Category Archives: Temple football

09.11.14
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Throwback Thursday: Garden State Bowl

Since there’s no opponent this week, thought the Throwback Thursday segment this week would be the Garden State Bowl.

There were a few things to take from that bowl:

  • Great coaching led directly to Temple’s win. Temple coach Wayne Hardin likes to tell the story of the exchange of films with the California team. He gave them only a couple of Temple game films and those were the games that Temple could afford to be very vanilla and run the basic stuff. Due to Hardin’s contacts in California, he was able to get not only the films Cal exchanged but the entire season of Cal film. He noticed that the linebackers on Cal tipped their hand when they would blitz and had quarterback Brian Broomell fake that way and throw the other. Those plays led to a 21-0 Temple lead before Cal could figure out that Hardin had them figured out.
  • Cal’s trash-talking served as a motivating factor for Temple. Cal coach Roger Theder said “Temple doesn’t play opponents as tough as we do” and that hissed the Owls off. Cal had five losses that year, but the 11-point loss to Temple was its worst. Probably not a coincidence.
  • It was cold, but probably not as cold as the fans remembered. I saved my game notes (the printed kind, given out in the press box) and it said: “Temperature at kickoff: 40 degrees.” Tried to find them on the internet but could only find this veiled reference to the game in a Cal band blog about the temperatures being several degrees above freezing but not feeling that way.
  • Yes, and one of the loudest laughs that day was when they showed the final score on the Jumbotron and had a graphic cartoon visual of an Owl taking a dump on the head of a Bear. Certainly beats the misspelled “CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW MEXICO BOWL CAMPIONS” that appeared on the scoreboard in Albuquerque. That  Owl/Bear graphic pretty much summed up a wonderful afternoon.
  • The Temple fans were great. There were 55,874 in attendance and only about 500 or so were rooting for Cal. It was that day I was convinced that a consistent winning and well-coached Temple program against big-time competition could put enough fannies in the seats to thrive. Even though Rutgers, essentially a home team, played in the first GSB, the 55K Temple drew remains an all-time bowl record crowd in New Jersey.
  •  The Cal band performance is below and they even play a  current Temple Diamond Marching Band favorite:

By the way, the 1979 Temple team would have blown out the 2010 Temple team (which, ironically, did not make a bowl but should have).

09.06.14
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Speed Kills and Speed Would Help

The Owls didn't have the speed at tailback to get outside enough to keep drives going.

The Owls didn’t have the speed at tailback to get outside enough to keep drives going.

It’s funny (curious funny, not humorous funny) how football works.

The hope—at least with a lot of Temple fans—was that Navy would get beaten up so much by a bigger, stronger, faster, Ohio State team that it would suffer so many injuries that would help Temple a week later.



“Give Temple credit.
A lot of that was all
the third and twos
we couldn’t convert.
We have been converting
those in the past.
… but they beat
our guys up front.”
_ Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo
err, five years ago

Instead, Temple was the school that suffered so many injuries that last year’s starting corner, Anthony Robey, had to play safety. Still, the biggest takeaway from the day to me was the Owls’ shocking inability to play the option as compared to the 2009 Temple team. On that day in Annapolis, the Temple defensive front handled Navy’s offensive line in a 27-24 win. So much so that this is what Navy’s great coach, Ken Niumatalolo said afterward:

“Give Temple credit. A lot of that was all the third and twos we couldn’t convert. We have been converting those in the past. … but they beat our guys up front.”

That was then. This was now: Temple was painfully slow at both defensive ends after showing some speed last week. Don’t know whether it was the heat or not, but Praise Martin-Oguike and Sharif Finch played most of the down and distance situations a week ago against Vanderbilt and those two have outstanding DE speed. Their backups, though, who did get a lot of snaps—probably because of the heat— are slow as molasses. Molasses on top of Navy’s pancake blocking is not a good condiment.

How has Temple gone from “beating (Navy’s) guys” to being beaten at the point of attack? Recruiting should have gotten better after the MAC, not worse. I’d also like to know how Western Kentucky—with Western Kentucky talent—beat Navy’s guys last year in a 19-7 win. Or how Duke’s guys did it in a 35-7 win. Playing Navy is tough, but coaches like Bobby Petrino and David Cutcliffe—and, heck, Al Golden—proved it’s not rocket science.

Herbin did not get selected No. 1 in the players’ draft for the Cherry and White game because his teammates like him. He got that honor because he’s a playmaker in the mold of the Seattle Seahawks’ Percy Harvin. The Seahawks find innovative ways to get Harvin the ball. It’s high time for the Owls to find ways to get Herbin the rock.

Herbin did not get selected No. 1 in the players’ draft for the Cherry and White game because his teammates like him. He got that honor because he’s a playmaker in the mold of the Seattle Seahawks’ Percy Harvin. The Seahawks find innovative ways to get Harvin the ball. It’s high time for the Owls to find ways to get Herbin the rock.

Going into the game, I thought players like Matt Ioannidis and Averee Robinson would have so much success inside at blowing up the point of attack that they would stretch the option wide and Temple’s linebackers and ends would have the speed to string the option out to the sideline. Instead, Temple’s linebackers were doing the tackling seven, eight, nine yards downfield because Navy was able to turn the corner time after time. The fullback dive play, which did not work in 2009, worked too much on Saturday.

Not a good sign. Neither was wearing black anything on a 99-degree day. That wasn’t well-thought-out. The school’s colors are cherry and white and there are enough innovative ways to make cherry and white look good. The song doesn’t say “Fight, Fight, Fight or the Cherry and the White … and the black.”

Speaking of speed, it’s also becoming increasingly apparent that until Temple recruits someone with “Bernard Pierce” or “Matty Brown” speed and pedigree, the Owls should consider moving Khalif Herbin—who is faster than both Pierce and Brown were and just as shifty if not moreso—to tailback for at least a few snaps a game as a stopgap measure. No one runs any harder than my favorite Owl, Kenny Harper, but he’d best serve the team as a lead blocking fullback for players like Herbin and Jahad Thomas. Harper can still carry the ball a few times for running plays up the middle.

Herbin did not get selected No. 1 in the players’ draft for the Cherry and White game because his teammates like him. He got that honor because he’s a playmaker in the mold of the Seattle Seahawks’ Percy Harvin. The Seahawks find innovative ways to get Harvin the ball. It’s high time for the Owls to find ways to get Herbin the rock.

All of this can be fixed for the Owls to become the best team they can be. They were not the best team they could have been on Saturday. They have a couple of weeks to tweak and experiment and put the players they have in the best position to win.

This Year’s Chris Coyer?

khalif

09.04.14
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Throwback Thursday: Navy’s Last Visit to Temple

Navy has a pretty good history of success at Lincoln Financial Field, going 10-0, but only one of those wins was against Temple and that was this one in 2007. The other nine wins came against Army.

Temple’s had some pretty imaginative plays in the Navy series and our second-favorite play was this throwback pass from Adam DiMichele to Matt Balasavage for a touchdown. DiMichele did a beautiful job selling the play, with a hard roll to the right before looking back. That might work even better with the more athletic Romond Deloatch on the throwback end this time.

Our favorite Temple play in the recent modern era (post-Bobby Wallace) came the next year and also involved DiMichele, currently the Owls’ wide receiver coach. Walking up to the line with the Owls holding a lead and seconds running off in the first half, DiMichele feigned taking a knee and, just before his knee was about to touch the ground, rose up and hit Bruce Francis on a long touchdown pass. Navy fell for that one hook, line and, err, anchor, as no one was within 30 yards of Francis, who could have walked into the end zone.

Maybe Adam could show P.J. Walker how that’s done tomorrow in practice.

This might be a good game to polish off the Jalen Fitzpatrick reverse pass or the plain simple Khalif Herbin reverse. If the Owls can get their speedy running backs (Jamie Gilmore, Jahad Thomas and Herbin) to the corners, they can outrun Navy and control the clock and keep Navy’s offense off the field.

Note Matt Rhule’s cameo at the end of this film when he had no gray hairs.

 

09.01.14
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Night at The Field House

Field House had a big, loud, Temple crowd well past midnight.

Field House had a big, loud, Temple crowd well past midnight.

Anyone who has ever been a Temple fan for 30 years like I have knows the feeling.

The few times we have to walk into a bar to watch a Temple game we have to brace ourselves for asking for the game without getting laughed at or ask for the sound, which they never turn up. For some reason, so-called sports bars love to have music on and will seldom turn up the sound on sports events and never Temple ones. Miller’s Ale House in Northeast Philadelphia is a repeat offender in that regard. Armed with that knowledge, I ditched my plans to make a short walk to the local taproom and decided to attend the scheduled Temple viewing party at The Field House, where I knew the sound would be up.

Despite several logistical problems, I’m glad I did.

It started with a ride on the Route 67 bus out of Northeast Philly to the Market-Frankford Line. The bus ride was cool, a 25-minute one from Alburger and Verree; the MFL not so cool, with a guy walking up and down the train and talking to himself. SEPTA has a police force of 378 full-time officers and I thought to myself if they are not riding the MFL or the Broad Street Subway, just where are these guys? Are there donut shops on the subway? If I was the CEO of SEPTA, I’d have two guys riding shotgun of every train and still have more than 200 officers left to patrol other areas.

That’s just me.

Getting off at 11th Street, I made my way to the Field House. The first thing I saw is a couple of guys wearing Texas A&M game jerserys. Trendy fans. There is nothing worse than a trendy fan. I don’t throw the word “hate” around much, but I hate trendy fans. I guarantee those two guys were from Philly and picked Texas A&M out of a hat to root for, simply because they have been a trendy team. On the subject of hate, I hate every Temple student who walks around the Temple campus wearing Penn State stuff. I walked into the Temple room and told my friend, Dave, about it and he agreed. “He probably has a Duke hat and has a Dallas Cowboy and New York Yankee jersey, too,” Dave said.

That summed it up. Then I spent the better part of the next five hours with real fans, Temple fans, fans like me who stick with their team through a lot of thin and little thick.

After a two-hour wait, though, the next three hours were deliciously thick.

After Brandon Shippen scored a touchdown, I started a very loud “Let’s Go Temple” cheer. Then, as Temple lined up for the extra point, I stopped and told the room, “If he makes this, T for Temple U.” We did a lot of “Let’s Go Temple” and “T for Temple Us” that night. Let’s Go Temple during every drive. T for Temple U after every made extra point and field goal.  So much so that I could not talk for most of the day Friday.

It was a loud, boisterious, crowd and I’m glad I came.

All of those guys and gals will be at the Navy game on Saturday. I hope we get 30,000 other Temple fans that loud, too.  The trendy fans can stay home.

08.29.14
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AAC Champs: Why Not The Owls?

There was happiness everywhere in Owl country from coast to coast, but especially in Nashville.

There was happiness everywhere in Owl country from coast to coast, but especially in Nashville.

There’s not much to tell from a first-week AAC first-week football schedule that includes Connecticut being hammered by BYU and Houston vs. UTSA. If defense wins championships, neither Tulsa nor Tulane showed much of it in a 38-31 win by the Golden Hurricane. Fans will not find out much about East Carolina in a game against North Carolina Central.


“Vandy’s defensive line will
consist of Vince Taylor at nose,
who started 11 games last year.
Adam Butler, an absolute terror
who started 5 games after flipping
over from offensive tackle,
and Nifae Lealeo, a US Army All American
freshman who weighs in at a svelt 315.
As for the secondary Vandy returns Paris Head
who had as many picks last year as the entirety
of the Temple defense and Andrew Williamson
who boasts two picks …. top to bottom
this will be the most talented Vandy roster in history”
_ Vandy fan Tdog

There was, though, one game that really opened a lot of eyes and that was Temple’s 37-7 win at Vanderbilt. That’s because the Owls totally dominated a SEC team which returned 15 starters, including a quarterback, Patton Robinette, who started and won games at Georgia and Florida. The Commodores’ offensive line returned intact, with the exception of one player, Wes Johnson, and this was a group that held out some of the best defensive lines in the best conference in the country.

Nine months ago, Temple made a trip to Tennessee and came away with a 41-21 win over Memphis. Thursday’s win in Nashville was even more dominating. The last group of Yankees who had that much success in that state were led by U.S. Grant.

Owls celebrate Averee Robinson's touchdown, making him and Adrian the only brother combination to score defensive touchdowns in the 87-year-history of Temple football.

Owls celebrate Averee Robinson’s touchdown, making him and Adrian the only brother combination to score defensive touchdowns in the 87-year-history of Temple football.

When James Franklin left to take over the head coaching job at Penn State, he did not leave the cupboard totally bare in Nashville. This was more Temple good than Vanderbilt bad and, in an AAC that could be wide open, this wins means the Owls could be major players in the conference this year and for years to come.

UCF lost a first-round quarterback pick to the NFL. Houston was dominated by Vanderbilt in a bowl game last year. Cincinnati has a talented quarterback in Gunner Kiel, but he’s also a guy who has not dropped back against a real rush in two years. That means something because Temple has a real rush. The Owls were all over Robinette like few SEC teams were and the reason was that they moved a couple of speedy linebackers up to defensive ends. The Owls had to do very little blitzing but, when they did, the consistent front four rush made the blitzes all the more effective. A blitz from linebacker Avery Ellis led to a sack, a fumble and a touchdown return by nose tackle Averee Robinson.

It was some very impressive coaching from second-year coach Matt Rhule and DC Phil Snow to make those kind of personnel changes.

It’s a long season and Temple would be wise to learn from its last dominating win over a Power 5 team, when the Owls went down to Maryland and beat the Terps, 38-7, in 2011. Full of themselves, the Owls were beaten, 38-13, at home by Toledo the next week. Maybe Rhule, an Owl assistant at that time, should show them that film.

Speaking about being full of themselves, remember this post by our Vandy friend visitor Tdog last week:

“Vandy’s defensive line will consist of Vince Taylor at nose, who started 11 games last year. Adam Butler, an absolute terror who started 5 games after flipping over from offensive tackle, and Nifae Lealeo, a US Army All American freshman who weighs in at a svelt 315. As for the secondary Vandy returns Paris Head who had as many picks last year as the entirety of the Temple defense and Andrew Williamson who boasts two picks and a wealth of experience. You’re spot on on the question marks at wr and the last 2 spots of the secondary, but top to bottom this will be the most talented Vandy roster in history”

Hmm.

If the Owls do not get full of themselves in a week against a very good Navy team, they have as much a chance of building the kind of momentum that could catapult them to an AAC title. Of all the AAC teams so far, they have a chance of building the best resume after two weeks.

08.27.14
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Temple Football 2014: Game-by-Game Predictions for the Owls

Temple's P.J. Walker will be ahead of the curve and his blockers this fall.

Temple’s P.J. Walker will be ahead of the curve and his blockers this fall.

There is nothing like the start of the season in any sport and Temple head coach Matt Rhule might have said it best: “There is not a team on our schedule we cannot beat and there is not a team on our schedule who can’t beat us.”

In picking the outcome of this season, I’m taking the King Solomon Approach—splitting that schedule baby in half and coming up with six wins, six losses. That should get the Owls back to the Military Bowl, where my prediction is that they won’t have a rematch with any of the military academies (Navy is going to be the only one making a bowl and the Mids will opt for a more high-profile one).

I want a rematch with Rutgers but doubt the Scarlet Knights will win six games.

Here are my Owl predictions:

Thursday, Aug. 28, at Vandy

I see this one going pretty much the same way the UCLA game went in the Eagle Bank Bowl. The Owls scratch and claw for the lead most of the game but, in the end, five years of Power 5 Conference recruiting catches up to them. Commodores salt the game away by  with a Patton Robinette quarterback sneak on fourth and inches. “We thought about going to a shotgun handoff but coach (Derek Mason) talked me out of it,” offensive coordinator Karl Dorrell said. “I don’t want to use all the words he said, but he asked me if I was bleeping nuts but he didn’t say bleeping.”  Vandy, 31-21.

Saturday, Sept. 6 Navy

Biggest game of the season and Navy will win nine games but this will not be one of them. Temple DC Phil Snow is not good at defending three wides, but very adept at devising methods to stop the triple option. Key play: A 99-yard kickoff return for a score by Khalif Herbin revisiting memories of a similar play by James Nixon in the 2009 win at Navy. Key block in that one was provided by Matt Falcone. Key block in this one will be by John Christopher. Temple, 21-16.

Saturday, Sept. 20 Delaware State

Temple takes advantage of five Hornet turnovers in a 24-7 win. “Fordham taught us to never be overconfident,” Rhule says, holding the game ball.

Saturday, Sept. 27 at UConn

Austin Jones kicks the game-winning field goal in overtime as ESPN’s Kevin Neghandi, a Temple grad, is in attendance. Kenny Harper runs the ball straight up the middle for three straight plays after Nate L. Smith picks off a pass. “I wanted to put the ball in the middle of the field, that was my strategy,” Rhule said. “I said the best kicker in college football is going to have to win the game for Temple and he did.” Temple, 17-14, in OT. UConn players are quoted after the game as saying they have a strong feeling of de ja vu.

Saturday, Oct. 11 Tulsa

The last time Tulsa visited South Philadelphia it came away with a 15-10 win over a Bruce Arians’ coached Temple team. The results were reversed this time. Temple, 15-10. After the game, the Tulsa Chancellor fires head coach Bill Blakenship, saying “losing to Temple is unacceptable.” When asked to comment, Temple President Neil D.Theobald says: “Who the bleep are they to talk that kind of bleep about us?” An instant AAC rivalry is born. 

Friday, Oct. 17 at Houston

Houston coach Adam Levine dinks and dunks Temple all the way down the field on slant patterns over the middle. “Last year, their strategy was to keep us in front of them, let us make the catch, but take away the big plays,” Levine said. “We figured they’d do the same. We bled them to death.” Houston, 38-24.

Saturday, Oct. 25 at UCF

Without Blake Bortles, UCF relied on ball control and its defense to win a slugfest. “What happened to No. 19?” George O’Leary said, referring to Temple wide receiver Robbie Anderson. “That kid killed us last year.” When told Anderson flunked out of school, O’Leary shook his head.  “Our kids don’t even go to class in the fall.” UCF, 19-12.

Saturday, Nov. 1 East Carolina

East Carolina quarterback Shane Carden wins a passing war with P.J. Walker. Temple and East Carolina fan Winkel spends the first half on the Temple side of the field and the second half on the Pirate side. “The difference was my receivers held onto the ball and his dropped it,” Carden said. East Carolina, 36-30.

Friday, Nov. 7 Memphis

Tight end Romond DeLoatch catches three touchdowns over the middle as Temple rolls to a 41-12 win. “That was open for Chris Coyer and we thought it would be open for Romond, too,” Rhule said. “Fortunately, we were right.”

Saturday, Nov. 15 at Penn State

One hundred and six thousand Penn State fans cheer as Christian Hackenberg toys with the Temple secondary. Nits’ defense driven nuts by Walker, though, and Temple comes back from a 28-7 deficit in the second half to tie the game, but lose, 59-49. “My bad,” James Franklin said. “I should have run the ball with a 28-7 lead. You cannot give this Walker kid eight second-half possessions and that almost cost us the game.”

 Saturday, Nov. 29 Cincy

Tommy Tuberville comes out in three wides and throws sideline patterns down the field that cause the Owls fits. “We saw what Houston did, but we thought we’d use the out pattern instead of the slants in the middle of the field,” Tuberville said. “For some reason, their DBs play the man and not the ball. Fortunately for us because Gunner (Kiel) put it up for grabs and they could have had at least three pick 6s. They gave us 5 yards every time we wanted it.” Cincinnati, 31-24.

Saturday, Dec. 6 at Tulane

With a bowl game on the line, Tyler Matakevich gathers the defense around him and gives an impassioned speech at halftime with the game tied at 7-7. “I’ve never lost to f-ing Tulane in my life before and I’m not going to start losing to f-ing Tulane now,” Matakevich said. Owls cheer wildly, pounding their helmets on the gold floor of the new Tulane stadium locker room and play the defensive game of the year in the second half, shutting the Green Wave out  on the way to a 21-7 win. “I didn’t mention that I never played Tulane,” Matakevich grinned. “I didn’t think it was important at the time.”

Sunday, Dec. 7—bowl selection Sunday party at the LC, 6 p.m.