Video courtesy of Owlified… great job, Owlified

Our parking lot is No. 10, the green blotch circled in map and shown in photo below.

Photo, courtesy Owlsports.com

I have a love/hate relationship with Cherry and White Day.
It dates back to the Bruce Arians’ days.
One year, the team looked particularly good in April and went out and laid a 4-7 egg a few months later.
It was then I decided I hated Cherry and White Day because, no matter how good the Cherry looked against the White or the White looked against the Cherry, the bigger picture was skewed.
A fellow reporter, it may have been Chuck Newman, it may have been Joe Juliano, I don’t quite remember who, turned to me once and said:
“They always look good on Cherry and White Day.”
There’s about as much truth to that sentence as any single one ever composed.
Come to think of it, I don’t remember ever leaving on a Cherry and White Day not impressed.
So, as a barometer of what might come in the fall, take it with a (very) large grain of salt.
Make that a boulder of salt.
That’s pretty much why I hate Cherry and White Day.
Then there’s the love part of the relationship.
I love getting together with Temple fans to discus the upcoming season.
I love meeting the parents of recruits and inviting them to our Parking Lot K tailgates, to become part of the Temple family as such.
I love the best day in the world in the best place in the world to do one-stop shopping for some inexpensive and quality Temple stuff, including game-worn jerseys.
I love the tailgating in April (hey, when can you get a chance to tailgate in April?) and I love getting together with all of the old tailgate friends.
I love the dedication of a guy like Ken Mayo, coolowl on the message boards, who holds a first-class tailgate and is inclusive of everyone in the lot.
Heck, I love being a Temple fan because there are no cliques.
We as a people (to borrow a Martin Luther King, Jr. phrase) are not large enough to have cliques.
One day, when all (or half) of the 260,000 living alumni and all (or half) of the 33,000 full-time students are clamoring to get into a sold out Lincoln Financial Field, I hope that part of being a Temple fan never changes.
Even though all of the lots will be filled with a sea of Cherry and White, everybody wearing a Temple T-shirt or sweatshirt or hat will be welcomed by every other Temple fan at whatever little or big satellite tailgate in the lot.
This Saturday, at 2 p.m. folks will be over at 11th and Norris Street to catch that rather skewed preview of the 2009 Owls.
By 11 a.m., most should be parked in Lot 10 (12th and Norris) to do some serious tailgating.
Nobody leaves until 1:55 when we all walk over to the $7 million Edberg-Olson Football Complex. Since it’s a two-minute walk, we should be standing on the sidelines by 1:58, tops.
Bring brewskis and money.

Temple football’s four-month countdown.

The people have spoken.
At least the Temple fans who occasionally check this site from time to time.
Someone in the sports information department will run a slogan by Al Golden, who will either approve it or improve it, and the slogan will appear on the front of the media guide.

Click here for Temple football season tickets and order them by June 12 to get a free 2009 media guide

If the fans voting on the recent poll have anything to say about it, “Unfinished Business” will be this year’s Battle Cry.

Here is the final vote count, with the number of actual votes next to the percentages:

Awe and Shock 2 (3%)

Shock and Awe 2 (3%)

Unfinished Business 19 (35%)

Bowl or Bust 9 (16%)

Sky’s The Limit 14 (26%)

Destination Detroit 7 (13%)

It took a couple of days getting use to, but I like it.

Unfinished Business.

My slogan, Shock and Awe, came in a distant last.

I tried.

We had a couple of other suggestions since, though, that bear some examination:
FLIP THE MAC _ A takeoff on last year’s “Flip The Switch” Flip the MAC refers to the constant barrage of negative messages about Temple football on the MAC bulletin boards. One guy keeps saying Temple=Bad Football when two teams he trumpets, Miami and Akron, were beaten two years in a row by the Owls. Another guy from Kent State keeps bringing up Temple attendance problems when there were maybe 400 folks, tops, at Kent State for the Temple game last year. The slogan can be accompanied by a logo that shows the familiar Styrofoam No. 1 finger given out at Temple basketball games. In this case, the finger is switched one digit over and a MAC logo appears on the back of the hand.

IT’S TIME _ Shortened version of “It’s Time To Win” or “It’s Our Time to Win” or “It’s T Time” with the Temple logo substituted for the T. I can’t argue with that, either, because it is time to win.

Unfinished Business captures what went on the last two seasons as good as anything.

Two years ago, the Owls left 28 points on the field in a 31-0 loss to Penn State.
Last year, the Owls didn’t finish after leading, 27-7, at Navy, in the fourth quarter.
This year it’s time to finish that business.
It’s Our Time.
It’s T Time.
If, in the process, it flips off the MAC, then so be that, too.

By Mike Gibson
I’m sure someone other than Bill Parcells said it first:
“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.”
I’ll give credit to Parcells because I like the way he says it, nodding his head like you all should know what he does.
“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.”
You can say the same for quarterbacks.

Temple quarterbacks in their final high school seasons:
Adam DiMichele, Sto-Rox _ 2,706 yards and 36 touchdown passes.

In the mix currently:

Vaughn Charlton, Avon Grove _ 1,337 yards, 9 touchdown passes.

Chester Stewart, DeMatha _ 1,348 yards, 17 touchdown passes.

Aaron Haas, St. Joseph’s Prep _ 1,430 yards, 21 touchdown passes

Mike Gerardi, Parsippany Hills (N.J.) _ 2,300 yards, 35 touchdown passes

Chris Coyer, Oakton (Va.) _ 1,407 yards, 15 touchdown passes (and 15 TD runs)

Despite “defined measurables” like 40 speed and vertical leap, quarterbacking now, as always, is better measured by a poised athlete’s ability to hit another athlete in the open field while under pressure.
It doesn’t matter if the QB is running or if the receiver is running.
It doesn’t matter if there’s a 6-5, 280-pound guy charging at you.
Or, during the same play, all of the above is happening at full speed.
It’s about your ability to do your job and hit the receiver.
Meet Mike Gerardi, Temple’s Duck.
If Gerardi looks like a quarterback and throws like a quarterback, it’s because he is a quarterback and a pretty darn good one.

Mike Gerardi

It would not be a stretch to say Gerardi was born to be a quarterback.
He’s been one since Pee-Wee ball and excelled at a really high level from the time he first put on the pads.
I don’t buy that stuff about “if he’s so good, why didn’t he get a scholarship offer” that so many negative fans parrot.
Good quarterbacks slip through the cracks all the time. At one time, UConn showed some interest but backed off.
For every Henry Burris, who was wanted by just about everyone out of Spiro (Okla.), Temple has had a Matty Baker _ a kid who was wanted by no one but became a winning quarterback.
Looks to me like Gerardi could be cut out of the Baker mold, a high-achiever in high school who somehow slipped through the cracks.
At Parsippany Hills in New Jersey two years ago, Gerardi threw for 2,300 yards and 35 touchdown passes. That performance made him a first-team New Jersey all-state performer at quarterback. The other quarterback on the first team was Matt Simms of Don Bosco, son of Phil Simms.

“Really the surprise has been Mike Gerardi. He’s really come in. Every time he’s gotten in, he’s led us down and scored or played really well. So he’s getting a lot of reps now.” Matt Rhule
Offensive coordinator
Temple University

In prep school last fall, he tossed 16 TDs against no (zero) interceptions.
So, while most things in spring practice are pretty secretive these days, it should not be surprising to hear this out of offensive coordinator Matt Rhule’s mouth when talking about Gerardi on Owlsports.com:
“Really the surprise has been Mike Gerardi,” Rhule said. “He’s really come in. Every time he’s gotten in, he’s led us down and scored or played really well. So he’s getting a lot of reps now, because want to see who can lead us, who can move the football, who can push.”
That could very well be coachspeak, something designed to light a fire under incumbents Vaughn Charlton and Chester Stewart.
Even if Mike Gerardi lights it up in the Cherry and White Day game on April 18, we probably won’t even know then.

At this point, it’s about even money that Charlton, Stewart, Gerardi or even incoming freshman Chris Coyer takes the first snap against Villanova on Sept. 3.
That’s the way it should be.
Nobody should be awarded the job because he’s been here longer or it’s his turn or because his feelings will be hurt if he doesn’t get the chance.
It’s all about moving the team and scoring touchdowns.
It’s all about who gives your team the best chance to win a championship.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
Somebody is going to have to knock Rhule’s socks off between now and Sept. 3.
So far, it’s been Gerardi but we have months to go before we know who wins this most important of competitions.

By Mike Gibson
Occasionally, a brilliant idea will come upon me at a place I least expect.
Usually, just before I nod off in the middle of the night or while I’m driving my car.
Tough places to reach for the notepad and jot the fleeting idea down so the idea flies by and I sometimes don’t catch it again.
I was thinking about that while reflecting on last year’s Temple football team slogan.
You know, it’s the thing that appears on the cover of the media guide and in the ads for Temple football.
Last year’s slogan was “Flip the Switch.”
Good, but not great.
I want everything about Temple to be the best in the Mid-American Conference.
I want us to have the most wins, the most fans, the best quarterback, the best offense, the best defense.
I want us to have the best slogan, too.
Flip the Switch, while good, was lacking something.
I could not put my finger on it, but it wasn’t inspiring.
All winter, I brainstormed looking for another slogan.
I could come up with nothing.
I thought of “Just Win, Baby” but I’m sure Al Davis has a copyright on that one.
Unfinished business was another.
Then something occurred to me a couple of weeks ago while watching television.
Semaj Inge was being interviewed after winning the A-10 tournament.
“Sky’s The Limit,” Inge said, referring to the Owls’ chances in the NCAAs.
Hmm, I thought.
“Sky’s The Limit” might be a damn good slogan for this year’s Temple football team.
With three excellent recruiting classes in place and for the first time a sizeable group of redshirts to help the 2009 team, the sky is really the limit for this football team.
If Flip the Switch was good, then Sky’s The Limit is great.
Then, while turning into the parking lot of the gym last night, I thought of an even better one.
“Awe and Shock.”
Temple having a winning or championship season won’t shock us or anybody associated with the program, but it would everyone on the outside.
The “awe” part comes into play with the terrific skill set our players have both on offense and defense.
Awe leads to shock.
That’s why I would pick “Awe and Shock” over “Shock and Awe.”
Think of James Nixon, Vaughn Carraway and Jason Harper catching long touchdown bombs from Vaughn Charlton, Chester Stewart or Chris Coyer.
Awe.
Or Kee-ayre Griffin showing the kind of running form in the open field that made him a consensus first-team all-state tailback in New Jersey for St. Peter’s Prep.
Awe.
Or Daryl Robinson intercepting a pass in the flat and returning it for six.
More than once.
Awe.
So the potential for awe is there.
If realized, the Owls can shock the world.
Awe and shock is my first choice. Sky’s The Limit is No. 2.
Those are my top two choices for this year’s slogan.
Either way, I’ve got “Flip the Switch” beat.
What’s yours?

By Mike Gibson
That puff of white smoke coming from the Edberg-Olson Football Complex today was not exhaust from the train station above, but the rather important annoucement that the Owls’ 2009 football schedule has finally been released.
The Mid-American Conference released the schedule at 2:36 p.m. today or about 20 minutes ago.
Last year, they released the schedule on March 11.
Both years, the MAC was the last league to release season schedules.
The holdup?
Waiting for league braintrust to formulate various deals to keep games on national TV.

2009 Temple Football Schedule
Sep.
3 Villanova, 7 p.m.

19 at Penn State

26 Buffalo

Oct.
3 at Eastern Michigan

10 Ball State

17 Army (Homecoming)

24 at Toledo

31 at Navy

Nov.
5 Miami, 7:30 pm (ESPNU*)

13 at Akron, 8 pm (ESPNU)

21 Kent State

27 at Ohio, tbd (ESPNU/ESPN360*)

*ESPN Multiple-Game Selection Date

In one example, Miami was supposed to host Colorado. Kentucky wanted to play a game against Miami in Cincinnati, so that MAC had to find another league opponent for Colorado. They found one in Toledo.
That’t the way these things work.
Temple will open its season on Thursday night, Sept. 3, at Lincoln Financial Field against Villanova. That much we knew weeks ago.
What we didn’t know until today was exactly who the league opponents will be for the Owls.
They will host Buffalo, Ball State, Miami and Kent State.
They will visit Ohio, Akron, Eastern Michigan and Toledo.

Vaughn Carraway, in a Christmas visit to St. Christopher’s Hospital with fellow Owls, is third from the right.

The last time we saw any glimpse of Temple football future the room was dark and the screen was running highlights of the 2009 football recruits.
Between the oohs and ahhs coming from the assembled big-money donors in attendance on national signing day (I was an interloper in that regard), I could tell people were impressed.
“They all look like they can play at USC,” I said, breaking the silence from row four.

(Some) key returning Redshirts for the Owls:
Deven Baker, RS-FR, WR
Matt Balasavage, RS-SO, TE
Morris Blueford, RS-SO, DE
Marcus Brown, RS-JR, OL
Vaughn Charlton, RS-JR, QB
Vaughn Carraway, RS-FR, WR
C.J. Hammond, RS-FR, WR
Dave Nwasike, RS-JR, DT
John Palumbo, RS-SO, OL
Evan Rodriguez, RS-SO, TE
Jared Williams, RS-SO, CB
Lawrence Turner, RS-FR, TE

Heck, but that’s the nature of high school highlight reels.
I could see the Bill Cosby commercial now.
They could have gone to USC, but they chose Temple.
Then coach Al Golden got up, essentially said he couldn’t give two whits about what the scouting services are saying and that this was far and away his best recruiting class. (Not that the scouting services are pooh-pooing this class since Scout.com has the Owls rated No. 2 in the MAC behind only Central Michigan, but after having won three MAC recruiting titles in a row, people were wondering whether or not Al lost a little of his recruiting magic.)
Golden justified it by saying that his staff went out and identified athletes based on their upside and not necessarily on what stats they may or may not have accumulated so far.
The good news is that the Owls won’t have to rely on that impressive class to make key contributions this year.
Essentially, the 2009 Owls are on display almost every day at the Edberg-Olson football complex.

Huge crowd in Buffalo watches Joe Jones run in the open field.
Owlsports.com photo

Seventeen of the 21 starters from the 2008 season return, bolstered by 15 high-quality players the Owls had the luxury of redshirting.
The Redshirts are coming, including Vaughn Carraway, the top receiver in Pennsylvania two years ago and others.
That’s some damn good reinforcements right there.
Chief among those is Vaughn Charlton, a not-so-secret weapon who was the starting quarterback on the varsity for much of the 2007 season.
His poise and confidence under pressure as a backup in the win over Miami (Ohio) and subsequent games like the wire-to-wire win over Kent State give Owl fans some hope for the 2009 season.
Hope, but not hype.
One of the young men standing near Charlton during most practices is Chris Coyer, who is absorbing as much mentally now so he can focus on the physical come July and August. Coyer has to be given a lot of credit for getting up at 4:30 every morning and driving from D.C. to Philadelphia during breaks at Oakton (Va.) High.
Coyer is the raw talent, while Charlton is the more polished product. Adam DiMichele has taken Coyer under his wing.
Expecting Coyer to come in and start is not fair to the young man, in my opinion. Temple’s one and only goal should be winning the MAC title and the last freshman to start and win a title as a QB was Bowling Green’s Brian McClure in 1982.
I don’t like those odds.
Adam DiMichele, in my mind, was a once-in-a-generation quarterback who will be sorely missed and the 2008 Owls deserved some major hype coming into the season because he was the ignition to this machine.
I asked Golden about Charlton on signing day, posing the question this way:
“A lot of us fans haven’t seen Vaughn Charlton in two years. What kind of quarterback has he become in the year since?”
Golden looked me in the eye and said: “Vaughn’s been working hard in the weight room and he’s 238 pounds, stronger, more confident.”
Not exactly the ringing endorsement I was hoping for, but he later mollified that comment in an illuminating audio with Owlscoop.com editor John DiCarlo, when he said: “Even though we lost Adam and everybody thinks the sky is falling, I’m impressed with our two returning quarterbacks.”
Hmm, I wonder who Golden was referring to when he said everybody?
These Owls will go as far as the returning players and Redshirts take them.

The thought here is that Charlton’s productivity will be a shade below DiMichele’s, but that the overall Temple product could be more appealing due to the depth and quality at other positions on the field.
I want to see continued improvement from running backs Kee-ayre Griffin and Joe Jones and I would like to see the breakaway runner Ahkeem Smith was when I saw him playing at Bethlehem Liberty. It would be nice if Jones showed the kind of breakaway speed that made him a Boca Raton legend. Maybe his injury is fully healed now. We can only hope.
That’s what’s being hashed out at the E-O. All practices are open only to Temple football alumni, Xtra Point Club members, and high school coaches, provided the individuals register in Edberg-Olson Hall before visiting the field. Practices are closed to the general public, but the adventurous can make out the goings on through the green canvas screen or the Temple train station above.
Meanwhile, the recruiting connections Golden established while an assistant at Penn State, Boston College and Virginia are continuing to bear fruit for the Owls.
A glimpse at the updated roster on Owlsports.com reveals Evan Rodriquez, a three-star recruit at West Virginia has transferred in as has Zack Kane, a safety from the real Miami (Fla.) and Keith Baker, a linebacker from Louisville.
Maybe good enough to play at USC, but they were certainly good enough to be recruited by West Virginia, Louisville and Miami and that’s a sign that Golden is relentless in his search for talent.
That kind of competition within only bodes well for Owl fans and ill for Owl foes.

By Mike Gibson
The illuminating moment came at halftime of a recent Temple vs. St. Joseph’s basketball game at the Liacouras Center.
Temple football coach Al Golden, surrounded by 15 of his best returning football players, got up in front of 9,389 fans and said this:
“There’s one thing both St. Joe and Temple fans agree on … we dislike Villanova. I invite all of you to come to our game on Sept. 3 and cheer for us.”
Notice he said dislike.

“There’s one thing both St. Joe and Temple fans agree on … we dislike Villanova. I invite all of you to come to our game on Sept. 3 and cheer for us.”
_ Al Golden
In Villanova preparation, the Owls are focusing on the kneel-down play. Above, Golden shows Vaughn Charlton the proper technique during practice on Tuesday (only kidding, Cat fans).

Golden didn’t say hate because he was trying to be politically correct, but you know he wanted to and that’s a good sign because it’s an indication that Golden gets it.
He’s from Colts Neck, N.J., went to Red Bank Catholic and he could be excused for not understanding the, err, deep feeling not resembling affection Temple and St. Joseph fans on this side of the river have for those on the Main Line.
It’s an indication that Golden has been here on the Philly side of the river long enough to get it.
For all we know, they feel the same way about us.
Rivalries are a good thing.

When Temple and Villanova play for the Mayor’s Cup, it’s good to know that the coach representing the fans behind him knows that losing this game is not an option.
Heck, he must now know that an all-time beat down is his only directive.
To quote Bill Parcells off the Coors Light commercial, “that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.”