Author Archives: Mike Gibson

11.18.16
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Trap Game My Butt

championshipseason

                                                                              This book could be written about only one Temple team and it is this one if it is able to avoid traps.

There are very few things that cause me to shake my head on social media these days—heck, we’ve all just come out on the other side of a bizarre Presidential election process–but one of them was the title of this post on OwlsDaily.com the other day:

“Tulane Strikes Me As A Trap Game.”

Huh?

First off, there are two games left in the regular season and there could be nothing bigger on the line for the Temple Owls than the task right in front of them. This is only a “trap game” if they build the trap and then fall into it.

Trap game my butt.

While there is confidence coming out of New Orleans, the Owls themselves should dictate the tone and tempo of this game. A poster named “Waverider” wrote this on the Tulane message board: “I think we can win this game. Temple runs a pro-style, I formation offense. That works well for our defense.” Another, named, “Gawave5” predicted a 24-21 Tulane win, writing: “Finally, I predict the defense will give us two turnovers in Temple territory and we convert these for 14 points.”

None of those forecasts map out what this game means to the Temple players and the school in general.

Arguably, there is more on the line here than the Penn State game (either this year or last) or the Notre Dame game last year. There is not a FBS-level league championship trophy in the Edberg-Olson Hall trophy case and the trophy they got last year for finishing in second place will be about as memorable as the one the Baltimore Colts’ 1966 team got for winning the NFL’s second-place game, called the “Playoff Bowl.” The vanquished team was the then 9-5 Philadelphia Eagles. If the Owls win on Saturday, they get to play a AAC East championship game at home the next week and, if they win that one, they get to play the overall AAC championship game on Dec. 3.

Maybe even at home, if things break right, but certainly before a lot more of their own fans than they had supporting them last year in the same game. This season is all lined up for the Owls to run the table. It’s up to them to do it.

So they have THREE championship games coming up in the next three weeks and there is no reason or excuse whatsoever for a letdown. Temple head coach Matt Rhule indicated as much earlier this week when he said the team knows that “every game is a playoff game” and that’s the approach everyone inside the E-O seems to be taking now. It is the right one. It is the only one.

To be truly memorable in this day and age of leagues, it has to be a championship season. The play “That Championship Season” written by Jason Miller in 1972, did not win the Pulitzer Prize in drama (1973) for nothing. The theme centered on the bond men on that team had 20 years after cutting down the nets as a championship basketball team.

Win on Saturday and the subsequent two Saturdays and the young men who run on the football field for Temple now will walk together forever in a way really no other Temple team can say.

With those kinds of stakes, the word trap should never pass through anyone’s lips or random keyboard.

Picks this week: UConn upsetting BC (getting 7), Northwestern covering the 2 at Minnesota, Duke upsetting at Pitt (covering the 8), West Virginia covering the 3 over visiting Oklahoma, Wyoming covering the 9.5 against vistiing San Diego State, and Old Dominion laying the 8.5 at Florida Atlantic. Also like Tulsa covering the small 1.5 at UCF.

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.16.16
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Tell Me There’s a Chance

This is pretty much how I feel about the Cotton Bowl right now.

There’s a scene in the 2004 movie “Dumb and Dumber” where Jim Carrey asks a pretty girl to level straight with him and tell him if a guy like him and a girl like her can ever get together.

“Not good,” she says.

“Not good, like one out of a hundred?”

“I’d say, more like one in a million.”

“So you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

That’s kind of how I feel about Temple football’s chances of securing the G5 slot in the NY6 today.

tulaneweather

                                                It will be 70 in Philly on Saturday, but only 63 and windy in The Big Easy.

It’s a chance, not one in a million, but maybe one in 200 or 300, and that’s what I’m going to want to achieve first. We’re going to have to talk about “settling” later, but I’m not one of those people who say “don’t look past Tulane.” I’m looking past Tulane because the job of the kids and the coaches is not to look past Tulane.

Look past Tulane, and there’s East Carolina, the same ECU team that lost at home, 55-31, to SMU. That was the same SMU team that got smoked by Temple, 45-20 (and the Owls led, 35-0, at the half). So, yeah, I’m looking past ECU because it’s the kids’ job and the coaches’ job not to look past ECU and I am pretty confident that they are  as laser-focused on doing that job that they were on the Unfinished Business trip to New Orleans.

That brings us to the AAC title game against a more beatable foe, where it’s Navy or Tulsa, than the Houston team the Owls had to face a year ago.

Win there, and even then the Owls will need help but if Western Michigan or San Diego State falter, which is possible (look at the MAC championship game upsets over the last decade or so), and the Owls’ seven-game winning streak in essentially a Power 6 league, is as strong an argument for a high ranking as any other G5 team.

That would put the Owls in an extremely attractive bowl, the Cotton, against a marquee opponent. One of the possible opponents is LSU, another is Penn State. Since PSU-Temple will not be on the schedule for a long, long time (possibly ever), I vote for that game as the best-case end to the Temple season. (For those of you who say they try to avoid regular-season rematches in bowl games, Temple-Army is one of the projected games by a major news website so you can have that rematch, I want this one.)

While a game against someone like Wake Forest in Annapolis or Georgia in Birmingham is more likely and not all that unappealing, as long as there’s a chance to get a date the best-looking girl in the room, that’s what I’m going for now. That would give the Owls a league title, a top 25 ranking, and a chance to end the Penn State series with a win if that’s how the game falls.

That’s a pretty smoking-hot date.

Just do not give me Rosie O’Donnell (a MAC team) or Amy Schumer (a CUSA team) when you are telling me there’s a shot at Jessica Alba (NY6).

One in a million maybe not, but as long as there is a chance we can float that out there as a nice dream scenario. OK, now back to thinking about Tulane.

Friday: Trap Game My Butt

11.14.16
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How The East Will Be Won

ellick

The Owls could use the playmaking ability of Marshall Ellick for the stretch run. Great uniforms, by the way.

When Matt Rhule takes the call at the AAC teleconference today, maybe someone will ask him a question about the health of his team and how the week off has benefited the Owls.

With South Florida beating Memphis on Saturday night, the easy answer to how the East will be won is for the Owls to win out, one game, one quarter and even one play at a time. The best thing that could have happened in the off week was for the Owls to be revitalized by the rest.

standingsaac

The perfect answer for Rhule would be that everyone is fine and ready to go for Tulane (3:30 Saturday, Channel 17).

The worst answer would be that nothing has changed and the Owls are as banged up as they were last week.

The most likely answer, though, is somewhere in between.

Marshall Ellick, the promising wide receiver who would have, among other things, caught a touchdown against Penn State (had it not been for a penalty), has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. There has been radio silence on Ellick for a couple of weeks, but it was never seen as an injury that would keep him out for the season so maybe the week off has helped him as well. Ellick’s loss has not been felt because this really has been the deepest the Owls have been at wide receiver and Jahad Thomas has been, as we guessed here in the offseason, very effective when used as a slot receiver.

There have been a number of other Owls who have played through bumps and bruises. Sean Chandler was thought to be out for the entire year with a knee injury, but came back and seems to be playing at a high level.  Too many to mention, but there is no doubt that if most of them were OK to get on the field the last couple of weeks, they will tough it out for the final two weeks.

It will be nice to know, though, how the week has impacted those bumps and bruises and we should find that out no later than today.

Wednesday: So You Are Saying There’s A Chance?

Friday: Tulane Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.12.16
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A Day Without Owls, But Not Without Football

aacbowls

Going through severe Temple football withdrawal today, but heartened by the fact that the Owls needed this week to ice up those injuries and rest those weary bones for the final two legs of the regular-season trip.

The reward for finishing the “Unfinished Business” will be one of six bowls above, some sweet, some sour. Here are our picks this week.

picknov

Postscript: Miami won, 34-14 (not 35-14 as we predicted) and Penn State won, 45-31 (not 41-24 as we predicted). Air Force won, 49-46 and Navy got a push at 42-40. We lost outright on ECU, which got smoked, 55-31, by SMU.

11.11.16
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Rest, Relaxation and TV Watching

Colin Thompson is almost always wide open on that TE throwback.

About two hours into raking the leaves the morning after Temple’s last game, my cute and somewhat younger neighbor Abby and her dog Roadie dropped by to say hello.

Abby saw my Temple sweatshirt and said: “So how did Temple do last night? I watched early and they had a 21-0 lead.”

“They scored on three of the first 14 plays and called it a night,” I said.

Abby detected a hint of disgust in my tone of voice.

“Not good, huh?” she said.

aacstandings

“I’m a perfectionist. I thought they were headed for triple digits. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the win. It just should have been so much better.”

Roadie looked at me like he understood, not so sure about Abby.

At least Temple offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas probably thought along the same lines. After I shut off the TV the night before, I listened to Harry Donahue do the post-game show. Harry said Thomas was leaving the coach’s box and “looked very upset.”

I guess he’s a perfectionist, too, which gives me an enormous amount of hope for the balance of the season for the Owls. Twenty-one squat got the job done, but it was nowhere reflective of how much better Temple is than UConn and I thought the Owls let the Huskies off too easy. If Thomas applies a couple of simple fixes going forward, the Owls could be on Easy Street the rest of the way. Had Thomas been smiling ear-to-ear after the offense fell flat on its face for the final three quarters, I might be worried today.

The Owls get some needed rest this week, while we all go through Temple football withdrawal.

Thomas probably went back to the drawing board, played a little game of tic-tac-toe with the X’s and O’s and might have come to the same conclusion I did. P.J. Walker throwing over the middle and to the other side featuring the tight ends is probably something the Owls should have incorporated into their offense last Friday night and something that probably should be a part of the game plan for the balance of the season. One, P.J.  is extremely effective at moving the defense to the side where he rolls out, so that leaves the whole other side of the field open. Two, he sells that throwback pass to the tight end really well and he tosses it with impeccable touch.

That’s not just against UConn, but every team.

The Owls are tweaking today and off tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean Temple fans have nothing to do. There is a men’s Big 5 basketball game tonight against visiting LaSalle (7 p.m., ESPN News) to take in and, on Saturday, Tulsa being a 1.5-point favorite at Navy is one of two compelling league football games affecting Temple. My thought on this game is that Tulsa has an outstanding offense, but Navy chews up such large chunks of the clock that it might not mean enough and Navy wins this game outright. Also, South Florida is a three-point favorite at Memphis and the Tigers might have been emboldened by a 51-7 win at SMU last week. If Memphis takes down USF, the Owls will only have to win one of two to clinch AAC East.

So go Tigers and watch for the throwback to the tight end.

Tomorrow: Saturday Picks

Monday: How The East Will Be Won

11.09.16
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What Have We Done (Part II)?

Matt Rhule talks about the bye week.

When the Temple Owls raced out to a 7-0 record a year ago with a win over Penn State and at Cincinnati, a lot of people were surprised.

Not as surprised, though, as what the team has done since the poor choice of black helmets and uniforms at Memphis.

The Owls have been more than just dapper in their choice of wardrobe since. Just think of this four-game winning streak this way:

unfinished

Temple 26, UCF 25—Since the Owls vanquished the Knights in their own stadium, the Knights have beaten Tulane, 37-6, and went up to UConn and won. They also had a big lead at Houston before falling by a touchdown. This might be the game that wins it for the Owls because, according to a computer projection BEFORE the 70-yard drive, the Owls were given just a two percent chance of winning that game. That was a miracle in the Orlando swamplands for sure.

Temple 46, USF 30 –The only game USF played since getting thumped by the Owls was an impressive one, leading 45-21 over visiting Navy in the second quarter before holding on for a backdoor cover. The Bulls were never really in jeopardy of losing that game as Navy scored on the last play of the game. Much will be learned about the Bulls on Saturday, when they travel to Memphis.

Temple 34, Cincinnati 13—The Owls totally dominated after taking a 17-13 lead at the half. Cincy’s only game was a 20-3 loss to visiting BYU at home, breaking a 30-game non-conference winning streak. Yet, at times, Cincinnati was impressive this year, including  a 38-20 win at Purdue and a 31-19 win over East Carolina.

Temple 21, UConn 0—Look, everyone knows UConn is having a down year but this is a team that beat Cincinnati, 20-9, beat a Power 5 team (Virginia) and lost a competitive game at Navy, 28-24.  In reality, Temple should have beaten this team, anywhere from 35-0 to 42-0 had they continued to attack the soft middle of the Huskies’ pass defense, the weakest part of an overall pass defense that was ranked No. 118 in the nation. Instead, the Owls inexplicably tried a couple of passes in the corner of the end zone that were picked off.

What does this all mean?

The Owls beat some teams that have talent on them and beat a team badly, which has a lot of talent on it, in perhaps their biggest game of the season.

The Owls need to clean some things up (see the last sentence of our UConn synopsis), but they are playing their best ball at the right time and a better time than now with the final two games against two of the weaker teams on their schedule.

If they end this season with the same seven-game winning streak they started last season, they will be hoisting the overall AAC trophy. There is nothing to suggest that they cannot do it.

Friday: We Are All Fans Of Someone This Weekend

11.07.16
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P.J. Walker Appreciation Day

newestpj

P.J. Walker will have nearly every Temple QB record.

Old habits are hard to break but because of my admiration and appreciation of the young man, I tried to grant P.J. Walker’s request to call him Phillip.

For a while, I was able to do it.

No more. He will always be P.J. to me, Matt Rhule and I suspect the great majority of Temple fans. I am no more able to call him Phillip than a Saints’ fan is apt to call Drew Brees “Andrew” or, more precisely, a Giants’ fan is likely to call Y.A Tittle “Yelberton Abraham” Tittle.

So he is going to be P.J. henceforth, period, end of story, but that’s not why today is P.J. Walker Appreciation Day in this spot. It’s because he is the only winning quarterback (25-18) over a four-year period in Temple history and, to me, that’s the most important statistic.

Here are some others:

walkergraph

To be good enough to be a four-year FBS starter in college football is almost unheard of these days because three-year starters usually head to the NFL early, so that’s one point. For a school that has played college football since 1894, being the only four-year starter and one of the few winning quarterbacks in that school’s history is a really special achievement.

That’s the brand he has established, and it is not a bad one to have. Going to the numbers, a strong case can be made that he is the greatest Temple quarterback of all time. While some will say Walker is a compiler as much as an achiever, I will say that his sophomore year was wasted by an ill-advised multiple wide receiver scheme that often left him in an empty backfield unprotected by a fullback or a tailback and running for his life. I told P.J. as much on Chodoff Field after the next Cherry and White game and told him to keep his head up, that help was on the way and he would become an all-time Temple great. He shook my hand and thanked me for believing in him.

That all has come true with two games left in his final regular season.

The numbers do not lie. If you want to make a case for Brian Broomell, who really only started two years (1978 and 1979), no one can argue with you because Broomell was 17-5-1 as a Temple starter and that’s a higher winning percentage than Walker. The same case can be made for another two-year starter, Maxwell Award-winner Steve Joachim, who was 17-3 as a Temple quarterback.

Still, Walker’s resume is superior to everyone else near the top of the list. The Owls have a special quarterback in Walker and, if he hoists the overall AAC trophy in December, he will have the most important trophy none of the other great Temple quarterbacks have and that will be a league championship.

Phillip schmillip, P.J. is a mighty good name to me and always will be.

Wednesday: What Have We Done (Part II)?

11.05.16
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Killer Instinct

When I started out in the workforce as a 14-year-old kid in the summer washing and packing Good Humor trucks in Northeast Philadelphia, I forgot to punch the time clock the first week I worked there.

Nervously, I approached the manager and told him of my mistake.

“Son, we don’t sweat the small stuff,” the foreman said, then gave me a piece of paper to sign.

As a lifelong Temple fan, the comment rolled around in my head after watching the Owls beat  Connecticut on Friday night, 21-0. The Owls were a 10-point favorite on the road and won by more than double that.

Sure, it would have been nice had my favorite Temple quarterback, maybe of all time, P.J.Walker, not forced two throws in the red zone. Sure, it would have been even nicer had Temple coach Matt Rhule not gone all Ghandi-like on Bob Diaco after the first 14 plays, but one thing is clear.

We do not sweat the small stuff, nor should any of my fellow Temple fans.

Looking at the stat sheet, other than the two Walker mistakes, my biggest complaint was that Temple threw the ball on seven of the first 14 plays and ran the ball on 67 of the next 87 plays. In those first 14 plays, the Owls completed all seven passes and scored three touchdowns.

That should have been a clue as how to attack the rest of the game, so maybe that’s why Temple radio play-by-play man Harry Donahue made a point to mention that Owls’ offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas looked upset exiting his spot in the press box on Friday night in the last minute of the game.

As far as murderers go, you have Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein on one end of the spectrum and Ghandi and Matt Rhule on the other. Rhule could have put his sharp-cleated foot on the throat of Bob Diaco by throwing the ball—particularly over the soft middle of the Huskies’ defense—but instead was satisfied on running out the clock with a 21-0 lead.

Had the Owls put the foot on the Huskies’ throats, there is no doubt in my mind that this would have been a 43-0 type win, rather than a 21-0 win. A win, though, is a win and the Owls do not get style point from the CFB playoff committee with a 43-0 win. Losses to Army, Penn State and Memphis eliminated the Owls from that kind of contention, so Rhule’s salting away the win was the right strategy. Phil Snow deserves kudos for recording his first FBS shutout since 1986 when he was the DC at Boise State. (On the other hand, Chuck Heater had back-to-back shutouts for Temple in 2011.)

Style points would have been nice but, with two games left to ice the AAC East, style points pale in comparison to getting the win.

As the Good Humor executive once said, son, do not sweat the small stuff.

Monday: P.J. Walker Appreciation Day

11.04.16
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Lucky Strikes

templefans

These fans look like people whose prayers were answered (photo from  Shram Shukla’s phone)

If a Temple fan had one prayer after the Army debacle, it would have gone something like this:

“God, I know that there is nothing you can do to get a crowd like 34,000 back after that game, but, please, please, have the Owls get their act together and be the kind of team they can be by the AAC part of the schedule. Please let them beat USF at home and have them at least hold the tie-breakers over the Bulls the rest of the way. Also, please don’t let the final three teams on the schedule, UConn, Tulane and ECU, be any good. Thanks, God. Oh, God, one more thing. If SEPTA goes on strike, please let it be a couple of days after the Cincy game so that the strike can go on for nearly a month without a home game. That’s it, God. I’m done.”

Temple fans must have been living right because it looks like that fervent prayer—which admittedly asked for a lot–was answered.  A significant portion of the Temple fan base takes SEPTA to the games and a strike did happen two days after the Cincy game and, unless it is an all-timer, will be over long before the ECU game. If there was ever a thing like a Lucky Strike, and we’re not talking cigarettes, this was one.
 
In other Lucky Strike news, the way the schedule breaks for them could not have been scripted better. God has blessed the Owls, and now it is up to them to make the most of those blessings beginning tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2) at the University of Connecticut. God can take this team to the Holy Water, but He cannot make them drink it.

They must do the rest.

tvweek

If they are Temple TUFF, they should be able to close this bad boy out. Of course, the ball is not round and takes funny bounces but this first part of the Trifecta should be over fairly early. Temple holds a significant advantage in speed on both sides of the ball and that speed should make the night miserable for Huskies’ quarterback Bryant Shirreffs. The Huskies rank 109th in the nation in sacks allowed with opponents racking up 25 in nine games. Temple’s defensive ends, Haason Reddick and Praise Martin-Oguike, probably will be meeting at the quarterback a lot. They have combined for 11.5 sacks and 23 tackles for a loss. Reddick has 7.5 of those sacks and is rising near the top of the NFL draft board  as he is being projected as an NFL linebacker at that level.

If UConn has a chance to succeed, it is against Temple’s formidable run game because the Huskies rank No. 26 in rushing defense. None of those games, though, came against backs like Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead.

Anything can happen in a football game, but the Owls are in a mighty good spot.

Almighty good.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

pickers

 

11.02.16
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The Conference Reacts

comebacks

One of the best twitter comebacks was Temple-Made

The LSU fan who liked the way Temple’s offensive line blocked in that video we published last week said the words “shots fired” to describe the way the Owls were plowing down foes.

No shot was more on target, though, than the ones fired by the Owls’ band at Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville (above tweet, since mollified for political correctness). That was a beautiful thing enjoyed not only by Temple fans, but even Cincinnati fans on their board.

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Which brings us to how, exactly,  most of the rest of the conference looks at Temple.

One of the more entertaining pursuits after a particularly satisfying Temple win is to check out the reaction elsewhere in the conference.

The facts, as we know them, are these: Temple looks like a strong favorite to win out and clinch its second-straight AAC East title. Once there, this Temple team looks to be in better shape than the last one to bring home the coveted overall AAC trophy.

If you are expecting a pat on the back from any of our conference brethren, do not hold your breath.

one

There is significant biting of fingernails being done in Tampa, the home of the USF Bulls, who, for the last two seasons, think they are better than Temple. The realization, though, is sinking in that they will be on the outside looking in again.

On the UConn side, there is a lot of angst leading up to the game on the Boneyard Board, saying that any of their fans who think they will “miraculously become competitive” against Temple was smoking something other than cigarettes:

twouconn

It will probably be a long time before the Owls get the grudging respect they deserve, but they have to realize by now that they have to earn that respect by winning out.

Maybe the rest of the conference will never say the same kind of nice things about Temple that they did about Houston a year ago, but it would be nice for once to find out. In a month or so, we should have our answer.

It’s a three-game season now, one game at a time.

Friday: That One Game