Author Archives: Mike Gibson

01.24.16
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5 Questions You Will Never Hear Pravda Ask

pravda-bg

On a snowy Saturday, while shoveling out of our driveway, a number of rhetorical questions occurred to us. Rhetorical, because they are the kinds of questions Pravda never asks once of Chairman Matt and probably will never ask. On the way out to the garage to pick up the shovel and the rock salt, I perused Pravda for some of the latest recruiting updates. There was one long posted update by one of the editors there and every word was glowing. In fact, I don’t remember a single word being written negatively about recruiting there in three years. One of the posters over there last week called a recruit “a reach” but prefaced that with the obligatory “I know we’re not allowed to be negative here. ….”

I wonder what gave him that impression?  It would have been nice to hear the answers to just one of these five questions:

gelb

Zach Gelb

  1. What happened to the hurry-up offense in Houston?

Only Zach Gelb of the reporters in Houston highlighted the Owls’ atrocious clock management in the 24-13 loss in the AAC championship game. Gelb dutifully reported he asked Matt Rhule, Jahad Thomas, P.J. Walker and Marcus Satterfield about it and said nothing was wrong, yet even Stevie Wonder could see wasting 20 seconds on every play call was very wrong. The fact that nobody else asked about it was also very wrong. We still have not heard a satisfactory answer. It could be about time we did.

stadium

  1. What did you mean by you are in favor of a stadium if they “do it right?”

Rhule has been quoted that he is in favor of an on-campus stadium “if they do it right.” One would presume that spending “only” $100 million is probably not conducive to doing it right.  A simple question to Matt on signing day is “what is your vision of a stadium done right?” A good answer might be comfortable 40,000 seating with a couple of state-of-the-art replay scoreboards and that’s probably not possible with the frugal price tag.

airhockey

  1. Would there be less air hockey at the next bowl?

Air hockey, touring the Everglades, bowling, liberal curfews and beach volleyball were all part of the Boca Raton Bowl experience. What wasn’t part of it was hoisting that bowl trophy at the end of the game. It was a learning experience for the first-year bowl staff, so maybe there will be a more business-like approach at the next one. It would be nice to get that on the record soon.

  1. If Missouri wasn’t a distraction, why did Tyler Matakevich say it was?

Rhule said his pre-AAC championship experience being interviewed for the Missouri job was not a distraction but Tyler Matakevich said on 6abc tv that Sunday afternoon that “it’s just another thing we have to block out and concentrate on the bowl.” If it wasn’t a distraction, there would be no need to block it out. Probably would have been better to tell Missouri no right away and say something like “I’m the Temple coach and the only thing I’m thinking about is winning a championship.” Instead, the “I can’t tell what the future holds” and “this is not about me” quotes let the papers talk about just that for two days when the focus should have been on the team and the school’s first shot at a title.

  1. If you had to put your finger on one thing, what was the main cause of the 3-4 finish?

This is something the staff will have to figure out in the offseason and inoculate against next season. It would be nice to know if they have identified the problem now so they can address it in the next few months.

01.22.16
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Add Snowmageddon To Temple’s Luck

snowmageddon

Being a Temple sports fan, I’m used to a number of odd things happening at strange times that seem to stunt the Owls’ growth in the two marquee sports.

Add this latest Snowmageddon Episode to Temple’s dumb luck.

Arguably, it is probably the biggest recruiting weekend of the season with Temple trying to close the deal on some high-profile football recruits and the forecast of a crippling blizzard cannot help things. Sure, once in a blue moon you will find a kid from Florida who loves the snow and thinks it is the greatest thing in the world and decides to commit on the spot.

Ninety-nine percent of the other people living on the planet do not think that way.

templethings

It was a good idea in the first place because the Temple basketball team was going to host unbeaten AAC rival SMU on Saturday night in a game that figured to pack the Liacouras Center and show the recruits a packed house of spirited Temple fans. Now, that game is moved to Sunday and probably will not have nearly the same atmosphere.

Ironically, this snow is not going to be a good first  impression because it had not snowed all winter—not even a flake—and the winter had been relatively mild with quite a few 50- and 60-degree days. You can tell the recruits that all you want, but they see what they see.

Logistically, it is just not going to be a good thing. Even though the recruits will be on campus, other things are routinely planned on recruiting weekends that will just not go off—like trips to Lincoln Financial Field and Center City.

There is always the hope that things go well and the Owls pull in the haul they expected, but the snow will not be their friend this weekend.

In another development, Penn State–a place where it snows all the time–is hosting Temple recruit Dae’Lun Darien this weekend.

The forecast there is a coating to an inch.

01.21.16
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Top 5 Recruits On TFF Wish List

karamo

Should be No 1 target.

With one week left in the recruiting process, there are a number of guys the Temple coaching staff is still involved with but, in our minds, if the Owls get three of these five guys, the 2016 recruiting class goes from decent to great. This is just our list, not Temple’s, but from a public perception standpoint, getting most of these guys would be quite a haul.

KelvinHarmon

  1. Kelvin Harmon, WR

The Palmyra (N.J.) native currently is uncommitted, and his most recent offer was from Virginia Tech. The All-American wide receiver has 165 catches for 2,674 yards and 36 career touchdowns. He’s a longshot for Temple, chiefly because he had the foresight to pick a visit to Miami (Fla.) this weekend during a snowstorm.

sebastian

  1. Sebastian Silva, LB

Silva, a teammate of Anthony Russo at Archbishop Wood, is under-recruited, much like Tyler Matakevich was coming out of high school. He is a clone of Matakevich (6-0, 215) only stronger in both the bench press and dead lift now and 1.5 seconds faster in the 40-yard dash. If Temple thinks this kid is coming as a preferred walk-on, they are making a big mistake because he has a full ride to a couple of FCS schools and his family does not have the money to pay his way through Temple. He is more than worth the scholarship. It’s amazing when a high school senior has measurables superior to the National Player of the Year, but it’s true.

  1. Tyliek Raynor, RB

Amazingly, Raynor, from Imhotep Charter, missed most of the season with an injury and his backup, Mike Waters, scored 44 touchdowns to become the Philadelphia Inquirer Player of the Year. If Raynor is good enough to beat THAT guy out, he deserves a scholarship to Temple. He is an Arizona decommit and he runs a 4.3 40 with the moves of a Bernard Pierce or a Paul Palmer. He would fit in well at Temple.

tymiroliver

  1. Tymir Oliver, DL

With the last two picks, the Owls really need to go after lineman and Oliver, from West Catholic, is one of the two best remaining on the board. He has an official visit to Illinois this weekend and it’s hard to believe that playing for Bill Cubit will be more appealing than playing for a charismatic guy like Matt Rhule. This is where Rhule will have to earn his recent pay raise and close the deal.  Oliver is a Rutgers’ decommit.

 

  1. Karamo Dioubate, DL

Dioubate, a 4-star tackle from Prep Charter, decommitted from Penn State and is said to have had three visits to Temple since the decommit day. Only one, of course, was official, but it would seem to indicate that Dioubate has the kind of comfort level with his possible future Owl teammates that does not exist elsewhere. He is also involved with Michigan State. He would be for the Owls’ line what Anthony Russo was to the quarterback position.

01.19.16
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Kareem Gaulden Should Be Fan Favorite

If, on or around Feb. 3, the browser on your laptop or other device seems extra slow, resist the temptation to throw the gadget against the wall. Just remember it is National Signing Day for college football. In about two weeks, the internet will be shut down or close to it and the cure is readily available. Curing crazy is always a good thing and one way the NCAA can do that is to approve an early signing period.

That is the only way reasonable young men of their word will not have to go through what Temple football recruit Kareem Gaulden is going though now. Gaulden, a defensive back, was one of the early recruits Matt Rhule was able to snag for the Owls. If there had been an early signing day, like last summer when Gaulden gave his word, there would be no poaching of recruits of other programs.

Gaulden took to twitter and expressed his displeasure with the situation last week.

 

That tweet immediately made Gaulden a fan favorite at Temple, someone who to this class might be what All-American defensive back Kareem Ali Jr. was to the last class. Ali is the son of two former Temple athletes, one a football player and the other a track star, who grew up going to Owl games. After originally committed to a Power 5 school, Ali realized his dream was to play for the school that he cheered for all his life.

Gaulden, another defensive back, earned the same kind of love from Temple fans after that tweet. Fans love players who keep their word, and those are the great majority of athletes who commit early. An early signing period would eliminate the craziness of other schools coming in to try to flip recruits and those high school players deserve that option.

The others who take time to make their decisions can wait until Feb. 3 and that’s why an early signing period would be a victory for all recruits.

01.18.16
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Getting The Right Mix

beckster

Someday,  a player like Sebastian Silva could be lifting Matt Rhule like Dick Beck did for Bruce Arians.

On Halloween Night, Temple hosted Notre Dame and 100 big-time recruits at the same time. Among those players were Michigan commits,  Penn State targets and other various four-star players.

The Owls came up empty that night both scoreboards.

Unlike the Penn State game, when defensive back Keyvone Burton committed the next day, the Owls left that game with an empty feeling—a heartbreaking loss compounded by no commits. Had the Owls won that night, who knows what would happen but this weekend—at least from a recruiting standpoint—was three times percent more productive than that otherwise spectacular night for Temple football.

Not only did the Owls get their top recruiting target, quarterback Anthony Russo of Archbishop Wood, but added a couple of speed merchants. The latest pair are listed as “athletes” and they are Randle Jones III, from Miami Beach (Fla.), and Linwood Crump (Sayerville, N.J.) Both supposedly have sub-4.5 speed and, for people (raising my hand here), who said the Owls need burners like Travis Sheldon and James Nixon, they certainly fill that need.



Ideally, a great recruiting
class is a mixture of guys
wanted by P5 schools like
Dioubate and “trust the film”
guys and guys who
Bruce Arians liked,
tough guys, who could play
but were under the radar.
Nick Sharga of
the current team fits
that third category.

No word yet on the DT Temple needs, Karamo Dioubate  from Prep Charter, but that would be another Russo-like coup at his position. Temple has been known for final week signing surprises under Al Golden and, to a lesser extent, Matt Rhule, so maybe he’s one. He’s been involved with Michigan State and Auburn and is a Penn State decommitted player.

Ideally, a great recruiting class is a mixture of guys wanted by P5 schools like Dioubate and “trust the film” guys and guys who Bruce Arians liked, tough guys, who could play but were under the radar. Nick Sharga of the current team fits that third category.

Still would like to see the Owls make Russo more comfortable in his situation and add Sharga-like linebacker and Wood teammate Sebastian Silva. Even more than the Russo factor, adding an accomplished all-state player like Silva—who is faster, bench presses and dead lifts more than Tyler Matakevich now—would fill a linebacker need in this class that has popped up since the Owls lost a decommit to Rutgers.  Silva’s situation reminds me very much of Dick Beck’s when he came out of Central Bucks West. Beck, like Silva, was under-recruited but became the only captain of the 7-4 Owls in 1990. The rumor now is that the Owls will try to entice Silva to be a preferred walk-on and that just won’t work because other schools are offering him real money. Rhule should now, like Bruce Arians did for Beck then, find a scholarship for Silva. Just like I guaranteed Bruce back then, I guarantee Silva will be worth the scholarship. Fortunately, Bruce listened to me.

Silva is not only a baller, but he has captain-like qualities and the Owls would be remiss letting a quality player and individual like this get away. One day he will captain a college football team and I would like that team to be Temple.

Tomorrow: Why All Fans Should Love Kareem Gaulden

 

01.15.16
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Anthony Russo Commits To Temple

Ever since Doug Flutie enrolled at Boston College in January of 1981, Temple has been looking for its own Doug Flutie.

It may have found him shortly after lunch today.

Temple Football Forever has learned from very good sources that Archbishop Wood’s Anthony Russo had lunch with LSU today, chewed on the Tigers’ pitch and decided by dessert that he was going to become a Temple Owl.

newscoop

We have received two phone texts tonight from separate sources indicating this is true, including from someone whose “mom works with a friend of mine.” Since Anthony Russo was not taking interviews until further notice, figuring that he talks to his mother is not a huge leap of faith and would spill the beans to her.

This is huge for Temple University for a couple of reasons.

One, The Flutie Effect. Two, with P.J. Walker gone after next season, Temple needs a play-making quarterback.

rhulerusso

Just a couple of guys talking pro-set offense.

The Flutie Effect is signing a big-time kid from your own backyard could lead to a domino effect of other big-time kids from the same backyard. That leads to sustained success of the hometown team, which leads to a boom in student applications. In a 1984 game against the University of Miami, Flutie threw a last-second “Hail Mary” pass 48 yards that was miraculously caught for a game-winning touchdown—a climactic capper on one of the most exciting college football games ever. The play put BC on the map for college aspirants. In two years, applications had shot up 30 percent.

Russo’s program-defining pass is yet to come, but he is certainly capable of it. Temple has had a lot of good-to-great quarterbacks since Doug Flutie, including current starter P.J. Walker, the school’s all-time touchdown leader. Temple has never recruited the best high school quarterback coming out of the Philadelphia area. Even Haverford High’s Steve Joachim, who won the Maxwell Award as College Football Player of the Year in 1974, was never signed by Temple. He was a transfer from Penn State, where he started two games.

Russo changes that dynamic. He is an Elite 11 quarterback who has functional mobility, who would fit perfectly into the same Pro Set system new Owls’ offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas helped run with the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan.

Ironically, Ryan who, like Russo, is from a Philadelphia high school league (Inter-Ac),  but went to Boston College. Even though Russo is from Warminster, he is Philly proud enough to say “I’m Anthony Russo from Philadelphia” in many of his interviews.

Now Anthony Russo will get a chance to put Temple and his home town on map. Even if they officially call the new on-campus stadium “The Apollo of Temple” maybe one day fans will unofficially refer to it as “the house Anthony Russo built.

Related:

Temple Should Look to Wood for Package Deal

01.14.16
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Least Sexy Choice Gets Head (OC) Job

stare

“You really want me to waste 20 seconds on every  snap waiting for a play call?”

Say what you will about Matt Rhule, but he has been predictable in his three-year tenure as Temple’s head coach.

Ten days ago, we wrote that Glenn Thomas’ resume was the weakest of our five possible candidates for the open offensive coordinator job but “Matt Rhule has shown a propensity to hire from within” so that’s probably why Thomas was the leading candidate. In our caption we said he was the “least sexy” candidate so that’s “probably why he was going to get a bigger office.” Sure, he had been Matt Ryan’s quarterback coach but, prior to that, a stint at Midwestern State wasn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off.

thomas

Sometimes, being right is a pretty hallow feeling and that’s the feeling I had this morning after hearing that Thomas was moved up to the OC job.  For all of the progress this offense had in the first 10 games of the season, it produced just 13 and 17 points in the two most important games at the end and probably could have used a different pair of eyeballs.

Unlike last year, this offense doesn’t need a complete overhaul, just some tweaking. Putting Jahad Thomas in the slot would be an explosive upgrade, as would giving Jager Gardner and Ryquell Armstead a real shot at the No. 1 tailback position. Those moves are a lot less likely to happen now.

After AAC championship loss, Zach Gelb was the only reporter in Houston with the gonads to ask the tough questions about the “dog stare” offense. The disgraceful time management when Temple fans were yelling “Hurry the F*ck Up!” from Philadelphia loud enough to be heard in Texas fell on deaf ears in the post-game presser. The answers from Rhule,  P.J. Walker, Marcus Satterfield and both Thomases (Glenn and Jahad) were that nothing went wrong. The answers seemed to be “something went wrong?” or “I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary” or the standard Sargent Schultz response: “I know nothing. I see nothing. I hear nothing.”

They had known no other way. A coordinator who had not been part of that fiasco might have been better able to map a new direction.

01.13.16
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Unfinished Business: Perfect Slogan for 2016

unfinished

 

Of all the Vince Vaughn movie titles the Temple football team could have used for a 2016 slogan, the final choice was Unfinished Business.

Since Swingers and Return to Paradise did not seem like appropriate themes for a college football season, it was probably the best choice for a couple of reasons. Unfinished is a nod to the notion that the 3-4 finish of 2015 was unacceptable and admitting the problem is the first step to solving it. A lot of the problem was the result of a knock-down, drag-out, game against Notre Dame but a team  that trains as hard as Temple should have been able to physically respond from a physical game and that is something the Owls have to fix going forward.

opponents

There were other issues that caused the 3-4 that need to be fixed, preferably by the mid-April spring game. The team needs to find a better method to contain dual-threat quarterbacks. Nobody contained Houston quarterback Greg Ward, but even a mediocre Maryland team contained South Florida’s Quinton Flowers and Temple will have to study what Maryland did in a 35-17 win and try to copy that against all other dual-threat quarterbacks. More unfinished work is fixing an inefficient offense. Having to look to the sideline in the final quarter of the Houston game for the AAC championship robbed them of the chance of making that game competitive. It has to be ditched for a more streamlined approach when trailing in the final quarter of games.

The business part of the slogan is a reminder that bowl games are going to have to be business trips. The fun in bowl games is lifting that trophy at the end of the game, not bowling, kayaking or beach volleyball that the Owls overdosed on at the Boca Raton Bowl.A little birdie (Owl) told us that there was open curfew the night before the first practice and that many of the players got into their hotel rooms at 3 a.m.  They had to practice at 8 a.m. and there was throwing up on the field and much joking about it. That, in my mind, was a wasted practice. Judging from what happened on the field against Toledo, it may not have been the only one. Temple fans who stayed at the Toledo hotel were reporting fewer such side trips and late night curfew busting the Rockets. Perhaps not coincidentally, Toledo won the game, 32-17.

The 2015 slogan “Leave No Doubt” served this past team well because it was an original slogan born out of a heartfelt speech by departing senior Kenny Harper a year ago when the team wasn’t picked for a bowl despite qualifying. Harper’s message to his teammates was “leave no doubt” by finishing with such a good record that bowls would have to choose the team. That part of Harper’s speech stuck and was the 2015 rallying cry.

This year’s “Unfinished Business” is a recycled one done by a number of teams before. Recycling saves energy, though, and the Owls certainly ran out of that commodity at the end of the season so maybe this slogan will help sustain them through what they hope will be a longer season in 2016.

 

 

01.12.16
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It Could Be Now or Never to the Big 12 for Temple

big-12-conference-logo

One thing to watch before waiting for the latest in recruiting is the NCAA meetings this weekend (Jan. 14-16) in San Antonio.

If the craziest thing of crazy things happens, Temple could be one of two schools the Big 12 adds this weekend. The conference will more likely add Houston and Cincinnati, but Temple is not out of the question.

Time is of the essence since any expansion will probably go down at the NCAA convention this weekend (Jan. 14-16).  The Big 12 wants a conference championship game, but NCAA rules require 12 games for a championship game. Crazy as it seems, the “Big 12” has only 10 teams. The conference appealed the 12-team limit, but that will probably be denied and, knowing that, the conference might be quick to add two new teams. Having a conference championship game represents earnings of roughly $2 million per year per school in addition to offering a marquee matchup to help the conference bid for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Temple football, Notre Dame football,

Temple’s No. 1 selling points: 2 home crowds of 70,000 plus great TV ratings.

The conference needs two more teams for a playoff and the scuttlebutt is that the conference could reach out to Temple for one of the spots. If the Owls are asked to jump, the only question they should ask is how high because the revenue stream coming into the school is estimated to be in the area of $23.4 million per year now as opposed to the $3.3 million they are making now as a member of the AAC. Had the Owls been in the Big 12 last year, for example, their 23-10 basketball team would not have been snubbed on NCAA Selection Sunday. Also, a 6-6 Temple football team in the Big 12 would get a far more attractive bowl than the 10-win Owls got this past season.

The Big 12 is in a tight spot because the recent departures of Missouri and Texas A&M leave the conference two short of the minimum required for a championship game. Oklahoma, this year’s football champion, had to sweat out a spot in the championship semifinals because its league did not have a title game. The league wants to avoid such a scenario in the future.

That’s where Temple comes in because the league wants to add a TV network, like the Big 10 and the SEC has now. Temple is the only FBS school in the largest TV market (Philadelphia) not already taken by a Power 5 school, the fourth-biggest. The Big 12 had to be taking notes when the Owls drew the largest TV rating ever for a network night game in Philadelphia on Halloween night against visiting Notre Dame. Since Notre Dame has been on the network 56 times before that night, the variable that drove the ratings off the charts was Temple. Any addition of Temple would bring TV eyeballs that would make the addition a win-win for both parties. Still, better fits are Cincinnati and Houston. Cincinnati would be a travel partner for West Virginia. If the conference goes to 14 teams, than the other two teams being considered will be among Temple, UConn and Memphis.

While the Big 12 makes no sense for Temple from an Olympic sport standpoint, in an era where nothing makes sense, money talks and just about every school should be willing to walk.

01.10.16
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Temple Should Look to Wood for Package Deal

Short highlight of Sebastian Silva above. 

One way to jump-start the final days after the so-called dead period is the tried and true recruiting practice called “package deals.”

Many people thought that Jahad Thomas and P.J. Walker were part of a package deal that Temple had with the Elizabeth High pair. The popular thinking was that Walker, New Jersey’s Player of the Year, was “’enticed” to come to Temple when the Owls went after his friend, the less-recruited Thomas. That could not have been farther from the case. The actual story was that the Owls had Walker wrapped up, and it was Walker who strongly suggested the Owls take a look at Thomas.

silva

Sebastian Silva: Perfect technique

The Owls liked the film and, now, both Thomas and Walker have to at least be considered candidates for the AAC Football Player of the Year in 2016. I can’t tell you right now who is better. It’s that close between these two very good friends.

Sometimes things work out that way, package deals or not. The second guy recruited out of the same school often turns out to be better than the first guy and vice versa.

Archbishop Wood has also turned out to be a gold mine for the Owls, as next year’s projected starters at two positions are from that school. Colin Thompson figures to have the inside track on tight end,  while Nate L. Smith could be the starting free safety.

inquirer

That’s why it probably would not hurt Temple to take a long look at Tyler Matakevich 2.0 in Archbishop Wood linebacker Sebastian Silva (No. 43 in the above video). Sebastian is 5-11 (two inches shorter than Tyler), weighs 215 pounds and his 4.56 40 is almost 1.5 seconds faster than Tyler’s.



“I really like
this Silva kid.
He could be another
Tyler Matakevich.”
_ Steve Conjar

“His No. 1 school
choice is Temple.”
_ Frank Pacifico

“I really like this Silva kid,” former Temple tackling leader Steve Conjar said. “He could be another Tyler Matakevich.” Conjar has an acumen for picking out great linebackers. On the day a freshman Matakevich made a tackle for a 3-yard loss that saved a win over South Florida, Conjar said: “You watch. This kid will break all of my records.” That was 492 tackles ago.

Former Temple quarterback Frank Pacifico added this:  “He’s aggressive, fearless, athletic, has incredible mental toughness, is intelligent and above all, a real class kid. His number 1 school choice is Temple.”

On top of that, the Owls have been twisting Wood quarterback Anthony Russo’s arm to de-commit from the dumpster fire that is Rutgers’ football but, for some unknown reason—maybe misplaced loyalty—Russo has been reluctant to do so.

The closest Russo came to a Temple flip was when Marcus Satterfield came to visit.

 

Now Satterfield is gone, so Temple needs an inside guy to prod Russo to make the right decision to play in the same stadium the Eagles play in and for a winning team, not a losing one. Temple needs Anthony Russo more than Rutgers does. Anthony Russo needs Temple more than he does Rutgers.  It is, quite simply, a better fit . All of the family, friends and fans of Archbishop Wood will have an easier time getting to the Linc than Piscataway to watch Russo. Plus, he would be playing in a  town where he will most likely make his living in the business world. That could be legendary and would certainly beat setting up a shingle in the toxic waste dump that is Northern New Jersey.

Silva could make that case to Russo from the inside of the walls on Old York Road and, in the process, become for Temple’s future what Walker and Thomas are for Temple now.

Maybe in five years, we won’t know who is better: Russo or Silva, Silva or Russo. If it’s the kind of debate that exists now with Jahad and P.J., it would be a nice problem to have.