… “They out-physicaled us up front. It’s really the first time we’ve come out of a game feeling like we didn’t control the line of scrimmage. Even Nebraska, we kind of thought was a wash.” _ Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit talking about Temple…

… “I was told by a lot of people before the game that Temple is really good but, man, this team has all kinds of weapons.” _ Ohio News Network sports director Andy Raskin during the telecast of Temple vs. Miami on ESPN360.com…

…”What my Owls have done this year–and I will call them ‘my Owls’ because I’ve been on this team since the beginning–is sensational considering they lost their starting quarterback. … Maybe people are starting to realize that this is one of the top defenses in the country.” _ Vegas handicapper Robert Ferringo…

…”They have high-caliber athletes all over the place. That’s the hardest-hitting team we’ve played all year. I’ve never been this beat up after a game.” _ Western Michigan offensive guard Phil Swanson…

…”It was just two great teams. Both Temple and us have made great strides and I don’t think there are two better teams in our league than us and them.” _ Buffalo tight end Jesse Rack, after a Hail Mary pass beat Temple, 30-28, at the buzzer…

By Mike Gibson
The Temple football season so many of us had waited so long for and looked forward to so much has reached a crossroads.
Many of us, me included, feel with any breaks at all or at least the breaks the Owls should have received, this team should be 3-1.
In reality, it’s 1-3.
Prior to Penn State, a deserved loss, Temple trailed for a grand total of 1 minute, 49 seconds the entire season.
The refs took away the UConn game and even Penn State coach Joe Paterno said as much on his radio show last week.
“Temple threw a bubble screen on the first play of overtime and got down to the 3 an it was called back,” Paterno said of the UConn game. “It was called back for a hold and it was a bad, bad, bad call. Temple should have won that game.”
That’s three bads from Paterno, who was obviously watching the film closely.
The Owls’ own stupidity was responsible for the inexplicable Buffalo loss.
First, they allowed quarterback Drew Willy all the time in the world to throw the final dagger, a Hail Mary pass. Then they compounded that stupidity by going to tackle the wide receiver, rather than knock the ball down.
In my mind, if Al Golden really wants to beat Western Michigan this week, he will throw caution to the wind and turn his bend-but-don’t-break defense into an attacking one.
Blitz.
That’s this week’s buzzword.
Sneak into the locker room down the Lincoln Financial Field tunnel and steal a chapter from Eagles’ coordinator Jimmy Johnson’s playbook.
It’s a rather large chapter entitled “Blitz.”
Utilize Temple’s strength _ athletes on defense _ to make plays, force turnovers, dictate field position.
Help give first-time starter Chester Stewart a short field in his first start.
Play eight guys up on the line.
Get into Western Michigan quarterback Tim Hiller’s head.
Take the play to them, not let them dictate to us.
Get that big Homecoming crowd involved.
Play to win, not avoid to lose.
Al Golden and Mark D’Onofrio, it’s time to unleash the Dogs of War, Temple’s Pit Bulls, and tell them to sick the quarterback.

This looks like a black cloud to me.
By Mike Gibson
Taking a somewhat gallows humor approach, Al Golden tried to lighten the mood at practice a week ago after a heartwrenching 30-28 loss to Buffalo.
“We checked the field; there were no locusts,” Golden said.
You might want to check the sky this week.
Although it could be blue, that looks like a black cloud hanging over the Temple football program.
“Why us, God?”
Consider:

• A great job by Temple promotions and sales looked like it was going to put 35K in the stands for the opening game against UConn. Two weeks before the game, I said mininum 30K if no rain. We got a Hurricane and 17K. The next day, the Eagles, who can draw 70K in a Hurricane, got 86 and sunny.
  “Why us, God?”
• Three weeks ago, against UConn, three fourth-quarter Temple plays that gained over 30 yards each were called back by, you guessed it, Big East refs. I guess it was just a coincidence. Not.
  “Why us, God?”
• Two weeks ago, Temple decided to defend the pass in the end zone, rather than rush the quarterback. As a result, Drew Willy had all the time in the world to throw a Hail Mary for a touchdown. He did. Inexplicably, three Owls went to tackle a guy who was already in the end zone rather than knock the ball down.
  “Why us, God?”
• Yesterday, the game plan was to keep everyone healthy for the MAC season ahead. Everybody, meaning at the minimum 75 percent of the team’s total offense. What happens? Seventy-five percent of the offense goes down on one play. For the second year in a row, no less.
  “Why us, God?”
• Our top high school quarterback recruit follows up an 8 for 24 start in his first three games with those same exact numbers, 8 for 24, in a Saturday loss. There could be extenuating circumstances, but 8 for 24 is 8 for 24.

“Why us, God?”
Why indeed?
In a season that could have easily been 3-1 right now with a world of momentum headed into the teeth of the MAC schedule, all that is certain is uncertainty.
On a day when my college alma mater lost its star quarterback for “a significant amount” of time, my high school alma mater lost its star quarterback for the rest of the season.
My college team lost, 45-3. My high school team lost, 51-7.
If that doesn’t look like a Black Cloud, then I don’t know what it is.
Maybe sunny days are ahead but it’s hard to see through that ugly cloud.

By Mike Gibson
One of my favorite blogs is Black Shoe Diaries.
It’s got just the right mix of humor, irreverence and insight that so many other websites don’t even come close to having.
There’s no better place to check on the pulse of Penn State football fans.
Plus, Temple Football Forever gets plenty of mentions on it.
Last week, when BSD mentioned that we sacastically said “we can’t wait to see how the refs” rob Temple against UConn next year, our site meter lit up.
I dashed off a quick note to Kevin at BSD thanking him for the plug and he mentioned that he might like to submit a few questions for us to answer prior to the Penn State game.
I’ve been waiting by the phone for a few days and, so far, no call.
No call. No email. No letter.
It’s the same feeling I had when I left Jessica Simpson my cell number.
Empty.
And it’s almost Thursday already.
We understand things are a little busy over there, so I’ve anticipated the list of their questions, borrowing a few themes from last week’s list to Syracuse blogger Troy Nunes:
1) Temple? What the heck happened?
Well, we’ve become a pretty good football team in three years, thanks to a crash course by Penn State grad Al Golden. The guy is a tireless recruiter who any mom and dad would be proud to have in their homes. Hence, the top three recruiting classes in the MAC.
2) Adam DiMichele? How will he be different from the quarterback Penn State fans saw in State College two years ago?
Night and freaking day. Merrill Reese, during the Eagles’ broadcast on Monday night, threw this line out to partner Mike Quick, “Mike, I’ve watched three Temple games and, pound-for-pound, there isn’t a better quarterback in all of college football than Adam DiMichele.” DiMichele (pronounced DEE-MIKE-EL) is the kind of kid who can take a team on his back and will them to a win, as he did three straight weeks last season before breaking his leg. If he’s pressured, he’ll run out and make yards. He can throw on the run. He can throw in the pocket.
3) What happened in the UConn game?
Very suspect officiating by, you guessed it, Big East refs. All three Temple plays covering over 30 yards in the fourth quarter were called back by flags. On the first play of overtime, DiMichele completed a bubble screen to Travis Shelton, he sprinted to the 3 and that was called back due to a hold on D’Oynne Crudup. Film showed Crudup not only didn’t hold, he did not touch the guy he was supposed to be holding. The refs compounded that call by a bad spot, moving the ball back 6 yards further than it should have been spotted. “They apologized,” Golden said, “but that’s bad football. I have 112 kids in there. What am I going to tell them?” What should have been a first-and-4 was a 1st and 10. “First-and-4, that’s house money,” Golden said.
4) What happened on the Hail Mary pass?
Keystone Cops. Temple had three defenders, two positioned behind the receiver and one in front. All three go to tackle the guy in the end zone, instead of going to knock the ball down. Gotta wonder what good tackling the guy in the end zone does. “We didn’t execute,” Golden said.
5) What do Temple fans expect Saturday?
Most are pretty realistic. They want a team that competes and makes plays on Saturday and gets out of State College in good health. They basically tied a UConn team that laid a 45-10 number on Virginia so they know they have the talent to do some damage in State College.

… “We punched them in the mouth and they quit.”
_ Buffalo defensive back Kendric Hawkins after a 42-7 win over Temple in 2007 …

The schedule says that Saturday’s noon showdown at Buffalo is just the opening game of the Mid-American Conference season for the Owls.
For all intents and purposes, though, it might as well be a bowl game.
The winner of this game has an inside edge on the MAC East title and a bowl game that would undoubtedly come with such a title.
So what to call it?
Hmm.

Kendric Hawkins
Call it The Kendric Hawkins Bowl.
Not content to let sleeping dogs lie, Hawkins got one cutting turn of the knife in after leaving Philadelphia with a 42-7 win last year.
“We punched them in the mouth and they quit,” Hawkins said of the Owls.
That quote might speak to the “old” Temple, the Bobby Wallace Temple, but certainly doesn’t apply to the “new” Temple, the Al Golden Temple.
Golden does not like to speak about motivational tools, so I will just say this:
He was a sports psychology major at Penn State and a very good student.
There’s nothing like a good challenge to one’s manhood, especially in a manhood sport like football, to get someone fired up.
“Quit, huh?” a lot of the Owls must be thinking this week. “I’ll show you quit.”
Expect a lot of sweeps to be run in Hawkins’ direction on Saturday afternoon if, as expected, Hawkins plays after missing the first two games with an injury. He’s listed No. 2 on the depth chart at cornerback.
He’s No. 12 in your program and but it might as well be a bullseye instead of a No. 1 and 2 on his back this Saturday.
What Hawkins said last year should help the Owls focus on every down for three hours on Saturday afternoon more than anything Golden can tell them.
No punch in the mouth would hurt Hawkins more than knowing he might have been at least partly responsible for a big Owls’ win.

This is getting to be like Groundhog Day against UConn, but another blown call killed the Owls today in a 12-9 overtime loss on Hurricane Hanna Day at Lincoln Financial Field.
Not our words, but the words of an esteemed colleague writing for The Bristol (Conn.) Press.
It’s getting to be old hat, old news, whatever you want to call it.
Suffice it to say it’s old and I’m tired of it.
I can’t wait to see how the refs factor into next year’s game.

Breaking and good news.
Fox Philly is forecasting a dry pocket of mostly no rain between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The forecast was came this morning and showed a track of rain bands from a feature called “futurecast.”
It’s always risky, they say, to forecast exact bans of rain but there appears to be a hard pocket of rain between 4 and 8 a.m. Saturday and then it settles down.
THERE IS NOW NO EXCUSE FOR A TEMPLE STUDENT, FAN, STAFF MEMBER OR ALUMNUS TO NOT BE THERE SUPPORTING THE OWLS in this important game.
No excuse at all.
Wear a poncho just in case but make it a cherry or, at worst, a red one.