Category Archives: Steve Addazio

10.19.12
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Montel Harris: ‘I want to help my team to the Orange Bowl’

Steve Addazio implores fans to take it to the next level.

About two minutes before the start of Temple’s game at UConn last week, a very loud chant of “LET’S GO TEMPLE” could be heard from the corner of the end zone where about 900 Temple fans stood.

Montel Harris, standing right next to Steve Addazio and loosening up, turned around and gave a “thumbs up” to the Temple cheering section and raised both palms as if asking for the volume to be turned up.

I’m glad  Harris is on Temple’s side for tomorrow’s game (noon, Lincoln Financial Field) with Rutgers.
He hears it and he gets it.

Michael Basiden has a phrase he repeats on WDAS-FM (105.3, Mondays through Fridays, 3-7 p.m.) when he says something people might construe as outrageous.

When you see the “this is our house” in the video, it’s a cue for a “Let’s Go Temple” cheer.

“That’s right, I said it!” Baisden, who has a popular nationally syndicated radio show, will repeat.
Harris doesn’t need to repeat it, but this quote has all but one Harris YouTube clip so far this season:

“I want to help my team to the Orange Bowl. That’s our goal.”
Harris wasn’t talking about Boston College.
 He was talking about Temple.
That’s right. He said it.
Last week’s game against UConn might have been a bowl elimination game.
Tomorrow’s game against Rutgers might be an Orange Bowl elimination game.
Win, and the dream remains alive.
Lose, and the dream in all likelihood is dashed.

Set the alarms for 7 a.m. tomorrow and enjoy the beautiful day at LFF.

If Temple wins, it is 3-0 in the league and might be all alone atop the Big East standings by 7 p.m., depending  on how the rest of the day plays out.
If Temple wins the league, it will go to the Orange Bowl and no amount of backroom dealing can keep the Owls out.
I like the way Montel Harris reaches for the stars.
Some Temple fans poo-poo such talk. Some might even call it embarrassing.
It is not embarrassing to tell people your goal is to be the best you can be.
Right now, the 2-0 Owls can be the Big East champs.
That’s a fact.
Whether they will be in a position to do it depends I think on a couple of things:
1) Can the fans take it to the next level? Can we get the 30K TEMPLE fans in attendance to stand and chant “Let’s Go Temple” at the top of their lungs and sing the fight song in unison like they did several times in the second half of the USF game? (If you don’t think the kids on the team hear it, see the first graph above.)
2) Will the offensive game plan be diverse enough to get the job done? In other words, maybe open up with a two-minute drill, throw in a trickeration play or two, throw on first down enough to set up Harris’ on second- and third-down runs?
I saw enough evidence in the second half of the Maryland and USF games to think No. 1 can happen.
No. 2, I’m not so sure about but I have to trust that a coaching staff with muliple national championship rings can  figure that out.
Harris and the rest of the Owls will be ready.
Will you?

Tomorrow: No story due to power tailgating but complete analysis on Sunday

10.17.12
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TU-RU by numbers: Who’s poop now?

Steve Addazio and the Owls react after reading posts on Rutgers’ rivals’ site about Temple.

If you have read the Rutgers’ message board over the last year or so, you get the impression that all Rutgers’ fans agree on at least four things:
1) Temple can’t draw more than 15K to its home games;
2) Temple is a bad addition to the Big East while Rutgers is good;
3) Temple doesn’t own the Philadelphia TV market;
4) Temple never has had a winning season.

Notice this poster has Rutgers beating Temple for the same reasons he had USF beating Temple.

One fan even went as far as to post a poll on the Rutgers’ website comparing the Owls to “poop.”
Those beliefs are based, as Steve Addazio has stated, on “way back when days.”
The metrics back up Addazio:
 1) Temple has averaged nearly 30K fans to its home games over the last three years. Temple’s home game last year vs. Villanova drew 32K fans, 31K from Temple. Temple’s home game against Villanova this year drew 33K, 32K from Temple. Temple drew 26K to the USF game and there might have been 100 fans from USF (would you leave Tampa for Philly in Oct.?). The Owls’ home game vs. Penn State last year drew 57K fans, at least 40K wearing Cherry and White, as Addazio correctly pointed out in the Maryland post-game press conference (go to 6:00 in time stamp) last year.

Another typical “know-it-all” (err, know-nothing) Rutgers’ fan.

2) Most of the schools thought Temple was a good enough addition to the Big East to invite the Owls back in on March 7, 2012, despite what Rutgers’ fans think.
 3) Temple’s bowl game against UCLA drew the second-highest TV rating of ANY BOWL EVER on ESPN in the Philadelphia market, second only to Penn State’s 2007 appearance in the Alamo Bowl and higher than any SEC, PAC-10 or Big East matchup ever shown in the Philadelphia market.
 4) Temple is working on four straight winning seasons, while Rutgers is not.
Who is poop now?
More Temple vs. Rutgers’ numbers:
Temple opponents (2012): 18-14; Rutgers’ opponents (2012) 10-21. Advantage: TEMPLE.
Temple in its last 20 conference (MAC and BE) home games: 17-3; Rutgers in its last 20 conference road games: 8-12. Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple in its last 20 overall conference games: 12-8; Rutgers in its last 20 overall conference games: 8-12. Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple overall record last 3.5 years: 29-14; Rutgers’ overall record last 3.5 years: 28-16. Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple current streak of winning seasons: 3; Rutgers current streak of winning seasons: 1. Advantage: TEMPLE.
Temple wins against Rutgers in last 6 games: 4. Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple at home against Rutgers in last 4 games: 3-1. Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple all-time in Philadelphia against Rutgers: 9-6. Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple this year in BE road games: 1-0; Rutgers this year in BE road games: 1-0. Advantage: EVEN
Temple Bowl MVPs currently on roster: 1; QB Chris Coyer Rutgers Bowl MVPs currently on roster: 1, RB Juwan Jamison. Advantage: EVEN.
 Jamison rushing yards against UConn: 110; Montel Harris rushing yards against UConn: 142. Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple coaches with national and SEC title rings (3;) Rutgers coaches with national and SEC title rings (0). Advantage: TEMPLE
Temple conference championships (1, co-MAC East, 2009); Rutgers conference championships (0). Advantage: TEMPLE.

Tomorrow: Throwback Thursday

10.16.12
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Got a winner in town

Philadelphia fans have got a winner in town and it isn’t the Eagles.

‘God, you’ve got to love the grit, I don’t care who you are, you’ve got to love the grit of Philadelphia and the grit in this team. It’s just about a damn gritty team that wants to compete and that isn’t intimated. I wouldn’t trade that team for any other.’
_ Steve Addazio

My guess is if you can use one word to describe Philadelphia Eagles’ fans right now it’s exasperation.
I know.
I’m one of them.
After watching Michael Vick commit two of his 13 turnovers for the season in a 26-23  loss to Detroit on Sunday, I’m done with any emotional investment in that team. Vick keeps turning it over and seemingly without repercussions.
Fortunately, I have another team to root for who practices four miles north of Lincoln Financial Field and plays in the same stadium.
The Temple Owls.
Unlike the Eagles, the Owls have a winning record (3-2) so, to borrow a quote from former Eagles’ coach Buddy Ryan, you’ve now got a winner in town.

Like the Eagles and Michael Vick, the Owls also have a left-handed quarterback (Chris Coyer).
Unlike Vick, Coyer rarely turns the ball over and is tough as the team that plays around him.
Coyer, the New Mexico Bowl MVP, hit a game-tying pass to Jalen Fitzpatrick with 16 seconds left in regulation that was a thing of beauty at UConn last week. Without a doubt, it was the most clutch throw I’ve ever seen a Temple quarterback make and I’ve seen 30 years of clutch throws as a season ticket-holder. With a big-time rush coming at him, Coyer made a throw completely across the field and into Fitzpatrick’s breadbasket.

You can get Sixers tickets for 9 cents and TU-Pitt tickets
for $9 but RU-TU seats are a hot item at $40 apiece.

Temple won it in overtime, 17-14, when Brandon McManus, who head coach Steve Addazio calls “the best kicker in the country” nailed a 29-yard field goal straight down the middle.
While the Eagles’ defense showed an alarming lack of toughness by allowing a 10-point lead with five minutes left to vanish on Sunday, the Temple defense on Saturday showed a Navy Seal-like toughness in overtime, forcing UConn to a three-point attempt that missed.
The Eagles had to fire their defensive coordinator, Juan Castillo, today and borrowed some Temple TUFF in his replacement, former Owl Todd Bowles.
Temple TUFF, with the spelling of “tough” changed to suit the school’s first two initials.
While Andy Reid’s post-game press conferences are full of “we’ve got to do a better job” for about the umpteenth time, Temple head coach Steve Addazio has adopted the Philly mindset and wears his heart on his sleeve just like Philly fans do.

Todd Bowles representing TU.

“God, you’ve got to love the grit, I don’t care who you are, you’ve got to love the grit of Philadelphia and the grit in this team,” Addazio said. “It’s just about a damn gritty team that wants to compete and that isn’t intimated. I wouldn’t trade that team for any other.”
I wish I could say the same thing about the Philadelphia Eagles. I can’t.
There’s a winner in town and it isn’t the Eagles. Hopefully, soon the rest of Philly will support it like they do the exasperating other tenants of the stadium.

Tomorrow: TU-RU by the numbers 
Thursday: Throwback Thursday with TU/RU theme

10.15.12
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The (not so) secret formula to beat Rutgers

The media blitz already has begun for this game with a crowd of at least 40K expected.

“We’ve got the best kicker in the country. That was the mindset. I was tempted to go for two (at the end of regulation) but  I thought, ‘Let’s go to overtime.’ In overtime, we were really starting to pound the ball in there and almost scored (a touchdown) but I had enough. I was afraid we were going to have a center/quarterback exchange problem so I was going to center the ball to the left and I thought the best kicker in college football has got to win the game for Temple right now. And that was our strategy. We’re lucky it worked out.”_ Steve Addazio

One of the requirements for a journalism degree when I was at Temple was to take Creative Writing 101.
The basic tenant of the course was that a good story always has a solid beginning, middle and end and all three are intertwined.
So it is with Temple University’s 2012 football team.
The beginning (a 41-10 beatdown of Villanova) was good. Villanova is a much better FCS team than most people give it credit for and the 5-2 Wildcats are coming off a 38-14 win at No. 3 Old Dominion in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,000. Right now, Villanova looks like it could put up about 100 on Howard and 40 on Tulane.
The Owls are 3-2 and 2-0 and that’s better than most prognosticators expected.
The middle and end of the story is yet to be determined.
The middle comes EXACTLY at halftime Saturday against Rutgers and how that plays out will go a long way toward determining what happens at the end.
No one know knows what will happen on Saturday, but the formula to beating Rutgers is pretty simple:

1) Get off to a good start. The Owls have had some trouble doing that largely due to their stubbornness about establishing the run against solid fronts. Maybe they can tweak the game plan to fix that (see No. 2).

2) Get away from the offensive philosophy of pound and ground. If you thought the Penn State and UConn defenses were good at stopping the run, Rutgers is better. The Owls can move the ball on the ground against Rutgers ONLY if they set it up with some well-designed short slant passes. They can take advantage of past tendencies by play-faking to Montel Harris to freeze the defense, particularly on first down (not third). Roll out terrific running and clutch throwing quarterback Chris Coyer, the New Mexico Bowl MVP. That moves him away from the rush and gives him an option to run (if it’s open) or pass (if the DBs) come up on run support.

Brandon McManus kicks the game-winner against UConn.

3) Get field goal kicker Brandon McManus, on the Lou Groza Watch list as placekicker of the year in BCS football, in field position to kick five FGs. He’s got a range of 55 yards and in, so that should not be too difficult. McManus has also kicked a 70-yarder (under a rush) in practice. Hopefully, the Owls can get him closer and more often Saturday. He is also on the Ray Guy Watch List as best punter in the nation and  the Ray Guy in him will do the Lou Groza in him a favor with his normal booming punts.
“We’ve got the best kicker in the country,” Steve Addazio said. “That was the mindset. I was tempted to go for two (at the end of regulation) but  I thought, ‘Let’s go to overtime.’ In overtime, we were really starting to pound the ball in there and almost scored (a touchdown) but I had enough. I was afraid we were going to have a center/quarterback exchange problem so I was going to center the ball to the left and I thought the best kicker in college football has got to win the game for Temple right now. And that was our strategy. We’re lucky it worked out.”

4) Show some “trickeration” for a change. That has not been on any past Temple game film and would probably work now. A throwback pass from Big 33 starting QB Jalen Fitzpatrick, now the Owls’ best WR, off a reverse (or double-reverse) to either Coyer, Romond Deloatch or Khalif Herbin would work against an over-pursuing defense.

That gets Temple 22 points.
Then the Temple defense just has to do about as good a job as Howard and Tulane did against RU.
Not much to ask since the Temple defense is about 100x better than Howard and Tulane.
It’s as simple as 1-2-3-4 and would be a heckuva middle to a great story, setting up a terrific ending.
It might even be a classic in the non-fiction section by New Year’s Day.

Tomorrow: Got a winner in town
Wednesday: TU-RU by the numbers
Thursday: Throwback Thursday (TU-RU theme)

10.14.12
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How ’bout ‘dem OWLboys?

Chris Coyer talks about the fateful two-minute drill.

Coyer absolved those sins with what I believe is the most clutch throw I’ve ever seen from a Temple quarterback and I’ve seen a lot of clutch throws

Five games into the season and there are so many theories about how this football season is going to play out for the Temple Owls.
Prior to the fifth game, I had a premonition that this was going to be a “16-13 or 21-14 game” and I wrote that in my Friday post, adding “go with the Owls.”
I was wrong.
It wasn’t 16-13 or 21-14.
It was 17-14.
And they needed overtime.
Close enough, and I got the right side.
We all know now how the first five games have played out, with the Owls winning more than they have lost and being unbeaten in the all-important conference games.

My reaction to UConn players walking through the halls.

Still, though, my belief turned into absolute metaphysical certainty only when I found myself sharing the same hotel as the UConn players, the Sheraton in Rock Hill, CT.
Not having a refrigerator in the room, I had to get up every two hours in the middle of the night and walk down the hall to keep my tailgate, err, stuff cold. My makeshift “refrigerator” was a trash can filled with ice that kept melting. So I needed frequent refills.
Each time I opened my door, I saw two or three UConn players wearing Huskie sweat clothes walking aimlessly through the halls.
At least it looked like aimlessly to me.
At the same time, I was being told that Temple ran plays in the parking lot at its team hotel on the other side of town in Cromwell and also received texts from that hotel saying the Owls were safely tucked in their beds and not wandering the halls.
Temple head coach Steve Addazio has that kind of stuff pretty much locked down.
I didn’t know UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni was lax on the discipline end, but the evidence seem to have suggested otherwise.
Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement in other areas for Temple, either.
Hey, I wasn’t thrilled with the offensive game plan (I WAS thrilled with the defensive game plan) but a win is a win.

The way this team currently is constructed, the run can never set up the pass. It’s not going to work. It’s got to be the other way around.

Coach Wayne Hardin used to always say, “run when they expect you to pass and throw when they expect you to run.” A simple but effective philosophy taken from the old shell game. He wasn’t considered an offensive genius for nothing.
I can honestly say that every time Temple runs (first and second down, mostly) I expect Temple to run. The same can be said for the Temple passing downs. If a schmuck like me can figure that out, well-paid RU coach Kyle Flood has a whole lot of easy tendencies to game plan for this Saturday.

For the life of me, I can’t figure how Temple ran Montel Harris (28 carries, 142 yards) wide on fourth and inches when center Sean Boyle was left uncovered and quarterback Chris Coyer could have gone 20 yards on a sneak. Coyer absolved those sins with what I believe is the most clutch throw I’ve ever seen from a Temple quarterback and I’ve seen a lot of clutch throws.
I don’t know what the harm is in a play-action throw every once in a while on first down, not third, or rolling Coyer out with quick slants to Jalen Fitzpatrick and Ryan Alderman to set up success in the running game. The way this team currently is constructed, the run can never set up the pass. It’s not going to work. It’s got to be the other way around.
That’s the kind of stuff that has to be locked down as well as bedcheck has been.
Success in the final six games depends on it.
I can say that with the same absolute metaphysical certainty I felt about Temple winning after watching those UConn guys walking the halls.
Unless I see the offensive approach change against Rutgers, no more predictions.

10.12.12
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New York Daily News likes Owls

Yesterday’s New York Daily News called it.

Temple vs. UConn
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Rentschler Field, East Hartford
TV: ESPN3 (internet only)
Radio: WPHT (1210-AM)
Line: UConn favored by 5 1/2

Weather: Tailgating should be cold, with early-morning temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s, but game time temps should be in the mid-50s. Gloves re recommended if tailgating.
Directions (from Philadelphia): North on I95 to exit 48 (I91). Take I91 North to I94 N; take exit 91 toward Silver Lane and follow the signs to Rentschler Field
ETT: At least 4 hours

What have Wayne Hardin, Bobby Wallace and Al Golden done that Steve Addazio has not?
All but Daz have beaten Connecticut as a Temple head coach.
According to sentiment from the New York Daily News (above), Steve Addazio should join that club tomorrow (1 p.m., Rentschler Field, no over-the-air television).
Yeah, we know that the NYDN picks by the 5 1/2-point spread but the consensus is so overwhelming that it’s probably a safe bet that 1-4 of the panelists think Temple is going to win that game outright. For the record, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey picked Temple to win, as did CBS Sports. Two ESPN bloggers picked UConn to win.
And, err, why not?
If Temple and UConn were on the stock market, one would be rising and one falling.
UConn has had trouble scoring points of late and Temple is coming off a 37-point outing in a win over South Florida last week.

CBS Sports likes Temple to win the game OUTRIGHT.

Temple has a dynamic quarterback in New Mexico Bowl MVP Chris Coyer and UConn does not.
Coyer, rated near the top of the nation in passing efficiency last season, went 16 for 20 against USF last week and added 54 yards on the ground.
Temple has Boston College’s all-time leading rusher, Montel Harris, an 8-time ACC Player of the Week and one-time Big East Player of the Week. Harris is coming off a 133-yard, two-touchdown performance. UConn has a nice running back in Lyle McCoombs, but he is no Montel Harris. Not even close. The UConn rushing game ranks 112 out of 120 teams nationally and is averaging 2.8 yards per carry. Without a significant inside threat, expect Owl pass rushers Sean Daniels and John Youboty to have a field day pinning their ears back and going after the quarterback.

Steve Addazio returns to the state where he won
three straight titles at Cheshire High.

Temple has shown signs of improvement on defense only lately, while UConn has been solid all season.
Temple has a great kicker and punter in Brandon McManus, while UConn has no similar weapon.
Since field position figures in any close game and this one figures to be close, give that advantage to Temple as well.
UConn has the experience edge on both sides of the ball, a large enthusiastic home crowd.
Temple has the edge at QB, RB, special teams and coaching. UConn has an aging coach and offensive coordinator, Paul Pasqualoni and George DeLeone, that the fan base is generally dissatisfied with while Temple has three key members of two SEC national championship teams (Addazio, DC Chuck Heater and OL coach Justin Frye) running the show.
It should be close, but all the New York Daily News experts can’t be wrong.
Go with the Owls, something like 16-13 or 21-14.

Tomorrow: No story due to travel
Sunday: Complete analysis on the game

10.10.12
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Robert Burton Week at UConn

This was the talk of national radio and ESPN TV on Jan. 26, 2011.

 

Game time is 1 p.m. Saturday.

In the crowd of about 35,000 fans at the Temple vs. UConn game on Saturday, there will be one person who can’t lose.
His name is Robert Burton.
You won’t see them, though, unless you have a pretty good set of binoculars that can peer through some stained glass or the ESPN3 telecast catches a glimpse of him because Burton will be in one of those fancy heated club boxes.

Our prediction on this game, published on June 4 in this blog (before
Montel Harris got here).

UConn or Temple is going to lose, that’s a given, but Burton will be a winner either way.
That’s because if UConn wins, Burton will get to see his favorite school win an important college football game at Homecoming.
If UConn loses, he’ll get to say “I told you so” and probably will be trying to suppress a smug grin behind the stained glass. Largely because Hathaway left, Burton has since patched up his well-publicized differences with UConn.

Connecticut v Temple

Temple

Burton was the guy who donated $3 million for his name to be given to the Robert Burton Football Complex, then wanted it back after UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway hired Paul Pasqualoni instead of Steve Addazio.

The Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Club parking lot, at
Silver Lane and Simmons Road, is where visitors usually tailigate at UConn
but the official TU alumni tailgate will be at the Gray Lot across the street.

Now Addazio is at Temple and Pasqualoni is at UConn.
That’s why this week is Robert Burton Week and Saturday is unofficially Robert Burton Day at Rentschler Field.
It didn’t matter that Temple already hired Daz in the days before Randy Edsall resigned, Burton wanted UConn to go after him anyway.
I’ve got to give Hathaway a lot of credit for showing some ethics in picking the best available person and not raiding a fellow institution of hiring learning’s most recent hire.
At the same time, it looks like Temple made the better hire in that the Owls’ stock appears rising while the Huskies seem be going in the opposite direction.
The Owls can further solidify that general consensus with a solid win on Saturday.
In all games, there are winners and losers.
In this one, on this day, at least there is one person who could be both.

Rentschler Field forecast for Saturday.
09.27.12
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Throwback Thursday

Thanks to Jeff Thomas for this video of a great day for Paul Palmer.

Temple football almost killed me.
I’m not talking about the last two games, either.
I’m talking about literally being dead.
Thanks to former great Temple Owl defensive back Jeffrey Thomas, this video brings back a lot of memories, some of them good, some bad.
The good part was a record-setting day by Paul Palmer who was a Heisman Trophy runner-up that year. A great day and I filed what my bosses thought was a terrific story in the Sunday papers.
Little did they know I was sick as a dog.
The bad part was going to the hospital for pneumonia the next day.
In those days, I covered Temple football for Calkins Newspapers, which are a string of papers surrounding Philadelphia, including the Bucks County Courier Times, Doylestown Intelligencer and Burlington County (N.J.) Times.
We went home and away with the team those days and, thanks to an offer from then Sports Information Director Al Shrier, I secured a seat on the football team’s charter to the BYU game.
The plane’s air conditioning unit failed and we sat in about a 100-degree airplane an hour before being cleared for takeoff. I knew this was a bad sign because I was beginning to catch a cold right about then.

Hopefully, the Let’s Go Temple signs and cheers will be out in full force next week. 

When we landed in Utah some six hours, we deplaned and had to wait outside in 40-degree weather for an hour for our stuff.
I was wearing just a golf shirt and sweatpants. The team was in blazers.
The heat and cold combination turned out to be a double knockout punch.
For two weeks, the cold got worse, turned into pneumonia and the fluid surrounded my heart. I still blame myself for not going to the doctor earlier. When you are in your 20s, you think you are indestructible.
So I found myself in Doylestown hospital waiting for an operation.
The first call I got was from former coach Wayne Hardin wishing me well. Right after that, it was Bruce Arians. That meant a lot to me.
The doctors told my mom and dad that I was one of 5,000 people who had this condition and had to have this kind of operation. Lucky me.
Then a doctor with a thick Indian accent explained the risks of the operation.
“And in about 10 percent of the cases, this operation results in death,” he said.
“What was that last word you said?” I stuttered.
“Death.”
“Go ahead, do it,” I said.
I lived.
So that was the closest Temple football ever came to killing me. The second-closest was a 20-game losing streak and the 26-3 halftime deficit to Maryland cut about five years off my life expectancy, too.
After the way this season has gone so far, I just hope to be around in a few weeks should the Owls carry Montel Harris off the field after beating Cincy for the BE title and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
I might faint. You might faint. But, as I write this, it is still possible.
If they had to carry me out in a body bag after that, I couldn’t think of a better way to go.

Tomorrow: Fast Forward Friday

09.26.12
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Daz hearing the call for a rolling pocket

By the time Homecoming comes, the Temple offense could be revamped.

On this website, I have a site meter installed at the bottom.
It helps me get a pulse of what posts people are reading and where they are reading them from. Not surprisingly, the No. 1 place where people read “Temple Football Forever” is from temple.edu web addresses. Now this could be students from the tech center, professors in their offices, administrators, players and even coaches.
I don’t care.

‘Get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand a little quicker so we are not sitting there in the pocket too long. Move the pocket. We are going to address those things.’
_ Steve Addazio

I think it’s great that the Temple community is taking interest in the football team in general and in this website in particular.
That’s one of the reasons why I found this quote to be particularly revealing by Temple head football coach Steve Addazio today from the Philadelphia Inquirer: “So we’ve got to grow there,” Addazio said of the passing game. “Maybe more quick game. Get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand a little quicker so we are not sitting there in the pocket too long. Move the pocket. We are going to address those things.”
The three most important words there are “move the pocket” in my mind.
To me, the key message of my Monday post was “move the pocket.”
The post about that very issue appeared here Monday. Addazio addressed it at the Tuesday media gathering.
Hmm.
Listen, I think there’s a less than one percent chance Steve Addazio read my post and stole my idea, but I’m glad that he figured it out on his own, which I suspect.
Heck, even Stevie Wonder, let alone Stevie Addazio, could see how moving the pocket would help this Temple team as currently constituted.

Heck, even Stevie Wonder, let alone Stevie Addazio, could see how moving the pocket would help this Temple team as currently constituted

My only question is why the Owls didn’t use this approach the first three games. It seemed like they were pounding their heads against a brick wall with this run-first approach.
No matter, the kind of head-pounding that resulted in so many headaches for Owl fans could be over if Daz is serious.
The Owls have a terrific weapon in New Mexico Bowl MVP Chris Coyer, who is a good pocket passer with protection, even under pressure in the pocket. The QB who runs like a tailback could be deadly, though, if you roll him out to his left where he could buy time to see the field and strike fear of his running the ball in the defense.
If DBs come up in run support, Coyer could dump the ball over their heads for big gains to guys like Jalen Fitzpatrick and Deon Miller, let alone an occasional safety valve pass to Montel Harris or Matty Brown.
If the defense blitzes, Coyer can direct Wyatt Benson as the protection. I have not seen a better blocking fullback at Temple since Shelley Poole led Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer through the hole.
Fitpatrick, Harris and Brown are terrific playmakers in space, as is Coyer.
Running Harris and Brown up the middle, where there’s not much space, doesn’t play to their strengths.
The best way for the Owls to move the sticks, maintain possession, turn the scoreboard into an adding machine and keep their defense off the field is to run the offense through Coyer. The beauty of this tweak is that it also plays to the strengths of backups Juice Granger and Kevin Newsome. Coyer rolls left, Juice and Kevin roll right.
Whatever, I’m glad the braintrust at the E-O recognizes this and are using these two weeks to work on it.
I can’t wait until they, err, roll it out Oct. 6.

09.24.12
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Eagles and Owls: Birds of a different feather

“Let’s face it, you want to run the ball all the time and I want to pass it all the time.”

Watching Andy Reid and Steve Addazio the last two days, it suddenly occurred to me that this is a tale of two coaches, same city, two different philosophies.
Reid wants to throw the ball all the time.
Addazio wants to run it all the time.
Well, not all, but you get what I mean.

Have to give it up to Nate Bauer of BWI for this correct prediction.

If you could put Steve Addazio’s head in Andy Reid’s body and Reid’s head in Addazio’s body, probably both teams would be better off.
For purposes of argument, the words never and all mean most.
Reid has a guy, Shady McCoy (almost went to Temple, by the way, but that’s a story for another day), who ran for 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns last year and he never gives the ball to him.
Instead, he leaves his fate in the hands of a turnover-prone quarterback.
Addazio has an offensive line incapable of opening up holes up the middle, but he forces that square peg into the round hole with a stubborn trait of relying on runs up the middle.
Yet Addazio has a quarterback who never turns it over and throws nice balls, most of which are dropped.

Roll Coyer out to the left with the option of passing or throwing. If the pass is there, take it. If the run is there, take it. The fear of what Coyer can do with his feet will open up things for the Temple offense

Chris Coyer is not perfect, but he’s missed only two vital throws in this season in my mind and both were in the Penn State game. Even those might have been timing patterns that were the fault of the receivers.
He’s a kid you can win with if you put the offense in his hands.
Roll Coyer out to the left with the option of passing or throwing. If the pass is there, take it. If the run is there, take it. The fear of what Coyer can do with his feet will open up things for the Temple offense. Have Matt Brown and Montel Harris in space as dump-off options. Put Ryan Alderman near the first-down sticks as a target. Have 4.3 sprinters Jalen Fitzpatrick, Romond Deloatch and Khalif Herbin go deep.  Coyer in the straight dropback should only be a change of pace for Temple. The guys who have been dropping passes for Temple should sit on the bench.
Temple’s spread passing attack should open up lanes for the running game, not the only way around.
Just as importantly, moving those sticks will give the beleaguered defense a needed rest.
Same with Shady McCoy of the Eagles.
Establishing his running should keep the pass rush off Michael Vick and mitigate that team’s recurrent turnover problems.
Andy Reid and Steve Addazio. Both guys are pretty stubborn and I guess that’s one of the reasons why they got to where they are.
Something tells me, though, the first guy who recognizes the need for change will be the most successful this season.
I’m hoping it is both.
I’m praying it’s Addazio.