Editor’s Note: Fizzy says this is his last contribution of the season. If he changes his mind, we’ll have a spot for him but, for now, we will take him at his word and thank him for his outstanding contributions to this space.

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

THE GOOD …. the Defense

         THE BAD… Short yardage play-calling

                  THE UGLY …. 16 inaccurate passes & 4 missed touchdowns

Well, gang, this is gonna be a mish-mash because this will be my last write-up for the season. I’m tired of saying the same things over and over.

With the unfortunate ending of last night’s game, it marks the end of the competitive segment of this year’s schedule. With a win vs. Connecticut we’ll end up 8 – 4, but the season could have been so much more. Unless you’re in a top bowl game or the championship series, bowl games are now just exhibition games and the main value is you can continue to practice for next year.

I thought the defense did a fine job. However, they were aided by at least six drops by Cincinnati receivers. Two of those were probable touchdowns. Things do seem to even out, don’t they?

The single most important reason we lost was the many inaccurate passes by QB Russo, and four of the misses were probable touchdowns. I hate to zero in on one player, but since Russo had an off-night, why not bring in the relief pitcher? I believe Centeio was only in for two series. I would have put him in for good after the first series of the second half. All in all, the design of the pass plays resulted in many open receivers.

Fizzy gives his highest grades to the defensive staff that includes, along with Fran Brown, imports from NIU (from left) Knowles, Rice and Stewart

As I look over my notes from last night, there are constant references to horrible short-yardage play calling. Except for one time near the end of the game, it was always an up-the-gut play. This has been going on the entire season. We’ve also got the short end of the stick on referee ball placements in some of these situations (two last night). Surely, one of the 23 coaches could be assigned to watch TV and let the sideline know if they should challenge. Then there was the no-targeting call – quite unbelievable.

Many times on third and long, Russo was hurried, harassed and sacked by the Cincinnati blitz. Why not roll out?

With 2:35 left in the game and only down by five points, we ran an Up-The-Gut play from our 25-yard line. Someone needs to explain that play call to me. Why would we keep the clock running? Did we expect a 75-yard run? We’ve done the same thing before.

Now I’m going to do my end of the year evaluation.

Coach Carey’s Grade (assuming an 8 – 4 record) — C+

Coach Carey’s biggest mistake was to take Coach Foley off the field and force him to leave. As a result, our special teams which had been top-ranked under Foley were only acceptable. Also, Isaiah Wright who got national recognition for his punt and kickoff returns last year has been a nonfactor this year. But even more important is who the hell is going to do the local recruiting? Foley has ties to most of the high school coaches in the region. I’m afraid a lot of local talent is going to end up in Waco.

We’ve had four losses and I believe we have more talent than Buffalo and probably equal talent to the three other teams that beat us. We should have won two of those games. In the three loses before last night, I thought the opposition adjusted in the second half of those games, and we didn’t.

Penalties have hurt us considerably throughout the year, although they were mostly cleaned up last night.

I’m going to rate the offensive and defensive coordinators separately, but everything is the responsibility of the head coach. I’m particularly upset that QB Russo has not dramatically improved over last year. Unfortunately, Russo had his best game when his receivers couldn’t catch the ball, and Isaiah Wright hasn’t contributed very much.

Co-Offensive Coordinator Uremovich’s Grade — D

I don’t like this vanilla offense. I know almost everyone runs the Spread, but there are lots of better ways to do it. We have almost nothing going back the other way, one reverse and one QB Russo bootleg all year, and our short-yardage plays have been a disaster. Russo hasn’t improved and probably three of our wins could be attributed to the defense. There’s hardly any imagination and we need a short-yardage formation like the Power I.

Defensive Coordinator Knowles’ Grade — B-

Now we have a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide’s situation. We had two losses when we were outscored by 66 points due to no pass rush and poor man-to-man coverage, and no half-time adjustment. And I don’t know how Buffalo scored as much as they did. On the flip side, we won at least three and maybe five games because of outstanding defense. We need to have effective zone coverage for the outstanding passing teams.

Thank you all for reading the thoughts of a frustrated and cranky old coach throughout this season. Hopefully, I’ll be in touch next year. Be safe and healthy.

Thursday: Giving Thanks for Perspective

Saturday: Two Proper Sendoffs

This is vintage Temple-Cincy football, not that RPO crap we’ve seen this year

Social media can be a wonderful and terrible thing at the same time and it was on full display in the first half of Temple’s 15-13 loss to Cincinnati.

“Russo just doesn’t have it,” one post read.

I had to shake my head.

Rod: This is Temple football, not that RPO stuff.

When a team has a great offensive line, a relatively immobile quarterback and two very good running backs, what kind of offense do you design?

Hint: It’s not the same RPO offense you played at Northern Illinois with Jordan Lynch.

This had nothing to do with any single player or really any player.

The loss in the most important game Temple has played since 2016 didn’t happen because a quarterback “doesn’t have it” but because of what happened in the spring and over the summer in the coaching offices of Edberg-Olson Hall.

The answer, of course, is to fit the system to the personnel you have. The Owls were blessed with great wide receivers, sure, going into the season, but they had what Geoff Collins called earlier this year “the best three interior offensive linemen in college football.”

To best utilize that kind of personnel, you’ve got to put the tight ends in motion (see Maryland game film from last year), establish the run FIRST behind that offensive line and those tight ends and then make explosive downfield plays in the passing game off play-action fakes.

To attempt an RPO offense with a quarterback with a strong arm but not nimble legs is a recipe for disaster. To throw the ball 26 of the first 34 plays with good tight ends, good running backs, and a great offensive line is just a terrible game plan. Running the ball 26 of the first 34 times would have been a smarter game plan. Perhaps not ironically, what little success the Owls had came when they went ass-backward with the running game at the start of the second half.

By then, though, they were too far behind.

You kinda knew the kicking game would be a problem when both a dependable kicker (Aaron Boumerhi) and punter (Connor Bowler) were inexplicably told their services would no longer be needed.

Misuse of terrific personnel on offense, though, really has been the story of the season for the Owls so far because Rod Carey otherwise is a good head coach who has a blind spot when it comes to this ill-fitting offensive scheme.

Temple football is not passing first, running second. It’s run first, then draw the linebackers and safeties up to the line of scrimmage and then–and only then–fake to those backs to create open passing lanes.

That’s the way this program earned a lot of its Temple TUFF reputation over the last decade. It should have been the way the Owls won on Saturday night.

That it didn’t happen had nothing to do with the kids or any kid. Grown men should have known better months ago.

Tuesday: Fizzy’s corner

If you are a Temple fan and want to vegetate, stick your foot up on the couch and put one hand in a bowl of chips and another holding the remote, this is your day.

Me, I’m headed out for a two-hour run right after the UCF vs. Tulane game (noon, CBS Sports), then back in front of the set for the 7 p.m. feature of Temple at Cincinnati (ESPN2).

By then, I’m guessing it gets a lot simpler for the Temple Owls who, since they don’t live in a bubble, will know exactly will have happened by 3 p.m.

My guess–and this is just a guess–is that Tulane not only covers the six-point spread but wins OUTRIGHT. If that’s true, I will jog with a smile on my face until darkness at 5 p.m. or so before heading back to set up for the main event.

Definitely buying one of these Rod Carey game-worn sweatshirts if the Owls win on Saturday night.

That’s because it will have gotten real simple for the Owls by then. Go out and play Temple TUFF, punch Cincy in the mouth (figuratively, not literally, no targeting penalties needed) and head back to Philadelphia as the de facto AAC East champs. Plenty to worry about, though. Will the Owls even attempt to run the ball or will they stay pass-happy? Can Quincy Roche and company get to the quarterback, force turnovers and have Sam Franklin take them to the house for six?

Still, the Owls matchup better with a Cincy-type team than a UCF/SMU-type team. The same is true for Tulane, which matches up better against a UCF type than a Temple type. It’s all about matchups in college football.

Think about it. If the Owls win and if Memphis needs that game against Cincy next week, the Bearcats are just not going to win in Memphis. They just don’t have the firepower to keep up with the Tigers.

That leaves the Owls holding serve at home against a UConn team that barely beat a Wagner team (that lost by double digits to East Stroudsburg).

De facto means in fact, in effect, whether right or not and, under that set of circumstances, the Owls can punch their ticket to Memphis.

Of course, if you don’t want to get outside on Saturday before the rain arrives at night, that’s your choice. SMU is on CBS Sports at Navy after the Tulane game (3:30) and Memphis travels to South Florida (4 p.m., ESPNU) and both are compelling games but the guilt from inactivity might be too much to bear and not conducive to overall physical health.

As far as the Owls go, we should know if the Owls are in good shape, at least figuratively, by no later than the 11 p.m. news.

Predictions: Navy and a couple of Techs (Georgia, Louisiana) let me down so I was 1-3 against the spread and 2-2 straight up last week. For the 34-24 straight up and 39-34 ATS. Going to try to finish the season above the water on the spreads at least so going with SOUTH FLORIDA getting 14.5 against visiting Memphis, EAST CAROLINA laying the 13.5 at Uconn, TCU getting the 19 at Oklahoma, MICHIGAN STATE laying the 21 at Rutgers, and SAN JOSE STATE laying the 5.5 at UNLV.

Sunday: Game Analysis

Tuesday: Fizzy’s Corner