Category Archives: Temple football

10.02.15
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Game Day: Boring Would Be Preferred

CBS Sports Network should own the Philly TV ratings tonight.

CBS Sports Network should own the Philly TV ratings tonight.

One exchange on social media about tonight’s Temple at Charlotte football game centered on whether the weather would make a game that, under perfect conditions, figured to finish something like 56-10 Owls to something like 20-3 or 20-7.

A long-time Temple fan, a guy who might be the best Temple football fan on the planet, ended the thread: “It should be interesting.”

eighteen

You want a lot of things tonight from Temple at Charlotte, but you do not want interesting. My idea of interesting always has been Temple a lot, bad guys a little.  What might bore a national audience, a Temple blowout, interests me greatly. That would be interesting. Blocking an extra point and winning on a last-second field goal against a vastly inferior opponent might make for great drama, but is not for the faint of heart. Different strokes for different folks.

Leave interesting for the novels.

Speaking of that subject, one of the most republished works of literature in the United States is the book “Charlotte Temple” by Susanna Rowson, a best seller in its first printing in 1794 and a book often described as interesting and compelling with 200 American editions.

Since the last republished one hasn’t been since 1984, you can consider tonight’s game, the 201st edition of Charlotte Temple—albeit the first football edition.

The plot line that supposedly will make this one interesting is the weather. Can the protagonist (in this case, Temple) hold onto a fortune (i.e., the possibility first broached by ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit of running the table) against a conniving antagonist (Charlotte) helped by a surprising ally (wind and rain)?

Or will the protagonist be saved by the good fortune of holding onto the ball and getting out of Dodge with the delicious possibility of an unbeaten season and the wealth and fame that comes with said accomplishment still alive?

It should be interesting.

Geez, I hope not.

Tomorrow: Complete Game Analysis

10.01.15
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Weather: The Great Equalizer

richardson

Playing at Jerry Richardson Stadium will be like playing at Northeast High.

First, the good news: the weather for Temple’s football game at Charlotte could be a whole lot worse than things appear now.

Tropical Storm Joaquin “meandered” off the cost of Bermuda for so long, stopping, then going southeast, before making a slow turn up the coast and apparently headed for North Carolina that it will not get there until Sunday. Although Jerry Richardson Stadium (15,000 capacity) seats about 6K more than Northeast High and 7K less than Allentown’s J. Birney Crum Stadium, it does have a state-of-the-art turf field that should absorb rain.

joaquin

Now the bad news: there’s going to be a whole lot of rain and wind and that is never good for the more talented team. Ask UConn in 2008 when the 17.5-point favorite Huskies needed overtime (and an incredibly bad holding call on Temple wide receiver Travis Shelton) to win, 12-6, in overtime. Ask ECU last season when a double-digit road favorite came out a double-digit loser, thanks to turnovers. The forecast changes every few hours, so there is always hope.

andujar

Bad weather is never a friend of a more talented team with multiple weapons that thrives on a dry field and that’s what Temple is on Friday night (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network).  Temple is a 24.5-point favorite, the largest road margin in Temple history.  The previous road favorite margin was -15 at Akron in 2011 (the Owls won that game, 41-3, but it was on a dry field). Charlotte has had some interesting results, more so last year when it beat FCS No. 23 Albany, 31-28, on the road and hung tight with this year’s SMU-killer James Madison, 48-40, at home. This year, though, the team has two wins over cupcakes before being torched for 73 points by the only decent team so far on the schedule, Middle Tennessee State. Don’t expect the Owls to score 73 points, though, because MTSU is a much-better coached team, offensively, than Temple is and recognizes that the tight end is an eligible receiver and can be utilized as an effective weapon.

The biggest question coming out of this game is going to be whether the Owls are the team that beat Penn State and Cincinnati or struggled against a truly horrible UMass team. I think UMass was an aberration. At least that’s the hope.  The big difference was that the Owls had a commitment to the run in the first two games that they abandoned in the UMass game. For this team to realize its potential, it must be successful in establishing the run and throw off play action. The weather could dictate a lot of what the Owls do on Friday. So we might have to wait until next week against Tulane to get a better reading on the Owls because weather could be the great equalizer here. Got to think the Owls win this one; it just might not be 25-0.

Temple biggest home margin came as a 29.5 favorite in 2010, also against Akron. In a great testament to the people in Vegas, Temple won, 30-0. (It’s amazing how close these lines are sometimes.) One line-killer is weather and, tropical storm or not, it does not look good at this point for the favorites.

Bad weather never does.

09.30.15
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The Big Cleanup

I thought “Matt” gave way too much credit to UMass in this presser.

Probably the biggest cleanup in Philadelphia history came over the weekend, when an army of people knocked down barricades and grandstands and swept away a whole bunch of garbage from the Pope’s visit.

The second biggest cleanup, hopefully, was occurring at roughly the same time on Sunday night and Monday afternoon when the Temple Owls had to address some major issues leading up to Friday’s 7 p.m. at Charlotte (CBS Sports Network).

Here are five things that needed to be addressed:

Penn State v Temple

  1. The Run Game

The Owls took the nation’s third-leading rusher, Jahad Thomas, into the game against UMass and came out with a 67-yard rushing effort against a defense that gave up 390 yards to Colorado and 457 yards to Notre Dame. Colorado is a mediocre team, as proven by its loss to Hawaii. It looked like the Owls overreacted to the Minutemen’s stunts and abandoned the run game too early. That cannot happen going forward. If the run game isn’t working inside, the coaches have to take the run game outside.

  1. Killer Instinct

When it was 14-0, Temple, got to find a way to make it 21-0 against these inferior teams like UMass. If Temple TUFF really means anything, you have to put more helmets on their helmets and knock them back off the ball. If that means putting Nick Sharga in at fullback running lead interference for the tailbacks, so be it. Head coach Matt Rhule said “it’s going to be 17-17” but against teams like UMass and Charlotte, it should never be 17-17. Temple has much, much too much talent to b be playing the likes of UMass 17-all at half. Newsflash: UMass is not going to win the MAC in this century or maybe even the next one.

sharif

  1. Turnovers

The Owls have to find a way to limit their turnovers in the passing game and one of the ways to do that is to cut the number of throws from 48 against UMass to the more manageable 15-for-20 P.J. Walker had against Penn State. To do that, they have to establish the run first, then throw off play-action. That brings the LBs and safeties close to the line of scrimmage and more susceptible to the play-fake.

  1. Big Plays on Defense

The Owls gave up big plays on defense because they could not get to the quarterback against UMass. Getting to the quarterback is the key to limiting the big plays. They do not have to sack every quarterback 10 times like Penn State, but at least get in the QB’s face so he does not get a good look downfield.

  1. Negative Plays on Offense

The Owls lead the country with 15 negative plays on offense. One way to negate that is to take more shots down field—again off play fakes to the running backs. Robby Anderson was extremely effective making those kind of explosive downfield plays in the passing game and it is high time that he returns to that role. The best way to get Robby involved is to fake it into the belly of Jahad, pull the damn ball out and find Robby streaking down the left sideline.

09.29.15
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Temple’s Area No. 79

That's a lot of valuable land recently cleared.

That’s a lot of valuable real estate recently cleared.

My late father, an old Navy officer, knows all about things in the water and one of his favorite sayings was “if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.”

If you take a close look at a map that will be introduced as part of a City Council bill, you can see a lot of quacking going on at the corner of 15th and Montgomery.

UFO enthusiasts have Area No. 51 in the Nevada desert to point to as the center of a conspiracy theory. Temple’s on-campus stadium advocates now have Area No. 79.

150145 Map Set, As Introduced (1)

Area No. 79

Area No. 79

Well, look at building No. 79 on this map of something Temple University is introducing in Philadelphia City Council. It is listed as a “proposed building.” That’s an awfully big “building” for that spot right at the corner of 15th and Montgomery. There are three dates on that bill and the next time it is on the docket is for Sept. 30, 2015 which, in case you’ve noticed, is tomorrow. City Council Bill No. 15014500 looks like a you-know-what.

It’s not quite large enough for a stadium, but it is almost twice the size of the current Liacouras Center parking garage. Since the rumored stadium location is an east-west grid that includes Norris Park, Geasey Field, the tennis courts, the Student Pavilion, it looks like the “proposed building” is a parking garage for the new stadium. To me, it would make just as much sense to knock everything down from Montgomery North through Norris and put the stadium right there, but I’m not an urban planner.

Already, some land has been cleared as you can see from the above photo. A few months ago, the Triangle Apartments were knocked down at Broad and Norris, creating a lot of open space between Broad Street and, err, Area No. 79. Throw in the fact that the Student Pavilion is scheduled to be knocked down and that creates more space.

Some big contributors have said that they have been shown a mock drawing of a potential stadium. The rumor going around on Cherry and White Day was a Power 5 invitation was possible only when Temple announced an on-campus stadium.

Temple officials like athletic director Pat Kraft have been playing it coy, saying a stadium would be nice but it was above their heads. Maybe they were talking about the Board of Trustees; maybe it was City Council.

It’s certainly not a done deal yet, but it appears that people are at the table. Someday, someone is going to have to say what Area No. 79 is and that day could be closer than we think.

09.27.15
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Game Week Could Be Jager Gardner Week



“I’m sitting there
watching the cut-ups
in the offseason.
We have the ball on the
1-yard line and we’re
in five-wides running
quarterback draw.
My heart hurt.
That’s just
not what I am
and what I believe.
We’re going
to run the football.”
_ Matt Rhule,
April 28, 2015
 

While we have all been impressed by the greatness of Jahad Thomas, just about everyone knows it’s a long season in college football and the backups better be ready as well.

That’s one of the reasons why Charlotte, N.C., would be the perfect place for Jager Gardner to have his breakout game for the Temple Owls (7 p.m., Friday, CBS Sports Network). The other is that Gardner is from there, as his Owen High is only 116 miles West on Interstate 40 after a left turn from State Route 16.

Jager Gardner had a 70-yard touchdown run against the nation's No. 4 scoring defense in Temple's first scrimmage this summer.

Jager Gardner had a 70-yard touchdown run against the nation’s No. 4 scoring defense in Temple’s first scrimmage this summer.

As North Carolina goes, that’s a stone’s throw.

Another reason is that Temple head coach Matt Rhule has said repeatedly that, while Thomas had won the job fairly and squarely, there are a number of running backs right below him who “just as are capable of making explosive plays for us” and mentioned both Gardner and the pride of South Jersey, Ryquell Armstead. Watching Temple last week was like scratching your head and watching the Temple of yesteryear–literally, last year–and the number of times the Owls rolled out the three and four wides against a run defense that allowed 390 against Colorado was perplexing. You had to wonder if Matt Rhule forgot this quote: “I’m sitting there watching the cut-ups in the offseason. We have the ball on the 1-yard line and we’re in five-wides running quarterback draw. My heart hurt. That’s just not what I am and what I believe. We’re going to run the football.”

Oh yeah. Notre Dame torched that vaunted run defense for an additional 457 yards yesterday. For this Temple team to win, it must get back to establishing the run and passing off play-action. Period, end of story. It must get back to fulfilling the promise Rhule made on 4/28/15. Maybe getting more backs involved will help. After 67 yards, it could not hurt.

The last truly great back at Temple, Bernard Pierce, got only six carries and 44 yards in his first game as a true freshman against Villanova, but once he got into a game three weeks later at Eastern Michigan, he never gave up his spot. The same could happen for a guy like Gardner, whose high school stats were even more impressive than Pierce’s.

No one really knows if South Jersey or Pennsylvania football is better than North Carolina football or even North Jersey football, but the stats are stark.

rushing

As a senior playing for Elizabeth High, Thomas scored 15 touchdowns and had 889 rushing yards from scrimmage. As a senior playing for Owen (N.C.) High a year ago, Gardner had 2,776 rushing yards and 36 touchdowns from the line of scrimmage. North Jersey football might be real good, but it would be a stretch to say that it’s more than twice as good as North Carolina football. Armstead’s stats against similar competition were also good, scoring 18 touchdowns with 1,488 yards from scrimmage as a senior. He might be the Owls’ fastest back since Bernard Pierce, as both had the same exact time (10.8) in the 100-meter dash as seniors.

Either way, all three backs should be able to get extensive time for the Owls at Charlotte and, to quote a favorite saying from one of my fellow Owl writers, we’ll have to see how it plays out.

Tomorrow: (Mostly) Unseen Temple Photos

09.25.15
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Temple’s Dream Scenario

Hooter lifting the National Championship trophy. (Photoshop byChris Ventura from Rappid Development, a company run by recent Temple grads)

Hooter lifting the National Championship trophy.
(Photoshop by Chris Ventura from Rappid Development, a company run by recent Temple grads)

All of those “one-game-at-a-time” people please leave the room right now. As if what we’re about to discuss in the following paragraphs has any impact in Temple winning or losing a game on the field the rest of the way.

Are they all gone?

OK.

Now we can talk.

No one even put on the pads yesterday at Temple, but the Owls won by Memphis beating Cincinnati, 53-46, last night. The win drove another stake into Cincy’s hopes for winning the AAC East and put Temple squarely on the road to the AAC title game. Cincy looks like it will go on to a great season, either with Gunner Kiel or Hayden Moore as its quarterback. Memphis’ defense looks as vulnerable to Robby Anderson as it did in 2013. The only difference is that this time Robby has plenty of help.

Now onto the dream scenario: The BCS/Power 5 conglomerate has rigged the system by making it almost impossible for a Group of Five team like Temple to crash their national championship party.

The emphasis is on the word almost for a reason.

A Temple-Miami national semifinal would shut a lot of people up.

A Temple-Miami national semifinal would shut a lot of people up.

Temple is perhaps the only team in the G5 with a possibility of crashing the party due to having already beaten a team that can (but probably won’t) win the Big 10 championship coupled with another top 10 team in Notre Dame. So Temple is not just carrying the banner for 275,000 alumni, 39,000 students and 12,000 employees and the city of Philadelphia, but for the half of college football teams in the country being forced to play under a morally and financially corrupt system. If the Owls can break through the injustice, it would be a dream come true for those locked out of the P5.

The dream scenario would be this:

  • Temple runs the table and finishes 13-0 (12 regulars and the home win against Navy in the AAC title game);
  • Memphis beats everyone but Temple and Navy;
  • Cincinnati has a solid season to boost Temple’s rating, following its win over the fake Miami with a win over the real Miami;
  • The real Miami wins the ACC;
  • Penn State wins the Big 10;
  • Notre Dame finishes with one loss.

It would be impossible for the conglomerate to keep Temple out of the semifinal playoff under that scenario or even a scenario that fit all but one of those criteria. (For example, PSU can still have a great season but doesn’t have to win the Big 10.)

At 3-0 and with nine games left it is too early, but the fact that Temple fans can even dream this is really something special. So let the fans dream and the players and coaches take the one game at a time. Maybe the national semifinal game will be against Al Golden. (That would make the “Temple coach=Temple results” banners look really silly.) Now we can go.

All of those “one-game-at-a-time” people can return to the room right now.

fifteensked

Tomorrow: Saturday TV

09.24.15
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Fifteen Perfect Plays=73 Points

Matt Rhule has a test coming up on Friday and Rick Stockstill has all the questions and answers right on that sheet.

Matt Rhule has a test coming up on Friday and Rick Stockstill has all the questions and answers right on that sheet.

Sometimes you get the process, sometimes the process gets you.

Or, as in the case of Temple head coach Matt Rhule, looking over the shoulder of Middle Tennessee State coach Rick Stockstill while studying for his next test should reveal a more perfect process.

statistics

Hopefully, when breaking down Charlotte for next Friday’s road game, Rhule and his staff will take note of what Stockstill did in the first quarter of a 73-14 win over the 49ers. It was a gift-wrapped process that the Owls would do well to borrow for the nationally televised game (Friday, Oct. 2, 7:30, CBS Sports Network).

The Owls have shown stubbornness for sticking with their own process instead of using one that worked against their opponents previously. It was shown in the UMass when Colorado, despite facing eight in the box, ran at will on the Minutemen by taking the inside runs outside and it accounted for 390 yards of rushing and a comfortable 48-14 win.

After watching a replay of the game, we counted only 15 plays used by MTSU the entire game. Most of the 73 points the Blue Raiders scored were set up by 15 perfect plays, but we will concentrate on the first two scores in a 42-7 first quarter. Both were seam routes to the tight end, right over the middle, the same kind of play Chris Coyer scored on at Memphis in 2013. Those two TE plays basically broke the game open and had the 49ers’ heads spinning, allowing the other 13 to work on a semi-regular basis. The other 13 were mostly variations of crossing passes over the middle, deep wheel routes, tight end screens, and pitches to the tailback on the edge.

Jordan Parker, a tailback, attacked the soft middle of the Charlotte defense for 140 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries. Parker also was effective on wheel routes out of the backfield—a play where the quarterback rolls to one side and hits the running back down the other.

player

The Owls have that wheel route in their playbook, as fans will remember P.J. Walker hit Jamie Gilmore in the hands with a perfect pass that would have been six against Memphis a year ago. They should dust it off for this game.

While UMass was susceptible to the run, Charlotte is the opposite—susceptible to the big play.

The beauty of those plays is the Owls have the athletes and the offense to execute them rather flawlessly.  Kip Patton is a guy who has the body of a tight end and the speed of a wide receiver and, if the 49ers had a problem covering tight end Terry Pettis, they are going to have more than their hands full with Patton. Establish the run on the first couple of plays, put the ball in the belly of the tailback, pull it out and then find Patton free over the seam. The 49ers have trouble covering the middle of the field and that’s an area the Owls should exploit. Pettis scored on touchdown receptions of 75 and 76 yards. Pettis’ 75-yard touchdown catch was the first of three one-play drives, also proving that the 49ers are susceptible to big plays. The Owls have plenty of those in their arsenal, too, and crossing patterns over the middle to Robby Anderson and Adonis Jennings should be open all night. MTSU wide receiver Ed’Marques Batties, a player with a similar skill set to Anderson, finished five receptions for 120 yards and three touchdowns and most of those were the result of deep crossing patterns over the middle.

Whatever Stockstill did, Temple should do. You cannot argue with 73 points.  When it is over, “Matt” can send Rick a thank-you card.

Tomorrow: AAC Football Night on ESPN

Saturday: College Football TV Guide

Sunday: Game Week Begins

Monday: Unpublished Temple Photos of Interest

sellout

09.23.15
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5 Other Games of Interest to Owl Fans

The American Trophy heads to Memphis this week.

The thought just occurred to me that the top game of interest to Temple fans on Saturday, UMass at Notre Dame (covered in yesterday’s post), might be interrupted a few times. It is on one of the three major local channels at 3:30, right smack in the middle of the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia.

Geez, I hope Channel 10 has more respect for the region’s 1.4 million Catholics than that. When Notre Dame is on, they do not want any interruptions.

Just in case, though, keep the remote control handy. Here are the other Saturday games of interest to Temple fans (with earlier games added at the end).

Boston College's Alumni Stadium would be a nice model for TU to copy.

Boston College’s Alumni Stadium would be a nice model for TU to copy.

SATURDAY

Navy at UCONN (-8), noon, CBS Sports Network,

If Memphis does not win the AAC West, Navy will. Last week, I predicted Navy would beat East Carolina, 38-17. I was wrong. Navy won, 45-21.  Close enough. UConn was impressive in holding No. 18 Missouri to just nine points on the road, but that doesn’t erase giving up 15 to Villanova and 17 to Army. Navy should score 27 in this one and win, 27-14.

Northern Illinois at Boston College (-4), 1, ESPN3

This is only important because of Fraudazzio’s involvement with Boston College. Northern Illinois is coming off a 20-13 loss at Ohio State and BC is only favored because it is a P5 team at home. Anyone who watches BC can see that Addazio’s century-old approach to offense has not changed. Northern Illinois with the upset, 30-16. If the Owls do not make a BCS bowl, a matchup with BC in Yankee Stadium might make for a good storyline.

Virginia Tech at East Carolina (+7.5), 3:30, ABC or ESPN 2

ECU is probably a lot closer to the team that struggled to beat Towson and was blown out by Navy than the one that lost by a touchdown at Florida. Virginia Tech should win this won by about 20-10 on the road, slightly covering the spread. Right now, this is listed as an either/or game, but fans better hope this is on ESPN 2 because Channel 6 is going to be breaking in with Pope coverage every five minutes.

ECU's Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Let's hope the Owls come up with a better name, like The Apollo of Temple.

ECU’s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Let’s hope the Owls come up with a better name, like The Apollo of Temple.

THURSDAY

Cincinnati at Memphis (-7), 7:30, ESPN

Probably the game of the year so far in the AAC pits West preseason favorite Memphis against East preseason favorite Cincinnati. Memphis blew out Kansas, scoring 55 points, but probably had a more impressive win at Bowling Green, 44-41, last week. That was more impressive because Bowling Green was coming off a 48-27 win at Maryland, the same Terps’ team that beat South Florida, 35-17, a week ago. Temple fans might like Cincy to get another loss to drive the Bearcats further down in the East standings, but would be also consoled by a Cincy win by knowing the Owls would be considered the defacto top dogs in the AAC. Gunner Kiel suffered a head injury and is day-to-day. Memphis wins this, 35-24.

FRIDAY

Boise State at Virginia (+2.5), 8, ESPN

Only important for Temple down the road because, if the Owls keep taking care of business, a Boise State team that lost only to BYU could be up against the Owls for a BCS bid. Unfortunately, I do not see Boise State losing this one. Boise State, 20-17.

Tomorrow: Fifteen Perfect Plays

09.22.15
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On a Weekend without TU, Irish vs. UMass Will Have to Do

Umass at Notre Dame, NBC 10, Saturday, 3:30

Umass at Notre Dame, PHL 17, Saturday, 3:30

There’s a football coach named Kelly who is an innovator, known for his game day skills and has done spectacular jobs in more than one college football locale.

His first name is not Chip.



Here’s the third false
narrative floating around:
Umass might be better than
we thought and we should
have been prepared to be
in a game the entire day.
UMass stinks.
You can boldface that,
underline it, italicize it. 

We will soon find out if Temple’s curious offensive game plan at Massachusetts on Saturday was the right approach because, right now, Brian Kelly is formulating his own game plan. Just a guess, but we’re figuring he will be borrowing a lot more from Colorado head coach Mike McIntryre—curiously enough, a former Temple assistant—than the current Temple brain trust.

Just another guess: Notre Dame will have a lot closer to the 390 rushing yards than the 67 Temple was able to put up against the Minutemen.

One of the false narratives floating around out there is that, because UMass was stacking eight in the box, Temple had no choice but to throw the ball and that was the reason the Owls were able to get 390 passing yards and also the reason they had no chance at 390 running yards. Well, does anyone really believe that UMass did not stack the box with eight once Colorado proved it could gouge the Minutemen? A careful review of the Colorado-UMass game tape showed that the Minutemen did the same thing to Colorado but the Buffaloes stuck with their plan of running the ball. McIntyre knew that running the ball accomplishes two things—scoring points and killing clock, keeping Blake Frohnapfel off the field.

Another false narrative floating around is that Temple eschewed the run because its offensive line isn’t as good as Colorado’s. Well, Colorado lost to Hawaii and the Temple offensive line was good enough to run on both Penn State and Cincinnati—far more formidable opponents than Hawaii. The Owls could have and should have bashed UMass, too. That game is over, but hopefully the commitment to the run the Owls showed in the first two games is not. In order to win out until ND, the Owls must go back to establishing the run.

Here’s the third false narrative floating around: Umass might be better than we thought and we should have been prepared to be in a game the entire day. UMass stinks. You can boldface that, underline it, italicize it. A mediocre Colorado team proved that two weeks ago and Notre Dame will prove it again on Saturday. Temple should have put this game away at 14-0 by going up 21-0.

One of the interesting story lines of Saturday’s game (3:30 p.m., NBC 10) will be how Kelly approaches this game plan. Does he throw the ball all over the lot or make a commitment to the run, no matter what Mark Whipple does? Without Temple football, it will be the next most compelling game to watch.

Heck, the Owls might find a few tricks they can use against Notre Dame that lead to some treats on Halloween.

Tomorrow: Five Other Bye Week Games

Thursday: Fifteen Perfect Plays