Category Archives: Temple football

08.26.19
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Game Week: The Bully in the China Shop

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I’ve been against our great university playing Bucknell in football.

Basketball, yes.

Football, no.

I was against it when it was first announced and urged several times for the university to swap the game out for a more appropriate foe.

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Yet, the game remained on the schedule and, as one editor of a Temple sports website likes to say, “it is what it is.”

It is the next game on the schedule and it must not only be won but dominated. With all of this talk about bullying in schools today, my school is forced into the role of a bully (by its own administration) and it is not a good look. This has all the makings of a body bag game and we haven’t seen that since eight Rutgers players were carted off the field in a 20-17 loss to Temple in Piscataway (2002). This one doesn’t figure to be anywhere near as competitive as that one was nor should it be. I know a lot of people will be bringing up Villanova but Villanova is able to recruit the kinds of athletes Bucknell is unable to recruit and Temple now, unlike then, has a competent head coach who has no history of losing to FCS teams.

I would enjoy much more a trip to Penn State and the hope for an upset there on Saturday than the knowledge that Temple is going to probably hurt someone pretty bad at home.

What does Temple gain from beating Bucknell, 82-28, in a repeat of the 1966 game? Other than a statue of a boot, nothing.

That, and the fact summer (by far the best of the four seasons IMHO) is over, is the bad news.

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The good news is that football season is back and that’s not a bad consolation. Seeing our beloved Owls in a rare August game is another bonus. 

If there is any other good news, we will finally get a chance to see Rod Carey’s Temple team hit someone–they still have tackling to the ground in college football, right?–and Owl fans will get to see if there is any rust by the lack of tackling in the spring and summer.

The important thing is getting ready for Maryland in a few weeks and beating Georgia Tech on the way to an AAC title run.

If all of those things happen and the Owls finish unbeaten, playing and beating Bucknell might be worth it but I doubt it.

Friday: Game Day Minus-1

Sunday: Game Analysis and a return to the three-post weekly schedule

 

08.24.19
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New BOT chair hints stadium “out of our control”

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The original Temple Stadium at Pickering and Cheltenham Aves.

What’s out of our control?

For Temple football, injuries to the offensive line or quarterback could turn a potential championship season into another mediocre bowl run.

That’s out of our control.

Yet, in a recent interview in the Temple News, new Temple University Board of Trustees chairman Mitchell Morgan hinted that something else also important to the future of the program was “out of our control” and that is a place to play.

This is what Morgan, a real estate developer who helped bring to fruition Morgan Hall (one of the best student residences in the country), had to say about an on-campus football stadium in a recent Temple News interview:

 

“It would be great to have an on-campus stadium,” he added. “But if it’s not in the cards, then we will find another place to play football, but it’s out of our control.”

Since everyone in the administration refuses to even comment on the stadium issue pretty much since last March’s (2018) disastrous meeting with the community at Mitten Hall, that statement is about as revealing as anything. Even athletic director Pat Kraft, in an interview with CBS radio’s Zach Gelb, pulled a Sargent Schultz when he said “I really don’t know anything” about where a stadium stands. New head coach Rod Carey hasn’t uttered a word about the proposed stadium, at least in print, and former coach Geoff Collins’ only statement was that he would help the university in any way he could. I doubt Manny Diaz even knew the uni was considering a stadium. Matt Rhule said he was in favor of a stadium “if done right” and Al Golden was the first coach to bring up how important building an on-campus stadium was back in 2006.

Those aren’t the top guys, though. Mitchell Morgan now is.

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The current proposed location at 15th and Norris seems to be a no-go for a stadium

” … but if it’s not in the cards, then we will find another place to play football, but it’s out of our control.”

That’s an important comment from the top guy because Temple currently has no place to play football next year and that’s troubling. The hope is that Jeffrey Lurie extends the Lincoln Financial Field lease, but that has not happened yet and both Franklin Field and Chester are unacceptable options, one where the Owls would not have control and the other where 18,000 seating is just too small for a team that averaged 28,765 fans last year.

The irony is that this really is in Temple’s control if it wanted to think big. The university already plays almost 100 intercollegiate events at its $22 million Olympic stadium complex at Broad and Masters and it would be able to shoe-horn a 35,000 seat stadium into that spot if it wanted. Those neighbors probably would trade six events a year for the 100 and moving the Olympic teams back to 15th and Norris would not require shutting down 15th Street, which is the major obstacle.

It’s a King Solomon-like solution that the university apparently does not want to pursue but it’s certainly one that is within its control.

Monday: Finally, Game Week Is Here

08.23.19
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Fan Party: Pictures Worth 1,000 words

Ninety-nine years ago an advertising executive named Fred R. Barnard coined the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

True today, and especially true on Tuesday night when photographer extraordinaire Zamani Feelings came up with these shots from the season ticket holder party. He’s got plenty more on his site. Tomorrow, we’ll have a post with real words but, for now, it’s pretty hard to top this contribution to our site from Zamani. To see more, or even purchase one, visit here :

 

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08.19.19
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Offensive Depth Chart: Weapons Everywhere

There’s been plenty of talk about the offensive weapons the other Lincoln Financial Field tenant, the Philadelphia Eagles, have and, while a case can be made that DeSean Jackson and Darren Sproles and Zach Ertz and Carson Wentz are formidable, the other permanent locker room down the hall is stacked as well.

In Isaiah Wright, the Temple Owls have one of the top 15 most exciting players in college football and can line him up everywhere and, in Anthony Russo, the Owls have–according to at least one expert–the No. 22 quarterback in college football.

Mix in tight ends Kenny Yeboah and David Martin-Robinson, wide receivers Jadan Blue and Branden Mack and a promising young running back named Re’Mahn Davis, and the Owls have all of the ingredients for offensive success this year in the weapons department.

No one knows what the offensive depth chart will look like when it’s released in about a week, but we can say for certainty that Anthony Russo will be the No. 1 quarterback and Toddy Centeio will be No. 2. Nos. 3 and 4 Trad Beatty and Kennique Bonner-Steward are also in the room with a new face, former St. Pius X (N.J.) quarterback Matt Vitale. It’s probably the deepest group since the Matty Baker/Lee Saltz days.

Running back is another story.

We don’t know who will be the running back yet but, from all reports out of camp, Davis has impressed. Is that enough to beat out veteran Jager Gardner, who has also had a good camp? That’s why this depth chart is so fascinating. Wright also worked a full week at RB, so he’s a fallback plan. Gardner is the best blocker of the group.

What is know is that the offensive line is set, which includes Rimington Award candidate Matt Hennessy at center, Jovahn Fair and Lansdale Catholic product Vince Picozzi at guard, and Isaac Moore and Adam Klein at tackle. That was pretty much last year’s starting until that shoved the ball down Houston’s throats to the tune of 59 points one of the few times offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude gave proper emphasis to the running game.

The second offensive line unit features a whole bunch of new names but, among them, the versatile Leon Pinto, who can play both guard and center, has stood out.

If any spot is going to benefit from the lack of real hitting in camp, it’s going to be that offensive line group but you’ve got to wonder if the lack of physicality is going to carry over into September games against Maryland and Georgia Tech.

It’s a gamble that head coach Rod Carey has taken before and is willing to take again. The proof will be in the taste of the pudding or whatever Temple fans taste at the post-game tailgates. Winning makes everything taste better.

Friday: Zamani’s Slideshow from the Season-Ticket Party

Saturday: What’s Out of Our Control?

08.17.19
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Russo Picks Temple to Win AAC East

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The biggest news coming out the last couple of days about Temple football was not on the practice field where the team is working hard for the season opener in less than two weeks but because a Russo picked Temple to win the AAC East.

And it wasn’t even Anthony Russo.

Ralph D. Russo (no relation), the Associated Press’ long-time college football beat writer, picked Temple to win the AAC East.

That’s good news.


The most long-awaited
depth chart in the history
of Temple football (there
hasn’t been one since the
2016 season finale) will
be released on Aug. 26

 

The bad news is that he also picked Memphis to win the overall title but, since we’re still five months away from that potential matchup, the Owls can have a lot to say about both getting to that game and winning it.

First things first.

Russo didn’t detail his reasoning but he probably thinks the Owls would beat Memphis (and UCF) at home, lose to Cincy on the road, but probably set themselves up for a home rematch against the revenge-minded Tigers and lose. History, though, proves that teams playing against revenge have won the title (UCF over Memphis last year, despite the Tigers losing the regular-season game, 31-30) so the Owls don’t have to follow that script.

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It won’t be long now

Meanwhile, the Owls are writing their own foreward (this one spelled with an ‘e’ in the middle) of what could be a remarkable 2019 story.

To me, all of these predictions could get blown up with a key injury here or there so the predictions are pretty much made with minimal injury impact in mind so building depth is an important ingredient and that’s just what the Owls are doing now.

The most long-awaited depth chart in the history of Temple football (there hasn’t been one since the 2016 season finale) will be released on Aug. 26, but while there is hitting at practices, there is no tackling so expect a lot of the proven tacklers last year on defense to rise to the top of the depth chart this season as well.

That means on defense expect last year’s starters at corner, Linwood Crump Jr., and Ty Mason to be trying to fight off Harrison Hand–who started four games for a Power 5 team (Baylor)–to keep their jobs.

At safety, reports from OwlsDaily.com that DaeSean Winston is lining up as starter is particularly impressive since he did not get as many reps as Benny Walls, the other safety starter. The fact that they are both holding off Penn State backup Ayron Monroe (who played in all 12 regular-season games for the Nittany Lions) probably is a good sign for the quality of the safety group.

The fact that the five current linebackers (Shaun Bradley, Chapelle Russell, Sam Franklin, William Kwenkeu and Isaiah Graham-Mobley) are the strength of the team has been pretty much common knowledge since the end of last season. Franklin’s value is that he can play any defensive position (end, LB and safety) and can be moved all over the field as needed. Owls will be hurt by graduation at that position in that only IGM is an underclassman.

Probably the two key ingredients to winning college football games are getting to the bad guys’ quarterback and keeping the bad guys off your quarterback and the Owls should have no problem doing that with a group that includes starting ends Quincy Roche and Zack Mesday and interior linemen Dan Archibong and Karamo Dioubate. Dana Levine, who started three games before getting injured, is also back at DE along with junior college transfer Nickolas Madourie–who had an eye-popping 17.5 sacks in one season as a JUCO.

This defense has the potential to shut a lot of people down and with the abandonment of Geoff Collins’ Mayhem scheme–which left gaping holes in an attempt to ramp up turnovers–should be more fundamentally sound.

Monday: Thoughts on The Offense

08.12.19
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Temple Football Headlines We’d Like To See

Go to the college football tab on Philly.com and up will pop the following recent headlines:

  • Penn State transfer Ayron Monroe looking to make his mark at Temple;
  • Jager Gardner and Kyle Dobbins early front-runners in Temple running back race;
  • Anthony Russo Ready to Face Microscope As Temple starting quarterback
  • Manny Diaz Explains Why He Bailed on Temple Football

All fine, good headlines examining interesting topics pertaining to the program. Still, here are some other headlines and outlines we’d like to see in the future:

New Temple Board of Trustees Chair Mitchell Morgan Compares Building of Stadium to Morgan Hall: Morgan, a Temple grad, took over for departed chairman Patrick J. O’Connor, a Villanova graduate. The real estate developer needs to articulate that building a stadium on Temple’s property is no different than building Morgan Hall and more of an economic benefit to the neighborhood than a dorm would be in that game-day jobs and other perks would be made first available to neighborhood residents that do not exist in development of other Temple properties.

Carey Calls Collins ‘Goofy’ When He Releases His Depth Chart: The long-awaited date for a depth chart will be Aug. 26. That will be the first Temple depth chart anyone has seen since the 2016 Military Bowl as Temple fans had to deal with an “above-the-line” vagueness under former head coach Geoff Collins. “Geoff was goofy with that and some other things,” Temple coach Rod Carey said. “You won’t find us holding money down signs on third down, for instance.”

Carey Abandons Running Back By Committee Approach: “I said, and you can’t print this, ‘fuck it, ‘ I have the best running back in the league in Isaiah Wright and I’m not going to screw this up by trying to put someone else back there.’ “

Temple’s Kraft: No More FCS Games: In a unique approach designed to boost sagging season ticket sales for the Bucknell opener, Temple athletic director Pat Kraft says this will be Owl fans last chance to see an FCS team. “We’re actively looking to replace Idaho with a Power 5 team next season,” Kraft said, “and we’re no longer going to be playing FCS foes so this will be Temple fans last chance to see us against one of these type teams. We really don’t care what other AAC teams are doing with their non-conference schedules. We’re going to advance the Temple brand by playing only FBS foes going forward.”

Saturday: Defensive Depth Chart Thoughts

Monday: Offensive Depth Chart Thoughts

Saturday (8/24): What’s Out of Our Control?

Monday: (8/26): The Bully in the China Shop

Saturday (8/31): Game Day

Sunday (9/2): Resuming Regular Season Post schedule (Sun-Wed-Sat)

08.10.19
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Strange Offseason For AAC Gives Some Hints to Future

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Very few teams in the American Conference, heck, college football, had a stranger postseason than Temple.

First, Geoff Collins announces how excited he was for his team to play Duke in the Independence Bowl then, the next day exits stage right for Atlanta and Georiga Tech.

Then, athletic director Pat Kraft announces a national search and settles on a guy whose dad was Mayor of Miami and then, not surprisingly, the kid leaves for Miami about 18 days later.

Then some normalcy returned in the form of a proven FBS winning head coach (52-30) in Rod Carey. Yet, spring practice was an extension of the strangeness as the Owls did not have a spring “game” for the first time and had virtually no hitting in those 15 practices that extended from mid-March through mid-April.

Temple is back to full hitting now in summer camp.

Just because Temple had a weird offseason doesn’t mean the rest of the conference was immune to the elements.

  • UCF, the favorite, replaced its Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback with a big name, Brandon Wimbush, from Notre Dame. Darriel Mack Jr., the backup who led UCF past Memphis in the title game broke his ankle in a non-football workout so it looks like this is Wimbush’s job to keep.  Wimbush began last season as Notre Dame’s starter and has a lot to prove after being benched after the third game of last season. He passed for only 719 yards and threw six interceptions as opposed to four touchdowns. In 2017, he passed for 1,870 yards with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions.
  • Houston did what some was unthinkable for a Group of 5 school, hiring a fairly successful Power 5 head coach, Dana Holgerson, to replace Major Applewhite. This could work.
  • Tulane’s Willie Fritz has committed to a hybrid triple-option–closer to what Paul Johnson did at Georgia Tech than what Ken Niumatalolo is doing with Navy–that features more downfield passing. It caused the league numerous problems the last year and his team figures to be even more improved this season.
  • UConn not only exited the league–it will compete as a lame-duck this season–but virtually committed football suicide by going independent. The Huskies need only to look a few miles North to Massachusetts to see what that holds for their future.
  • Meanwhile, Cincinnati has the most “stable” year as the Bearcats not only beat Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl, they got to keep their head coach, Luke Fickell, who was one of the final two candidates for the West Virginia job. They also have Temple at home in what should be one of the games of the year in the AAC and benefit from four-straight No. 1 AAC recruiting classes.

If Cincy doesn’t win the league this year, a lot of people will be surprised but that’s why they play the games.

Monday: 5 Temple Headlines We’d Like to See

 

 

08.05.19
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5 Goals Out of Summer Camp

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You can make up all the mock depth charts you want (as we have today) but the power of moving up the charts rests in what these young men do.

According to The Inquirer’s Marc Narducci, the highlight of the first day of Temple football summer camp was the handing out of single digits.

Count me among those loving Temple’s single-digit tradition–perhaps because it gets mentioned on every national telecast–but more significant highlights should be coming in the next four weeks.

Screenshot 2019-08-04 at 12.04.32 PM (1)

Owls have 2 votes in the coaches poll. Since you are not allowed to vote for your own team, I’m guessing Geoff Collins and Matt Rhule

Temple’s schedule is an odd one in that the Owls have nothing more than a practice game with Bucknell on the schedule on the last day of this month, followed by a too early bye week, then the real schedule.

These should be the 5 goals to accomplish in the next four weeks:

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Dan Archibong (photo by Zamani Feelings) is a good bet to earn a single digit.

Hitting

Few Cherry and White days were more disappointing than the past one. After watching a few drills that did not involve hitting, the fans left in droves. I was gone right after they practiced punt returns with the return guy catching the ball and running through a line of players who had no interest in touching him. That’s not football. After a 35-0 loss to Pitt in 1983, Bruce Arians brought the team out at 6 a.m. and had them hitting in full pads the next morning. “Dumb mistake by a rookie coach,” Bruce said at the end of that season. “We were out-hit that day. We got into a physical mentality in that practiced and we weren’t outhit the rest of the year.” Owls need to create that mentality early.

Depth

The Owls have a lot of promising players on the second units of both lines but few of those actually saw game action. They need to develop that depth this month.

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Solving the Running Back Dilemma

Head coach Rod Carey indicated that he’s open to moving Isaiah Wright into a full-time role at running back should no one emerge as a go-to guy. That beats what he said a week earlier when he indicated going to RB by committee was an option. Running back by committee is like having a baseball closer by committee. It never works. I like Jager Gardner as a backup but I don’t see him as an elite No. 1. Jeremy Jennings is fast, but he doesn’t have great open-field moves. Tyliek Raynor strikes me as a David Meggett-type third-down back. Maybe a true freshman will emerge like Bernard Pierce did in the weeks before the 2007 but, failing that, using Wright (where he has been used in the past) there will give the Owls the best running back in the league without hurting a deep and talented wide receiver corps.

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RPO: Blessing or a Curse?

Quarterback Anthony Russo talked about the Owls using more of a run-pass-option this year than in the past couple. That’s a blessing if the run option is to a running back instead of a quarterback. You won’t catch Bill Belichick using Tom Brady as a run option nor should Carey expose Russo to getting killed on similar plays. While Russo is no Tom Brady (yet), he is like Brady in that he’s more valuable as a dropback passer than as a run decoy. A good coach designs schemes to best utilize the talent he has, not the talent he wants and, for Temple this year, the RPOs should be delayed draws and an occasional swing pass out of the backfield and little else.

A place for Franklin

The Owls need to get Sam Franklin on the field and, with a linebacker corps that includes Chapelle Russell, Shaun Bradley, Isaiah Graham-Mobley and William Kenkewu, snaps will be limited there. He has an opportunity to play safety and that’s where he should line up.

Other than that, and getting the timing down, the Owls are all set to build on expectations that have them getting more votes in the coaches poll than Tennessee and Ole Miss.

Saturday: Around The League

Monday: 5 TUFB Headlines We’d Like to See

Saturday (8/17): Depth Chart Thoughts

08.02.19
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2019 Owls: Less Hype, More Hope

Summer Camp opened yesterday with all of the media stuff being taken care of on Thursday and, I must admit, while I’m always optimistic about the first day of real practice, the anticipation is on steroids this year.

That’s because, for the first time since the 1970 season, a Temple fan can state unequivocally that a new head coach will not have to learn on the job on Temple’s time and Temple’s dime.

Some of us know what happened the last time those circumstances converged.

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11 wins could make this the most glorious of the glory years

Highly successful then ex-Navy head coach Wayne Hardin turned a 4-5-1 Temple team from 1969 into a 7-3 team his first season. In fact, he had six winning seasons in his first seven.

Chances are, Temple fans will sign for that from new head coach Rod Carey now.

The theme of this season so far is less hype, more hope. Gone is the swag and money downs replaced by sound fundamentals and speaking by deeds, not words.

The bar is a little higher for Carey this time but, then again, so is the available talent.

The quote of the day from Temple’s own in-house media day was this from Carey when asked if he thought the Owls could win the AAC: “I wouldn’t bet against them.” Carey also said he is open to using Isaiah Wright as the full-time running back should his other 10 options not work out.

He must be reading this blog. We’ll save you some time, Rod. The other guys are nowhere near the running back Wright is and the Owls are knee-deep in pretty damn good wide receivers. Just put Wright behind Anthony Russo and give him the ball 20 times a game and another few on swing passes out of the backfield and let him work his magic in space. He’s not needed at WR. The Owls have so many good ones that Freddie Johnson was switched to cornerback to give him a better chance to get on the field. Johnson made a lot of great plays as a WR for the Owls last year, including catching a touchdown pass on a fake field goal from backup quarterback Toddy Centeio.

As predicted in this space on March 14, both Wright (2) and Branden Mack (1)  and Sam Franklin earned single digits but we thought Zack Mesday and Dan Archibong would also earn the honor.  There are more digits to be awarded and, if I were to guess now, Mesday, Archibong, and Russo would be among the leading candidates. Too bad center Matt Hennessey can’t get one as NCAA rules on offensive linemen prohibit it. The versatile Franklin–who can and has played end, linebacker and safety with the Owls–will be a worthy successor to fullbacks Nick Sharga and Rob Ritrovato, wearing the No. 4.

That’s good news because they need to find a way to keep the tough and talented Franklin on the field and, with a plethora of linemen and linebackers, perhaps his best chance to start is at strong safety. There’s a ton of available, proven, talent on both sides of the ball with maybe the only question mark being the depth of both lines.

Injuries could turn a possible 10-win season into an eight-win one but lack of same could push that number to 11. The Owls cannot possibly afford to lose guys like Isaiah Wright, Anthony Russo, Matt Hennessey, Karamo Dioubate and Dan Archibong but an injury to anyone else and they are about two-deep even below the first team.

Guess what, though?

Every team in the AAC can say that and one, UCF, already had its devastating season-ending injury to quarterback McKenzie Milton, a Heisman candidate if this league ever had one. They are trying to replace him with Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush and it might not be good enough.

The door is wide open for the Owls to walk through and, in Carey, they have a guy who has won multiple FBS championships and not a guy who is fumbling and stumbling around trying to figure out how to be a head coach like so many recent years.

That’s optimism on steroids.

Monday: 5 Goals to Accomplish This Month

07.29.19
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The handwriting is OFF the E-O Wall

Every coach who has walked through the halls of the $17 million Edberg-Olson Football Complex at Temple has put contributed something to both the architecture and the feel of the place.

Al Golden had the office extended so he could get a good view of the practice field. Steve Addazio put the pool tables in the new wing. Matt Rhule put the study halls next to the cafeteria. Geoff Collins put up legacy posters and fatheads as tributes to guys like Tyler Matakevich and P.J. Walker.

Rod Carey,  from what I’m hearing,  is taking a different approach.

He’s scrubbing the place clean.

All the tributes to the ex-players–except for the Matakevich and P.J. fatheads–have been taken down from the walls.

Not everyone is liking it. A room highlighting Haason Riddick’s ascent from Temple walk-on to first-round NFL draft choice has been removed. A collage featuring a dozen ex-Temple greats, including Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer and leading tackler for 30 years, linebacker Steve Conjar, is also gone.

One individual who is in and out often said this, one the condition of anonymity: “Everything was taken Down at EO except for the PJ and Tyler things on the windows. Walls are empty, (and they) took down Hassan NFL draft thing too.”

Palmer was less anonymous and expressed his displeasure with it on Facebook recently, more because he was miffed his Temple brothers from all eras were removed than for himself.

We thought it was a story good enough to write about and ask questions about and reached out to Temple beat writer, Marc Narducci, with it. Marc said he would ask Carey privately about it.

I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, but I sure would like to hear Carey’s thinking behind it.

My feeling is as long as he doesn’t put up fatheads of Northern Illinois guys like Jordan Lynch and Garrett Wolfe, he can do pretty much whatever he wants but we would have liked to see those Temple legacy items remain.

Saturday: Camp Opens

Monday: 5 Things to Accomplish

Saturday: UConn Fans React

Monday (8/12): What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Sunday, Sept. 1: Return to the in-season Sunday-Wed-Friday in season schedule