Author Archives: Mike Gibson

10.30.15
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5 Signs That Temple Will Beat Notre Dame

Reason No. 6 Owls will win: They did not make the cover of SI.

Reason No. 6 Owls will win: They did not make the cover of SI.

The first thing Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said to Temple’s Matt Rhule when he greeted him for a post-game handshake in 2013 was: “You have a good football team.” Much of that was coachspeak, but Kelly had the right assessment in the wrong year. Many of the players who played for Temple in that 28-6 loss are back for this year’s nationally televised game and there are five signs that point to this one ending differently.

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Getty Images

  1. The Rise of Memphis

Nobody thought fellow AAC member Memphis had a chance against an Ole Miss team that went to Alabama and waxed the Tide on the road, but the Tigers used a home field advantage in the Liberty Bowl and dominated Mississippi, 37-24. Memphis needed a field goal at the gun to beat Temple last year, 16-13. Ole Miss is arguably better than Notre Dame. Temple is arguably better than Memphis now.

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Getty Images

  1. The Last Game

Even though the Owls finished the 2013 season 2-10, an Irish team which finished 8-4 was not able to take them to the woodshed. With a first-year coach and many first-year starters, the game was 14-6 until 43 seconds remained in the first half. In the second half, the two teams played fairly evenly and the 28-6 score was respectable. Even though this ND team is better than that one, the Owls are exponentially better.

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Getty Images

  1. The GameDay Effect

This will be the first visit by ESPN’s College GameDay to Temple and first-time hosts have a 40-25 record. The first thing Temple athletic director Pat Kraft did when he learned the show was coming was to procure an extra head of Hooter, the team’s mascot, for show host Lee Corso to have under his desk.  On the other hand, the Luck of the Leprechaun has produced four losses in the last four Irish GameDay appearances.

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Getty Images

  1. ECU’s Game With Florida

Temple went into Dowdy-Ficken Stadium and came away with a 10-point win over East Carolina, the only home loss of the season for the Pirates. ECU is a good team which lost by a touchdown in the swamp to Florida, 31-24, a similar team in skill set to Notre Dame. If the Owls can handle that kind of foe on the road, they can certainly operate more comfortably in the friendly environment of Lincoln Financial Field.

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Getty Images

  1. Analytics Favor Owls

The Owls rank No. 5 in the nation in one of the most important statistics, scoring defense (14.6 ppg), ahead of Ohio State and Clemson, and it is no fluke as they returned all 11 starters from a defense that finished No. 4 a year ago. Notre Dame ranks No. 14 in scoring offense (38.3 ppg).  The Irish should have a tough time scoring against this defense and, if you cannot score, you cannot win.

No opinion, just cold analytical thinking.

No opinion, just cold numbers from a computer not affiliated with either TU or ND.

10.29.15
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Power 5 Talking Heads Take Hating Temple to a New Level

If you don’t know how to move your hands, don’t worry—even Jesus doesn’t. Just sing the song loud and proud. (Video taken by Steve Suranie)

Sometimes hate comes in many forms but, in the case of Mark Packer and Philadelphia college teams, it seems to be hereditary.

“I usually do not say things like this, but Notre Dame is absolutely going to take Temple to the woodshed.”
_ Mark Packer, Sirius Radio
“Temple has zero chance to beat Notre Dame.”
_Danny Kanell, ESPN.
“No chance.”
_Joey Galloway, ESPN

Out of the blue, on his national radio show, Packer said this on Tuesday: “I usually do not say things like this, but Notre Dame is absolutely going to take Temple to the woodshed.” If that sounded familiar to Philadelphia fans, it was something similar to what his more famous father, Billy Packer, said about another magical run unbeaten by a Philadelphia college team over a decade ago when he said St. Joseph’s did not deserve its NCAA No. 1 seed in basketball.

The comment caused Hawks’ coach Phil Martelli to say that the elder Packer can kiss a certain part of the coach’s anatomy. Now that the younger Packer has basically said something similar about Temple’s football team, Temple football coach Matt Rhule has not responded. He is less confrontational than the excitable Martelli, plus he has bigger fish to fry on Saturday in an 8 p.m. showdown with the No. 9 Fighting Irish (ABC).

The old saying is “Haters gonna hate” and, when it comes to Philadelphia and its college teams, the Packers seem to be a special types of haters. Packer never said anything about Notre Dame taking 2-5 Virginia to the woodshed before that game but, for some reason, taking a 7-0 and No. 21Temple team to the woodshed deserved mentioning.

With Temple’s newfound success comes new hate and Packer is not the only media member to spew it so far. ESPN’s Danny Kanell said the Owls have “zero chance” and his partner, Joey Galloway, used the words “no chance” against the Irish.  The Power 5 talking heads must be nervous about this one but they have gone out of their way to dismiss Temple out of hand.

If the Owls somehow pull off the upset, making haters such as Packers eat their words will be an especially sweet byproduct.

10.28.15
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Early Bird Gets Worm; Procrastinators Get Tapeworm

Matt Rhule talks about the terrific job he and his staff and his kids did on a short week.

One of the most amazing things about these past few weeks was reading posts on facebook and twitter from unfamiliar handles saying they were long-time Temple fans and asking if anyone has an extra ticket.

Helloooooooooooo?

One of the many benefits of a Temple education is that the bullbleep antenna is very well-honed. First of all, they made this announcement of a Temple vs. Notre Dame game to be played in Philadelphia in 2011.

Not 2012.

Not 2013.

Not 2014.

Two thousand and eleven.

That was more than four years ago and a lot of thoughts floated around in my mind about this game. None of them were, “Geez, I can wait until there are two weeks before the game to get a ticket.”

A lot of these requests are from Notre Dame interlopers. It doesn’t take more than deductive reasoning to come to that conclusion.

In other words, I knew it was going to be sold out. You knew it was going to be sold out.The only shock to me was that the sellout did not occur in the days after the historic 27-10 win over Penn State, but weeks later. Those who waited that long were lucky to get tickets. Those who waited until oh,  like about now, are SOL. S*it out of luck, if  you do not know what that means.

The tickets on the secondary markets are off the charts but get your tickets for the Memphis game now.

The tickets on the secondary markets are off the charts but get your tickets for the Memphis game now.

Now this is what we do know. Temple vs. Notre Dame is the biggest college football game in the history of the city of Philadelphia, if you do not count the 1943 game that featured No. 2 Army vs. No. 6 Penn State. (I do not because I’m shocked Penn was able to keep so many able-bodied men in the school in the middle of an undecided war. Penn should have been investigated for some sort of recruiting violations.) That game ended in a 13-13 tie.

This game will not end in a tie and everyone who has a ticket in their hands right now should consider themselves incredibly fortunate. The early bird gets the worm. The procrastinator gets the tapeworm.

If you say you are a Temple fan and cannot get a ticket, shame on you. You had a chance to get one a long time ago. The other fans, the ones we see every week, deserve this incredible experience.

10.27.15
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Unchartered Waters: ESPN Gameday

Temple fans are going to have to fill Independence Hall with a crowd this size plus a few hundred clever banners.

Temple fans are going to have to fill Independence Hall with a crowd this size plus a few hundred clever banners.

After stringing along two fan bases for more than 24 hours, the production made by ESPN in making its Halloween Day call for a GameDay site should be nominated for an Academy Award. There was that much drama in the official announcement that game down at 12:41 p.m., Eastern Time, on Monday.

The crew made the correct call in picking Temple, and downtown Philadelphia, as the site and made a whole lot of Washington State fans on the West Coast saltier than someone who accidentally fell into The Great Salt Lake.

In reality, the call was a no-brainer. Temple is 7-0 for the first time in its history, ranked No. 21, and is facing a Top 10 team in visiting and No. 9 Notre Dame. The show will serve to pump the ratings for the prime time game on ABC, which is the parent network of ESPN. Washington State, which barely beat former Temple Big East rival Rutgers, is 5-2 with a loss to FCS member Portland State. Losing to a FCS team should automatically disqualify a so-called Power 5 team from a GameDay visit.

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Since there is construction on the main campus of Temple, the production crew felt the best backdrop would be Independence Hall, so that’s where the broadcast will originate from on Saturday morning. The site is rich in history since it is where both the Declaration and Independence and the Constitution were ratified and there is also some college football history connected with the game.

It will probably be the biggest game in modern Philadelphia college football history. Two ranked teams have not played in Philadelphia since No. 6 Penn played No. 2 Army to a 13-13 tie in the 1943 season.

No one knows who will win this modern day ranked matchup just yet, but without a doubt the first winner is College Football GameDay for making the obvious call. Now it’s up to Temple fans to reward that confidence by setting those alarm clocks early for Saturday and being there.

10.24.15
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Five Saturday Games of Interest to Owl Fans

If you have a weak stomach, please fast forward through the first 1:25 of this video. Otherwise, watch for historical perspective.

This is a weekend for Temple football fans to put their feet up on the couch and keep the remote and popcorn at arm’s length. Even though the Owls are not on TV this Saturday, there is plenty of college football to take in today and a lot of them have at least small implications for the Owls. The beauty of watching these games is the knowledge that if Temple takes care of business, none o these games will have significant impact on the possible rewards coming down the road.

Hopefully, the Owls will wear the distinctive Cherry T against ND.

Hopefully, the Owls will wear the distinctive  T  or spelled out TEMPLE against ND. One being the school brand and two being the long-time program brand.

  1. Penn State at Maryland, 3:30, ESPN

As hard as it might be for some Temple fans to digest, a Penn State team that finishes with only two or three losses will  benefit the Owls’ strength of schedule ranking greatly. In a system that is rigged to keep Group of Five teams out of the four-team playoff, a 27-10 Temple win over a 9-2 Big 10 team carries a lot more weight than a 6-6 Big 10 team so root for the Lions here.

  1. SMU at South Florida, 4 p.m., ESPN News

Only interesting in that South Florida is loaded with young players and seems to be playing its best ball of the season now and the Owls have to travel to South Florida later in the season. Both teams have bad losses, with USF being hammered by Maryland, 35-17, and SMU falling to James Madison,  48-45.

  1. Houston at Central Florida, Noon, ESPN News

Even though a strong argument can be made that keeping all three AAC teams unbeaten deep into the season will help Temple’s chances of a playoff later on, the immediate goal for the Owls would be to keep inching up in the Top 20 and a Houston loss, however unlikely, would help. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like UCF has the firepower to pull that off.

I usually do not like watching games online, but this Toledo at UMass game (3 p.m.) is an exemption. Go Minutemen.

I usually do not like watching games online, but this Toledo at UMass game (3 p.m.) is an exception. Go Minutemen.

  1. Tulane at Navy, 1 p.m., CBS Sports Network

This could get ugly real fast, but I would root for Navy here. Love to see the Owls face Navy and not Houston or Memphis in the Dec. 5 title game for obvious reasons. One, they already play Memphis in the regular season. Two, they played Navy so poorly a year ago they probably want to get that bad tast out of their mouth in the title game. Three, Navy has an arguably bigger game (Army) the next week in the same stadium. Plus, Houston has recruited better talent across the board than Navy.

  1. Connecticut at Cincinnati, 4 p.m., CBS Sports Network,

UConn is another interesting opponent down the road. It beat UCF by a wider margin than Temple did, but followed that up by laying an egg (28-20) at home to USF the next week. Plus, the Owls know they have to go out and recruit a quarterback to compete with Cincy redshirt freshman Hayden Moore down the road after P.J. Walker leaves. Hopefully, they already have that kid in the fold with Montel Aaron.

Tomorrow: ECU-TU Photo Essay

Monday: Halloween Tricks

10.23.15
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ESPN: Temple Has No Chance of Beating Notre Dame

Kickout blocks like Nick Sharga’s on Jahad Thomas’ first TD are something we’ve been talking about for two years on this site. Great to see the Owls adopt those principles on a regular basis this season.

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Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I have heard the names Danny Kanell and Joey Galloway before but they were always no more than background noise until last night.

Then they had to open their mouths after what might not have been the biggest win in Temple football history but the biggest one for a lot of us who have followed the program for the last 30 plus years. Temple 24, East Carolina 14.

One of the ESPN hosts asked Kanell what chance Temple had of beating Notre Dame next week.

“Zero chance,” Kanell said.

“Yeah, no chance,” Galloway said.

Another slow start, but a wonderful finish for the Owls and Jahad Thomas.

Another slow start, but a wonderful finish for the Owls and Jahad Thomas.

Then more background noise, blah, blah, blah.

Galloway and Kanell are just two people, but they were the immediate face of ESPN after the first time Temple went 7-0, so you can pretty much say ESPN says the Owls have no chance.

Temple has a chance to beat Notre Dame. I cannot put a number on it, but it’s certainly not zero and it is certainly not “no chance.”  Let’s put it this way: If Memphis has a chance at beating Ole Miss, Temple has a chance of beating Notre Dame. Ole Miss is every bit as good as Notre Dame, maybe better. Temple is every bit as good as Memphis, maybe better. Oh what? Memphis did beat Ole Miss?

As Emily Latilla might say, “Never mind.”

The Owls were pretty much who we thought they were last night—an incredibly resilient team that fights hard through slow starts and answers the bell at crunch time. They have a lot of interesting weapons and two players on offense, Robby Anderson and Jahad Thomas, who are as good at their positions as anyone in the country and that includes Notre Dame. P.J. Walker can be my quarterback any day of the week and most nights. They have a defense that will shut people down, and often out, for long stretches of any game.

They are now 7-0 for the first time in their history and the first thing ESPN did was not praise them, but bury them.

Temple will show up in eight days to play Notre Dame and to say the atmosphere will be electric is really understating the energy factor. It’ll be more nuclear than electric. Let what happens on the field determine who has a chance to do what, not a couple of clowns in a studio.

10.22.15
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Game Day: Some Deep Galactic Thoughts

Some crazy stars and asteroids are aligning soon, and we’re not really sure what they mean, if anything, about the outcome to tonight’s Temple at ECU game.

What I have learned on the ABC Evening News with David Muir is that an Asteroid is coming within close proximity of the Earth on Halloween Night. Since I have purchased one of those $20 Millionaire lotto raffle tickets drawn that night, it would be my luck to win a million at 7 p.m. and have the earth smashed into by an Asteroid at, oh, about 11:30 p.m.

If, however, a 7-0 Temple team were to beat a 6-1 Notre Dame team five minutes earlier, I could not have picked a better way to go–so maybe that Asteroid means the Owls will beat the Pirates tonight. Omen quotient: Temple win.

Fans watching the game on ESPN2 tonight will be treated to live cuts to Temple fans cheering on the Owls at Shorty's Flatiron Bar in NYC.

Fans watching the game on ESPN2 tonight will be treated to live cuts to Temple fans cheering on the Owls at Shorty’s Flatiron Bar in NYC.

Some other galactic omens:

  • Last year, East Carolina was unbeaten and ranked No. 21 coming into Philadelphia to play Temple and lost to the 4-3 Owls. Tonight, Temple is unbeaten, ranked No. 22 and playing a 4-3 team in Greenville. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean history repeats itself for the 4-3 and unbeaten squads. Not even Bill O’Reilly can spin this one positively. Omen quotient: Temple loss.
  • Both teams have won a game they’d like to do over: Temple beating UMass, 25-23, and East Carolina beating Towson, 28-20. UMass is bad, but it’s 10x better than Towson. Omen quotient: Temple win.
  • Last trip to North Carolina: Temple’s 37-3 win at Charlotte looks better in light of Charlotte extending Old Dominion to a 37-34 game last week. A lot of projections have Old Dominion in a bowl game. Omen quotient: Temple win.
  • ESPN is going to send a film crew to New York City to shoot a group of Temple fans watching the game at Shorty’s Flatiron, 66 Madison Avenue, Manhattan. ESPN is owned by the same company that owns ABC, Disney. ABC is doing the Temple vs. Notre Dame game primetime in nine nights. There is nothing more this Mickey Mouse operation (and we say that positively) would like than to be shooting shots of screaming happy Owl fans after Temple touchdowns. Omen quotient: Temple win.
  • Matt Rhule channeled his inner Joe Maddon before the game: “As Joe Maddon says, if the pleasure outweighs the pressure, you’re good. I don’t want the pressure to be too much.” The Cubs got swept, 4-0. Much more interested in what Terry Collins had to say. Omen quotient: Temple loss.

    Joe Maddon

    Joe Maddon

  • Jahad Thomas mentioned two words that have never been uttered by a Temple player before: “National championship” in response to a question from Mike Kern about what would constitute notable accomplishments. “A conference championship, an undefeated season, a national championship—things of that nature,” Thomas said. Well, we were just hoping the Owls weren’t looking ahead to Notre Dame, let alone nine games down the road. Omen quotient: Temple loss.

Hopefully, just an innocent remark and not bad Karma but we won’t find that out until around 10:30. Meanwhile, keep an eye on the sky.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

10.21.15
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5 Keys That Could Unlock a Big Win at ECU

Matt Rhule has some good ideas on getting his team to relax.

The odds makers who reside in Las Vegas have made East Carolina University a favorite over the visiting Temple Owls (tomorrow night, 7 p.m., ESPN2) and the reasons are mostly because Temple (6-0) is coming off a short week with a big game coming up in Notre Dame and the Pirates are a very good home team. There are a couple of things wrong with that thinking, though. ECU (4-3) is also coming off a short week and, while it is a good home team, Temple showed enough grit to survive a similar road test at Cincinnati earlier this season. Also, the Owls are wise enough to know that Notre Dame, while big, is nowhere near as important as the ECU game is to them. The matchups also seem to be in Temple’s favor as ECU is weak against the run and Temple has proven to be a formidable rushing team. The game is played on the field, though, not in Las Vegas, and if the Owls do these five things, they should be just fine.

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  1. Commit to the Run

ECU gives up 188 yards per game on the ground. The Owls have not seen that kind of porous run-stopping since UMass. Mark Whipple had a good game plan against the Owls, stacking the box with eight. Instead of check-mating that with two tight ends and a fullback, the Owls played into Whipple’s hands by throwing the ball 48 times. They got away from their identity and threw a couple of costly picks that allowed an inferior team to hang around for three hours. They must stay within themselves, throwing the ball 20-30 times. If they have to, they must put more helmets on ECU helmets and knock them back off the ball.

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  1. Rush the Passer

The Pirates employ two quarterbacks, one a passer and one a runner. The Owls need to blitz the passer and contain their lanes on the runner.  James Summers (No. 11) is the runner. Fellow junior Blake Kemp is the passer. Kemp has a problem with turnovers and, if the Owls treat him with the same respect they treated Christian Hackenberg with (none), they should be able to force a couple of turnovers. The old saying in football is that when you have two quarterbacks you have none and the Owls need to show why that saying is true.

  1. Block a Punt

This was Sam Benjamin’s specialty last season. No. 10 blocked two punts in the UCF game a year ago and one in the Charlotte game this season. Now, Adonis Jennings has joined the punt-blocking party, using his length and athleticism to block a punt against UCF last week. With Benjamin coming from the side and Jennings from the middle, blocking a punt would take pressure off a return game which has been shaky the last couple of weeks.

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  1. Play-Action Passing

When P.J. Walker throws 20-30 passes (and not the 48 he threw against UMass), the Owls can have an explosive downfield passing game. They must rip the “out” pattern—the one that went for a Pick 6 against UCF—out of the playbook, though. Once they get Jahad Thomas going in the run game, faking it to Thomas should find receivers like Jennings, Robby Anderson, Ventell Bryant and John Christopher finding open seams over the middle.

  1. Protect the Ball

Easy to say, hard to do, but head coach Matt Rhule hit on it in his Tuesday press conference when he said the ball is going to come free on things like a bad snap or bad bounce but just fall on it and do not try to pick it up. Falling on it allows the offense—with its impressive arsenal of offensive weapons—to live another day. If the Owls protect the ball, they will likely live a day at 7-0—which would be their first-ever day with that record.

As Rhule says, just go play.