athletes on defense than Air Force.  It better not score more than, say, 24 against Temple.

SMU tried to play a 4-3 against Navy and allowed 75 points.  Of course, SMU’s players on defense are nowhere near as good as Temple’s or Air Force’s.

It will not matter if Temple attempts to defend the triple option the same way it did on Opening Night.

Hopefully, Rhule is playing possum here or Temple is in trouble. If so, I can understand where he is coming from. Even if Temple tries to put eight in the box, you do not expect Matt to say: “We screwed up in the opener. We’re going to put eight in the box and dare them to pass and disrupt their ass and hit their quarterback in the backfield.”  All Matt has to do is look at this Temple vs. Navy film from 2009, where the Owls tightened the A gaps and stopped a 10-win Navy team numerous times on third-and-short and fourth-and-short in a 27-24 win in Annapolis. That Temple team, and this year’s Air Force team, provided a blueprint for the Owls to win. Matt still has Al Golden’s phone number. I wonder if he has Mark D’Onofrio’s? The Navy team Temple beat that day was good enough to beat No. 21 Notre Dame (23-21) and lose to No. 6 Ohio State, 31-27.

Defensive coordinator Phil Snow also said something equally as concerning in the same article: “Any time you run the quarterback, you outnumber the defense in the running game.” No, Phil, you don’t. All 11 defenders are allowed to tackle. Not all 11 offensive players are allowed to run the ball. Send more than they can block and you can disrupt the running game at the point of attack. Sit back in a 4-3 and you are asking for the offense to dictate the tone and tempo of the game.

Praise Martin-Oguike joined in the possum playing (hopefully) with this comment: “When we played Army, we missed a lot of assignments.” Praise, you didn’t have the right assignments. Clogging up the middle against the fullback and stringing the option sideline to sideline can be done a lot better than in a 5-2 or “44 stack” than it can in the Owls’ base 4-3. Hopefully, the Owls put this in against Navy this week in practice.

Playing possum or history repeating itself?

I sure hope it’s the former.

Actually, praying.

Saturday: Thanksgiving +10

Sunday: Championship Game Analysis

11.29.16
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Mixing Things Up

Take the scenic route through Delaware and avoid most of I-95 hassles.

Take the scenic route through Delaware and avoid most of I-95 hassles.

While the notion about tackles in the A gaps and a nose guard over the center as the secret formula to beat Navy has been proven to work by Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, there is a strong conviction that a pretty good coach on the other side of the field has been breaking down Temple game film for the past couple of days.

Ken Niumatalolo has worked wonders at The Naval Academy since another great head coach, Paul Johnson, took his triple option to Georgia Tech.

Comparative scores indicate a close game.

Comparative scores indicate a close game, although the TU-USF score is a typo (real score was 46-30, not 20).

You do not overcome severe academic—getting into the Academy is like getting into an Ivy League school—and athletic (post-academy military commitment) without using your head for something other than a hat rack.

When he breaks down Temple game film, Niumatalolo probably sees a team that will attempt to establish the run and throw off play action. He will probably attempt to counter that by stacking the box himself and forcing the Owls to throw first and try to establish the run later. The way to counter an over-aggressive defense is to take advantage of their aggressiveness. That’s why it is important that the Owls mix things up and they can do that with these five plays they have not shown so far. Some people call them trick plays; I call them innovative ones and, if the Owls hit on just one, none of these plays will be wasted.  While I would not recommend the onsides’ kick (hey, it worked against Cincy last year), these are five plays that come with the TFF Navy Seal of Approval:

The Double Reverse

The Owls have tried the single reverse with Adonis Jennings at Tulane. That’s part of the film Niumatalolo has seen and is ready for; he has not seen the double reverse and Jennings handing it off to Isaiah Wright coming around from the other side should open up the field against an over-pursuing Navy defense.  That will set up the next play, somewhat later in the game.

The Double Reverse Pass

Virtually the same play worked four years ago for the Owls at SMU four years ago, where former Big 33 quarterback Jalen Fitzpatrick threw an 85-yard touchdown to Robby (then Robbie) Anderson off a reverse. We’ve been told Wright can throw an accurate pass between 60 and 85 yards in the air. We know that. Niumatalolo does not. That could catch Navy with their pants down.

The Shovel Pass

The beauty of this play is that it not only creates space for a guy like Jahad Thomas but, if it fails, it’s an incomplete pass and not a fumble. It’s like a delayed handoff except when P.J. Walker goes back to pass, he draws the rush to him and shovels a pass underhand forward to Thomas, who uses the newly created space to work his magic. The last time Temple used a shovel pass, it went for a touchdown from Chris Coyer to Matt Brown at Penn State (September 22, 2012). It is not on any recent Temple film and does not take a whole lot to put it into the playbook.

Throwback To The Tight End

A perfect play in the red zone offense that worked for a touchdown against USF a few weeks ago and Walker sells this play well, rolling out to his right and pumping a fake into one corner of the end zone (and drawing the defense to that side) before looking left to a wide open tight end. That tight end could be Thompson, who holds his block for a second and then releases. In that scenario, usually no one is assigned to cover him and that’s why he is always open.

Screen Pass to Jahad

This is a staple of the current offense, but an antidote to a defense that commits to stopping the run and the Owls should mix in a few of these every quarter.  No one is able to make defenders miss in the open field like Thomas and he is a weapon the Owls should use while they have him for a couple more games.

Thursday:  Temple-Navy Preview

11.27.16
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Mandatory Military Training Film

Hopefully, Phil Snow is breaking down this game film frame by frame.

About a year ago, give or take a month, the slogan the team adopted for the 2016 Temple football season was Unfinished Business.

If not original, it was unmistakable in meaning.

The “Unfinished Business” was getting back to the championship game and winning it this time. In many ways, while the Navy game (high noon, Saturday) on the road is a challenging assignment, much of the heavy lifting already has been done. To even get this far again is a huge accomplishment and maybe the hardest part of the job.

Now the Owls have one more piece of business left to do and it involves a well-thought-out game plan that involves adopting some free military intelligence, courtesy of Air Force.

unfinished

Hopefully, they learned something from the first game of the season that they can apply to the penultimate game. The Owls have to know by now that “business as usual” will not help them finish their overall business. Matt Rhule hinted as much post-Army game when he said his coaching staff will have to review how they attack a triple option team and change things up. The manual says nose guard (hint, Averee Robinson), tackles in the A gaps (Michael Dogbe and Freddy Booth-Lloyd), and eight in the box to string out the option.

Send more defenders than the triple option can block and create havoc in the Navy backfield. There is a little risk involved in this process that puts all the pressure on defending the pass on three players—the two corners and safety Sean Chandler, but that’s a low-risk and high-reward process the Owls will have to adopt on Saturday. They have the athletes to defend the pass with three.

One thing the Owls do know is that sitting back in their base 4-3 defense against this type of offense is not going to work, no matter how many times you say “Temple TUFF” or “Unfinished Business.” Of course, the Owls will have to remain true to themselves on offense, by running the football with a mixture of play-action passing.

On defense, though, they cannot be as stubborn as they were on Opening Night.

To win this battle, they have to do their good diligence in military intelligence and all the intelligence they need has been supplied by another branch of the fighting forces, the Air Force.

Tuesday: 5 Plays That Will Work For Temple

11.25.16
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ECU: Throttle The Known

This was Zay Jones versus Temple last season.

A couple of great Temple coaches have shown at least there are two ways to build a respected program.

John Chaney did it in basketball by playing the best non-conference opposition and paying particular attention to stopping the player or thing that makes the opponent formidable. Matt Rhule has done it with a slightly less challenging schedule and not so much of a focus on the foe but on the “process” and not worry all that much about what the bad guys are doing.

attitude

Both have worked pretty much, but the Owls would be wise to take a page from old Doylestown Intelligencer colleague Steve Wattenberg’s terrific “Winning Is an Attitude” book about Chaney in preparation for an all-important game on Saturday night (7:30, don’t worry about TV, just be there) with visiting East Carolina. In that book, Chaney said the key to the Owls’ success was defensive preparation and “stopping the known over the unknown.” By that, Chaney meant studying what the opponent does well by taking that away and mixing in accentuating what you do well. Chaney would concentrate on taking away the opponent’s top threat and challenge lesser threats to beat him. On his side, he would yell at players who took shots when people like Eddie Jones, Rick Brunson and Aaron McKie (among others) could have had better ones.

That was a formula that took Temple to the top of the basketball world.

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It is a philosophy Rhule would be wise to adopt against ECU on Saturday. East Carolina wide receiver Zay Jones is good enough to hurt the Owls, but he won’t do it if the Owls’ can cover him with a corner and rotate safety Sean Chandler to his side of the field for help coverage.  That’s the known. If the Owls are going to get hurt, they should take away the known and challenge the unknown to beat them. If the unknown was any good, that guy would be talked about as a future NFL staple. Other than Jones, no such player exists on the Pirates’ squad.

If Temple football has had an Achilles’ heel over the last three or four years, it has been the occasional lapse in preparation as shown in this year’s loss to Army and other losses in the past.

The Owls had eight months to prepare for the triple option and came up with a defensive game plan that defied common sense, let alone football sense.

Sometime common sense in the best currency and that will be the case on Saturday night. Jones is the all-time Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) leader in receptions with 392. The old mark of 387 was set by former ECU standout Justin Hardy, now with the Atlanta Falcons. This season he has 151 receptions for 1,685 yards and eight touchdowns. With four more catches, he will tie the FBS single-season mark set by Freddie Barnes. You do not have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that the Pirates will try to get Jones going early. By rotating Chandler—who himself has terrific ball skills—over to help, the Owls might be able to come up with a pick six or two.

Sometimes, the “process” includes being able to borrow from other successful processes and the one the Owls should pilfer this week is from a guy who is a part of their own Acres of Diamonds.

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.22.16
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The Soon-To-Be Departed

Jahad Thomas
Averee Robinson

Nobody is dying on Saturday night, at least we hope not, but the Temple game versus East Carolina (7:30) will be a goodbye of sorts for a number of great seniors.

They will be departed from the program soon, but this is quite likely the last home game for a number of great seniors and all of them will be thought of highly here.

thompson

Dion Dawkins (66), Colin Thompson (86).

The last few games watching Jahad Thomas made me shake my head because I’m really going to miss that guy and miss is the operative word because I’m going to miss him making other people miss. He really does it in a way that approaches magic on the football field. They call Eagles’ long-snapper John Dorenbos a magician, but even Dorenbos does not produce the kind of magic on the football field that Thomas has done since getting 157 yards as a sophomore against Tulsa.

This is what we wrote about Thomas then in a post published on Oct. 12, 2014:

“It could be so much better because watching Jahad Thomas play was like going back into a time machine and watching the great Todd McNair play for the Owls. Both wear No. 34.  Both have the same running style. McNair had great blocking fullbacks to follow through the hole and Thomas could have the same thing but both great blockers, Kenny Harper and Marc Tyson, are sitting on the bench when Thomas is in the game. McNair’s running opened up the play-action passing game for the Owls back then and Thomas’ running could open up the play-action passing game for P.J. Walker now. The two-back set is supposedly in the playbook, with plays featuring Harper as lead blocker through the hole for Thomas also in the playbook.”

Well, the dust had been wiped off and Nick Sharga, not Kenny Harper, turned out to be the lead blocker for Thomas and the rest is history. Thomas turned out to be an all-time great at Temple and the closest thing we have to a franchise running back since Bernard Pierce. In many ways, Thomas is better than Pierce—especially in his open field ability to make people miss. He’s a next-level slot receiver and the team that drafts him will be getting a steal.

You can’t mention Thomas without mentioning his Elizabeth (N.J.) high school teammate P.J. Walker. To me, Phillip is also one of the greatest Temple quarterbacks of all time. It is right there in black and white on the pages of the Temple record books, where he will exit Temple with all but one of the major quarterback records. Only Walter Washington, who ran through defenders like a Abrams’ Tank, will have a record P.J. doesn’t have—career rushing yards for a quarterback.

If P.J. leads this team to a league title, he can say he was the only quarterback to ever lead Temple to a major-college title (Temple was saddled with non-major status when it won the Middle Atlantic Conference title in 1967).

totaldefense

Those two will not be the only ones missed, as OT Dion Dawkins will probably be Temple’s first No. 1 draft choice since 2011 (Muhammad Wilkerson) and Haason Reddick can go anywhere from first-round pick to a fourth-round. We think he’s a one, but I would not be surprised if he falls to the second round.

Averee Robinson also holds a special place in my heart since I’ve known his dad, Adrian, for at least eight years and proudly count him as a friend. Averee will be one of the few three-year starters at Temple leaving and he has been rock-solid in the middle of the line. Just as I wrote about his older brother, he played out of position at Temple to benefit the team. I suggested to Al Golden that Adrian was an OLB but Al told me he had a need for pass rushers and had to put Adrian at DE. He became an OLB in the NFL and Averee would be a terrific pickup for an NFL team wanting a 3-4 nose guard (playing DT at Temple now). I remember Averee when he was a kid coming to Temple games. “I love Temple,” Averee said as a 13-year-old once.

e

Avery Williams orchestrated the defense.

And Temple loves Averee for all he has done for us.

Others playing their last game soon for the Owls are starting linebackers Avery Williams, Jarred Alwan and Stephaun Marshall, next-level defensive ends Romond Deloatch, Avery Ellis and Praise Martin-Oguike, defensive backs Nate L. Smith, Nate Hairston and Khiry Lucas and center Brendan McGowan. Tight ends Colin Thompson and Jake O’Donnell (a University of Miami graduate, yes, graduate) will also be leaving soon.

Sharif Finch also is listed as a senior defensive end, but a little birdie told us that Finch is likely to get a medical redshirt and return next year. If not, thanks for suckering Christian Hackenberg into that near-pick-six TD. If so, he and Jacob Martin would be a nice way to bookend the defensive line next year.

Either way, we’re going to miss these seniors who took a 1-2 season and turned it into something special and maybe the all-time greatest yet. Don’t think of this last “regularly scheduled” home game as a funeral, but as a celebration of their achievements to this point and points beyond.

Friday: ECU Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.21.16
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… and now for a word from Fizz …

streaking

... Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub’s views here could be considered contrary or constructive criticism … I will let you decide in the comments below ...

By: Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Two shutouts in a row, a five game winning streak, more talent than almost everyone we play, bowl game and conference championship possibilities, that’s not too shabby, right?  The program is in great shape, so what’s to bitch about?

I’ll tell you what; it’s the play-calling in the first half.

Most every week before the game, Coach Rhule announces our game plan to the world.  The plan is usually the same, we’re going to run the football and keep the other team’s offense off the field.  (Even if we are going to do that, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell everyone else.)  Of course, the opposing coaches then design their first and second down defenses to stop the run.  Tulane certainly did that.  Led by number 77 (Smart), Tulane gapped and run-blitzed the stuffing out of the Owls, and rendered our run game mostly ineffective in the first half.  It ended at 10 – 0, and woulda, coulda, shoulda, been at least 24 – 0.

greatness

Until nearly the end of the first half we ran the ball on practically every first down, and usually on second down too.  This puts tremendous pressure on Phillip Walker and our receivers, as they always seemed to be facing third and long.  Of course, the defense then dials up some blitzes to put the heat on.

Walker and the receivers, especially Ventell Bryant, were phenomenal.  Walker’s passes were mostly crisp and accurate, and our receivers seem to be gaining more confidence in each game.  With Tulane playing man-to-man, it was obvious from the get-go, they couldn’t cover our guys.

Well, what was obvious to me, wasn’t obvious to Glenn Thomas and Matt Rhule.  Sure, it ended up as a romp, but we didn’t know that in the first half.  Twice, on first and twenty, we ran the ball on both first and second downs.  At first and goal, three times, we ran the ball on first and second downs.  When we lined up in I formation, I thought for sure they were going to run the play-action to our outstanding Nick Sharga in the flat. No dice!  Speaking of play-action against a man-to-man pass coverage, OMG, how successful would that have been on first down?

All of the above may not seem important after a blow-out, but it is.  In the three losses this year, all woulda, coulda, shouldas, it seems our coaches stubbornly stuck to the game plan until it was too late.  More imaginative and flexible play calls, might have staved off those losses.  But now, if we’re to win a championship and a bowl game against very good teams, we’re not going to have the luxury of out-manning our opponents in the second half.  We have to be nimble and strike quickly.  If we waste opportunities against good teams, we will lose.

In closing, I’d like to congratulate Phil Snow on putting together an exceptional defense.  However, a word of caution.  We couldn’t  stop Army’s triple-option, and Navy runs it better.  If we get to play Navy, I’d like to suggest he get together with Wayne Hardin.  At our tailgate after a loss to Navy years ago, Coach Hardin, drew up his plan on how to stop it.  If we can’t, we’d better score a lot of points.

Tomorrow: The Seniors

11.20.16
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Savor Every Moment

Jahad Thomas once again made a touchdown out of what seemed like a short gain.

When my beloved Temple football Owls are far away, my routine has been pretty much set over the last 20 years.

In the bad old days, I would pace the floor and listen on the radio and, when the Owls got involved with the MAC, sit in front of my computer and watch the game on a flickering internet connection. In those days, there was a lot of pacing and cursing and, after one particular Steve Addazio disastrous game at Bowling Green, staring for a good 15 minutes at a “your program has ended “ message in disgust and not believing what I just saw.

tulane

These, though, are the good old days and I have to head out to my neighborhood watering hole—sometimes even venturing as far as the Main Campus—to enjoy the game with other Temple Owls’ fans. Unless, though, I make the long trip to campus none of these fans have quite the passion for the Owls as I do.

They know that. I know that. It’s accepted as truth on both sides.

So in the last quarter of a 31-0 beat down of Tulane (it was 24-0 at the time) that sets up a potentially delicious end to the season, one of the regulars friendly mentioned: “Mike, you can go home now. This one is over.”

“Hell no,” I said. “I’m enjoying this. To me, when Temple has a lot and the bad guys have a little, that’s my idea of a great game. I’m sticking to the end.”

It’s the reason why I remain glued to my seat when the Owls blow out an opponent at home while a steady stream of my fellow fans make their way up the stairs at Lincoln Financial Field. (I had a conversation with former Temple player Matt Falcone’s family, who usually sit near me, and they also agreed they want to stay until the end and they always do. I’m glad I’m not alone.) It is the reason why I make it over to the students and sing the alma mater and “T for Temple U” with them and the team.

Hell, no. I’m not missing any of this.

When you’ve been through a 20-game losing streak like I have, 31-0 victories on the road to set up a championship game at home are something to savor. I watched as Logan Marchi took over at quarterback, then watched as Frank Nutile took over, hoping to see a couple of passes from those players in a “real” game. Matt Rhule, being the nice guy he is, did not allow it.

I wanted to see if the Temple fans who made it from their end zone and watched them move right behind the bench. Near the end, I do not think it is too much of an exaggeration that the 200 Temple fans there were half of the 400 or so people in the stadium. The Isaiah Wright touchdown was a thing of beauty, as was the Ventell Bryant touchdown (while double-covered) and the typical PAC-Man Jahad Thomas’ touchdown we have all come to view as routine. Thomas should be a chef when he graduates from Temple because he knows how to turn chicken-you-know-what into chicken salad.

Now the Owls can clinch another AAC East title in front of their home fans by playing their brand of football on Saturday. They deserve a big crowd. Maybe even this time most of them will decide to remain seated to watch them hoist that trophy again with an eye on an even bigger one, maybe literally, down the road. It’s up to them to finish this bad boy out and all they have to do is play defense, run the football, hit play-action passes, and be great on special teams. That’s the Temple brand as much as the triple option is the Navy brand.

Savor every moment. I certainly will.

Monday: Fizz Checks In

Tuesday: The Seniors

Thursday: Game Day

Saturday: Weekend Picks