Category Archives: Temple football

11.21.16
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… and now for a word from Fizz …

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... Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub’s views here could be considered contrary or constructive criticism … I will let you decide in the comments below ...

By: Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Two shutouts in a row, a five game winning streak, more talent than almost everyone we play, bowl game and conference championship possibilities, that’s not too shabby, right?  The program is in great shape, so what’s to bitch about?

I’ll tell you what; it’s the play-calling in the first half.

Most every week before the game, Coach Rhule announces our game plan to the world.  The plan is usually the same, we’re going to run the football and keep the other team’s offense off the field.  (Even if we are going to do that, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell everyone else.)  Of course, the opposing coaches then design their first and second down defenses to stop the run.  Tulane certainly did that.  Led by number 77 (Smart), Tulane gapped and run-blitzed the stuffing out of the Owls, and rendered our run game mostly ineffective in the first half.  It ended at 10 – 0, and woulda, coulda, shoulda, been at least 24 – 0.

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Until nearly the end of the first half we ran the ball on practically every first down, and usually on second down too.  This puts tremendous pressure on Phillip Walker and our receivers, as they always seemed to be facing third and long.  Of course, the defense then dials up some blitzes to put the heat on.

Walker and the receivers, especially Ventell Bryant, were phenomenal.  Walker’s passes were mostly crisp and accurate, and our receivers seem to be gaining more confidence in each game.  With Tulane playing man-to-man, it was obvious from the get-go, they couldn’t cover our guys.

Well, what was obvious to me, wasn’t obvious to Glenn Thomas and Matt Rhule.  Sure, it ended up as a romp, but we didn’t know that in the first half.  Twice, on first and twenty, we ran the ball on both first and second downs.  At first and goal, three times, we ran the ball on first and second downs.  When we lined up in I formation, I thought for sure they were going to run the play-action to our outstanding Nick Sharga in the flat. No dice!  Speaking of play-action against a man-to-man pass coverage, OMG, how successful would that have been on first down?

All of the above may not seem important after a blow-out, but it is.  In the three losses this year, all woulda, coulda, shouldas, it seems our coaches stubbornly stuck to the game plan until it was too late.  More imaginative and flexible play calls, might have staved off those losses.  But now, if we’re to win a championship and a bowl game against very good teams, we’re not going to have the luxury of out-manning our opponents in the second half.  We have to be nimble and strike quickly.  If we waste opportunities against good teams, we will lose.

In closing, I’d like to congratulate Phil Snow on putting together an exceptional defense.  However, a word of caution.  We couldn’t  stop Army’s triple-option, and Navy runs it better.  If we get to play Navy, I’d like to suggest he get together with Wayne Hardin.  At our tailgate after a loss to Navy years ago, Coach Hardin, drew up his plan on how to stop it.  If we can’t, we’d better score a lot of points.

Tomorrow: The Seniors

11.20.16
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Savor Every Moment

Jahad Thomas once again made a touchdown out of what seemed like a short gain.

When my beloved Temple football Owls are far away, my routine has been pretty much set over the last 20 years.

In the bad old days, I would pace the floor and listen on the radio and, when the Owls got involved with the MAC, sit in front of my computer and watch the game on a flickering internet connection. In those days, there was a lot of pacing and cursing and, after one particular Steve Addazio disastrous game at Bowling Green, staring for a good 15 minutes at a “your program has ended “ message in disgust and not believing what I just saw.

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These, though, are the good old days and I have to head out to my neighborhood watering hole—sometimes even venturing as far as the Main Campus—to enjoy the game with other Temple Owls’ fans. Unless, though, I make the long trip to campus none of these fans have quite the passion for the Owls as I do.

They know that. I know that. It’s accepted as truth on both sides.

So in the last quarter of a 31-0 beat down of Tulane (it was 24-0 at the time) that sets up a potentially delicious end to the season, one of the regulars friendly mentioned: “Mike, you can go home now. This one is over.”

“Hell no,” I said. “I’m enjoying this. To me, when Temple has a lot and the bad guys have a little, that’s my idea of a great game. I’m sticking to the end.”

It’s the reason why I remain glued to my seat when the Owls blow out an opponent at home while a steady stream of my fellow fans make their way up the stairs at Lincoln Financial Field. (I had a conversation with former Temple player Matt Falcone’s family, who usually sit near me, and they also agreed they want to stay until the end and they always do. I’m glad I’m not alone.) It is the reason why I make it over to the students and sing the alma mater and “T for Temple U” with them and the team.

Hell, no. I’m not missing any of this.

When you’ve been through a 20-game losing streak like I have, 31-0 victories on the road to set up a championship game at home are something to savor. I watched as Logan Marchi took over at quarterback, then watched as Frank Nutile took over, hoping to see a couple of passes from those players in a “real” game. Matt Rhule, being the nice guy he is, did not allow it.

I wanted to see if the Temple fans who made it from their end zone and watched them move right behind the bench. Near the end, I do not think it is too much of an exaggeration that the 200 Temple fans there were half of the 400 or so people in the stadium. The Isaiah Wright touchdown was a thing of beauty, as was the Ventell Bryant touchdown (while double-covered) and the typical PAC-Man Jahad Thomas’ touchdown we have all come to view as routine. Thomas should be a chef when he graduates from Temple because he knows how to turn chicken-you-know-what into chicken salad.

Now the Owls can clinch another AAC East title in front of their home fans by playing their brand of football on Saturday. They deserve a big crowd. Maybe even this time most of them will decide to remain seated to watch them hoist that trophy again with an eye on an even bigger one, maybe literally, down the road. It’s up to them to finish this bad boy out and all they have to do is play defense, run the football, hit play-action passes, and be great on special teams. That’s the Temple brand as much as the triple option is the Navy brand.

Savor every moment. I certainly will.

Monday: Fizz Checks In

Tuesday: The Seniors

Thursday: Game Day

Saturday: Weekend Picks

11.18.16
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Trap Game My Butt

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                                                                              This book could be written about only one Temple team and it is this one if it is able to avoid traps.

There are very few things that cause me to shake my head on social media these days—heck, we’ve all just come out on the other side of a bizarre Presidential election process–but one of them was the title of this post on OwlsDaily.com the other day:

“Tulane Strikes Me As A Trap Game.”

Huh?

First off, there are two games left in the regular season and there could be nothing bigger on the line for the Temple Owls than the task right in front of them. This is only a “trap game” if they build the trap and then fall into it.

Trap game my butt.

While there is confidence coming out of New Orleans, the Owls themselves should dictate the tone and tempo of this game. A poster named “Waverider” wrote this on the Tulane message board: “I think we can win this game. Temple runs a pro-style, I formation offense. That works well for our defense.” Another, named, “Gawave5” predicted a 24-21 Tulane win, writing: “Finally, I predict the defense will give us two turnovers in Temple territory and we convert these for 14 points.”

None of those forecasts map out what this game means to the Temple players and the school in general.

Arguably, there is more on the line here than the Penn State game (either this year or last) or the Notre Dame game last year. There is not a FBS-level league championship trophy in the Edberg-Olson Hall trophy case and the trophy they got last year for finishing in second place will be about as memorable as the one the Baltimore Colts’ 1966 team got for winning the NFL’s second-place game, called the “Playoff Bowl.” The vanquished team was the then 9-5 Philadelphia Eagles. If the Owls win on Saturday, they get to play a AAC East championship game at home the next week and, if they win that one, they get to play the overall AAC championship game on Dec. 3.

Maybe even at home, if things break right, but certainly before a lot more of their own fans than they had supporting them last year in the same game. This season is all lined up for the Owls to run the table. It’s up to them to do it.

So they have THREE championship games coming up in the next three weeks and there is no reason or excuse whatsoever for a letdown. Temple head coach Matt Rhule indicated as much earlier this week when he said the team knows that “every game is a playoff game” and that’s the approach everyone inside the E-O seems to be taking now. It is the right one. It is the only one.

To be truly memorable in this day and age of leagues, it has to be a championship season. The play “That Championship Season” written by Jason Miller in 1972, did not win the Pulitzer Prize in drama (1973) for nothing. The theme centered on the bond men on that team had 20 years after cutting down the nets as a championship basketball team.

Win on Saturday and the subsequent two Saturdays and the young men who run on the football field for Temple now will walk together forever in a way really no other Temple team can say.

With those kinds of stakes, the word trap should never pass through anyone’s lips or random keyboard.

Picks this week: UConn upsetting BC (getting 7), Northwestern covering the 2 at Minnesota, Duke upsetting at Pitt (covering the 8), West Virginia covering the 3 over visiting Oklahoma, Wyoming covering the 9.5 against vistiing San Diego State, and Old Dominion laying the 8.5 at Florida Atlantic. Also like Tulsa covering the small 1.5 at UCF.

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.14.16
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How The East Will Be Won

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The Owls could use the playmaking ability of Marshall Ellick for the stretch run. Great uniforms, by the way.

When Matt Rhule takes the call at the AAC teleconference today, maybe someone will ask him a question about the health of his team and how the week off has benefited the Owls.

With South Florida beating Memphis on Saturday night, the easy answer to how the East will be won is for the Owls to win out, one game, one quarter and even one play at a time. The best thing that could have happened in the off week was for the Owls to be revitalized by the rest.

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The perfect answer for Rhule would be that everyone is fine and ready to go for Tulane (3:30 Saturday, Channel 17).

The worst answer would be that nothing has changed and the Owls are as banged up as they were last week.

The most likely answer, though, is somewhere in between.

Marshall Ellick, the promising wide receiver who would have, among other things, caught a touchdown against Penn State (had it not been for a penalty), has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. There has been radio silence on Ellick for a couple of weeks, but it was never seen as an injury that would keep him out for the season so maybe the week off has helped him as well. Ellick’s loss has not been felt because this really has been the deepest the Owls have been at wide receiver and Jahad Thomas has been, as we guessed here in the offseason, very effective when used as a slot receiver.

There have been a number of other Owls who have played through bumps and bruises. Sean Chandler was thought to be out for the entire year with a knee injury, but came back and seems to be playing at a high level.  Too many to mention, but there is no doubt that if most of them were OK to get on the field the last couple of weeks, they will tough it out for the final two weeks.

It will be nice to know, though, how the week has impacted those bumps and bruises and we should find that out no later than today.

Wednesday: So You Are Saying There’s A Chance?

Friday: Tulane Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.12.16
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A Day Without Owls, But Not Without Football

aacbowls

Going through severe Temple football withdrawal today, but heartened by the fact that the Owls needed this week to ice up those injuries and rest those weary bones for the final two legs of the regular-season trip.

The reward for finishing the “Unfinished Business” will be one of six bowls above, some sweet, some sour. Here are our picks this week.

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Postscript: Miami won, 34-14 (not 35-14 as we predicted) and Penn State won, 45-31 (not 41-24 as we predicted). Air Force won, 49-46 and Navy got a push at 42-40. We lost outright on ECU, which got smoked, 55-31, by SMU.

11.11.16
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Rest, Relaxation and TV Watching

Colin Thompson is almost always wide open on that TE throwback.

About two hours into raking the leaves the morning after Temple’s last game, my cute and somewhat younger neighbor Abby and her dog Roadie dropped by to say hello.

Abby saw my Temple sweatshirt and said: “So how did Temple do last night? I watched early and they had a 21-0 lead.”

“They scored on three of the first 14 plays and called it a night,” I said.

Abby detected a hint of disgust in my tone of voice.

“Not good, huh?” she said.

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“I’m a perfectionist. I thought they were headed for triple digits. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the win. It just should have been so much better.”

Roadie looked at me like he understood, not so sure about Abby.

At least Temple offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas probably thought along the same lines. After I shut off the TV the night before, I listened to Harry Donahue do the post-game show. Harry said Thomas was leaving the coach’s box and “looked very upset.”

I guess he’s a perfectionist, too, which gives me an enormous amount of hope for the balance of the season for the Owls. Twenty-one squat got the job done, but it was nowhere reflective of how much better Temple is than UConn and I thought the Owls let the Huskies off too easy. If Thomas applies a couple of simple fixes going forward, the Owls could be on Easy Street the rest of the way. Had Thomas been smiling ear-to-ear after the offense fell flat on its face for the final three quarters, I might be worried today.

The Owls get some needed rest this week, while we all go through Temple football withdrawal.

Thomas probably went back to the drawing board, played a little game of tic-tac-toe with the X’s and O’s and might have come to the same conclusion I did. P.J. Walker throwing over the middle and to the other side featuring the tight ends is probably something the Owls should have incorporated into their offense last Friday night and something that probably should be a part of the game plan for the balance of the season. One, P.J.  is extremely effective at moving the defense to the side where he rolls out, so that leaves the whole other side of the field open. Two, he sells that throwback pass to the tight end really well and he tosses it with impeccable touch.

That’s not just against UConn, but every team.

The Owls are tweaking today and off tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean Temple fans have nothing to do. There is a men’s Big 5 basketball game tonight against visiting LaSalle (7 p.m., ESPN News) to take in and, on Saturday, Tulsa being a 1.5-point favorite at Navy is one of two compelling league football games affecting Temple. My thought on this game is that Tulsa has an outstanding offense, but Navy chews up such large chunks of the clock that it might not mean enough and Navy wins this game outright. Also, South Florida is a three-point favorite at Memphis and the Tigers might have been emboldened by a 51-7 win at SMU last week. If Memphis takes down USF, the Owls will only have to win one of two to clinch AAC East.

So go Tigers and watch for the throwback to the tight end.

Tomorrow: Saturday Picks

Monday: How The East Will Be Won

11.09.16
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What Have We Done (Part II)?

Matt Rhule talks about the bye week.

When the Temple Owls raced out to a 7-0 record a year ago with a win over Penn State and at Cincinnati, a lot of people were surprised.

Not as surprised, though, as what the team has done since the poor choice of black helmets and uniforms at Memphis.

The Owls have been more than just dapper in their choice of wardrobe since. Just think of this four-game winning streak this way:

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Temple 26, UCF 25—Since the Owls vanquished the Knights in their own stadium, the Knights have beaten Tulane, 37-6, and went up to UConn and won. They also had a big lead at Houston before falling by a touchdown. This might be the game that wins it for the Owls because, according to a computer projection BEFORE the 70-yard drive, the Owls were given just a two percent chance of winning that game. That was a miracle in the Orlando swamplands for sure.

Temple 46, USF 30 –The only game USF played since getting thumped by the Owls was an impressive one, leading 45-21 over visiting Navy in the second quarter before holding on for a backdoor cover. The Bulls were never really in jeopardy of losing that game as Navy scored on the last play of the game. Much will be learned about the Bulls on Saturday, when they travel to Memphis.

Temple 34, Cincinnati 13—The Owls totally dominated after taking a 17-13 lead at the half. Cincy’s only game was a 20-3 loss to visiting BYU at home, breaking a 30-game non-conference winning streak. Yet, at times, Cincinnati was impressive this year, including  a 38-20 win at Purdue and a 31-19 win over East Carolina.

Temple 21, UConn 0—Look, everyone knows UConn is having a down year but this is a team that beat Cincinnati, 20-9, beat a Power 5 team (Virginia) and lost a competitive game at Navy, 28-24.  In reality, Temple should have beaten this team, anywhere from 35-0 to 42-0 had they continued to attack the soft middle of the Huskies’ pass defense, the weakest part of an overall pass defense that was ranked No. 118 in the nation. Instead, the Owls inexplicably tried a couple of passes in the corner of the end zone that were picked off.

What does this all mean?

The Owls beat some teams that have talent on them and beat a team badly, which has a lot of talent on it, in perhaps their biggest game of the season.

The Owls need to clean some things up (see the last sentence of our UConn synopsis), but they are playing their best ball at the right time and a better time than now with the final two games against two of the weaker teams on their schedule.

If they end this season with the same seven-game winning streak they started last season, they will be hoisting the overall AAC trophy. There is nothing to suggest that they cannot do it.

Friday: We Are All Fans Of Someone This Weekend

11.07.16
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P.J. Walker Appreciation Day

newestpj

P.J. Walker will have nearly every Temple QB record.

Old habits are hard to break but because of my admiration and appreciation of the young man, I tried to grant P.J. Walker’s request to call him Phillip.

For a while, I was able to do it.

No more. He will always be P.J. to me, Matt Rhule and I suspect the great majority of Temple fans. I am no more able to call him Phillip than a Saints’ fan is apt to call Drew Brees “Andrew” or, more precisely, a Giants’ fan is likely to call Y.A Tittle “Yelberton Abraham” Tittle.

So he is going to be P.J. henceforth, period, end of story, but that’s not why today is P.J. Walker Appreciation Day in this spot. It’s because he is the only winning quarterback (25-18) over a four-year period in Temple history and, to me, that’s the most important statistic.

Here are some others:

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To be good enough to be a four-year FBS starter in college football is almost unheard of these days because three-year starters usually head to the NFL early, so that’s one point. For a school that has played college football since 1894, being the only four-year starter and one of the few winning quarterbacks in that school’s history is a really special achievement.

That’s the brand he has established, and it is not a bad one to have. Going to the numbers, a strong case can be made that he is the greatest Temple quarterback of all time. While some will say Walker is a compiler as much as an achiever, I will say that his sophomore year was wasted by an ill-advised multiple wide receiver scheme that often left him in an empty backfield unprotected by a fullback or a tailback and running for his life. I told P.J. as much on Chodoff Field after the next Cherry and White game and told him to keep his head up, that help was on the way and he would become an all-time Temple great. He shook my hand and thanked me for believing in him.

That all has come true with two games left in his final regular season.

The numbers do not lie. If you want to make a case for Brian Broomell, who really only started two years (1978 and 1979), no one can argue with you because Broomell was 17-5-1 as a Temple starter and that’s a higher winning percentage than Walker. The same case can be made for another two-year starter, Maxwell Award-winner Steve Joachim, who was 17-3 as a Temple quarterback.

Still, Walker’s resume is superior to everyone else near the top of the list. The Owls have a special quarterback in Walker and, if he hoists the overall AAC trophy in December, he will have the most important trophy none of the other great Temple quarterbacks have and that will be a league championship.

Phillip schmillip, P.J. is a mighty good name to me and always will be.

Wednesday: What Have We Done (Part II)?

11.05.16
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Killer Instinct

When I started out in the workforce as a 14-year-old kid in the summer washing and packing Good Humor trucks in Northeast Philadelphia, I forgot to punch the time clock the first week I worked there.

Nervously, I approached the manager and told him of my mistake.

“Son, we don’t sweat the small stuff,” the foreman said, then gave me a piece of paper to sign.

As a lifelong Temple fan, the comment rolled around in my head after watching the Owls beat  Connecticut on Friday night, 21-0. The Owls were a 10-point favorite on the road and won by more than double that.

Sure, it would have been nice had my favorite Temple quarterback, maybe of all time, P.J.Walker, not forced two throws in the red zone. Sure, it would have been even nicer had Temple coach Matt Rhule not gone all Ghandi-like on Bob Diaco after the first 14 plays, but one thing is clear.

We do not sweat the small stuff, nor should any of my fellow Temple fans.

Looking at the stat sheet, other than the two Walker mistakes, my biggest complaint was that Temple threw the ball on seven of the first 14 plays and ran the ball on 67 of the next 87 plays. In those first 14 plays, the Owls completed all seven passes and scored three touchdowns.

That should have been a clue as how to attack the rest of the game, so maybe that’s why Temple radio play-by-play man Harry Donahue made a point to mention that Owls’ offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas looked upset exiting his spot in the press box on Friday night in the last minute of the game.

As far as murderers go, you have Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein on one end of the spectrum and Ghandi and Matt Rhule on the other. Rhule could have put his sharp-cleated foot on the throat of Bob Diaco by throwing the ball—particularly over the soft middle of the Huskies’ defense—but instead was satisfied on running out the clock with a 21-0 lead.

Had the Owls put the foot on the Huskies’ throats, there is no doubt in my mind that this would have been a 43-0 type win, rather than a 21-0 win. A win, though, is a win and the Owls do not get style point from the CFB playoff committee with a 43-0 win. Losses to Army, Penn State and Memphis eliminated the Owls from that kind of contention, so Rhule’s salting away the win was the right strategy. Phil Snow deserves kudos for recording his first FBS shutout since 1986 when he was the DC at Boise State. (On the other hand, Chuck Heater had back-to-back shutouts for Temple in 2011.)

Style points would have been nice but, with two games left to ice the AAC East, style points pale in comparison to getting the win.

As the Good Humor executive once said, son, do not sweat the small stuff.

Monday: P.J. Walker Appreciation Day

11.04.16
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Lucky Strikes

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These fans look like people whose prayers were answered (photo from  Shram Shukla’s phone)

If a Temple fan had one prayer after the Army debacle, it would have gone something like this:

“God, I know that there is nothing you can do to get a crowd like 34,000 back after that game, but, please, please, have the Owls get their act together and be the kind of team they can be by the AAC part of the schedule. Please let them beat USF at home and have them at least hold the tie-breakers over the Bulls the rest of the way. Also, please don’t let the final three teams on the schedule, UConn, Tulane and ECU, be any good. Thanks, God. Oh, God, one more thing. If SEPTA goes on strike, please let it be a couple of days after the Cincy game so that the strike can go on for nearly a month without a home game. That’s it, God. I’m done.”

Temple fans must have been living right because it looks like that fervent prayer—which admittedly asked for a lot–was answered.  A significant portion of the Temple fan base takes SEPTA to the games and a strike did happen two days after the Cincy game and, unless it is an all-timer, will be over long before the ECU game. If there was ever a thing like a Lucky Strike, and we’re not talking cigarettes, this was one.
 
In other Lucky Strike news, the way the schedule breaks for them could not have been scripted better. God has blessed the Owls, and now it is up to them to make the most of those blessings beginning tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2) at the University of Connecticut. God can take this team to the Holy Water, but He cannot make them drink it.

They must do the rest.

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If they are Temple TUFF, they should be able to close this bad boy out. Of course, the ball is not round and takes funny bounces but this first part of the Trifecta should be over fairly early. Temple holds a significant advantage in speed on both sides of the ball and that speed should make the night miserable for Huskies’ quarterback Bryant Shirreffs. The Huskies rank 109th in the nation in sacks allowed with opponents racking up 25 in nine games. Temple’s defensive ends, Haason Reddick and Praise Martin-Oguike, probably will be meeting at the quarterback a lot. They have combined for 11.5 sacks and 23 tackles for a loss. Reddick has 7.5 of those sacks and is rising near the top of the NFL draft board  as he is being projected as an NFL linebacker at that level.

If UConn has a chance to succeed, it is against Temple’s formidable run game because the Huskies rank No. 26 in rushing defense. None of those games, though, came against backs like Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead.

Anything can happen in a football game, but the Owls are in a mighty good spot.

Almighty good.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

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