Category Archives: Temple football

12.03.18
by

Temple vs. Duke: Made For TV

deadster

Watching ESPN talk about 4 teams for the first hour was a little like this yesterday.

Not having watched many bowl selection shows (but just about every March Madness one), I figured the program for the day would go something like the basketball one.

You know, the brackets get released, comments are made, and the show moves along at a brisk pace.

The football version was like four hours in a dentist chair.

shreveport - Copy

This is the stadium the Owls will be playing in, once known as “State Fair Stadium.”

Beat the same dead horse about the relative merits of the top six Power 5 teams for over an hour, rehashing pretty much the same arguments that we’ve heard over the last month or so.

As Deion Sanders might say, “C’mon Man!”

This was my favorite tweet at the time:

 

 

A better show would have been to build up to the championship talk by listing every non-NY6 bowl game and keep the thing moving along. People would have waited for the Final 4 discussion later on and teams like Temple and Duke would have got the information they wanted up front.

I put down the remote at about 1:05 and headed for the gym, periodically checking my phone for twitter updates.

bowlberth

Owls finally get the bowl bid they lost out on in 1990 when Louisiana Tech tied Maryland, 34-34

The winner for the first “Temple vs. Duke” pick was college football reporter Brett McMurphy, who tweeted that Independence Bowl matchup at 4:38 p.m. The first Owlscoop.com tweet confirming that came across at 4:51.

As far as the game itself, it will be a made-for-TV affair on Thursday, Dec. 27 (1:30 p.m. kickoff). The only people in bars watching it will be fans of either team who took the day off or just plain alcoholics who occasionally look up at the TV while passing out at the bar.

Not very many Temple fans will be able to make it nor should they be blamed for it.  There are no direct flights from Philadelphia to Shreveport. The cheapest indirect flight I could find was $700 with a layover in Atlanta.

No thanks.

Temple would have drawn roughly 6-10K real fans to the Military Bowl, but because that bowl did not want any repeat teams from the last three years they picked Cincinnati instead. Cincy won’t bring more than 1,000 to D.C., if that. VT will pack the place so the MB probably won’t need Cincy’s fan support.

A lot of Temple fans would have been willing to spend that coin for a flight to Texas to face Baylor in the Frisco, Texas or Armed Forces Bowl but that opportunity went out the window when Oklahoma made the playoffs. The Big 12 didn’t have enough teams to fill their bowl affiliations and that was that.

As far as the game itself, Duke is a team to be respected but I expect Temple will be a slight favorite. Duke lost its last two games and was beaten, 59-7, by Wake Forest in its last game. Still, the Blue Devils beat two ranked teams–Army and Northwestern–and that’s one more ranked team than the Owls were able to beat.

Beat a team that beat Northwestern and Army and the Owls will take a lot of momentum into the 2019 season so coach Geoff Collins’ goal should be to go light on the air hockey, beach volleyball and bowling and heavy on the game prep.

After all, Duke did beat Baylor, so beating Duke would be the next best thing and give the Owls transitive property bragging rights when Collins gets on the horn with Matt Rhule.

The Baylor fan base looks a little less diverse than ours. 🙂

Wednesday: Atlanta Closure

Friday: The Elephant In The Room

Monday: An Argument That Cannot Be Won

Wednesday: Comparing Seasons

Friday: Swapping the Bowls Out Fidrych-Style

12.01.18
by

Isaiah Wright: Temple’s Answer

wright

There are not many vexing questions out there regarding the Temple football team for 2019.

The Owls appear to be even more loaded next year than they were this year with the exception of one sore thumb question:

“Who is going to replace Rock Armstead as the elite featured back?”

The answer is right under our noses: Isaiah Wright.

matt rhule, temple football,

“If we didn’t have Jahad Thomas or Ryquell Armstead at tailback,  Isaiah Wright is capable of playing the position and I’m sure he would do a great job.” _ Matt Rhule, 2016

This is what Matt Rhule said about Wright after the then true freshman gained 48 yards on seven carries in a 38-0 win over Stony Brook in 2016: “The great thing about Isaiah is his versatality. If we didn’t have Jahad Thomas or Ryquell Armstead at tailback, Isaiah Wright is capable of playing thet position and I’m sure he would do a great job. The challenge, really for me, is to get him the ball a lot more.”

Rhule could never follow through because Thomas and Armstead were there to block Wright’s progress as a running back but at least he instituted The Wildcat for him. (I don’t like the Wildcat because everyone knows Wright is going to run when he comes out in it. The Wildcat is effective only if IW throws it 50 percent of the time and runs it the other half.)

Getting the ball to Wright was a challenge inherited by the Geoff Collins staff and, quite frankly, they have not been up to it. Wright doesn’t get the ball nearly enough even though Army coach Jeff Monken called him “a touchdown waiting to happen” in his assessment of the Owls before the 2017 game at Army.

saturdaypicks

Our picks for today’s games

For the record, I like Jager Gardner as well but, for some reason, Gardner has disappeared as the Armstead backup. He did score a nice touchdown at UConn. Gardner and Wright should battle it out as Armstead’s replacement and the Owls will be in good shape, but I think that’s a battle Wright would win given a fair opportunity. Tyliek Raynor as a third-down back (a Dave Meggett-type) would give the Owls a terrific trio of running backs next season.

First, though, Wright has to have every opportunity to grab the No. 1 job in spring ball.

The Owls can afford to move Wright from receiver to tailback because they are so deep at wide receiver. Randle Jones and Freddy Johnson return, as does this year’s true freshman Sean Ryan. The Owls have plenty of options at wide receiver.

“Armstead is the toughest running back in our league to stop,” Houston head coach Major Applegate said after the Owls won, 59-49, in Texas.

Putting Wright back there would give the Owls that same important advantage next year as well.

 

11.28.18
by

Backroom Jockeying and Bowl Bids

eaglecelebration

This is how the Temple team reacted when UCLA came up as the 2009 bowl opponent on the TV screen in the lobby of the Liacouras Center.

Speculation is running rampant about where Temple’s football team will end up in a bowl game.

The Inquirer’s Mike Jensen said it best: “Temple vs. Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl. Make it happen.”

That would be the ideal storyline, maybe of this entire bowl slate outside of the NY6 games. Matt Rhule versus his old school, versus one of best friends, a guy who he helped get the Temple job. Who would Matt Rhule’s son, Bryant, root for? (Hint: he watches all of the Temple games on TV and runs to his dad jumping up and down when Temple wins.)  Philadelphia, the nation’s fourth-largest TV market media, would slobber over this storyline, as would the fifth (Dallas-Fort Worth).

Other than that, the only matchups that appeal to me are Temple vs. Miami (the real one, not the fake one, Independence Bowl) or Temple vs. Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl. Temple vs Georgia Tech? That’s so next year, not this one. Temple vs. Vanderbilt? Been there, won that (37-7). Temple vs. Boston College is out because bowls do not do mulligans of that year’s regular-season games. Temple vs. Penn State? The Lions are headed to a NY6 bowl.

The idea of a Baylor-Temple matchup has been pooh-poohed by some party poopers (“not likely,” according to a source earlier this week). Yet it makes too much sense for the powers-that-be (Baylor AD, Temple AD, Big 12, AAC). Good storylines mean good ratings.

Bill Bradshaw, the Temple AD in 2009, made an ideal matchup happen and Pat Kraft can do the same.

eaglebankbowl

The Eagle Bank Bowl, then in Washington, D.C., had no affiliation with the PAC-12 or the MAC, but Temple and UCLA became partners there thanks largely to Bradshaw. Then, as now, the matchup called for a military school to play an ACC team but, when Army failed to upset Armed Forces Bowl-bound Navy, the EBB committee turned to the “most local” eligible team, Temple. Bradshaw wanted a high-profile opponent and convinced the MAC and EBB officials to help Temple get the Bruins instead of an ACC foe. UCLA, which was 3-6 at one time that season, finished with three-straight wins and became eligible.

Bradshaw wanted high-profile and UCLA fit that order and “made it happen” by some backroom swapping. Bradshaw delivered the bowl 20,000 needed fans.

Baylor fits that order now for Temple now. It won’t be easy, but Kraft in concert with commissioner Mike Aresco should be thinking of ways for the AAC to swap bowls and make backroom deals to make an Armed Forces Bowl or Frisco Bowl game with Baylor happen.

Even though Temple has been bowl eligible the last few seasons, there was never a celebration of facing an opponent like the one at the Liacouras Center when the name “UCLA” came up on the TV screen next to Temple at a live screening of the bowl selection show in 2009. The place erupted.

Toledo? FIU? Even Wake Forest?

Not so much. More like yawns than yells.

Baylor would cause the place to erupt on Sunday night.

As Mike Jensen would say, make it happen.

Hopefully, Pat Kraft is trying to make it happen for Temple in 2018 the same way Bradshaw made it happen in 2009.

Saturday: Temple football’s Version of Allen Iverson

Monday: Bowl Selection Reaction

11.23.18
by

Welcoming Opposing Fans

southfloridafans

Former Owl greats Kevin Jones (left) and Joe Greenwood sent these USF fans home with a smile on their faces.

Over the years, being a fan is the derivitive of the word fanatic.

Sometimes, it’s a good thing, sometimes a bad one.

My love of Temple and my hatred of the “bad guys” (anybody playing Temple) sometimes got the best of me but, over the last decade, I’ve matured and become more welcoming to the fans who wear other colors than Cherry and White.

I have a lot of people to thank for that, specifically some terrific hosts of tailgates–like Steve Conjar and Sheldon Morris–who I’ve been able to learn from and adopt their attitudes.

Huskers

Mostly, watching them becoming good Ambassadors for Temple football, I’ve come to conclusion is a win-win for the program. When one group of fans from another school travels home, they can say what a terrific experience they had in Philadelphia with the Temple fans.

The fans you meet in person are often less aggravating than the ones who make antagonist comments about the Owls on the internet.

Take last Saturday, for instance.

The Sheldon Morris Group–which includes some of the great Bruce Arians’ players like Joe Greenwood, Paul Palmer and Mike Hinnant (to name a few)–welcomed a few South Florida fans into their post-game tailgate.

“It’s how we do,” was the way Joe Greenwood described it.

Despite the loss, those guys had a great time and will take the story back home to Tampa.

Maybe next year, the South Florida fans will recipocate.

notall

Err, just for this guy I’d like to see Temple ring up 80 on UConn, though.

I’ve had a few terrific experiences on the road, including one at UConn in 2012. Myself and the late great Phil Makowski were walking around in the parking lot at Rentschler Field and a couple asked us about Temple and we got into an interesting hour conversation about Eastern football, other universities and towns. They introduced us to two more UConn fans and so on and so forth. The Husky fans could not have been nicer.

The next year, we returned the favor at the Temple tailgates.

I’ve found the nicest fans are the Navy fans, but I’ve never been to a game at Army. Notre Dame fans were terrific both in South Bend and at Lincoln Financial Field. A steady stream of green-cladded Irish walked up my aisle as I sat dejected after a 24-20 loss in 2015 and shook my hand and said things like, “Keep your head up, you have a great team.”

Even though, we all root for different teams, the thing that binds us is our love of college football and our schools.

Empathy is wonderful but it’s learned and not inherited. UConn is going through a tough time now–as we went through once–and it’s important to win and party with class and Temple, largely, has done that thanks to a special group of people.

Hopefully, the goodwill reflects as positively on the university as the play of the kids wearing Cherry and White does.

Sunday: Game Analysis

 

11.22.18
by

Back By Popular Demand

bowling

He survived one. I survived two.

Editor’s Note: On Thanksgiving Day, we usually leave this space blank but, last Saturday, got a request from one of our most loyal and cherished readers, John from Landenberg (who I sat with for a time at Maryland in a 38-7 win). He asked us to republish two stories. I could not find one but did find this one. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!!!! This story was first published on this site in 2006. That was a dozen years ago. Boy, we are getting old.

By Mike Gibson
Watching Travis Shelton show his backside to the entire Bowling Green kickoff team, I thought about a lot of people.
Most of all, I thought about Karl Smith.
And all of the other small-minded narrow-thinkers like him.
Smith is the executive editor of PhillyBurbs.com.
You need only read a few excerpts from this piece of crap he wrote about Bowling Green putting up 70 on the Owls.
Things have changed a little since then, Karl.

…”how nice to have an extended scrimmage every year …against an overmatched opponent that actually counts in the standings,” Smith wrote …

A brief synopsis is in order. He went on to thank Temple for this and thank Temple for that and then concluded by thanking Temple for accepting an invitation to the MAC so that the Owls can be Bowling Green’s whipping boy for the next few years.
“… how nice to have an extended scrimmage against an overmatched opponent every year that actually counts in the standings,” Smith wrote.
Hmmm.

copper

Al Golden breaks a 20-game losing streak and saves Temple football in just about one day.

I guess he doesn’t know collegefootballnews.com named the Owls 2006 freshman recruiting class at the top incoming class among MAC schools, current or future.
I guess he doesn’t care many of those recruits, as many as 18, are seeing significant playing time for the Owls this season or that these same players pushed around Bowling Green’s sophomore- and junior-dominated lineup.
He might not know that the 2007 recruiting class is ranked significantly higher than that one and that it might dwarf any recruiting class of any MAC team in recent memory.
Or maybe he doesn’t care.
And, if he can count, he knows that this same Owls will be around for the next three years. Yes, the same Owls that beat his beloved Bowling Green by two touchdowns yesterday.
We won’t assume that Bowling Green will be Temple’s whipping boy for the next few years, as he assumed the other way.
The evidence is there.
Temple is getting better.
Bowling Green is getting worse.
Get used to watching Shelton’s backside. You’ve got two more years of watching that 4.27-40 speed.
We have six players coming in with that kind of speed and the evidence suggests that Temple could literally leave Bowling Green looking permanently in its rear view mirror.
Al Golden is a young, charismatic, recruiter who kids identify with and will rally behind. He came to Temple with a deserved reputation of being a recruiter without peer and he has only enhanced that reputation so far in his year on the job.
Thank you, Karl Smith.
Thank you very much.

Tomorrow: Opposition Fans

Sunday: UConn Game Analysis

11.20.18
by

Fizzy’s Corner: A Temple Football Prayer

change

Owls’ celebration in 2011 after seventh win looked remarkably similar to the same celebrating after win No. 7 seven years later (below).

Adventures in Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Land

                                            By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Dear Football Gods,

I’ve been writing about the Temple football team all year and I’ve come to the conclusion I must not know very much.  Take this week’s game against South Florida (SF), for example.  I went nuts over the following:

  1. Continually running up-the-gut from six yards deep on short yardage plays.
  2. Not throwing (deep) from play-action on first down.
  3. Not ever running a bootleg against an aggressive, blitzing gap defense.
  4. Not ever throwing a screen pass against an aggressive gap defense.
  5. Sending in a split/wildcat offensive play to interrupt the flow of the offense.
  6. Trying a field goal from a difficult angle on fourth and two, instead of a play.

Football Gods, I know I must have been wrong for jumping up in the aisle and screaming, “stupid” when we punted the ball on fourth and two, from the SF thirty-two yard line, with two minutes left in the game.  I erroneously thought we should have tried for a first down to clinch the game as SF had used all their timeouts.  (After all, most of the time those type of punts would go to the end zone.)  To prove my insanity, the strategy worked beautifully when we forced a fumble which resulted in a touchdown to seal the win.

Overall, I must be unbalanced when I criticize this vanilla (with no Jimmies) play calling which SF’s defense was well-coached to stop.  After all, Temple won the game even though our Broad Street Offense only scored 13 points.  Furthermore, this team has won seven of its last eight games, and is now 7 – 4.

So it must be me, Football Gods.  Please accept this letter as my confession.

P.S.  I’m trying to get NCAA approval for the “Keystone Bowl.”  This will be played in the warm south, South Philly that is, and feature Temple vs. Penn State in our perfect bowl game. 

Thanksgiving Day: Back By Popular Demand

Friday: Opposing Fans 

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.15.18
by

USF Kryptonite: It’s Not The Weather

helmetstickers

There might be something to that old adage that warm-weather teams can’t win football games in the North come November or later.

There isn’t enough data on South Florida’s football team to prove that hypothesis because the Bulls have played only two games north of the Mason-Dixon Line in November since 2010, one a win at UConn last year and the other a loss at Rutgers in 2011.

usfdefense

There is more pertinent data that Temple can both take solace and base a game plan around and hopefully, the Owls’ brain trust is putting the finishing touches on that right now.

South Florida deserves a lot of respect coming into Lincoln Financial Field to face host Temple at high noon on Saturday.

The Bulls have a better overall record (7-3) than the Owls (6-4) and have one more Power 5 win than the Owls do (2-0 vs. 1-1) and did what they needed to do against their lone FCS opponent, a better team than Villanova: Blow them out.

That’s where the comparison should end, though, because the Bulls’ Kryptonite has led to their three consecutive losses and it’s a defensive line decimated by injuries and susceptible to the run.

houstonsnip

 

Temple has plenty of Kryptonite in the form of a dynamite young offensive line and a savvy senior running back named Ryquell Armstead, who Houston coach Major Applewhite called “the hardest running back in our league to stop.”

Houston beat USF, 57-36, and Temple scored 59 on Houston.

Any game plan Temple designs for USF has to heavily involve that young offensive line and that savvy running back attacking the Bulls’ weakness.

USF head coach Charlie Strong touched on the lack of size within his front seven on defense. Strong pointed to the lack of size as a reason why opposing offenses have been able to get such a big push on the Bulls defensive line.

amazing

If the game were played today, Temple would have a big weather advantage

“When you get good on the defensive front, those guys are around 295-300 pounds,” Strong said. “Right now, those guys are 270-280. When you’re playing against a fifth-year senior and he’s 300-plus, they’re going to move you out of there. And that is what’s happening a lot of times on the runs. We get overpowered inside because you’re just not big enough.”

USF is going to bring the linebackers and safeties up to the line of scrimmage to cheat and try to help against Armstead. Even then, it might not be enough to stop the Owls but it does leave them vulnerable to the play-action passing game.

A few nice deft fakes by quarterback Anthony Russo into the belly of Armstead and then pulled out should be leaving Temple receivers running so free through the secondary that Russo will not know which guy to pick out.

That sounds like a plan. That sounds like the only plan.

Saturday:  Tribute to the Seniors

Sunday: Game Analysis

Tuesday: The Answer Right Under Our Noses

Thursday: The Most Arrogant Fan Base

Sunday (11/25):  Game Analysis

Tuesday: Playing AD

Thursday: An Argument That Can’t Be Won

11.13.18
by

Fizzy’s Corner: The Houston Win

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Lot’s of play-action on first down, QB keepers, and mostly pin-point passing kept Houston off-balance.  It was an aggressive Temple football team that immediately took charge against a very good Houston team.  Quickly, the coaching staff found that Houston’s Achilles heel was their missing all-American defensive tackle, Ed Oliver, and Ryquell Armstead went to work amassing 210 yards on 30 rushes, behind outstanding blocking.   Oh, I almost forgot, he scored six touchdowns, too.  Along the way, Ventell Bryant broke the Temple all-time receiving record and now has 2,277 yards.

cherryhelmets

Defensively, we contained the explosive Houston offense pretty well.  Blitzes from the get-go, a blocked punt, and an assertive man-to-man pass coverage kept award-winning Houston QB, D’eric King, as much under control as possible.  With 10:22 left in the game, we had a three-touchdown lead and it was time to relax; right?  Not on your life.

In previous weeks, we had great coaching for 30 minutes, last week for 45 minutes, and last night for 50 minutes.  We’re improving.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a marvelous win, one that should get us some top 25 votes.  If we win out, there’s a possibility we could end the season ranked.  (It’s one hell of a long way from when I thought we might not win a game after losing to Buffalo and Villanova.) That’s important because it would mean a good bowl slot against a power-five conference team, giving us tremendous recruiting exposure – instead of playing Sarah Palin University of Nome, Alaska, who’s premier win was against the Ute’s of Saskatchewan.  That bowl game, by the way, is scheduled to take place in Philadelphia, Mississippi, near the Choctaw Ridge. (Y’all remember Billy McAllister?)

So there are ten minutes left against Houston and we’re up 21 points.  On offense, there’s a dilemma.  Do we run the ball and the clock, or do we maintain our aggressive play calling and do some play-action on first down?  Well, we did throw some, but it was our run calls that got too conservative. They were mostly just straight down Broad Street, and then we’re giving the ball right back to Houston.

But it’s the defense I totally didn’t understand.  Why in the world were we still playing man-to-man pass coverage?  Our pass defenders were dog tired, and we lost one of our best to a dubious targeting call.  (The penalties mostly evened out, though.) In that situation, we should be rushing four, and playing various protective zones with the other seven guys, and there should always be a deep safety, last resort guy.  Instead, we got beat for two cheap touchdowns on thirty-some yard passes.  They should have been held to short-yardage gains which would have exhausted the clock.

Three other things as I nit-pick.  We still cover three wide-outs with two pass defenders and a half of a linebacker who cheats that way.  If I was throwing against that alignment, I’d go down the field with ten-yard passes.  (Don’t let South Florida see this write-up.)  Our coverage on the on-side kick was terrible, and we wasted time-outs on a field goal, punt, and kick-off.  (I’m so glad we didn’t need them.)

However, we’re 6 – 4, with a chance to go 8 -4.  The growth of this team has been remarkable and noticed by everyone connected to college football.  Tally-Ho!

Thursday: USF Kryptonite 

Saturday: Tribute To The Seniors

11.11.18
by

The path is clear to nine wins

armsteadcherry

Walking around like a Zombie at the season-ticket holder party back in August, one of the Temple players make a 40-yard beeline for me, shook my hand, and said: “Hey, thanks for coming.”

Chapelle Russell might or might not have known who I was (kind of doubt it), but I had to get something off my chest and he was the first Temple player I could talk to at the time.

helmitskis

“I can’t believe how many people are saying on social media that this is a six-win team,” I told him. “This is at least a nine-win team. At least.”

“We know it,” Russell said.

Now the path is clear to nine wins, even though this is an awfully strange way of getting there. (I figured they would split the Power 5 games, lose at Houston and UCF and win the rest.)

After beating Houston, 59-49, on Saturday night, the path to a nine-win season is as wide open as the holes the young offensive line was making for Ryquell Armstead. Beat reeling USF on Saturday, then beat putrid UConn on the final day of the regular season and then beat somebody like Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl or give some SEC team a seventh loss in the Birmingham Bowl.

I doubt the Owls go back to Florida again because they’ve been there and done that. Because of their TV market, I would love to see them get a chance at a Penn State-type in another bowl if the AAC can sell Temple as an at-large team in for an open spot in a more high-profile bowl (a long shot, I admit).

Whatever, we know they are going to a bowl now and it’s up to them how good the bowl will be.

The only way to get there is to continue doing what they’ve done so far since Anthony Russo has taken over as the quarterback–try to go 1-0 every week. In the USF week, the Owls can’t worry about the eighth or ninth win, they just have to try to get the seventh.

Then on to the eighth and so forth.

They rode Ryquell Armstead’s 29-carry, six-touchdown, 210-yard performance to a win at Houston and might have learned a valuable lesson against these spread teams. Run the ball, shorten the game by chewing up gobs of clock and using that success to make some plays in the play-action game.  Houston was the first time the Owls even tried to do that since the Maryland game.

Now, with Armstead’s performance, the Owls have the all-time record holder for single rushing touchdowns in an AAC game and Montel Harris’ seven touchdowns in a 63-32 win at Army represented the most rushing touchdowns for any Big East team when the Owls were in that league.

They should feed the beast right up until that ninth win.

Tuesday: Fizzy’s Corner

Thursday: USF Kryptonite (hint: it’s not the weather)

Saturday: Picks

Sunday: Game Analysis

11.09.18
by

TU-Houston: Making History?

Temple_Houston_TV_Series-308014659-large

Temple Houston was the name of a fairly underrated short-lived TV series in the 1960s. Temple Houston, played by the actor Jeffrey Hunter, was the real-life son of Texas founder Sam Houston and a successful 19th Century lawyer.

Temple versus Houston is also a short-lived football series, so one-sided that most sets are turned off by halftime in a lot of the games.

Maybe that will change by Saturday night.

A regular football season usually consists of 12 games, a lucky 13th if your school is listed in the upper 2/3ds of 130 teams.

Rarely does a single game, even a bowl one, offer an opportunity to do something that has never been done before but that’s the chance in front of Temple’s football team on Saturday (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network).

Beat Houston.

houston

Since Temple began playing intercollegiate football in 1888 (four years after its founding in 1884), the Owls have never beaten Houston.

They were the victim of an incredibly bad interference call on an interception by Mike Jones that might have given them that victory last year but that was then and this is now.

They’ve only had six chances but you’ve got to figure that the odds of winning one will eventually go their way.

Vegas certainly doesn’t, as the oddsmakers set the line at 4.5 on Monday. By Tuesday, some Temple money drove the line down to 4 but now it has settled back to the original 4.5.

cherryhelmets

Owls are unbeaten in Cherry helmets this year and 20-7 with them over the last three. This is the helmet of choice for Houston Saturday night.

Fortunately, the game is not played in Vegas and the Temple kids have a chance to prove the experts wrong and do something that has never been done.

The Owls have more than a puncher’s chance. By comparative scores, they are more impressive than Houston except for one game. Three weeks ago, they beat Cincinnati, 24-17, and the week after that Cincy went down to SMU and won. Houston, on the other hand, wasn’t able to what Cincy did last week at SMU and lost 45-31. Temple beat East Carolina, 49-6, while Houston also beat East Carolina, 46-20. Temple beat Tulsa, 31-17, while Houston also beat Tulsa, 41-26 and both teams also won at Navy (the lone time Houston’s score against a Temple opponent was more impressive).

So, at least from a comparative score standpoint, the numbers indicate there is not that much to chose between the teams. As anyone who knows football can tell you, every game is different and that’s why Saturday night is a relative toss-up.

The game is at Houston, that’s one thing in the Cougars’ favor. So is history unless the Owls are fired up enough to make some history of their own.

In a season where this team has not separated itself from any great prior Temple team, this is the legacy the TU kids can establish if they can tackle just a little better than they did last week in Orlando.

Sunday: Game Analysis