Category Archives: Temple football

11.26.17
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Temple Owls: Bowl Bound


Unfortunately, there are still some Temple football fans around rooted in the mindset of the 1990s.
That is, Temple football is not Alabama and that we as the unwashed Temple fans should be able to accept any scrapes of food that come our way because we are starving for success.
That all changed, though, when Al Golden came to town roughly a decade ago.
Those of us who have followed the program know that Temple has turned the corner and that bowl games should be the norm, not the exception.
So, as in vitamins, consider what happened yesterday to be the adult minimum yearly requirement: A bowl game with expectations of a brighter future.
I don’t know about the brighter future part–new coach Geoff Collins says that next year is going to be, umm, to use his word “ridiculous”–but we’ve achieved our minimum yearly requirement of a bowl game and I guess a lot of us should be thankful for that.

greatness
I will say one thing: This season will be a success if Temple, not Wake Forest or Toledo, is hoisting a bowl trophy no matter who the opponent.

The fact that it should have been better cannot be changed now. Beat UConn and Army, as the Owls should have, and the Owls would have finished 8-4 and gone to a similar bowl that they will go to now so it’s a wash.
As far as the 43-22 win over Tulsa goes, the Owls made Nick Sharga disappear again and that’s sad because he’s not only the best fullback in the country but one of the four best fullbacks I’ve ever seen in my 40 years of watching Temple football (right up there with Henry Hynoski, Mark Bright and Shelley Poole) and maybe, with Poole, the best blocking fullback I’ve ever seen at Temple.
If there’s a God, there will be a game plan featuring Ryquell Amstread following Sharga through the hole against the bowl opponent and a similar role for Rob Ritrovato next year. The Owls have a Heathen OC, Dave Patenaude, though, and he seems intent on doing things his way.
That way worked against Tulsa. It did not work against Villanova, UConn or a myriad other games.
Collins delivered the minimum his first year, which fit the definition of ridiculous in one way in that you are not supposed to go from double-digit-win seasons to a six-win one.
Seven wins would be better and the Owls have a chance to do that in a couple of weeks.

That would be exceeding the minimum by one.

Thursday: Fizzy Wraps Up The Season

Saturday: Bowl Scenarios

Monday: Bowl Reality

Wednesday: Ridiculousness 

 

 

11.23.17
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Thanksgiving With (Just a Few) Words

Editor’s Note: The biggest reason I have to be thankful for (as a Temple fan at least) was to be able to write this story roughly one year ago. On this Thanksgiving Day, we republish it in its entirety.

The morning after arguably the greatest win in Temple football history, there are no words.

Literally no words are coming out of my mouth, at least in the sense of being able to talk this morning.

The throaty and hoarse condition is more than OK because it was the result of cheering for the Owls at beautiful Navy-Marine Corps Stadium as they captured what really is their first-ever major football championship. The 1967 MAC title was admirable, but that was a day when the school played to a level of football that was beneath their status even then as one of America’s great public universities.

So this was it.

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Walking out of the stadium and into the concourse, I let out a very loud primal: “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT!!”

Fortunately, I got a few high fives and smiles from my fellow Temple fans and not fitted for a straightjacket. It also put the voice out for 24 hours, maybe more.

When it comes to Temple football today at least, you cannot think in terms of a national championship—the deck is stacked against G5 teams in an unfair system—so what happened yesterday was the pinnacle of Temple football success. Thousands of Temple fans, easily in excess of 10,000 Temple fans, made Navy’s 15-game home winning streak a moot point by turning that stadium into a Temple home field advantage and to get to that mountaintop and look down from it is incredibly satisfying.

Hey, it’s a pretty spectacular pinnacle. The only thing that would have made it better was a G5 slot in a New Year’s Six bowl against Penn State, but that’s not happening for a number of reasons that are not important today. (Objectively, would you take a team for the Cotton Bowl that has won seven straight against this schedule and beat a Navy team, 34-10, over a Western Michigan team that struggled to beat a four-loss Ohio team? I would but I don’t expect the bowl committee to be that objective. I can also grudingly see the WMU argument.)

What is important is that the Owls have gone from being a perennial Bottom 10 team and laughed at nationally to being ranked in the Top 25 for two straight years and going to a title game one year and winning it the next. When you think of the success P.J. Walker and Jahad Thomas have had here, there is a Twilight Zone quality to the parallel between this success and their success at Elizabeth (N.J.). In their freshman year at Elizabeth, they won one game; in their freshman year at Temple they won two games. In their sophomore year at both schools, they won six games. In their junior year at both schools, they reached the title game and lost and, in their senior year at both schools, they lifted the ultimate hardware together.

Truly amazing and I will miss both of those guys.

Back on Cherry and White Day, I wrote that this team will be better than last year’s team while people on other websites—notably, Rutgers and Penn State fan boards—insisted that Temple would take a step back. I was consistent in my belief that this was the STEP FORWARD year, not the step back one, and that belief was rooted in knowledge that both the defense and offense were significantly upgraded despite graduation losses. Only a Temple fan who follows the team closely would know that, not the know-it-alls who make assumptions on subjects they have no idea what they are talking about.

Today at noon, the Owls will know where they will go for a bowl game. They can finish the season in the top 25 and set the record for most wins in Temple football history.

It won’t be the cake because we saw that yesterday, but it will be the Cherry on top of that white cake and it will be delicious even going down past what promises to be a future sore throat.

Friday: Fizzy’s Corner

Saturday: Tulsa Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

Tuesday: Season Analysis

Thursday: Looking Ahead

11.21.17
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5 Things to Be Thankful For …

thanksgiving

Even in a 5-6 season (so far), there are things to be thankful for and, for today, we will run down this small list.

experience

Attendance

For all the self-flagellations of Temple fans over poor attendance, Boston College—a Power 5 team playing in Boston against a New England rival—drew slightly over 20,000 fans in 37,000-seat Fenway Park in a 38-13 win over UConn on Saturday night. Temple, having a worse season than BC, drew an average of over 26,000 fans for a 5-6 team. Last year, for a 10-win team, the Owls averaged  27,229.

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Nick Sharga

The fullback returned to the modern offense for the first time since the Wyatt Benson days of Al Golden and Sharga proved the position could be the key that starts an effective offense. Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead followed Sharga through the hole a year ago. That accomplished two things: Shorten the game and keep the defense fresh while chewing up clock and make the play-action passing game much more effective by bringing the linebackers and the safeties up to the line of scrimmage to defend the run and then passing over their heads. Sharga was largely a forgotten man by this staff who only gave him lip service and not the minutes he earned. Hopefully, this style of Temple TUFF football doesn’t die with the departure of Sharga because Rob Ritrovato has shown he can be an effective replacement. If OC Dave Patenaude pushes back on truly embracing a style of offensive football that epitomizes TEMPLE TUFF, head coach Geoff Collins should push him out the door no later than January.

alumnus

Atmosphere

With the satellite tailgates and the main alumni tailgate, the pre-game party atmosphere at Temple was second to none. The two strongest satellite groups were Wayne Hardin’s guys, led by Steve Conjar, and the Bruce Arians’ group, led by Sheldon Morris. The alumni association did a bang-up job with the main tailgate and, for $25 bucks, could not beat the spread or the accompanying giveaways.

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Frankie Juice

Frank Nutile, the backup who became the starter, provided some juice when he was forced into action as a starter against Army, a game that was lost due to no fault of his own. (Some incredibly poor coaching defensive adjustments in Army’s last series lost that one.) Juice was the reason for a 36-13 lead over a very good Navy team, not responsible for the Middies getting back into that one. Despite the four interceptions against UCF—when the Owls should have been running the ball deep in their own territory—Nutile is determined to have the seniors go out on a good note at Tulsa and we have no reason to doubt him. (Norm Van Brocklin had four interceptions in a 1960 game against the Cowboys but the Eagles won the NFL championship that year. It’s a bad day, not a career-killer.)

falsies

The Theory of False Equivalency

Albert Einstein did not come up with it, but it was on display for the last three months on the Temple Fan Facebook page. Most fans understood that there were many starting AAC championship-level players back (Sharga, Ryquell Armstead, Ventell Byrant, Keith Kirkwood, Isaiah Wright, Adonis Jennings, Jacob Martin, Freddy Booth-Lloyd, Michael Dogbe, Greg Webb, Karamo Dioubate, Julian Taylor, Artrel Foster, Champ Chandler and Delvon Randall, three of five starters on the offensive line, just to name a few) and this coaching staff underachieved with that level talent. Yet, there were a few—they know who their names are—who insisted “this was a whole new team with new coaches” and that Matt Rhule was 2-10 and Al Golden 1-11 in their first year so Collins should get a Mulligan for this year. False equivalency. Rhule had 4-7 MAC talent; Golden had 0-11 independent talent. Hell, even Steve Addazio had a 9-4 first year inheriting a whole new group of players but he was smart enough to stick with Golden’s winning formula.

Thursday: A Throwback Story I’ll Always Be Thankful for

Saturday: Tulsa Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

Tuesday: Season Analysis

Thursday: Looking Ahead

11.17.17
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Final Tribute To the Seniors

 

 

 

How do you frame a portrait of goodbye to the seniors who have now a 50/50 shot to be the undisputed winning-est class in the history of Temple University?

You might include at least a little rain, symbolic teardrops from Heaven that come with the territory to bid a fond adieu to what has been the best four-year period for the school’s football fans.

triangle

That white triangle is where we will be on Saturday at 1

 

Include a mostly gray day against a worthy unbeaten foe, and finish it with a win. Celebrate with a lot of high fives and smiles in the parking lot afterward.

That would be the most fitting celebration of these wonderful young men who have given their all to Temple University.

They say to be the champs you’ve got to beat the champs and UCF hasn’t beaten these champs yet, and hopefully won’t.

When you break football down to its essence, it’s all about making plays and that’s what this group of seniors has done for the last four years and five in the peculiar case of defensive end Sharif Finch.

Temple at Central Florida

Keith Kirkwood: 1 second left

That might be as a place to start this tribute as any because Finch was here—believe it or not—as a starting linebacker in Matt Rhule’s FIRST season. He sacked the Rutgers’ quarterback and that appeared to end the game with a Temple win but called for what film later showed was a bogus personal foul and kept that game-winning drive alive. (Hell, Finch should have never been placed in that spot because Rhule eschewed the quarterback sneak behind two future NFL players—quarterback P.J. Walker following center Kyle Friend—on a fourth-and-three-inch call. Instead, Rhule inexplicably called a five-yard deep handoff to fullback Kenny Harper which was stopped for a five-yard loss. With RU having no timeouts left and Temple the ball on the RU 20 with 1:02 left, four inches would have ended that game with a kneel down or two.)

labolito

Nick Sharga watched by Bernard Pierce

Finch, now at DE, has been making plays for five years at Temple and four full ones and only two weeks ago was named the AAC Defensive Player of The Week for his effort in a 34-26 win over Navy.

In the play-making arena, fullback and linebacker Nick Sharga is right up there with the greatest playmakers in Temple football history.

Sharga was so much a part of the consecutive 10-win seasons that Rhule mentioned him (although not by name) in his introductory Baylor press conference. “We went to a pro-set at Temple because we had an NFL fullback,” Rhule said.

finch

Sharif Finch picks off Sackenberg.

Baylor might not, but Temple still has for at least the next two games. Sharga will go down as the most versatile player in Temple history because he was the best linebacker on the field in a 34-12 win over nationally-ranked Memphis in 2015 even though the national defensive player of the year, Tyler Matakevich, was lined up next to him that day.

Temple hasn’t nearly used Sharga as much as it should this year and its success going forward could depend on how much it uses this most valuable asset in the next two games.

Still, there is more to this class than Sharif and Nick, so shout outs must go to players like defensive back Cequan Jefferson, who chased after and recovered a loose ball on the kickoff against Cincinnati last season; wide receiver Adonis Jennings, who became a star he after transferring from Pitt; kicker Austin Jones, who had a Temple school-record 19-straight field goals broken (also, at the time, the best of any FBS kicker) against Memphis last year. That was the game what he was the victim of a cheap shot. Also gone will be punter Alex Starzyk, who has been solid since debuting in a 37-7 win at Vanderbilt in 2014.

Other goodbyes go to long-snapper Corey Lerch, who played for LaSalle High in the best high school league in America, the Philadelphia Catholic League. Long-snappers are like officials. If you don’t notice them, they are doing a great job and, since I did not notice Corey, the only thing I can say is: Great job, Corey.

americansked

Last year’s juniors were just as responsible for this as last year’s seniors were.

Keith Kirkwood, who made the most clutch catch in Temple history (against UCF) will be exiting stage left soon and that’s a pretty good memory to take to tailgates the next 50 years. Keith will never have to buy a brewski, that’s for sure.

Corners Artrel Foster and Mike Jones will also be missed. Foster was been steady and dependable while Jones was never the same player after being called for a bogus pass interference on a 50/50 interception that might have turned the Houston game around this year. It looks like that play took a lot of the natural aggressiveness out of Jones. They don’t call interference on 50/50 balls in the MEAC where Jones shined the last two seasons. Hopefully, he can leave Temple with a Pick 6 and a punt return to the house in the next few games.

Other seniors departing include linebacker Chris Smith, who is above the line for the first time this week, and offensive linemen Brian Carter, Leon Johnson and Cole Boozer. Carter was a defensive line starter in the 2014 game and gave up a solid career on that side of the ball to move to OL for the good of the team.

Defensive linemen Greg Webb and Julian Taylor will also be departing, homeboys and starters from each side of the river: Webb from Timber Creek (N.J.) and Taylor from Abington in Montgomery County.

There’s no crying in both baseball and Temple football, but if the skies open up and drop a symbolic tear or two on this senior day, that should be forgiven because it will be a sad day for all of us.

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.15.17
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Geoff Collins Unplugged

tuff

A couple of weeks ago, at hopefully what will later be determined to be the low point of a long and fruitful (well, maybe just fruitful) career as Temple football head coach, Geoff Collins sat down with The Inquirer’s Marc Narducci and gave mostly guarded answers about his first season.

We’ll call those the “plugged” answers—as in those stock answers you’d expect most head coaches to say.

Today, with the benefit of hindsight, we’ll add some answers Collins MIGHT say if he was being unguarded or, in another word, unplugged. Our words mind you, but the words we guess Collins might be thinking now.

What has been the most pleasant surprise and biggest disappointment to this point?

REAL ANSWER: “The pleasant surprise has been the players. How they work every day, how they have a great attitude every day, how they are physical and tough every day in practice. They are very coachable and want to be great. That has been the biggest pleasant surprise. After coaching in the SEC the last six years, you don’t always get that, but these kids want to be great, they want to be coached and they are fun to be around. The biggest disappointment is just some of the young mistakes we have made. Three of the games in particular (against Houston, UConn and Army) were one-score games and a lot of those were things that were one or two plays away and that happened because of young mistakes. That has been one of the things that has been tough to deal with. The nice thing is that once they get the experience and they get it corrected, you don’t see it repeated. So you haven’t seen a rash of the same mistakes. A lot of times it is a new experience and a new thing that goes wrong with young players and that happens. But just the resiliency and coachability has been fun to be around.”

shargamilk

COLLINS UNPLUGGED:  The pleasant surprise remains the same, but the biggest disappointment has been the fact that we tried to reinvent the wheel when they did just fine under their system the last two years. I told Mack Brown in the ESPN game prep for Cincinnati that we were going to go back to TEMPLE TUFF football—run the ball at the goal line behind the best fullback in the country—and you can see what happened. We got away from that in losses to UConn and Army. That’s Temple football and it’s got to be Temple football going forward: Run Rock and Hood behind Sharga (and Nitro next year), then have Frankie Juice make explosive downfield plays in the passing game by faking to those guys when the linebackers and the safeties cheat up to stop the run. It’s not the kind of ball Dave likes, but he’s going to have to get used to it. If I have to put my foot down, I will.

Depth has been an issue due to so many injuries, especially recently. Has that been eye-opening for you?

RA: “It has been tough and the thing I talked about to the team this morning (on Monday), one of the positions of strength both in leadership and depth and the ability to rotate guys through in our above- the-line system has been in our defensive line. We have played eight, nine and 10 and sometimes 11 defensive linemen. And there really hasn’t been a drop-off. The leadership from Jacob Martin, Jullian Taylor, Sharif Finch, has been outstanding and I would even include Greg Webb in that leadership piece. We are using that as a model for all the other positions moving forward. To build that kind of depth and that kind of leadership throughout the organization at every single position.”

performance

CU: Not playing Greg Webb—who started in the Navy championship game last year—against Notre Dame and Villanova was a big mistake. We probably would not have been gouged on those 17 running plays that gained like 8,000 yards had we had vets like Webb and FBL in there instead of the new guys. We’ve also got to get Karamo Dioubate started in the right direction and I’ve made a mental note to play him some more going forward. KD’s natural position is DE and shifting him over there will make him a Mayhem star next year.

The quarterback situation is probably something you didn’t envision and I would think you would have wanted to have had it settled well before the opening game instead of deciding the week of the opener at Notre Dame. How tough was that?

RA: “When you lose a kid who started so many games and thrown so many passes and had first-team reps for four years (the way Phillip Walker did), the transition trying to find that next guy, a first time as a head coach, has been challenging. The thing that makes it challenging is they have been good. It would be one story if they weren’t good, then it would be a different scenario. We have had some quarterbacks that have played really well and good enough that the separation has been tough throughout. Logan (Marchi) has played really well in some really good stretches. And I was proud of Frank (Nutile) who came in and played as well as he did last week in his first college start (with Marchi injured). It’s been a good issue to have that they are both good and competitive.”

CU: I’m kicking myself now but not going to Frankie Juice after Logan had that pass batted down against Villanova. That should have been an Epiphany moment for me but I kind of let Dave (Patenaude) talk me out of it because he had such a good relationship with Logan due to recruiting him for Coastal (Carolina). No doubt in my mind had Frankie played after Nova, his feet would have been wet enough to maybe beat Houston and definitely beat UConn and Army. From now on, we’re throwing out this metrics stuff at practice and playing the guy who plays best in real games and that’s Frankie Juice currently.

juice

You talked earlier that in your previous coaching experiences for the most part, you only had to watch the defensive side of the ball. Now you have had to be in charge of the entire team. As a first-year coach has this been overwhelming task for you, and how has it been adjusting to being a head coach for the first time?

RA: “It has been exciting. I think I have improved every single week. I have been self-critical at every stage. I think at first you have to be critical of yourself before you can be critical of others. At Notre Dame (a 49-16 loss), I was still in that fighter-pilot mindset that I have been in for the last six years as a coordinator in the SEC and learned very quickly, I couldn’t do that. You see me at practice and I am a wild man out there and provide the energy and drive and I have been doing that more and more each week, so those kinds of things have been good. I found myself earlier in the season staying on the defensive headsets most of the game. The defensive staff has done a great job with in-game adjustments, and I now when the defense is on the bench, I have been able to be on the offensive headset the whole time, put my two cents in, tell them when we are going to go for it, when we need to run it, and when we need to take a shot, so that has been exciting for me. So more and more throughout the season since the South Florida game (a 43-7 loss on Sept. 21) we have done an elite eight, which are eight plays I give to the offensive staff. The crazy formations we started doing, I know as a defensive guy those are difficult to prepare for, so I give them a formation and two to three plays.”

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CU: As a head coach, you’ve got to be aware of everything and, for the first few games, I wasn’t that tuned into things. Pat Kraft strongly suggested that Dave go to the booth after his sideline demeanor against USF and that’s turned into a positive for us, not just in PR, but in productivity.

These last four games whether you become bowl eligible or not become critical when you are talking about next year. How critical is it?

RA: “We are probably four plays away from having a completely different record. We are playing a lot of young players at a lot of key positions. We have a lot of guys who will be coming back after this season so I think the future is really, really bright, but out of respect for our old guys, we are going to do it the right way for these old guys to finish out strong the final four games.”

CU:  We’re not playing as many young players as I’ve been saying all year. We’re going to be losing a lot more guys from this year’s team for next year than we did last year’s championship team for this year. So I’ve got my work cut out for me next year in terms of getting JUCO offensive linemen, wide receivers and defensive backs–not mention  replacing impact ends like Martin and Finch. A lot of our fans feel like we’re playing a completely new team but we’re not. Matt (Rhule) left me with a lot of great championship-level players and we’re going to lose a lot of those guys after, hopefully, the bowl game.

Friday: Our Annual Tribute To The Seniors

11.11.17
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Can We Now Finally Say The “S” Word?

Can we now finally say the “S” word when it comes to Temple football?

(No, we don’t mean the first letter in the last name of the hero of the Pravda crowd who was finally and justifiably kicked off the Temple Fan Facebook page today. Expect more to follow in future weeks if they follow that guy’s smug and sarcastic lead.)

For weeks we’ve been avoiding it because this coaching staff could not be trusted and was not following the simple but tried and true principles of winning at Temple that have been outlined in this space for the last five years: Run the ball, control the clock, play defense, great plays on special teams, explosive plays in the play-action passing game.

The “S” word we’re talking about here is Sweep.

juicemeister

Not having this kid starting from the jump a huge coaching error.

Yes, it’s just two games in the regular season and a game in the post-season but a sweep would turn this disaster of a Temple football season into another S word: Success.

Embracing the principles outlined here after year two made Matt Rhule a multi-millionaire and it seems, off a 35-24 win at Cincinnati on Friday night, Geoff Collins has moved a step closer to cashing in on his fortune.

There was more running the ball, more play-action, and more good plays on special teams in this one game than we have seen all season.

Let’s face it: Central Florida is going to win the AAC title whether it beats Temple or not next Saturday at noon. However, it will be another “S” word if the Owls become the lone team to hand the Knights a loss:

Sweet.

doggies

Went 3-0-1 as all these underdogs won comfortably and the BC game was a push. Now 10-1-1 on the season against the spread. Key is waiting until late in the season.

It could happen.

Florida teams do about as well in the cold as Temple teams have done in Florida in September and October historically.

The Cincinnati team that Temple dominated on Friday night lost in overtime to an SMU team that gave UCF a great game in the warm-weather state of Texas last week.

Forget the fact that the coaching staff failed Frank Nutile (and their own kids and fans) by not starting him from the jump, all that can be done now is think about the future.

The future with Frank and the staff embracing these tried and true Temple football winning principles can be describe with another “S” word:

Satisfying.

One week at a time and an 8-5 season is now not the longshot it appeared to be two weeks ago.

Monday: Fizzy’s Corner

Wednesday: Geoff Collins Unplugged

Friday: Our Annual Tribute To The Seniors

Sunday: UCF Game Analysis

 

11.10.17
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Cincy Preview: A Large Fan Presence

photoshopped

If this is photoshopped, hats off to the guy who did this (hats on, I mean).

One thing is for sure tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2) is that Temple will lack a large road fan presence in Cincinnati for a very important game with bowl implications.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be large Temple football fans on display tonight.

Whatever the Owls fan base might lack in quantity, they should more than make up in quality because, in Freddy Booth-Lloyd, they not only have a future professional football player but future professional Temple football fan.

No. 1 in your game program and No. 1 in your heart should be Booth-Lloyd, who has gone on record as saying that after his pro football career is over, he wants to be a Temple Temperor.

Cincinnati backs trying to get by FBL tonight (will) be like this ….

To the Rip Van Winkles (or just the Winkels) out there, the Temple Temperors are three guys who put their Temple fandom out there on display unlike really any other three fans in the stadium on a weekly basis. It takes a lot of guts to do that. They put their Temple fandom on the line with those large crowns they wear and the accompanying capes. They are to be admired for being, well, out there. On road games, they are often highlighted by the TV guys. Now down to “beer money” those Temporors cannot make the trip to Cincy tonight but will have a very large fill-in for at least one of the nights.

It’s nice to know at least one of the real Owls have noticed.

If Refrigerator Perry could have a long and storied career in the NFL, there is no reason the 6-foot-1, 365-pound Booth-Lloyd can’t, either. He’s large, very athletic, and a prodigious run-stopper.

He’s big, tough and athletic enough to win a track race against similarly sized big guys in a Florida high school track and field relays. The video went viral a few years ago and the world knew that Temple football had a big guy who could run.

Booth-Lloyd had the best game of his college career against a Navy team that uses the fullback to set up success in the triple option. Playing over the center and often with eight-man fronts, Freddy was a big (biggest?) part of the reason why the Owls were able remove the key that starts the triple option.

Tonight against Cincy is a whole different story in that FBL will have to play a key part to stop a Bearcat running attack that makes quarterback Hayden Moore effective. Stop the run and the Owls can get after Hayden Moore, sack him, and maybe force him into interceptions that go the other way.

At least that’s the plan.

If the Owls win, a nice cap to the night would be for FBL to lead the “T For Temple U” cheers, not wearing the players’ helmet, but his future Temperor crown. If that visual can be made to happen, you can book it will go viral as well.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

11.09.17
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Cincy Throwbacks: Game With a Kick

wesley

Ironically, No. 17 gave Temple a 17-17 tie with Cincy.

If Friday’s game with Cincinnati comes down to a kick, no one will be surprised.

The Owls are 2.5-favorites and many of their past games against the Bearcats have involved a kick.

cincyscores

Last year’s 34-13 win gave the Owls a 12-7-1 lead in the series.

The Owls have a great kicker in Aaron Boumerhi, who already has the pressure of a game-winning OT kick under his belt this year against Villanova.

If past games with Cincinnati are a yardstick, it just might come down to the length of a leg.

Field goals have played a big role in the series, which Temple leads, 12-7-1.

Probably the most famous kick came in the series only tie, 17-17, on Oct. 29, 1977.
A year earlier, Temple coach Wayne Hardin eschewed an extra-point attempt by kicker Wes Sornisky in an attempt to beat Penn State on the final play of the game. The two-point conversion pass went off the hands of the Temple receiver and the Owls lost, 31-30.

“A tie is like kissing your sister,” Hardin said afterward. “I felt the kids came too far and deserved the chance to win.”

Facing a similar situation the next season at Nippert Stadium, Hardin went for the tie, a 33-yard field goal by Sornisky.

It was good and the teams walked off the field with a 17-17 tie. It was Cincinnati’s second 17-17 tie that year. The Bearcats tied Louisville in an earlier game.

Afterward, a famous photo of Sornisky, who ironically wore No. 17, was published with him whispering something in Hardin’s ear.

“I asked him if this was like kissing your sister,” Wes said.

Those were pretty strange days. Now nobody gets to play for three hours and come away with a result that is pretty much like not even having played the game at all.

It was probably like kissing your half-sister from Temple’s point of view because the Owls came from down 11 points in the fourth quarter to get in a position for a tie. That year, Cincinnati lost by two points to a Maryland team that finished No. 13 in the nation.

Sornisky was a great kicker for Hardin, who helped the Owls set what was then an NCAA record for consecutive extra points (106) that was snapped earlier that season.

Another kick that factored into a memorable Temple vs. Cincy game came in 1974.

The Owls had a nation’s best 14-game winning streak and Don Bitterlich, who still holds the school record for longest field goal (56). A Cincy field goal ended that long winning streak, 16-15.

Temple also won the 1978 game on a field goal, 16-13.

Missed field goals also factored into the 2003 game. That game, on a Saturday night at unbeaten 13-point favorite Cincinnati, featured missed field goals from 37 and 24 yards by the Owls’ kicker. Temple, with a 24-10 fourth quarter lead, threw a bomb on 2nd and 2. Incomplete, of course. The Owls also threw three passes when they had a first-and-goal on the Cincinnati 2.

INCOMPLETE, of course, and the missed kicks had everything to do with a 30-24 double-overtime loss.

Now if the Owls can just put Boumerhi in a position to win, they’ve got to feel good about their chances.

The last time they were 2.5-point favorites, though, they won, 34-10.

To me, that would be the result I would most get a kick out of now.
Tomorrow: Cincinnati Preview

11.07.17
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Owls: Be All You Can Be

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Background shows great fan support for a then 3-5 Temple team.

A minority but certainly vocal opinion on social media this season from some Temple fans can simply be broken down into this one sentence:

“We’re not Alabama or LSU and we’re going to have seasons like this and we’re not going to go to a bowl every year.”

There are a couple of flaws in that logic.

One, few championship teams in the short history of the Group of Five returned as much talent as the 2017 Temple Owls. The best fullback in the country (who is seldom used this year) and the best running back on an AAC championship team (not used enough this season) and the best group of receivers in the history of Temple (only lately used) are among that group. Even more returned on the defensive side of the ball.

Two, “we’re” not playing the same schools Alabama or LSU are.

Why can’t “we” be the same type of program as Navy, which has been to 13 bowls in the last 14 years? Why can’t “we” be at least as good as Ohio (not Ohio State, mind you) and be bowl-eligible in the last eight years?

The answer is no reason at all.

When someone asks you what “Temple TUFF” means, show them this …

The jury is still out on Geoff Collins but, if he cleans up the mess of the first nine games over the final three, there will be hope for his future here. Ryquell Armstead had 151 yards against an Army team that shut out Air Force and getting him more involved would be a good place to start. Certainly, getting him involved to close out a 34-13 game is a must that this coaching staff demonstrated it does not understand on Thursday.

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Lost only on Southern Miss. Lock of the week (Wyoming) not only covered but won outright.

Navy, despite the loss to Temple last week, represents being the kind of program that produces the kinds results Owl fans should expect. Bowl every year, playing for a championship every few years. Consistently, Ken Niumatalolo gets the most out of his talent and there is no reason Temple fans cannot demand the same standard. Ohio is the same way under Frank Solich.

If the Owls cannot win at least two of three, this season will be deemed an abysmal failure ruined by a coaching staff not competent enough to leave well enough alone and take the principles that created back-to-back 10-win seasons and, err, run with them.  Instead, they are all over the place on their offensive philosophy. One week, Armstead gets 151 against Army and, the next, they refuse to use him to close out a 34-13 lead.

Defensively, the Owls were all they can be for the first three quarters against Navy, then lapsed into the bad habits that caused them to be 3-5 coming into that game. It’s hard  to believe that three defensive backs who looked so terrific under a different coaching staff a year ago have lost the ability to cover the pass under this coaching staff. To be all it can be, maybe this defensive coaching staff—specifically head coach Collins—needs to take a look at the pass defense concepts taught by Phil Snow and apply that fix over these next three games. Clearly, “Mayhem” has not allowed the Owls to defend the pass in the fourth quarter of the last two games.

If the Owls be all they can be, they can win the two of three required to make a bowl game with honor.

That’s all the fans ever wanted to begin with.

Thursday: Cincinnati Throwback

11.05.17
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Fizzy’s Corner: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Editor’s Note: I was asked some new tailgate friends on Thursday night who Fizzy is. He is in the photo  showing what Swag really means. Here are his thoughts on the win over Navy.

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Wow, Temple was up over Navy by three touchdowns. Frank Nutile’s passing was pinpoint, and everyone was catching the ball. Had Dave Patenaude turned over a new leaf, throwing early and often? Lots of folks left early, and missed the conclusion. It was probably better for them.

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Graphic thanks to Brad Ford

All in all, the coaching was pretty doggone good… for 54 minutes, and then the wheels fell off… again. Up by three touchdowns with a little over six minutes left, Dependable Dave Patenaude did the same thing he did the week before vs. Army. Temple gets the ball at midfield, and Dave runs three times up the gut. Instead of trying a variety of plays and/or throw the ball to get one or two first downs and sew up the game, he starts playing not to lose. In one fell swoop, he gave the momentum back to Navy. (How many times have we all seen coaches in football and basketball slow up their offense too soon, and give the momentum back to the opponent?)

Once more, we barely had a running game. I attribute this to Dave’s, everything’s straight ahead, “Broad Street Offense.” After our ninth game and for the entire season, we’ve run one reverse, one jet sweep, and one bootleg. And where was the “Cheese-Steak” split offense? How about the “wildcat” with Wright at tailback; can’t he throw too?

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We had five, “first and goals.” On four of those, the first play was “up the gut” against a goal line defense. Finally, on the fifth try, he ran a play action pass on first down, which resulted in a touchdown. Hoorah!

The defense played spectacularly for 54 minutes, and almost completely slowed down Navy’s vaunted offense. That’s until Navy’s first string QB, Zach Abey, got hurt. His replacement had quite an arm, and if he wasn’t sacked, he easily picked apart Temple’s pass defense. There were guys open all over the place. When Navy went to a “trips-left” formation, Temple tried to cover it with one and a half defenders. How’s that possible? On some plays, our pass defenders were obviously confused, as they were at the end of the Army game. I truly believe had Navy recovered the last onside kick, they would have tied the game. This is the second week in a row, the pass defense has fallen apart at the end of the game. This time though, time expired before we did.

Tuesday: Be All You Can Be