Category Archives: Chuck Heater

11.05.12
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Scripting the first 10 plays versus Cincy

These were Temple’s first five plays vs. Louisville.

My back hurts from getting patted so much after calling for the Jalen Fitzpatrick throwback pass to Chris Coyer, finally used by Temple three months into the season.
My heart aches from being non-competitive on the scoreboard for three weeks.
My head still works, though.
I called for that pass on June 4 in a post I wrote detailing what would be a dream scenario season for the Temple football Owls. That’s five months and one day ago.
In order to avoid a nightmare scenario and get the Owls jump-started on a fine end to a rocky season, I would like to RESPECTFULLY suggest the following 10 scripted plays to open up the game on Saturday:

Khalif Herbin: First of his many Owl TDs.

We’ll assume Temple wins the toss and Cincy kicks it through the end zone.
TU25-Chris Coyer uses a play-action fake to Montel Harris to freeze the defense and rolls out and hits Ryan Alderman for a 6-yard gain near the sideline.
TU31-Coyer drops back to pass, then shovels it forward to Harris for an 8-yard gain.
TU39-Coyer runs right on a read option with Harris trailing. When the pitch guy goes for Harris, Coyer takes it upfield for +14, running out of bounds for ball security purposes.
CI46-Coyer hands off to Fitzpatrick coming around on reverse. Fitzpatrick feigns a throw downfield, handing it off to 4.29 sprinter Khalif Herbin coming from the other side on the double reverse. Field opens for Herbin, who scores a 46-yard touchdown.

Temple 7, Cincinnati 0

Cincinnati quarterback Munchie Legaux then drops back and surprisingly finds the middle of the Temple defense open and hits George Winn for a 75-yard touchdown. Temple makes a nice tackle on Winn in the end zone, though.

TFF’s first scripted play of the game.

Temple 7, Cincinnati 7

TU25-Coyer drops back and hands off to Harris on the wraparound draw, good for +15
TU40-Coyer rolls out and finds Harris over the middle of the field, +10.
50-Coyer rolls out and DBs come up on run support so he floats the ball over DBs head to Fitzpatrick, who gains 20.
C30-Coyer hands it off to Harris up the middle, +1.
C29-Coyer hands off to Harris, who uses a crunching block from No. 44 (Wyatt Benson) to get outside ala South Florida and scores a 29-yard touchdown.

Temple 14, Cincinnati 7

At this point, defensive coordinator Chuck Heater can be seen mouthing “bleep it” (only he didn’t say bleep) and goes to a 3-4 blitzing defensive scheme and unleashes speedy Owl linebackers Tyler Matakevitch and Nate D. Smith on pass rush responsibilities and Temple records a school-record 15 sacks. Other Owl LBs, like Blaze Caponegro and Ahkeem Smith, do a great job in run support. That allows Temple head coach Steve Addazio the comfort level to go back to his pound and ground approach and the Owls control both the clock and, with the help of Brandon McManus’ punting, the field position battle and win going away.
After the team sings “T for Temple U” public address announcer Carlos Bates says the uni will be giving out free Hawaiian Cherry and White Leis to the first 10K fans who come to the Syracuse game.

Hopefully, I won’t wake up from this dream to the last three weeks of nightmares.

10.23.12
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The case for the defense

On the touchdown passes in the end zone, you can see Owls around the ball but nobody makes a play on it.

Temple’s defense experienced the worst kind of replay on Saturday, three similar touchdown passes within a seven-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.
For all intents and purposes, the game was over right there, a 21-10 Rutgers’ lead on the way to a 35-10 win.
After giving up two touchdown passes in the first quarter at Uconn, the replays are maddening familiar.
Progress, at least in this case, was the coverage.
If you look at the coverage, Owls are there. On one touchdown, it was a linebacker (Nate D. Smith) and a corner (usual lock-down left corner Anthony Robey, beaten for the first time all season for six). On another, two Owls miss tackles in the open field against Juwan Jamison, one of the best halfbacks in the conference. On another, three Owls are around the ball.
Against UConn, over the middle, nobody was.

Kevin Newsome: Too good an athlete to keep off the field.

Temple defensive coordinator Chuck Heater made the adjustments he needed to make at halftime to close off the middle and the rest of the field. There’s nobody better than Heater making halftime adjustments.
Problem on Saturday was there was no halftime to make adjustments and no offense to make a comeback with.
There would have been an offense if the Owls had thrown on play-action passes on first down in the opening half (see Sunday post below), but 21-10 is too large a deficit for Temple to recover from when facing the No. 15 team in the BCS standings. Throwing is a whole different story when you HAVE to throw the ball. Temple should have mixed it up in the first half, when it didn’t have to throw.
This is about the defense, though.
To me, the solution is simple: Get athletes in there who can make plays and knock the ball down and maybe even intercept it.
They don’t even have to be recruited. They are already here.
Vaughn Carraway, the starting free safety who was suspended for the Rutgers’ game because of a questionable hit (the hit looked OK to me) at UConn, will be back for Pitt.
He’s one of the athletes. I think Carraway makes the tackle on Jamison.
I’d love to see them move Carraway to one corner and move Kevin Newsome, a three-time first-team all-state safety in Virginia, from scout team quarterback to roaming the middle of the field. It’s not like the Owls don’t have Big East talent back there. Carraway, Newsome, Tavon Young, Robey and Abdul Smith are Big East talents. Heck, Newsome (PSU recruit) and Carraway (Michigan recruit) are Big 10 talents. It’s not like the Owls have to play MAC defensive backs against BE wideouts. It’s not like the brain trust at the E-O hasn’t thought about it. Newsome said as much after the Maryland game: “Coach Addazio asked me if I would play either wide receiver or safety and I said I would do anything to help the team.”
The “or safety” comment was the most intriguing to me.
What happened since? I’m told Addazio was not comfortable with only having one spread offense quarterback in reserve should starter Chris Coyer go down. When you are constantly getting beaten on jump balls in the secondary, that’s not a good enough reason for me. Heck, it’s not like if Newsome moves over to defense he won’t be available to play quarterback in a pinch.
Can you imagine how much different it would be on the back-line defense with two 6-foot-3 guys with 4.5 speed  and near 40-inch vertical jumps (Carraway and Newsome) back there to make plays?
We might be talking about three field goals and not three touchdowns.
Even with the Owls’ anemic offensive game plan, we’re also talking about a 10-9 lead going into the final quarter.
And maybe, just maybe, a 3-0 Big East record.
Is it too late to change secondary personnel?
Maybe,  but I think it’s worth a shot even at this late juncture.
Otherwise, get used to more jump balls in the end zone landing in the wrong hands.

08.27.12
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The most-anticipated TU season ever

Scotty Hartkorn’s brilliant Temple trailer is worth watching more than once.

A hot forecast for what could be an even hotter season for Temple

As a 30-year season-ticket-holder (and Temple football fan long before that), I can say one thing clearly and unequivocally:
THIS IS THE MOST-ANTICIPATED TEMPLE SEASON OF MY LIFETIME.
Will it be the best-ever?
That is yet-to-be determined, but I will write this down now for the historians and the pundits to revisit come November:

Temple will not finish last in the Big East this season. In fact, the likely landing spots are either No. 1 or  No. 2. I refuse to go any lower.

There is not a team on this schedule Temple can’t beat. Conversely, there is not a team on this schedule who can’t beat Temple. I like that because of the focus factor. No games off, no plays off.
That’s where Temple’s edge, toughness, comes into play. This is a very tough, proud team who will play the whole season with a huge chip on their shoulder.
If it was a tough team without talent, that would be one thing. This team is every bit as talented as any team they will play.
Heck, the 22 starters on this Temple team are as good as any 22 starters on any Temple team I have ever seen and that includes the 10-2 Temple team that was only 17 points (split between two losses to Penn State and a 10-9 loss to No. 1 Pitt) from being 12-0.
Yes, that’s how close Temple was to being a national champion in 1979.
Two games.
Seventeen points.
Seventeen.
Two games.
In almost all areas, I like this Temple team better than that one and this schedule is easier than the one that team faced.
As good as Brian Broomell was then, Chris Coyer has shown flashes of being a better quarterback now. Broomell called the greatest audible I’ve ever seen a Temple QB make. It was in the 1979 Villanova game at that tiny high school stadium they still have. Broomell went up to the line and saw that Gerald “Sweet Feet” Lucear was being single-covered. Without saying a word, Broomell pointed to Lucear, pointed to the end zone, tapped the center on hip, took the snap and threw a perfect 70-yard strike for a touchdown.
Temple 42, Villanova 10.
Coyer has the same kind of intelligence and skills, but they have better communication methods now. I see him doing the same thing with, say, Jalen Fitzpatrick.
It’s not even close between the Montel Harris/Matty Brown hybrid and a great running back named Kevin Duckett.
Not close because Duckett wasn’t good but because Harris and Brown are great.
I have to take Mark Bright over Wyatt Benson at fullback only because they gave Bright a chance to carry the ball. Bright was a great blocker. Benson is a better blocker. Both were/are team-first guys. Give Benson the ball as much and Benson is better, but I’ll never be able to prove that hypothesis. The game has changed enough in 30 years that the fullback rarely gets the ball.
The one area I would give a big advantage to the 1979 team was offensive line. Joe Paterno called the Temple offensive line “the best offensive line in the country” before the 1979 game and that was not mere hyperbole. Still, Martin Wallace and Sean Boyle could have played on that line and Benson’s role as a blocker means that the Owls will block enough people for Harris, Brown and Coyer to make explosive plays downfield.
Defense, I like the athleticism and line play of Chuck Heater’s group over the 1979 team.
Special teams?
No contest.
The 2012 team is the far and away better, especially with Brown returning kickoffs and Brandon McManus handling the plackicking and punting duties.
I have to take Wayne Hardin over Steve Addazio only because Hardin was to coaching what Bobby Fischer was to playing chess. He was able to fully transfer the 152 IQ he had into checkmating virtually every coach with similar talent. And Hardin was crazy like a Fox. Fischer turned out to be just plain crazy.
Yet as a motivator and CEO Addazio is every bit Hardin’s equal and no (none, zero) coaching staffs in the Big East are as good as Temple’s now.
Vince Hoch was a great defensive coordinator, but he could not hold Chuck Heater’s clipboard.
I know all of this because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
The people who pick Temple last in the Big East have seen nothing.
Yet.
That’s why this most-anticipated season could turn out to be the best one as well.
Five days until kickoff.
It can’t come soon enough.

Tomorrow: Why I hate everything about Villanova not named Andy Talley or Joe Eichhorn

08.21.12
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Newsome: ‘I’m a Temple Owl until the day I die’

“When I was at Penn State ….  I would always look at when we played Temple. They would always get close to us, and I used to see just the fight in these guys, knowing they were the underdogs, and they kept fighting with the big dogs. I thought that was very impressive, really impressive, with their fight. And that was a big deal as to why I came here.” _ Kevin Newsome

Kevin Newsome spoke to the media for the first time after practice on Tuesday and I have to say that I was very impressed. Not only did Newsome come up with the quote of the summer camp “I’m a Temple Owl until the day I die” he opened the door for the possibility of playing on defense and special teams to help the Owls. Go to the 1:50 mark on the time stamp for the exact quote.
Another great quote was this one:

“When I was at Penn State ….  I would always look at when we played Temple. They would always get close to us, and I used to see just the fight in these guys, knowing they were the underdogs, and they kept fighting with the big dogs. I thought that was very impressive, really impressive, with their fight. And that was a big deal as to why I came here.”
I always thought Newsome would make a great starting OLB or  safety for the Owls and I still think that.
Newsome was 240 pounds three months ago and has now slimmed down to 215, which would probably make him a better safety candidate than a linebacker.

Whether head coach Steve Addazio or defensive coordinator Chuck Heater think that is more important.
Everything I’ve been hearing from Addazio so far is that Newsome is in a battle with Juice Granger for the No. 2 quarterback spot. If Addazio thinks it is more important to have three athletic and solid QBs, then Newsome will remain in the QB rotation.
Newsome was Darryl Clark’s backup at Penn State for the entire 2009 season.
Whatever Daz says about this, I agree with but seeing Newsome holding the clipboard as No. 3 QB when he can be a playmaker on defense right away would be frustrating from my standpoint as a fan and maybe Kevin’s as a player.
There’s no law against Newsome playing defense for the Owls this year and moving back to the other side of the ball if needed. Brian Broomell started on defense as a true freshman at safety, then moved over to quarterback by the time he was a senior and led the nation in passing efficiency.

Temple’s Fan Fest is Wednesday
(8/22) from 5-7
at Xfinity Live (outside section).
It’s free but $15 to park due to
Phillies game that night.

I don’t think Kevin would have brought up defense or special teams if he wasn’t being considered for one or both.
We’ll find out in less than two weeks.

Tomorrow: 2011 ACC Preseason Player of Year Montel Harris

03.31.12
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Daz: ‘I like our personnel’

No truth to the rumor that was Holy Water poured on Chuck Heater last year.

There’s a lot of uncertainty upon entering the Big East season for Temple’s football team.
Lack of talent is not one of them, though.
On Friday, after the 13th practice of the season, head coach Steve Addazio made clear that “I like our personnel” and that there is plenty of talent to sustain and build upon the level of success of the last three years.
I agree.

Chuck Heater won’t have to be a miracle-worker with this group of Owls.

While there are significant losses in the areas of offensive line, the team is pretty well set at most other positions.
Even talented tailback Bernard Pierce, who figures to go now lower than the third round of this year’s NFL draft, finished second on the team in all-purpose yards to his replacement, Matty “Rock” Brown. In the true spread that Addazio plans to run with talented (and unbeaten) quarterback Chris Coyer at the helm, you can make a pretty good argument that Rock is a more effective college back.
The credit for much of this talent still goes to former head coach Al Golden, who made a practice of stockpiling prospects by redshirting most of his incoming freshmen. That was part of Golden’s “core values” of building a “house of brick, not straw.”
In each of his final two seasons, Golden redshirted no less than 16 of his 25 incoming signees.
Many of those guys will play significant roles with the 2012 Owls.
“The reason I redshirted at Temple so much,” Golden told a Miami-area newspaper recently, “was that I was committed to building a program. That’s the way the so-called powerhouse programs do it. We weren’t able to do that the first couple of years, but we were able to do it by the time I left. I want to do the same thing [at Miami].”
Addazio doesn’t believe in redshirting as much as Golden did, but that doesn’t mean he won’t benefit from it.
In many positions, even ones where high-profile starters left, there could be a talent upgrade from last year.
Take the case of tight Alex Jackson.
Jackson, another redshirt, split starting time with Evan Rodriguez two years ago.
“I think of our all tight ends last year he had the highest end [talent],” Addazio said. “He wasn’t ready to play last year, but now he is and that’s going to show.”
Even on the offensive line, if you count Jackson’s starts from two years ago and Sean Boyle’s starts from two years ago and Martin Wallace starting all last year, that’s three returning offensive line starting caliber players and that’s pretty good. Also, Big 33 recruit Adam Metz benefited from a redshirt year (thanks, Al Golden) and is ready to compete for his spot. These are quality offensive linemen.
On defense, there is plenty of talent along the line with John Youboty, Levi Brown, Kadeem Custis, Kamal Johnson, Marcus Green and Sean Daniels all returning. All have started games in the past. Two starting linebackers, Blaze Caponegro and Ahkeem Smith, return, as does Olaniyi Adewole, who got considerable playing time last year as a sub. Starting strong safety Justin Gildea returns, as does his backup, Chris Hutton. Starting free safety Kevin Kroboth is gone, but one-time five-star recruit Vaughn Carraway was his backup last year and should slide right into that spot without a drop in production.
At the corners, last year’s true freshman, Anthony Robey, was a lock-down cover specialist and starter until he got hurt midway into the season but is looking in top form in practice. Zamel Johnson also started at corner, but he is being pushed by Rutgers’ transfer Abdul Smith. Maurice Jones, who got plenty of playing time, is also in the corner mix.
Temple defensive coordinator Chuck Heater was called “Mother Teresa” by no less an authority than Urban Meyer for his work as DC of the Florida defense two years ago.
Addazio could have called Heater the same thing last year the way he pieced together a Temple defense  that lost seven starters from 2010 into the third-best defense in the nation (behind only Alabama and LSU) in 2011.
Heater won’t have to work a miracle for Temple’s defense this year because he’s got more capable parts already in place to have a defense that keeps the Owls in every game.
The same can be said for the rest of the team as well and that’s doesn’t even count the reinforcements from the calvary who arrive (hello, Kevin Newsome, Jamie Gilmore and company) in July.
Aug. 31 can’t come soon enough.
To borrow a phrase from Mr. T, I pity the fool called Villanova.
Hopefully, a blowout there starts an avalanche of similar good results for Temple fans the rest of the fall.

12.20.11
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New Mexico Bowl: The Fifth Quarter

Steve Addazio either tells very funny jokes or heard one here.



Chuck Heater seems to be enjoying his time at Temple.

Sometimes during all of this talk about recruiting rankings, coaching changes, conference shifting and declaring early, we forget one thing.
Football is a game and it is supposed to be fun.
Thank you, Temple football team, for reminding us of that most important fact on Saturday afternoon.
I have to laugh when, after a big win, some reporter asks a head coach “what’s next?” when the correct response would be, hey, how about enjoying this win a little bit first?
That’s what I took away from Saturday.
Temple’s 37-15 win over Wyoming was a tribute to the coaching staff and the players for all the hard work they put in pretty much over the last 365 days.
It was fun watching it unfurl for three hours on the field.
It was even more fun watching the fifth quarter, the celebration afterward.
Heck, the game was not in doubt so that quarter began a little early, with Rod Streater dunking head coach Steve Addazio with a gatoraid cooler filled with water.
“He’s the realist coach there is, but I had to get him, though,” Streater said.
Then came a dunking for another real good coach and overall great person, defensive coordinator Chuck Heater.


Morkeith Brown makes sure too many hands don’t spoil the pot.

 Even assistant coach Matt Rhule got a water bottle full of cold shock. It wasn’t a whole cooler, but Rhule isn’t even a whole coordinator.
Addazio turned to Rhule and laughed.
This was all while the game was going on, but had been decided.
Afterward, it was even better.
Addazio said something only he and the team could hear and they roared laughing. I will use the next two weeks to find out what that was and, if it’s clean (and I think it was), I will pass it along here.
There was 26-year-old Iraq war vet Morkeith Brown lifting the New Mexico Bowl Trophy, a Native American Clay Pot. Like the former tight end he was, the defensive end did not drop it.

Saturday’s TV ratings in Philly market
Dallas/Tampa on NFL Net – 5.5 RTG 10 Share 8pm to 11pm
Temple/Wyoming on ESPN – 3.3 RTF 8 share 2pm – 530pm.
Flyers Hockey on Sportsnet – 1.8 RTG 5 share – 1pm to 330pm

Thank God.
It would have probably had to make the five-hour flight home in pieces.
There was no more appropriate guy to hoist the bowl trophy.
Brown was a leader from the day he walked into the Edberg-Olsen Football Complex and he was a leader until the day he walked off the field at the last time.
He will be missed, but the memories he and his teammates created will remain.
What’s next is a question for another day and you can bet this staff is working on the answers right now.
I, for one, am not done basking in the glow of the fifth quarter.

10.10.11
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The Final Word on Ball State: OUTFREAKINGSTANDING!

OK, out-freaking-standing is a hyphenated word but that was my one-word reaction watching Temple dismantle Ball State, 42-0, while sitting in a Panera Bread in Montgomeryville and getting free wireless internet.
Outfreakingstanding was not my reaction to the broken feed from the MAC corporate offices.
I missed the first two touchdowns completely while looking at a black screen that said something like “feed broken.”
Yeah, I knew that.
I also missed a nice pass to Rod Streater that set up one touchdown.
I felt bad for the kid with the hot brunette and the “Wild Cherry” T-Shirt looking over my shoulder at the black screen. Then I realized he had a hot brunette and I didn’t feel so bad for him. I told him the score was 14-0 Temple.

Steve Addazio: Pissed-off Owls

“Aww right,” he said.
They left shortly after that.
(Panera Bread is a great date place.)
Back to the game.
All week long, Temple coach Steve Addazio said that he would make things hard on the Owls because he wanted “one pissed-off team” to be playing on Saturday in Muncie.
If so, I want Addazio to do the same thing this week, the same thing next and the same thing the rest of the season.
The Owls played pissed off against Maryland and full of themselves against Toledo and it is obvious that they play a lot better pissed off.
So Daz, you have my permission (and probably those of my fellow Owl fans) to do whatever is necessary to keep pissing them off.
Some other observations:

Great job, Chester Stewart

QUARTERBACKING _ Great job by Chester Stewart. All Chester has to do is complete some downfield passes, hand the ball off to the running backs and protect the football for the Owls to run the table. Chester’s most impressive job was ball security. With this defense and this running game, ball security is vital. No interceptions. No fumbles. This game also represents the first time since I’ve been covering Temple football (30-plus years) that four (4) quarterbacks saw time. It looks like now second-teamer Chris Coyer is averaging 72 yards per carry, probably the highest ypc in all of NCAA football. Two carries and two LONG touchdowns. Nice.

The Franchise showed BSU what PSU already knows.

RUSHING GAME _ Bernard Pierce scored three touchdowns, ran 30 times for 121 yards and broke Paul Palmer’s career touchdown record (39) with his 39th, 40th and 41st career touchdowns. The stat of note now is that when Pierce carries the ball 25 times or more Temple is 15-0. Plus, Matty Brown added 114 yards including the highlight reel run of the season so far.
DEFENSE _ After giving up 36 points (mostly not their fault), people got on me about not giving the defense grief. I wrote that much of the defense’s problems last week stemmed from the two fumbles and the two interceptions and the multiple three-and-outs. I ended my summation with the phrase “in Heater I trust” and Chuck Heater and his fire-eaters came through once again. Too many of those guys played well to mention two or three. They are a group of gang-tacklers and that’s what I love second most about them. First most? Putting the quarterback on his ass, which I’ve said for years is the best pass defense ever designed by man.

Morry Mannies

BROADCAST _  Morry Mannies, the  Ball State play-by-play guy, must be old. He first called Mike Gerardi “Mark Carchitti” and then called him “Mike Carchardi.” Ugh. He also mis-pronounced many other Owl names. His sidekick said his record broadcasting Homecoming Games was “40-17.” That’s right. Forty and 17, a number that was repeated three times. Forty and 17 is 57. If this guy started out at 21, he’s at least 78. And I thought Harry Donahue was old. So if this guy is over 80, I’ve got to cut him some slack. He also said he sat through a 66-0 loss to St. Joseph’s. I assume that’s St. Joseph’s of Indiana. I’ll have to tell him someday that I sat through a 76-0 loss to Pitt once.

08.31.11
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The Eve of (Villanova’s) Destruction

Once again, we’ll let the Lovely Laura be your guide on what to expect tomorrow.

Long before midnight tomorrow night, we’ll find out if Steve Addazio can coach.
Despite what many of my Florida Gator friends tell me, I suspect he can. The sign of a great CEO is his knack for surrounding himself with top upper-level management.
Already, for whatever flaws Addazio might have had as an OC, he appears to have this CEO thing down.
What makes me confident is that the guy has surrounded himself with coordinators who might be the two best in college football, regardless of the level.

Chuck Heater was the defensive coordinator at Utah when it went 11-0.
Yeah, Freakin’ Utah.
He was the co-defensive coordinator at Florida (with Teryl Austin) over  the past couple of years at Florida.
Don’t let the “co” title confuse you.
“I call Chuck Heater Mother Theresa,” Florida head coach Urban Meyer said last season. “He’s worked miracles with our defense.”
That kind of endorsement is good enough for me.
Loeffler was the quarterbacks’ coach at Michigan for Tom Brady and at Florida for Tim Tebow.
That’s all I needed to hear.
I think he can, and probably will, put this offense in a better position to succeed than Matt Rhule has done.
Addazio, by even his detractors’ accounts, is a motivator second to none and an accomplished offensive line coach.
I like what this equation can do for Temple’s football team this year.
Addazio’s motivation + Loeffler’s playcalling/QB developmental skills + Heater’s fire-eaters = big-time success for the Owls.
Offensively, I look for Bernard Pierce, “datboy Nard”, to run wild over this team. Remember, in the first year, as a true freshman, Pierce gained 66 yards on six carries against the Wildcats despite being cleared by the NCAA to play only a couple days before kickoff. Last year, in the joke move of all joke moves, Al Golden helped Villanova out by alternating Pierce with Matty Brown on every other series.

Adrian Robinson: Three sacks.

Defensively, I look for Adrian Robinson to get three sacks and for guys like Kadeem Custis and Morkeith Brown to be spending more time in Villanova’s backfield than the Wildcat quarterbacks and running backs.
We won’t have to wait until the second or third game to find out if Temple has the right people in charge.
We’ll know by 11 p.m. tomorrow night.
My gut tells me a 55-3 Temple win. My head tells me more like 35-14. The score will probably end up somewhere in between.
Anything less than 35-14 and we’re not in as good a shape as I thought.
Don’t worry.
The Eve of (Villanova’s) Destruction is at hand.

08.12.11
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Jarrett’s pick for the Eagles and more on Owls

Jarrett with the big pick last night ….and as an Owl (below)

I know a lot of Temple fans who hate the Eagles.
I’m not one of them.
I look forward to every Eagles’ game since they don’t conflict with those of my favorite football team, the Temple Owls. Plus, I’ve been running the too often concurrent sentence of being a fan of both all of my life.

I must admit, though, I looked at last night’s Eagles’ game a little different than most.
I was looking for No. 26, Jaiquawn Jarrett.
When the ball went up in the air in the first quarter and landed in his hands, I couldn’t be more happier.
It was one step closer to legitimizing Temple football and some ill-informed comments about it.

Jim Gardner, the Action News’ anchor, tweeted on the night of the draft: “The Eagles might have made a reach in the second round by picking the Temple guy” I tweeted him back: “No reach. Mel Kiper and others thought he was the best SS in the draft.”
I hope Gardner knows that SS stands for strong safety, but I doubt it.
With each interception, JJ quiets that kind of ignorance so I was happy for him, Temple, the Eagles and the city.
As far as the Owls go, a couple of developments in practice have me intrigued.

  • The loss of kickoff returner extraordinare James Nixon. I don’t know why he and the program departed ways and, quite frankly at this point, I don’t care. All I know is that it is a huge loss because you can’t teach 4.3 speed or the vision and moves he had on the field to go with it. He was a threat to take it the house on every kickoff. I don’t see Matty Brown, Joey Jones or anybody else being the same kind of threat. Vaughn Carraway, yes. Carraway was one of the greatest punt returners I’ve ever seen in high school and I’ve covered high school sports for 30 years. Like Nixon, he’s has the “it” factor for returning kicks. I hope Daz gives him a shot.
  • Daz seems to be moving from the feeling that “it’s just asking him to kick” to he needs to find someone to relieve the punting duties from NFL kicker Brandon McManus (yes, he’s an NFL kicker getting a four-year education). If he sends McManus out there to punt and he breaks his leg on a roughing-the-punter penalty, I will scream bloody murder. If he’s going to break his leg, I’d rather it be AFTER the 54-yard, game-winning, field goal against Penn State.
  • The movement of running back Ahkeem Smith to linebacker. Temple has a returning starter, Stephen Johnson, back there but Smith brings a significant skill set to the backup position. I hope he does well there.
  • Carraway. Defensive coordinator Chuck Heater said he had a “terrible spring” at safety and “even he would admit it.”  Then he added, “he’s doing much better now. That’s all I can say.” Hmm. Doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement to me. How about trading Carraway back to the offense for Smith, then, putting the former four-star WR recruit back into the mix there and as an explosive replacement for the dynamic Nixon?
Even though Chester Stewart currently is running with the first team, head coach Steve Addazio still calls that position a work in progress and I hope he gives all four quarterbacks an equal shot in the next two weeks.
No need to name a starter now.
02.10.11
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Loeffler completes Owligator coaching Trinity

Loeffler completes the Owligator Holy Trinity

If Groundhog Day was last Wednesday, you can call this Wednesday Owligator Day.
As good as last Wednesday was recruiting for the Owls, Owligator Day beats Groundhog Day by a good bit.
That’s because Temple signed Scot Loeffler as offensive coordinator on Wednesday, completing the “Holy Trinity” of Gator coaches who will be roaming the sidelines at Temple.
Steve Addazio, head coach.
Chuck Heater, defensive coordinator.
Scot Loeffler, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks’ coach.
Think about it.
Temple’s head coach is a guy who was HEAD coach (yes, head coach) at Florida to be its head coach. (I know it’s a technicality but Addazio was head coach for three months while Urban Meyer was on sick leave.) I really think Daz’s personality is more suited to being a head coach than an offensive coordinator in terms of being a CEO-type and a motivator. We won’t know for sure until he beats up Villanova like Muhammad Ali beat up Chuck Wepner, but Temple is getting a guy who could be a gem as a head coach.
Temple is also getting a guy who was co-defensive coordinator at Florida to be its defensive coordinator. (“Head coach of the defense,” Addazio said.)
Now Temple is also getting a guy who was at least partly responsible for the development of Tom Brady, Chad Henne and Brian Griese as Michigan quarterbacks because he there when all three were at Michigan.
Oh yeah.
 He was Tim Tebow’s quarterback’s coach, too.
Temple is sending a message to the rest of the college football world that its football program is in capable hands by completing this Holy Trinity of Owligators.

The Loeffler File:
• Led a Florida quarterback unit that led the nation in pass efficiency (167.3) in 2009. They passed for 3,305 yards for 28 touchdowns with just five interceptions. Florida ranked second in the SEC in passing offense with an average of 236.1 yards per game.

• Guided Tim Tebow in his final season at Florida, during which he passed for 2,895 yards and 21 touchdowns, finishing his senior year with a passing efficiency of 164.17. The quarterback left Florida with five NCAA, 14 SEC and 28 UF records
• Led the Michigan quarterbacks for six seasons, guiding second-round draft pick Chad Henne. Under the tutelage of Loeffler, Henne became the first true freshman QB to lead his team to a Big Ten title and start in a BCS bowl game. Henne set school marks in career passing yards (9,715), touchdowns (87), completions (828) and attempts (1,387).
• Helped develop John Navarre into the team’s first All-Big Ten first-team quarterback since 1997.
• Helped guide two NFL quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Brian Griese as a graduate and student assistant at Michigan and was a part of the Wolverine staff during the 1997 undefeated season and National Championship title.

With these three hirings, it becomes abundantly clear that Temple is serious about big-time football because these are big-time guys.
Why am I so excited about this?
First off, addition by subtraction.
I’ve been hearing rumors for the better part of a month now that Addazio might have been planning to keep Matt Rhule as offensive coordinator.
Been there, done that.
Rhule had a lot of beautiful square parts he tried to plug into round holes last year.
He had a Heisman Trophy back (at least, talent-wise if not durability-wise) in Bernard Pierce, great wide receivers in Rod Streater, Michael Campbell, Joey Jones, an all-MAC first-team tight end in Evan Rodriguez and a capable backup in Alex Jackson … and … AND …a New Jersey high school first-team all-state quarterback in Mike Gerardi … and … AND … an offensive line that averaged 318 yards across the front.
Yet he (or head coach Al Golden) doesn’t play the all-state QB until the middle of the season, yet he (or Golden)  alternates the Heisman Trophy guy with a 5-5, 150-pound back and doesn’t even attempt to do what worked so well in 2009. That is, establish the run behind a great back and throw off play-action. If they had done that, MAC secondaries would have bitten hard enough on the ball fake that Owl receivers would have been so wide open the toughest decision would have been which one to pick out.
With Brown out there, except for the UConn game and the first half of the Penn State game, Pierce was never allowed to establish a rhythm.
As a result, save for those rare exceptions, Temple’s offense was a clusterbleep from the opening play of the Villanova game until the final play of the Miami game.
You score three points against The Fake Miami with that talent?
You’ve got to be kidding me.
Loeffler was on campus doing some quality control analysis on Monday and Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he accepted the job.
Evidently, he saw he had a lot of good moving parts to work with. Maybe he made the assessment, like I have, that a big-time backup needs to be developed with Pierce-like size and speed. Maybe Myron Myles is that guy. Maybe Nate Smith is that guy. But we need to find that guy badly.
By Villanova, with a pair of fresh and capable eyes he should be able to find the square holes for those square pegs.
Owligators.
I like the sound of that nickname for our all-star coaching staff.