Category Archives: Temple football

02.10.16
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AAC Needs To Step Up Its Game

aaceast

Every night a certain political commentary program ends its night with a Tip of The Day. Forget the fact that the “tip” isn’t really a tip but a closing thought by the anchor, but, after getting a good look at the AAC composite schedule (above) a tip is in order:

The AAC, if it is going to be a serious conference, needs to step up its game. It is not going to happen this year and, because of the way schedules are made years in advance, it may not even happen next year. But it needs to happen.

The South Carolina States, Tennessee-Martins, Towsons and, yes, even Stony Brooks have to be removed from the schedules, the sooner the better. It’s not like the AAC is a Power 5 conference and the in-conference games are not sooooo tough that the league’s members need to bake cupcakes for the early portion of their schedules.

The AAC needs to do what it did last year—play the ACC seven times and beat them four times in the regular season. That’s the way a conference builds a strong reputation, not beating up on the Tennessee-Martins of the world. Yet that’s the team Cincinnati opens with on Sept. 3.

Other head-scratching games opening week include South Carolina State at UCF, Maine at UConn, West Carolina at East Carolina and South Florida hosting Towson. Those could have been scheduled against P5 teams and the AAC needs to schedule those games and win them. (Yet, UConn deserves a lot of credit for scheduling three ACC opponents.)

Temple could set an example in the process by dumping the Stony Brook game (9/9). It would take some work by Dr. Pat Kraft, but it would be worth it. Have Stony Brook play Howard that day, then offer to go on the road to Rutgers, which is scheduled to play Howard that day. Rutgers is just arrogant enough to think it could beat Temple and, from Temple’s perspective, the game offers P.J. Walker and Jahad Thomas—among others—a final chance to win there. It would also wipe out the bad taste of 2013 and give the Owls a chance for consecutive wins over Big 10 teams. It’s worth picking up a phone, making calls to Stony Brook, Howard and Rutgers and making this happen.

That’s the way a G5 conference builds a reputation, not by playing cupcakes but by seeking out the power schools and beating them. That’s how John Chaney built Temple into a national basketball power and lifted up the A10 in the process. Temple football can do the same for the G5.

02.09.16
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Ignorance And The Stadium

owland

Because Temple is an educational institution, I do not expect President Neil D. Theobald or Temple University to give up educating some very misinformed individuals on the subject of a proposed new on-campus football stadium.

I do, however, understand how difficult this must be for men of their intelligence.  Now I have serious doubts that this will ever get built because of Temple’s history of having been through this with the on-campus basketball facility. Peter J. Liacouras did not get that built until he threatened to move the entire campus to Ambler, but I don’t think Theobald has the chops or permissions to make a similar threat. The extortion demands from the city and community for this are going to make that robbery look like a simple pickpocket.

That holdup aside, it seems, to me, that there are two important issues here.

One is represented by Anna in this video.

This very naïve person needs a simple economics lesson: “Temple is telling us they can’t afford $15 an hour and now all of a sudden they have $100 million for a stadium.” The $100 million is from moving the LFF money and private donations. Try going to a big donor and saying, “Err, doc, change of plans. No stadium, but can we use your $3 million contribution to raise Temple workers to $15 an hour?” Somewhat surprised Doug Shimell lets these statements to unchallenged. Maybe Jesse Watters of The O’Reilly Factor should be doing these interviews, not a local freelance hack like Shimell.

memory.JPG

The second issue is a similar one, but slightly different. I read about 85 comments after the proposed stadium story and I cannot believe how dense people can be.

Many of them write Temple can spend the $100 million earmarked for the stadium on academics. The only reason that anywhere close to $100 million will be raised (as well at the current LFF rent) is for football. These are donors who can do whatever they please with their hard-earned money. They are galvanized by the thought of a stadium on campus. They don’t want to give to build another chemistry lab. It’s either $100 mil for a stadium or 0 for anything else.

These small-minded individuals who are doing the protesting now can get jobs for Temple asking the same people to give to academics and they will get the same response, probably a hangup click.

When will they get it through their enormously thick skulls that this money isn’t for a stadium OR academics, but it’s for a stadium or nothing? If their skulls are that thick, Temple must redo the entrance examination and weed out this stupidity before they get to the registration desk. Being able to pass Logic 101 should be the base requirement before admission to Temple University.

That’s the reality.

02.07.16
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Fizzy’s Evaluation On Mark

weinraub

Fizzy’s magnetic personality carried the day in Boca Raton.

One of the great things about being a Temple football fan back in the day is that you met literally every other Temple fan.

Every. Single. One.

In the parking lot of the Fake Miami (Ohio) game in 2005, I counted five fans about an hour before the game in Lot K. Five, the number after four and before six. This was the hour before the kickoff and it was including me. I’m sure there were more who made it in the stadium, but not many.



“As I sat totally
drenched in Boca
and watched the
horror unfold, I
saw the most
unimaginative major
college offense I’ve
ever seen. In the
whole first half,
we gained 65 yards,
and only 5 yards in
the second quarter.
As usual, the play
selection was abysmal.”
_ Former Owl player
Fizzy Weinraub

Things have changed for the better, thanks to people like Matt Rhule and Al Golden.

One of those fans is an unforgettable character named David Weinraub, except nobody calls him David and everybody calls him Fizzy. I have been honored to call him friend for at least a decade. He was a player under George Makris. As a young sportswriter, I covered another player under Makris, Bill Juzwiak, who was literally the funniest coach I ever covered. Juz was Fizz’s teammate, and after I shared a couple of stories with Fizz about him, we became fast tailgate friends.

Juzwiak coached William Tennent to a championship in the old Suburban One League and, if you know anything about William Tennent football, that’s a remarkable achievement.



” … the design of
Temple’s offense …
usually runs in
one direction,
straight ahead,
and there’s no
balance. There
are few reverses,
counters, traps,
misdirections,
bootlegs and
end-arounds.”
_ Former Owl player
Fizzy Weinraub

Juzwiak was just as funny after losses, maybe more, than he was after wins. At Norristown, the Panthers led, 7-6, at halftime and lost the game, 20-7. While a group of reporters were wrapping up with Juz, from the other side of the field the guy covering the game for the Norristown Times-Herald came running over to Juzwiak and said, out of the breath, the kid said, “Coach, coach, coach .. you led, 7-6, at halftime and fumbled seven times in the second half. What did you tell the team at halftime?”

Juzwiak looked the kid up and down and paused before saying: “I certainly didn’t tell them to fumble.”

Today’s take of the Temple season is from Juzwiak’s teammate, Fizzy, easily as funny and unforgettable as Juzwiak but someone who has a serious take on the season that every Temple fan and coach should take to heart.

I would change the name of his blog to something with pizazz that incorporates the name Fizzy (Fizzy’s Pizzis?), but his serious take of the season is right here and it is worth a read.

02.05.16
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Wide Receivers Lost and Found

wrchart

Win some, lose some.

The Owls lost Darnell Salomon to USF and Dae’Lun Darien to Penn State, but gained Freddie Johnson, Randle Jones and Isaiah Wright.

Time will tell, but I like that trade for a couple of reasons.

keithgloster

Keith Gloster

Ideally, Temple rarely has the perfect combination of receivers on the field at the same time. It happened only a couple of times in my memory. Willie Marshall was a Robbie Anderson-type wide receiver in the Bruce Arians’ Era, made all the more dangerous by a 4.3 speedster named Keith Gloster lined up in the slot. Marshall was a 6-foot-3 guy with a 37-inch vertical leap, whose specialty was catching passes in the red zone and over the middle. Gloster opened the middle for Marshall by stretching the field and going deep. A similar situation also existed in the Wayne Hardin years with Rich Drayton and Gerald “Sweet Feet” Lucear and maybe to a lesser extent far later with Bruce Francis and Travis Sheldon under Al Golden.

In the past couple of seasons, though, Temple’s been top-heavy in the same type of receivers—tall guys who are effective in the red zone but rarely stretch the field.

By all accounts, Dae’Lun is the same type of player Romond Deloatch, Anderson, Ventell Bryant and Keith Kirkwood are today–guys who are fairly reliable, have good hands, make plays over the middle but won’t necessarily stretch the field.

In Isaiah Wright, though, the Owls have a “best of both worlds” player, a guy who can make the big catch over the middle and take it to the house and, if Johnson or Jones turns out to be on the other of the field, his presence even makes Wright more dangerous. Other recruits could fill that role,  or maybe someone on the current squad, like 4.3 sprinter Cortrelle Simpson.

Temple fans will probably be following the progress of Darien from afar and Salomon from a relatively closer spot, USF. The numbers say Salomon will have the best career, but he’s had discipline and character issues that make his future far from a slam dunk. So Wright, Jones and Johnson could be just what they needed all along.

Willie Marshall and Keith Gloster should be especially proud.

Tomorrow: Karamo Dioubate

01.27.16
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Tyliek Raynor Another Home Run for Owls

http://www.hudl.com/v/DMRcG

Click on the above link and hit play. Unfortunately, there is not a single Youtube video on the internet of Tyliek. Hudl is a bad platform, but it’s the only one available.

By any measure, Temple football adding Tyliek Raynor is a home run for recruiting.

Since homer is a synonym for home run, the fact that Raynor is a homer himself had to help because, in his commitment statement, he said “I’m going to stay home and play for my city.”

If all great Philadelphia players felt the same way, that would have been Will Fuller catching the ball to beat Notre Dame on Halloween Night and not to beat his city. Maybe adding Anthony Russo begat Raynor and maybe Raynor will beget a player like Karamo Dioubate.

SGRATZ05-A

Gratz’s Javon Whitfield can’t stop Imhotep’s Tyliek Raynor on his 58 yard TD run on the first play during the 1st quarter Friday night in North Philadelphia, September 4, 2015. ( Photo courtesy philly.com)

We can only hope. The protractor for recruiting starts in North Philly and a 500-mile circle around it includes 46 percent of the nation’s population. Temple is one of the few schools in the country squarely in the middle  of roughly half of the nation’s population.

With the addition of speedy running back Raynor, that was a good start. Raynor was No. 3 on our final five countdown list, behind only West Catholic defensive end Tymir Oliver and Prep Charter defensive lineman Dioubate. Raynor, who was offered by Temple on the spot after he ran a 4.3 at the Matt Rhule Football Camp in June of 2014, is very, very good.

How good?

Consider this: He could not play in seven games this year because of an injury that limited his effectiveness in other games, but his backup, Mike Waters, scored 44 touchdowns and was named Philadelphia Inquirer Player of the Year. That’s not just for Philadelphia, but for the entire Inquirer coverage area, which includes the entire Philadelphia suburbs, most of New Jersey and all of Delaware. He was also named Pennsylvania Player of the Year.

That’s pretty good. I saw a lot of Waters, including a performance for the ages in the Pennsylvania state championship game against Erie Cathedral Prep. This is what I tweeted out to my followers after that game.

good

 

Much to my surprise, Waters saw the tweet and retweeted it to his followers. The bottom line is that if a great coach like Albie Crosby says Raynor is better than THAT kid, then Temple has something very special indeed. They will have the luxury of red-shirting Raynor.

The Owls will have to get Raynor healthy and keep him that way, but once he returns to 4.3, 4.4 speed, he gives them the kind of home run hitter they need. They have a home run hitter in Jahad Thomas and some fast backups in Jager Gardner and Ryquell Armstead, but neither Thomas, Gardner nor Armstead has a 4.3 40 in the books.

The clock never lies.

01.24.16
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5 Questions You Will Never Hear Pravda Ask

pravda-bg

On a snowy Saturday, while shoveling out of our driveway, a number of rhetorical questions occurred to us. Rhetorical, because they are the kinds of questions Pravda never asks once of Chairman Matt and probably will never ask. On the way out to the garage to pick up the shovel and the rock salt, I perused Pravda for some of the latest recruiting updates. There was one long posted update by one of the editors there and every word was glowing. In fact, I don’t remember a single word being written negatively about recruiting there in three years. One of the posters over there last week called a recruit “a reach” but prefaced that with the obligatory “I know we’re not allowed to be negative here. ….”

I wonder what gave him that impression?  It would have been nice to hear the answers to just one of these five questions:

gelb

Zach Gelb

  1. What happened to the hurry-up offense in Houston?

Only Zach Gelb of the reporters in Houston highlighted the Owls’ atrocious clock management in the 24-13 loss in the AAC championship game. Gelb dutifully reported he asked Matt Rhule, Jahad Thomas, P.J. Walker and Marcus Satterfield about it and said nothing was wrong, yet even Stevie Wonder could see wasting 20 seconds on every play call was very wrong. The fact that nobody else asked about it was also very wrong. We still have not heard a satisfactory answer. It could be about time we did.

stadium

  1. What did you mean by you are in favor of a stadium if they “do it right?”

Rhule has been quoted that he is in favor of an on-campus stadium “if they do it right.” One would presume that spending “only” $100 million is probably not conducive to doing it right.  A simple question to Matt on signing day is “what is your vision of a stadium done right?” A good answer might be comfortable 40,000 seating with a couple of state-of-the-art replay scoreboards and that’s probably not possible with the frugal price tag.

airhockey

  1. Would there be less air hockey at the next bowl?

Air hockey, touring the Everglades, bowling, liberal curfews and beach volleyball were all part of the Boca Raton Bowl experience. What wasn’t part of it was hoisting that bowl trophy at the end of the game. It was a learning experience for the first-year bowl staff, so maybe there will be a more business-like approach at the next one. It would be nice to get that on the record soon.

  1. If Missouri wasn’t a distraction, why did Tyler Matakevich say it was?

Rhule said his pre-AAC championship experience being interviewed for the Missouri job was not a distraction but Tyler Matakevich said on 6abc tv that Sunday afternoon that “it’s just another thing we have to block out and concentrate on the bowl.” If it wasn’t a distraction, there would be no need to block it out. Probably would have been better to tell Missouri no right away and say something like “I’m the Temple coach and the only thing I’m thinking about is winning a championship.” Instead, the “I can’t tell what the future holds” and “this is not about me” quotes let the papers talk about just that for two days when the focus should have been on the team and the school’s first shot at a title.

  1. If you had to put your finger on one thing, what was the main cause of the 3-4 finish?

This is something the staff will have to figure out in the offseason and inoculate against next season. It would be nice to know if they have identified the problem now so they can address it in the next few months.

01.21.16
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Top 5 Recruits On TFF Wish List

karamo

Should be No 1 target.

With one week left in the recruiting process, there are a number of guys the Temple coaching staff is still involved with but, in our minds, if the Owls get three of these five guys, the 2016 recruiting class goes from decent to great. This is just our list, not Temple’s, but from a public perception standpoint, getting most of these guys would be quite a haul.

KelvinHarmon

  1. Kelvin Harmon, WR

The Palmyra (N.J.) native currently is uncommitted, and his most recent offer was from Virginia Tech. The All-American wide receiver has 165 catches for 2,674 yards and 36 career touchdowns. He’s a longshot for Temple, chiefly because he had the foresight to pick a visit to Miami (Fla.) this weekend during a snowstorm.

sebastian

  1. Sebastian Silva, LB

Silva, a teammate of Anthony Russo at Archbishop Wood, is under-recruited, much like Tyler Matakevich was coming out of high school. He is a clone of Matakevich (6-0, 215) only stronger in both the bench press and dead lift now and 1.5 seconds faster in the 40-yard dash. If Temple thinks this kid is coming as a preferred walk-on, they are making a big mistake because he has a full ride to a couple of FCS schools and his family does not have the money to pay his way through Temple. He is more than worth the scholarship. It’s amazing when a high school senior has measurables superior to the National Player of the Year, but it’s true.

  1. Tyliek Raynor, RB

Amazingly, Raynor, from Imhotep Charter, missed most of the season with an injury and his backup, Mike Waters, scored 44 touchdowns to become the Philadelphia Inquirer Player of the Year. If Raynor is good enough to beat THAT guy out, he deserves a scholarship to Temple. He is an Arizona decommit and he runs a 4.3 40 with the moves of a Bernard Pierce or a Paul Palmer. He would fit in well at Temple.

tymiroliver

  1. Tymir Oliver, DL

With the last two picks, the Owls really need to go after lineman and Oliver, from West Catholic, is one of the two best remaining on the board. He has an official visit to Illinois this weekend and it’s hard to believe that playing for Bill Cubit will be more appealing than playing for a charismatic guy like Matt Rhule. This is where Rhule will have to earn his recent pay raise and close the deal.  Oliver is a Rutgers’ decommit.

 

  1. Karamo Dioubate, DL

Dioubate, a 4-star tackle from Prep Charter, decommitted from Penn State and is said to have had three visits to Temple since the decommit day. Only one, of course, was official, but it would seem to indicate that Dioubate has the kind of comfort level with his possible future Owl teammates that does not exist elsewhere. He is also involved with Michigan State. He would be for the Owls’ line what Anthony Russo was to the quarterback position.

01.19.16
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Kareem Gaulden Should Be Fan Favorite

If, on or around Feb. 3, the browser on your laptop or other device seems extra slow, resist the temptation to throw the gadget against the wall. Just remember it is National Signing Day for college football. In about two weeks, the internet will be shut down or close to it and the cure is readily available. Curing crazy is always a good thing and one way the NCAA can do that is to approve an early signing period.

That is the only way reasonable young men of their word will not have to go through what Temple football recruit Kareem Gaulden is going though now. Gaulden, a defensive back, was one of the early recruits Matt Rhule was able to snag for the Owls. If there had been an early signing day, like last summer when Gaulden gave his word, there would be no poaching of recruits of other programs.

Gaulden took to twitter and expressed his displeasure with the situation last week.

 

That tweet immediately made Gaulden a fan favorite at Temple, someone who to this class might be what All-American defensive back Kareem Ali Jr. was to the last class. Ali is the son of two former Temple athletes, one a football player and the other a track star, who grew up going to Owl games. After originally committed to a Power 5 school, Ali realized his dream was to play for the school that he cheered for all his life.

Gaulden, another defensive back, earned the same kind of love from Temple fans after that tweet. Fans love players who keep their word, and those are the great majority of athletes who commit early. An early signing period would eliminate the craziness of other schools coming in to try to flip recruits and those high school players deserve that option.

The others who take time to make their decisions can wait until Feb. 3 and that’s why an early signing period would be a victory for all recruits.

01.18.16
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Getting The Right Mix

beckster

Someday,  a player like Sebastian Silva could be lifting Matt Rhule like Dick Beck did for Bruce Arians.

On Halloween Night, Temple hosted Notre Dame and 100 big-time recruits at the same time. Among those players were Michigan commits,  Penn State targets and other various four-star players.

The Owls came up empty that night both scoreboards.

Unlike the Penn State game, when defensive back Keyvone Burton committed the next day, the Owls left that game with an empty feeling—a heartbreaking loss compounded by no commits. Had the Owls won that night, who knows what would happen but this weekend—at least from a recruiting standpoint—was three times percent more productive than that otherwise spectacular night for Temple football.

Not only did the Owls get their top recruiting target, quarterback Anthony Russo of Archbishop Wood, but added a couple of speed merchants. The latest pair are listed as “athletes” and they are Randle Jones III, from Miami Beach (Fla.), and Linwood Crump (Sayerville, N.J.) Both supposedly have sub-4.5 speed and, for people (raising my hand here), who said the Owls need burners like Travis Sheldon and James Nixon, they certainly fill that need.



Ideally, a great recruiting
class is a mixture of guys
wanted by P5 schools like
Dioubate and “trust the film”
guys and guys who
Bruce Arians liked,
tough guys, who could play
but were under the radar.
Nick Sharga of
the current team fits
that third category.

No word yet on the DT Temple needs, Karamo Dioubate  from Prep Charter, but that would be another Russo-like coup at his position. Temple has been known for final week signing surprises under Al Golden and, to a lesser extent, Matt Rhule, so maybe he’s one. He’s been involved with Michigan State and Auburn and is a Penn State decommitted player.

Ideally, a great recruiting class is a mixture of guys wanted by P5 schools like Dioubate and “trust the film” guys and guys who Bruce Arians liked, tough guys, who could play but were under the radar. Nick Sharga of the current team fits that third category.

Still would like to see the Owls make Russo more comfortable in his situation and add Sharga-like linebacker and Wood teammate Sebastian Silva. Even more than the Russo factor, adding an accomplished all-state player like Silva—who is faster, bench presses and dead lifts more than Tyler Matakevich now—would fill a linebacker need in this class that has popped up since the Owls lost a decommit to Rutgers.  Silva’s situation reminds me very much of Dick Beck’s when he came out of Central Bucks West. Beck, like Silva, was under-recruited but became the only captain of the 7-4 Owls in 1990. The rumor now is that the Owls will try to entice Silva to be a preferred walk-on and that just won’t work because other schools are offering him real money. Rhule should now, like Bruce Arians did for Beck then, find a scholarship for Silva. Just like I guaranteed Bruce back then, I guarantee Silva will be worth the scholarship. Fortunately, Bruce listened to me.

Silva is not only a baller, but he has captain-like qualities and the Owls would be remiss letting a quality player and individual like this get away. One day he will captain a college football team and I would like that team to be Temple.

Tomorrow: Why All Fans Should Love Kareem Gaulden

 

01.12.16
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It Could Be Now or Never to the Big 12 for Temple

big-12-conference-logo

One thing to watch before waiting for the latest in recruiting is the NCAA meetings this weekend (Jan. 14-16) in San Antonio.

If the craziest thing of crazy things happens, Temple could be one of two schools the Big 12 adds this weekend. The conference will more likely add Houston and Cincinnati, but Temple is not out of the question.

Time is of the essence since any expansion will probably go down at the NCAA convention this weekend (Jan. 14-16).  The Big 12 wants a conference championship game, but NCAA rules require 12 games for a championship game. Crazy as it seems, the “Big 12” has only 10 teams. The conference appealed the 12-team limit, but that will probably be denied and, knowing that, the conference might be quick to add two new teams. Having a conference championship game represents earnings of roughly $2 million per year per school in addition to offering a marquee matchup to help the conference bid for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Temple football, Notre Dame football,

Temple’s No. 1 selling points: 2 home crowds of 70,000 plus great TV ratings.

The conference needs two more teams for a playoff and the scuttlebutt is that the conference could reach out to Temple for one of the spots. If the Owls are asked to jump, the only question they should ask is how high because the revenue stream coming into the school is estimated to be in the area of $23.4 million per year now as opposed to the $3.3 million they are making now as a member of the AAC. Had the Owls been in the Big 12 last year, for example, their 23-10 basketball team would not have been snubbed on NCAA Selection Sunday. Also, a 6-6 Temple football team in the Big 12 would get a far more attractive bowl than the 10-win Owls got this past season.

The Big 12 is in a tight spot because the recent departures of Missouri and Texas A&M leave the conference two short of the minimum required for a championship game. Oklahoma, this year’s football champion, had to sweat out a spot in the championship semifinals because its league did not have a title game. The league wants to avoid such a scenario in the future.

That’s where Temple comes in because the league wants to add a TV network, like the Big 10 and the SEC has now. Temple is the only FBS school in the largest TV market (Philadelphia) not already taken by a Power 5 school, the fourth-biggest. The Big 12 had to be taking notes when the Owls drew the largest TV rating ever for a network night game in Philadelphia on Halloween night against visiting Notre Dame. Since Notre Dame has been on the network 56 times before that night, the variable that drove the ratings off the charts was Temple. Any addition of Temple would bring TV eyeballs that would make the addition a win-win for both parties. Still, better fits are Cincinnati and Houston. Cincinnati would be a travel partner for West Virginia. If the conference goes to 14 teams, than the other two teams being considered will be among Temple, UConn and Memphis.

While the Big 12 makes no sense for Temple from an Olympic sport standpoint, in an era where nothing makes sense, money talks and just about every school should be willing to walk.