Category Archives: K.C. Keeler

09.25.25
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Temple’s Secret Sauce: The American

Anyone who watched East Carolina dismantle defending American Conference champion Army on Thursday night had to come to the same conclusion I did:

This league–outside of Memphis–is nowhere near as good as it was last year.

Get rid of these white helmets and the Owls win 6 of their remaining 8 games.

Temple has eight games left, all in this conference. The secret sauce for the Owls’ success includes four things:

One, the AC isn’t as good as last year;

Two, Temple has the best head coach in the league;

Three, Temple might not have the best quarterback in the league (I think it might but the experts don’t) but it unquestionably has the best 1-2 QB combination.

Four, Temple doesn’t play Memphis (until, hopefully, the championship game).

Mix, stir, and this could be tasty.

What does this mean?

My glasses are not completely Cherry and White and I know some things can and will go wrong. That’s why no matter how well the Owls play in the final eight, I give them at least two losses.

Going into this season, nobody thought the Temple at Army game was in play.

I trust this guy with my team.

Now I think it is. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if Temple is the favorite going into that November game.

First things first, though.

Here’s how the season will break down (and remember you read it here first):

If Temple is able to split the next two games at home (UTSA and Navy), it finishes 6-6.

If Temple is able to sweep those next two, it goes 8-4 and has an outside–really outside–chance of making it to the title game at Memphis.

Best helmets in college football

Either way, it’s a complete culture change to what we’ve seen the last six years.

The biggest news out of the Edberg Olson Complex this week was that RB Terrez Worthy, one of my favorite Owls, quit due to “mental health issues.” That came six months after one of my other favorite Owls, John Adams, quit due to pretty much the same thing.

I didn’t know that was a thing that you could self-diagnose but I have to respect those two guys.

I go to the doctor twice a year and am always shocked when one of the questions is: “Do you ever think of killing yourself?”

Err, no, but if Temple kept either Rod Carey or Stan Drayton more than three years, ask me next time.

This is the burden of Temple fans. Why do we have starters leave for “mental health issues” and never have walk-ons do the same?

Fortunately, both the mental and physical health of this team other than my favorite RB seems to be OK. Temple will not face a team nearly as good as either Oklahoma or Georgia Tech this year. How they handle that next level down determines the Owls’ fate.

Mix in the best head coach in the league and some magic can happen. Not going to say eight wins or six wins but, given the competition ahead vs. the competition behind, color me optimistic.

That means Cherry helmets, not White ones.

Monday: Game Week

09.20.25
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Some old Stan Drayton habits die hard

K.C. Keeler has preached the difference between Temple competing for an American Conference championship this year and being an also-ran is playing a clean game.

Keeler: “You can’t spot anyone 21 points.”

In many respects, he and his coaching staff have cleaned things up.

They played four games without turnovers and forced at least one turnover in every game, which is something that cannot be said for any of the last three years.

Yet the challenge in the bye week is breaking those bad Stan Drayton habits that creeped up again in a 45-24 loss at No. 18 Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Speaking specifically about a linebacker who shall remain nameless going five yards offsides on a blitz. Said linebacker was upset with everyone but himself and Keeler gave him not one but two reaming outs on the sideline.

Temple had a 15-minute time of possession advantage and won the turnover battle but still lost.

Both were well-deserved and both reminded Temple fans (at least this one) of a late hit at USF that was the difference between a 22-20 Temple win and what turned out to be a 27-22 Temple loss two years ago in Tampa.

Another Stan Drayton-type mistake that a player made was grabbing a facemask in a sack of GT quarterback Haynes King that would have gotten Temple off the field. The replay clearly showed the Temple defender could have easily brought King down by the shoulder pads without grabbing the facemask. A third is letting a punt go without a fair catch on the 15 only to see it land on the 1.

Those were just a few of many.

Drayton tolerated those mistakes. Keeler will not.

In a league where every game is expected to be razor close, those types of mistakes cannot be made going forward or Temple will blow its chance to be a contender.

Against a ranked team, they let what could have been a close game get out of hand.

The game was closer than the final score not only because of Temple’s mistakes because the ACC refs made a complete blunder (maybe intentionally) and a 4th-and-1 first down that Evan Simon clearly got (and both announcers said he did). That in itself was potentially a 14-point swing and certainly a 7-point one because Georgia Tech scored its last touchdown on that officiating faux pas. Another blunder came on a 52-yard punt return by JoJo Bermudez when a Temple player was called for an illegal block that both announcers said was perfectly legal. Having ACC refs work games involving the ACC against another conference is problematic at best and corrupt at worst.

White helmets are now 0-2. Cherry helmets are 2-0. Just sayin’

Back to the drawing board.

Fortunately, there are two weeks to fix things that are fixable. The talent is there. The thinking part is not quite up to Keeler’s standards yet.

Keeler might have fixed one of them with two in-game reamouts.

There are more to come in the film room the next two weeks.

We will see if the kids get the message starting with the Oct. 4 home game against UTSA.

Monday: 5 Things We Noticed

Friday: How The American Looks

Monday (9/29): Game Week

09.18.25
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GT-Temple: Only one more chance to meet the moment

Another scoop and score for the Owls against Georgia Tech would be nice, maybe two.

From a conference standpoint, there are plenty of chances for Temple to meet the moment this year.

From a reality standpoint, there is only one and that one is Saturday (4:30 p.m., The CW Network) at Georgia Tech.

Why?

Let’s finally see that throwback pass to Kajiya Hollawayne, who hits JoJo Bermudez for six. That would qualify as a Trojan Horse.

Simply because even if Temple is only able to do something that is a 7.5 percent possibility (according to ESPN) and win the American Conference championship, there will always be a “yeah, but. …” aspect to it.

“Yeah, but they were blown out by the only two big-time teams on their schedule, Oklahoma and Georgia Tech.”

I will take that “yeah but” knowing that still the storyline of what could be a remarkable season includes the chapter which will be written Saturday.

Here’s what it could be:

“Amazing season for Temple. It not only won the American Conference championship it beat Georgia Tech, which went on to win the ACC.”

Scratched my head all week wondering how that could happen and came up with the Troy theory.

In my mind, Temple is a better team–maybe MUCH better–than Troy, which went into Clemson and took a 16-0 lead before falling, 27-16. GT had to have a Herculean Effort to beat Clemson, 27-24.

There are a lot of fans out there who think Georgia Tech is closer to Oklahoma in roster talent than it is to Troy yet there is a lot of evidence to the contrary.

We will see come around 8 p.m. or so Saturday.

The “wise guys” in Vegas say this will be a 24 or 25-point game which projects to a probable score of 34-10 or 35-10.

Hmm.

Temple is the only game in the country in the 4:30-7:30 TV window. Click over for better view.

Not if GT is closer in ability to Troy than it is to Oklahoma.

Maybe Temple is GT’s “Trojan Horse” which was a legendary tale of subterfuge that marked the end of the Trojan War. After a prolong siege of 10 years, the Greeks devised a clever plan to gain entry into the heavily fortified city of Troy. They constructed a large wooden horse, hiding a select group of soldiers inside and left it at the gate as a supposed offering of peace. The Greeks pretended to sail away and the Trojans brought the gift horse into the city. While they slept, the soldiers inside the horse opened the gates for the rest of the Greek Army and a surprise upset occurred.

That’s where the Troy-Temple comparison comes into play.

I will admit my theory about Temple being better than Troy is out there but so was the Trojan Horse a dozen or so centuries BC.

Maybe that’s a sign that new OC Tyler Walker should try a few trick plays because going at Oklahoma conventionally did not work.

This is Temple’s one chance to meet the moment from a national perspective. The season can still be good with a loss, but this moment is out there to be had so why not seize it?

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

09.14.25
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Keeler: Owls didn’t meet the moment

This Cherry helmet is the best in college football. Let’s stick with that going forward.

In the grand scheme of things, this is about the 147th-most important thing that happened on Saturday but seeing Temple football come out in those God-awful-looking white helmets certainly didn’t meet the moment.

Not when you have the best helmet in college football sitting back home in the equipment room at 10th and Diamond.

Georgia Tech’s stadium with Atlanta as the backdrop is one of the best homefield advantages in the country.

When you look sharp, you play sharp and the Owls certainly didn’t look sharp.

Then the game started and it wasn’t long before first-year Temple head coach K.C. Keeler made the most perspicacious statement of the day.

Doing a first-quarter interview on ESPN2, Keeler said: “I thought we didn’t meet the moment.”

This time, he wasn’t talking about the equipment room.

There were plenty of moments the Owls didn’t meet but a few of them came on defense early when they hit Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer early and didn’t bring him down. Other times they touched him and he spun away.

A decent crowd on Saturday at the Linc would have looked way more impressive if Temple had an on-campus stadium like GT has.

A lot of that is traced to Mateer’s talent but when the Owls were touching quarterbacks–good quarterbacks with FBS starts under their belts in the first two games–they were bringing them down.

That was meeting the moment. Albeit the moment became bigger against better players on Saturday getting to Mateer and not putting him down didn’t meet the moment. He’s human. If hit hard enough, he goes down, too.

The Owls had a minus-6 deficit in the turnover battle in last year’s game and lost, 51-3. They stopped Oklahoma on third downs 13 of 14 times in that game and still lost by 48.

The Owls cleaned things up this year to have no turnovers and still lost by almost the same margin. That does not compute except that they didn’t do as good a job getting off the field defensively as last year’s team.

The formula to win wasn’t there against Oklahoma but the formula to stay in the game certainly was and the Owls didn’t have the right mix. Limit turnovers. Check. Repeat last year’s performance on third down. Not check.

Throw some trick plays in there to keep Oklahoma off-balance.

Definitely not check. Would have loved to seen Evan Simon toss a throwback pass to Hollawayne and have the former UCLA QB hit JoJo Bermudez for six on that first series. That would have fired everyone up. Instead, a couple of boring handoffs to Jay Ducker got nowhere.

OC Tyler Walker–who had a fantastic first two games–didn’t meet the moment, either.

You won 55-7 with these home helmets. Don’t mess with Karma. (Photo Courtesy Zamani Feelings)

A lot of national type guys–Chip Patterson of CBS sports and Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN–thought the Owls had a chance to stay in the game against the Sooners. Now that those national guys saw what happened, they are off the Owls. The Owls showed in the first two games that they are deep and talented along both lines but allowed themselves to get bullied by the Sooners.

I didn’t see that happening. Maybe neither Patterson nor Herbstreit did.

Maybe that’s what Keeler meant by not meeting the moment but they really have one more big-time moment to meet on Saturday at Georgia Tech.

Like Oklahoma, the Yellowjackets have a big-time quarterback in Haynes King. The lesson of Saturday is when they get their hands on him, they have to put him down.

That’s meeting the moment on the field.

Off the field, leaving the White helmets home might not help, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.

Friday: Georgia Tech Preview

09.11.25
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Huge Temple crowd expected Saturday

Everyone please subscribe to Gary’s website. This is the best college football prediction website.

By now, everyone should know that artificial intelligence is pretty much ahead of the crowd.

In Temple’s case, literally.

KJ predicts Okie 31-3. This was his prediction two days before Temple beat Penn State, 27-10. Sorry KJ.

Without knowing anyone in the Temple ticket office or the Philadelphia Eagles ticket office, I took to chat GPT and Grok and asked how many tickets were left for Temple hosting Oklahoma (high noon, ESPN2).

Here’s what they were able to tell us.

One, there are only a couple of thousand tickets left in a 70K-seat stadium. Two, only five percent of the tickets sold are from outside the tri-state (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware) area.

What AI didn’t say was how many sections were open for sale but, given the demand, it only makes sense to open as many sections as possible.

We won’t find out until Saturday but what we do know is that given the proximity of the ticket sales to Lincoln Financial Field and the unlikelihood of Oklahoma fans living in the nation’s fourth-largest TV market, it will be a heavily pro-Temple crowd. Lot K–the largest Philadelphia Eagles’ parking lot–sold out by Wednesday. Even for the 2016 opener against Army, which drew 34,271, that didn’t happen until the day of that night game. Lots M and O are open for now. Since the Phillies are playing a night game on Saturday, CBP lots should be open also.

Now it might be 60K or it might be 35K, but we do know it will be loud and proud.

No one expected this result, either.

We don’t know if that’s enough to push this team across the finish line but it can’t hurt. There are many things that make me like Temple’s chances but one indicator is that Temple’s defense–with the worst head coach in history–was able to limit Oklahoma to 1-for-13 on third downs last year.

Another is that the Temple quarterback responsible for five of the six turnovers in last year’s game between the teams is on the trash heap of history and the guy who was denied that chance, Evan Simon, will get a chance to make history.

Who knows?

Desmond Ridder blaming Cincy’s first loss of the 2017 season on the loud Temple crowd.

They might even let him conduct the world-famous Temple University Diamond Marching Band again if he’s able to do it.

Temple is two-deep in quality along the defensive line and, yet, K.C. Keeler called his offensive line the most improved unit on his team.

These lines won’t be bullied.

No predictions but I will not be surprised if Temple wins outright because Oklahoma is expecting to play in a high school-like atmosphere and has no idea that a 7-0 Cincinnati team in 2017 came into LFF and came out with an overtime loss because it couldn’t hear its signals.

This stadium can be very loud and unfriendly for visitors and it needs to be on Saturday afternoon.

After that, let the chips fall where they may.

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

09.05.25
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Temple home opener: Gameday is fun again

This should be the gameday film shown in the EO team meeting room Friday night.

Not very many new Temple head football coaches have accomplished what K.C. Keeler has in his 261 days on the job.

He’s made gamedays at Lincoln Financial Field fun again despite never having coached a game in that stadium.

I will be grabbing one of these bad boys.

Oh, yes. There was some excitement with Geoff Collins taking over for Matt Rhule after an American Conference championship season, but nothing like this.

Nothing like Temple fans will experience at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon against visiting Howard University.

Why?

Because Temple is coming out of six dark years into the light. Temple was already in the light the year after Rhule won the league championship.

Things fell apart somewhere between the time Collins left and the time Keeler arrived.

There are doubting Thomases out there but don’t count me among them. What Keeler has done so far is very impressive. In addition to convincing most of the “good guys” on the roster to stay, he’s added some key pieces to the puzzle that only enhanced the roster and bolstered this team’s 2025 chances.

Then came June and Keeler–despite the handicap of four-straight 3-9 seasons–was able to convince the third best recruiting class in all of G5 football to come to Temple.

The students need to answer the call and become the 12th man for the Owls on both this Saturday and next week against Oklahoma. SEPTA is no excuse for not attending this game.

Mix in a 365-day offseason and no vacations for head coaches to Texas–like we had two weeks in the summer for three-straight years–and this team is primed and ready.

They demonstrated as much in the opener at UMass, finishing the game on a 35-0 run to beat the home team 42-10. Many in the “real world” of college football expected that game to be a 3.5-point Temple win. Not me. I predicted 24-10 and hoped for a blowout.

My most fervent hopes were realized.

Now let’s hope a lot of the fans buy in because they won’t all buy in unless the Owls are able to either give Oklahoma a good game next week or win it outright.

That’s not important now.

What’s important now is to get the largest-ever Temple student freshman class into the habit of both attending the game and enjoying the experience once they arrive in South Philadelphia. That means giving them a fun pre-game experience and convincing those same kids to get into the habit of going into the stadium and cheering their heads off. This isn’t Tulsa, which only has 3,432 full-time students. This is Temple with over 30,000 full-time students, including the largest incoming class ever.

Get those kids into the habit of going to the games.

For the team itself, it also means not overlooking anyone. When you’ve gone 3-9 for four-straight years, that shouldn’t be an issue but knowing that Howard–as a 40+-point underdog only eight years ago–shocked the world should get their attention.

For me, this is a Gevani McCoy game. Either sit Evan Simon at the jump (my choice) or play him one series and get him the hell out of harm’s way. Earlier this week, Keeler said he’s told the Owls many times they are a good football team and if they play clean, they are a tough out.

According to the great Cecily Tynan, there are no weather concerns for the Temple game on Saturday.

He didn’t mean a tough out against Howard. He meant a tough out against Oklahoma and the other good teams remaining on the schedule.

Play hard. Play clean. No spitting on anyone in the pre-game and no excessive celebrations after any good play.

Win the game and only then let the dice roll against Oklahoma.

Temple football is fun again in South Philadelphia.

It’s been a while.

Very Late Saturday Night (since I will be at the game until 8 or so): Game Analysis

09.01.25
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5 Takeaways From the Temple Game

OL shows the improvement Keeler spoke about by blowing UMass off the ball here.

Controversial take here but I’ve thought about it long and hard since the end of Temple’s 42-10 win at Mass on Saturday.

Put Evan Simon in bubble wrap for one game only and sit him against Howard this Saturday.

My thinking is this:

You can beat Howard, 40-0, with both Simon and Gevani McCoy so why not start McCoy? If the game works out like it should, McCoy gets a nice game under his belt and faces live ammunition that can’t be duplicated in practice.

You probably don’t even have a puncher’s chance against Oklahoma if Simon turns an ankle (or worse) against Howard. For those of you who don’t think Temple has a chance against Oklahoma anyway, this is your periodic reminder that fellow AAC member Navy beat Oklahoma last year.

Who did Navy lose to, 32-18, a couple of years ago?

Temple.

You can hear a lot of cheering for Temple when Peter Clarke catches this touchdown pass.

Beating Okie after going 2-0 would make a huge statement for the program and the conference itself.

Okie beat Illinois State, 35-7, on Saturday. Hard to believe that Illinois State is as good as UMass so Temple does indeed have a chance. They need Simon healthy to do it and getting McCoy up to game speed with an extended look against Howard wouldn’t hurt either. He was inserted into the game deep in Temple territory with the Owls up so big that all he did was basically hand off.

Allowing him to throw the ball downfield and utilizing the entire playbook would be a win/win for Temple. To do that, he needs to play an entire game.

That’s our first takeaway from the game. Here are four more:

Keeler was right about the lines

Two weeks ago, Keeler said he “never had a defensive line this deep. We have 9-10 guys who can really play.” Turns out he wasn’t blowing smoke. The Temple DL dominated, and all 10 guys played well. A week later, Keeler said, “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a position group improve as much as our offensive line.” He credited that with an intensive strength program and new OL coach Al Johnson. UMass went to a goal-line defense, selling out for the run, when Temple had the ball on its 1 and the Temple OL blew a hole so wide open a truck could run through it. Instead of a truck, Jay Ducker went for 55 yards.

The Tight End Room is Stacked

Peter Clarke and Ryder Kusch emerged as the top two tight ends, both catching a pair of TD passes. Yet Daniel Evert, who scored a long touchdown against Army last year, is also very good and will make an impact. Despite all that, Jake Woods might have been the star of summer camp and he will be heard from as well.

K.C. Keeler should consider put Evan Simon in bubble wrap for one week only. He can play all the rest starting with Oklahoma.

Ducker and Worthy Should be Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside

Got the distinct feeling that if Terrez Worthy went through the hole at the goal-line, he would have taken it to the house. Worthy runs a legitimate 4.4-40 and is the fastest guy on the team. He’s a home-run hitter and few linebackers have the speed to cover him out of the backfield. OC Tyler Walker probably noticed that from the booth and will take advantage of that mismatch.

Two Dante Wrights are better than One

Temple was expected to miss the oft-injured Dante Wright but Kajiya Hollawayne and JoJo Bermudez proved to be up to the task with the former catching a touchdown pass and the latter catching 7 balls for 78 yards. Yet Colin Chase was pretty much the WR star of the summer camp, much like Woods was with the tight ends, and although he had a spectacular catch near the goal-line, was not targeted like he will be as the season goes on and, once he gets those targets, should show fans in the stands what he showed his teammates in the summer.

While Saturday was exciting and a lot of players performed well, there will be a lot of other players making an impact over the next 11 games.

Or if they are as lucky as they appear to be good, a dozen or more games.

Friday: Howard Preview

08.30.25
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Temple leaves fans with a good taste in their mouths

Gameday at Lincoln Financial Field is going to be fun again, maybe for the first time in 10 years.

The last word in this space yesterday was that we expected to eat some sort of delicious cake at around 6:30 p.m. today.

Well, we were off only by about 17 minutes.

The game ended at exactly 6:47 p.m., Eastern, and the double-layered Cherry and White cake with ice cream on the top was well worth the wait.

Best part of this is from 0:38 timestamp on…

Temple went into Amherst and not only won but won 42-10.

We didn’t expect the Cherry on top of this White cake but, thanks to the leadership of K.C. Keeler and Evan Simon, our bellies are full right now.

So ends a 20-game losing streak in the first year of a Temple head coach and, if that number sounds familiar, that happened roughly 20 years ago in the middle of Al Golden’s first season. That was a real 20-game losing streak and Golden stopped the bleeding with a 28-14 win over Bowling Green that day.

This was a little less real but no less embarrassing 20-game road losing streak that is, thankfully, over.

Those of us sitting in the stands back in 2006 knew it was the start of something special and those of us who had the pleasure of watching today have a similar feeling in the pit of our stomachs. Not heartburn, but a stomach that just ingested something Cherry and White and delicious.

Like a cake.

Poteat’s sack of Rose here turned the game around. (Photo Courtesy Zamani Feelings)

After 20-straight road losses, Temple has a road win and similarities between the two times abound.

Golden led the Owls to a nine-game winning two years later before bolting for Miami.

He made gamedays fun again at Lincoln Financial Field. Instead of bitching and moaning about this call and that call and that hire and this one, the pre-game talk turned to winning.

Then, Golden was 36 and we all knew in the back of our heads he was eyeing the next-big thing.

Keeler is 65 and his roots are planted here and less likely to leave and that’s one of the reasons why this time is even more exciting than that time.

The last time a Philadelphia football team above the high school level played a meaningful game they won it by sacking the quarterback at crucial times. This Philadelphia team did the same in the next game with Khalil Poteat providing the kind of sack that reminded Owl/Eagle fans of Jalen Carter.

Temple Football Forever way back on 8/29/25

UMass couldn’t handle the Temple D-Line pretty much the way the Chiefs couldn’t handle the Eagles’ D-Line. Keeler pretty much said it would be that way two weeks ago when he noted that “this is the deepest D-Line I ever had. We have 9-10 guys who can really play.”

A week later, Keeler said the same thing about his O-Line, “I’ve never seen a position group improve as much as our O-Line” perhaps referring to the “iron sharpens iron” of playing against an elite D-Line. The OL gave Evan Simon time to throw for six touchdown passes and gave Jay Ducker space to rush for over 100 yards in his Temple debut.

The Eagles proved on Super Bowl Sunday that games are won in the trenches and the other birds who play home games in that same stadium seem to have adopted that formula.

Either way, the food at the tailgates is going to taste better for the first time in a long while and the dessert afterward is promising, too.

Leave some room for both.

Monday: Five Takeaways From The Game

Friday: Howard Preview

Late Saturday Night: Howard Game Analysis

Monday: 5 Trick Plays for Okie

08.29.25
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Temple-UMass: Only one way to look at it

Should be a beautiful day for Philadelphians to drive the six hours to Amherst and see their only FBS team come away with a win.

Most of the nation’s “wise guy” bettors have the Temple at UMass football game tomorrow as pretty darn close to a pick-’em.

Should be a perfect day for football tomorrow in Amherst.

Temple is a 2.5-point favorite at this moment. At other moments it was -4. Earlier in the summer, it was +1.5.

Most of those know nothing about Temple or UMass.

It’s not their fault.

The so-called wise guys, otherwise collectively known as “Vegas”, pay a lot more attention to Texas-Ohio State and Notre Dame vs. Miami.

They don’t spend too much time studying the G5 because the money isn’t there.

If they had, they would know there is one way to look at this Temple at UMass game (3:30 p.m., ESPN+) and that way is this:

Both teams played UConn tough last year but Temple was the team that dominated UConn in the trenches and lost on the flukiest of fluke plays in New England. That, despite the Owls having the albatross of a terrible head coach (Stan Drayton) and a worse quarterback (Forrest Brock) around their necks.

UMass fans don’t sound as confident as they were earlier in the week.

The necks are loose and free this year and that’s the way this team should play. The only players who should have their heads on a swivel Saturday should be on the home team.

Now the Owls have one great head coach and two pretty darn good quarterbacks playing a New England team far worse than the one they played and lost to on a scoop and score a year ago.

Temple has spent nine months gestating this baby of a lead-pipe cinch College Football Hall of Fame head coach in K.C. Keeler and it’s about to be birthed kicking and screaming at 3:30 on Saturday.

Keeler will be in the CFB Hall of Fame in Atlanta one day (joining former Owls Wayne Hardin and Paul Palmer) not because of what he has done for Temple but because of what he has done up to this point, winning the most FCS games in the history of any head coach.

What he will do at Temple will only be icing on that cake but, based on that history, what he’s baking now should be pretty tasty for Owl fans. UMass should be the first slice of that cake. If it’s a win, it’s a pound cake. If it’s a comfortable win, it’s a double-layer cake. If it’s a blowout, there’s ice cream on top of those double layers.

One way or another, cake it should be.

Not only did the Owls make a serious upgrade in coaching on both sides of the ball they improved their running back room by getting Jay Ducker to play first team in front of last year’s best running back, Terrez Worthy. (Bold prediction: Worthy breaks a long one and gets more yards than Ducker.)

They lost last year’s best receiver, the oft-injured Dante Wright, but overcompensated for that loss by adding Colin Chase and JoJo Bermudez, who could instantly make Owl fans forget about Wright.

On the defensive side of the ball, they replaced the worst DC in Temple history, Everett Withers, with a guy who has the chance to be one of the best, Brian L. Smith.

Keeler said his defensive line was “9-10 deep and the best I’ve ever had.” Keeler also noted that his OL was the position group that improved the most over the last nine months, perhaps due in part to playing against such a talented DL every day. This team has the ability to dominate UMass in the trenches and that’s where winning football begins.

Keeler has taken the right approach, telling his players to not worry about the scoreboard but to take it one play, one position battle, at a time. He said if they take care of the play in front of them, they can start to look at the scoreboard in only the closing seconds and they will like the results.

If they don’t, they won’t.

Still, the biggest determiner of the outcome is the attitude of the players who seem to have bought into the notion that 3-9 seasons are a thing of the past and are collectively focused on changing that dynamic now.

It all starts tomorrow. One play at a time.

One win at a time.

Me?

I’d love to see a Temple blowout but I don’t think it will happen. There will be some growing pains and it will be something between the 40-22 Super Bowl score and the 23-21 Vegas seems to expect.

Call it 24-10 Temple. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it. If I’m wrong, I will eat crow but I’m fully expecting a pretty decent slice of cake around 6:30 tomorrow night.

Saturday Night: Game Analysis

08.24.25
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Temple football: Finally, Game Week

Since Wayne Hardin transitioned the Temple football Owls from what was then called the college division (roughly FCS) to the university division (FBS), football here could be broken into five eras:

One, The Hardin Years (1970-82)

Two, The Arians Years (1983-88)

Three, The Dark Ages (1991-2005)

Four, The Golden Rhule Era (2006-2016)

Five, A Mini-Dark Age (2017-2024)

Some pretty good times and a couple of rough patches.

There are signs with the season opener at UMass on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ESPN+) that the Owls are coming out a rough patch and into good times and that’s encouraging because one of the lessons of the Golden Rhule Era should have been the Owls were not going back the dark ages.

After Al Golden righted the ship, the prevailing thought around here was that there was no reason for Temple to return to losing seasons and breaking even should have been the minimum standard for every season.

Nobody could have predicted that after being bowl eligible for nine of a 10-year period, they would slump to a 1-6 season followed by a lot of 3-9 ones.

What happened?

After Rhule, the university went away from the formula that caused the revival in the first place–instead of hiring coaches with local connections, the administration hired either big-time coordinators from elsewhere or “a fish out of water” head coach from the middle of the country.

By returning to the formula that worked, the Owls got the best of both worlds–a big-time winning head coach with Philadelphia roots.

Everything K.C. Keeler has done since his arrival in Philadelphia screams he gets Temple as a university and gets both this city and the Temple football program.

Now emerging from the dark tunnel into the sunlight begins and winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

The first game won’t be an easy one as the Owls have to take to the road to take on another revitalized program in UMass. Temple is a 4-point favorite and Vegas is usually pretty good so very few expect a blowout (although I wouldn’t mind the Owls getting one).

This is the type of confidence UMass fans have (LOL).

As much as the Owls expect to win, that’s how much the UMass fans expect to win because they, too, have a first-year coach who understands their region as much as Keeler does his. While this is head coach Joe Harasymiak’s first FBS head coaching job, he’s was a successful head coach at Maine. Many of their fans think they can win.

Still, Temple plays in a tougher conference and has a four-year head start recruiting a superior pedigree of players so the Owls have reason to be confident. The last time Temple played UMass, even a Stan Drayton-coached team came away with a 28-0 win.

With a better coach and better players, the Owls need to start fast and, after 231 days of hard work under a guy who knows what he’s doing, they are hungry to show how far they’ve come.

They’ll have that chance in six days.

Friday: Temple-UMass Preview

Saturday Night: Temple-UMass analysis