Category Archives: Temple football

09.28.18
by

BC-TU Preview: 5 Truths About The Game

dogsofwar

The old saying is that respect is earned, not given, and there is no better opportunity for the Temple football Owls to earn it by winning in Boston (technically, Chestnut Hill) Massachusetts in a high noon Saturday showdown.

Win, and the Owls finish the Power 5 part of their schedule a 2-0 record against pretty good teams. Lose, and the national commentators will point to the Maryland win as a fluke. Win, and the Owls are largely forgiven nationally (if not locally) for that brutal opening-game loss.

funfact

 

Addazio Effect Doesn’t Exist

Much will be made about the “Steve Addazio Effect” in this one but, in truth (there’s that word again), it does not exist. The single oldest player on this Temple squad, Frankie “Juice” Nutile, was recruited by Matt Rhule during his first year. “I really liked the pro-set offense that coach Rhule runs,” Nutile said on the day he was recruited. “I’m not going to lie, I’m not a read-option guy. I really like the direction coach Rhule has the program in and I think we’re going to be really good.” I’m sure the current players have heard of Daz, but none of them have a beef with him.  If this game occurred the year after Daz left for Boston College, you would have been able to see the fire come out of the Temple players’ helmets. These guys do not know Daz. That said, the 1,000 or so Temple fans who make the trip will be ecstatic to beat a guy who they were excited to see leave. There was much consternation at 10th and Diamond when Al Golden and Matt Rhule left. There was not a single Temple fan who was unhappy to see Addazio leave. If Geoff Collins beats him, he will be a hero in Philadelphia for a long, long time.

alumnistadium

The Temple fan section is O (for Owls) tomorrow

BC does not respect Temple

At least 99.9 percent of the fans don’t. Many of the comments on the main BC message board site about the game go something like this:

lock

Now that doesn’t mean the TEAM disrespects the Owls, but if that much of the fanbase does, it must filter down into the psyche of the team. A lot of the people are pointing to Villanova and Buffalo losses as a counter to the Owls beating Maryland, but none are factoring into the equation that a new quarterback starter probably had a lot to do with the positive results of the last two games.

quarterbackroom

 

 

QB Dilemma: The Easiest Decision in the History of Sports

Probably a non-issue–or what should be a non-issue–is the fact that, according to head coach Geoff Collins, “Frankie Nutile is getting close to 100 percent.” Err, why the rush? The easiest decision in the history of sports is to start a guy who is 2-0 with wins over Maryland and Tulsa over a guy who is 0-2 with losses to a MAC team and Villanova.

No-brainer means if you start anyone other than Anthony Russo you have no brains. If the Owls start Frankie Juice, they might win but they open themselves up to all kinds of unnecessary criticism if they don’t.

Maryland is Better than BC

No doubt, Maryland is a SIGNIFICANTLY better team than Boston College. My Vegas guy says if those two teams played tomorrow, the Terrapins would probably be a touchdown favorite.  Sagarin has Maryland ranked ahead of both Oregon and Boston College. That does not mean because Temple beat Maryland that it will beat Boston College but the Owls have no reason (zero) to be intimidated by the Eagles. On a physical level, the Owls pushed Maryland around and dominated. There is no reason to believe they cannot do the same on Saturday–especially if they utilize the same offensive game plan. Thing is, do you trust this staff to do that?

photoshopped

 

It comes down to Dogbe, Archibong and FBL

If the Owls defensive line stuffs Heisman candidate A.J. Dillon, they can dictate the game. Everyone at Temple knows Daz loves to establish the run and make explosive plays in the downfield play-action passing game. Michael Dogbe, Dan Archibong and Freddy Booth-Lloyd are proven run-stoppers and, if they are up to the challenge, Daz passes on third down and opens himself up to the kind of Mayhem that can be caused by edge rushers like Quincy Roche and starting tailback Ryquell Armstead. They have not been great against the run this year, though, but they need to at least be at the level of play they established in five of the last six games a year ago. If they are, third down could result in fumbles and interception opportunities for the Owls.

Sunday: Game Analysis

 

Temple Football Forever Picks This Week

Game Favorite Prediction/Reasoning
Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan EMU by 3.5 Eastern Michigan won at Purdue and lost in overtime at San Diego State, which might be the best G5 team out there.

Eastern Michigan, 24-10
Virginia at NC State NC State by 7 Virginia beat a pretty good Ohio team badly two weeks ago. NC State is good, but not seven points better.

NC State, 20-17
Texas State at TCU TCU by 11 Texas State lost to Rutgers. TCU, 44-7
Purdue at Nebraska Purdue by 3 Much was made of Purdue’s 0-3 start but all were close games to good teams and the Boilermakers beat BC last week. Nebraska lost at home to Troy.

Purdue, 24-7
Louisiana Tech at North Texas North Texas by 7.5 North Texas went to Arkansas and won, 44-17. This is a legitimate squad.

North Texas, 31-10.
Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee FAU by 4 Lane Kiffin is highly motivated to position himself for another P5 head job. He’s got some talent.

FAU, 31-22

Last week: 5-1 overall, 4-2 Against The Spread

Season Record: 8-4

Against The Spread:7-5



09.25.18
by

Fizzy Closes Book on Tulsa Game

arloandjanis

Thanks to Thomasine for forwarding this great cartoon

Editor’s Note: I usually arrive five hours before the game and, at the Buffalo game, saw Fizzy drive in five minutes before the game. Hopefully, he’ll get there a few hours before the Oct. 6 ECU game and we can finally meet up. This first paragraph below is the reason I leave plenty of time to get to the games.

By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

I was driving to the stadium Thursday night, when I tapped this guy’s bumper in front of me.  He got out to look at the damage and I really felt bad because he was a dwarf.  When he looked at his bumper and saw a small dent, he said, “I’m not happy.”  I replied, “Well, which one are you?”

OK sports fans, here we are again.  If you were predicting Temple’s record at this juncture before the season began, you’d have probably said 3 – 1.  So we’re 2 -2, but I’m not happy either.

I’m aware that I keep interjecting my football philosophy on Temple’s coaching staff, and that may or may not be constructive.  So today, I’m just going to list some occurrences, and you make up your mind.

Offense

 

  1. Opening drive – Fourth and a half-yard for a first down at your 49-yard line.  What would you do?  (Temple punted, although it has a 350-pound tackle who scored a short-yardage touchdown the previous week. )
  2. Three second and tens on offense, what play would you call?  (Temple went up-the gut.)
  3. With a third and eleven pinned against their goal line, Temple ran up-the-gut.  What would you do?
  4. On a third and one in good field position near the end of the game, Temple threw a pass from a direct snap.  What would you have done?  (Hint: play action)
  5. Wright finally threw a pass from the Wildcat, but it was a flare.  Would you maybe throw downfield?
  6. Would you ever run the second reverse of the year?

Defense

  1. Tulsa had a number of third and longs, how would you line up?  (Most of the time Temple went into a three-man line prevent which gave the QB lots of time.)
  2. Tulsa drove down the field before the end of the first half.  Would you have blitzed at all?
  3. Temple kicked off in the second half with a high short kick that enabled Tulsa to get field position at their forty line.  What would you have done?
  4. Tulsa had a first and goal at our four-yard line.  Would you line up in a 4 – 3?
  5. Temple either lines up in a 4 -3 or a three-man rush/prevent.  Would you ever employ any other type of defensive alignment?
  6. Armstead made a super tackle on defense.  Would you let him play more, less, or not at all on defense?

 

General Comments  (I served under General U.S. Grant)

There were some great offensive calls like, once again, the fake punt on fourth and two for a big gain, a (gulp) bootleg throw, and some nice play action and sweeps.  I’ve been very impressed with the accuracy of QB Russo’s throws.  Remember, there were two clear drops in the end-zone for touchdowns, as well as two clear drops on the sidelines for long gains.  Without our two defensive touchdowns, the score would have been 17 – 17.  I have noticed, however, there’s been a definite uptick in imaginative play calls.

On defense, I believe our number 90, Quincy Roche, had a fantastic day pressuring the QB, and helped save the day.  His speed and strength overwhelmed Tulsa’s right offensive tackle.  However, everyone we’ve played so far has successfully run up the middle against us.  Is there an answer anywhere?

Next Saturday, we have Addazio.  Someday, I will tell all about the infamous, Addazio, Dr. Pete Chodoff, and Fizzy Weinraub altercation.

Tomorrow: The Irony of BC-TU

 

09.24.18
by

If Omarosa had Nadia’s job …

bruceletter

Nadia has been around so long, she probably typed this letter

Fortunately, there’s no person more loyal in the history of Temple athletics than football administrative assistant Nadia Harvin.

She’s a Temple treasure, just like Wayne Hardin, John Chaney and Skip Wilson were with a tenure spanning eight Temple head football coaches (which is about as many Popes as there were in the entire 20th century).

Still, you’d have to wonder what would have happened if Nadia would have moved on with Matt Rhule to the Power 5 and Dr. Pat Kraft hired Omarosa to replace her.  A cell phone would have been cleverly placed in the conference room, probably attached to the lower end of the table. The tape of this morning’s coaches’ meeting would have been released and it might have gone something like this:

nitro

Geoff Collins: First of all, I’d like to thank you guys for showing up at 5 a.m. I’m not sure many of the people on the outside know that we are the hardest-working staff in the nation. Still, we’ve got to clean some things up if we are going to beat Boston College and I’d like to have some of your guys’ thoughts.

Ed Foley: Coach, I see one problem with the Tulsa game. It was great that we scored a pair of touchdowns on defense but that’s not sustainable going forward. We need the offense to step it up, maybe get Isaiah Wright more involved.

Collins: Dave (Patenaude), any thoughts?

Patenaude: None. I haven’t had my coffee. My mind is pretty much blank at this hour.

Collins: Adam (DiMichele)?

DiMichele: I thought we had a great scheme for the Maryland game with running the tight ends in motion and having Rock (Armstead) follow the block through the hole. That set up a lot of second and twos and allowed Anthony to play action and gave our receivers separation. For some reason, we got away from that against Tulsa and fell into the bad habits of an empty or single backfield that we had against (Villa)nova and Buffalo. None of our guys could get any separation against Tulsa because we didn’t establish the run nor use play-action.

Collins: Dave, I see that Nadia went out to Dunkin Donuts to get your coffee. What do you think about what Adam just said?

patenaude

Patenaude: Even though it was successful against Maryland, I’m just not comfortable with that style of play. Who plays that way anyway?

DiMichele: We did that under Al (Golden) and Matt (Rhule) and, although I wasn’t around, I hear the (Wayne) Hardin and (Bruce) Arians’ guys did, too. Not only did we have the tight ends go in motion to block, but they also ran ahead of the fullback and they were knocking linebackers and safeties all over the place and our tailbacks had huge holes. It made my job as the quarterback a lot easier. When we established the run, all I had to do was fake it to the tailback and that would freeze the linebackers and the safeties right there for a split second and my guys were running so free through the secondary, I really didn’t know which one to pick out.

Patenaude: That’s not the way we did it at Coastal Carolina. We spread the field, had a single back or even an empty backfield, and threw the ball all over the lot. Nice, tight windows.


“The essence of
Temple TUFF is
to play great
defense and special
teams, but also have
a focused
knock-them-off-the-ball
mentality on offense and
we’ve lost that the past
couple of years. We’re
all over the place on
offense. We need to get
back to our roots”

Foley: Matt recruited most of these kids to run double tight ends and fullback. Hey, it worked against Maryland. Against Tulsa, we were making it harder on Anthony (Russo) than we needed to because the receivers were getting no separation. He put it on the money but every catch was a more difficult catch than it should have been. The essence of Temple TUFF is to play great defense and special teams, but also have a focused knock-them-off-the-ball mentality on offense and we’ve lost that the past couple of years. We’re all over the place on offense. We need to get back to our roots.

DiMichele: As a QB, I can tell you it’s a lot easier with play-action. Hell, against Navy, with the clock running out at the end of the half, I faked a knee and Bruce Francis was 50 yards behind the nearest defender. That was the easiest six points I ever had. Navy was so worried about us running the ball they had eight in the box.

Patenaude: But, Geoff, I’m not comfortable with the offense ADM is describing.

Collins: I’ve heard enough. We’re going back to the same game plan we had against Maryland. Run the H-backs in front of Rock, establish the run, and then hit some explosive plays in the play-action game. I want to see Nitro in there more than three plays a game to block for Rock, too.

Patenaude: I object. Who uses the fullback anymore?

Collins: As of Saturday, we do. If you don’t like it, I’m going from Capri pants to a Speedo.

Patenaude: That’s not a good visual. Please don’t do that, Geoff.  I’ll do what you say.

Collins: I think we resolved a lot of issues this morning. Thanks, gentlemen.

Tuesday: Fizzy Closes The Book on Tulsa

Wednesday: The Irony of Temple-BC

Friday: BC Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.22.18
by

AAC: Separating Wheat From Chaff

darkside

Unless Dave Patenaude returns to the blocking H-back look shown against Maryland, the darkside defense is going to have to score twice every game for Temple to have a chance at a league title.

There is an old saying in farming about separating the wheat from the chaff. It means to sort the valuable from the worthless and refers to the ancient practice of winnowing the grain.

Over the years, the saying has been applied to sports teams and today will be the first one we will be able to start to sort the AAC wheat from the chaff.

slimpickings

My guess is that the two teams that played Thursday night,  Temple and Tulsa, are in the upper half of the league simply because how Tulsa hung with Texas and Temple hammered a team that beat Texas. The Longhorns are a legitimate squad and we think Maryland will cover the 3 today against a halfway decent Minnesota team.

Pretty sure I can’t say the same for any other AAC teams with the possible exception of UCF, USF,  Cincy, Memphis and Navy.

dogsofwar
History shows if the Owls go with the middle uniform here, they are more likely to win than not

All of the other AAC teams might be inferior to Temple and Tulsa.

So what can we learn from today’s games?

Cincy is an eight-point favorite over Ohio, with Tulane a 36-point underdog to Ohio State and USF a 22.5 favorite over ECU. Memphis is a  29-point favorite over  South Alabama. Of those games, I would only lay the eight on Cincy. The others are too close to call. To me, taking the 29 points and South Alabama is a pretty good bet.

Last night, UCF looked great in a big win over an underrated Lane Kiffin FAU squad. This could be the kind of a year where everyone gets behind UCF and hopes for second place. Still, McKenzie Milton is one hit away from opening it up for the rest of the league.

After today, Temple, Memphis, Navy, Cincy and USF are jockeying for those spots. We should learn just a little bit more after the completion of the slate today and even more next week.

Monday: What We’ve Learned

Wednesday: BC-TU Is Dripping in Irony

Friday: BC Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.21.18
by

Lapsing Into Old Habits

Mike Schmidt may have said it best about sports in Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia is the only city in the country where you can experience the thrill of victory one night and the agony of reading about it in the paper the next day.”

Schmitty might have been onto something because, while Temple’s 31-17 win over Tulsa was a cosmetic success, the reality is that the Owls will have to be better in order to beat Boston College.

tulsa

The good news is that they have been better and they have the game tape to prove it. Thrilling victory, but you’ve got to wonder if the Owls are lapsing into old habits, particularly on the offensive end. The Owls showed a lot of good habits a week ago at Maryland by putting the H-back in motion and having their elite tailback, Ryquell Armstead, follow the extra blocker through the hole. If you thought that would be a staple of the offense going forward, OC Dave Patenaude disabused fans of that notion by rarely showing that look against Tulsa.

If the Owls are going to beat another Power 5 team and challenge some of the better teams in the AAC, they might want to go back to what worked so beautifully a week ago. Armstead not only ripped off some big runs off those motion blocks, but the running game set up open lanes in the passing game.

Who knows why they lapsed back into the scatterbrained look they showed against Buffalo and Villanova but they need to shake those bad habits now. Quarterback Anthony Russo delivered a lot of balls on the money but it only seemed half of them were caught because the receivers were not getting the same kind of separation they did a week ago. That running game and that motion created the separation the Owls need to reincorporate that back into their game plan against the Fighting Steve Addazios in a week and a day.

To me, any win is a good win but some are better than others and last week was definitely better than this week and next week needs to be better than the last two. Hopefully, the Owls will take a hard look at the Maryland film and conclude that last week’s scheme is the way to go.

Otherwise, they risk needless agony when they could have endless thrills.

Saturday: This Week in College Football

Monday: What We’ve Learned

09.20.18
by

The Whole World Will Be Watching

Last year’s Temple vs. Tulsa highlights …

Walk into a bar on any given Saturday as a Temple fan, even in Philadelphia,  and the drill has become a familiar one over the last half-century, maybe before that.

Between fighting the Penn State fans and the fraud Notre Dame subway alumni and the front-running Alabama fans, you’d be lucky to get someone to put on the Temple football game somewhere on the side with no one to watch but you. Forget about asking for the sound to be turned up, either.

thurweather

At least the weather should be good

 

Not tonight (7:30, ESPN).

The whole college football world will be watching with the sound blasting in every bar from the Northeast corner of Maine to the farthest western island in the Hawaii chain. My guess is that the crowd would have been in excess of 30K if the Owls took care of business against Villanova and Buffalo in addition to winning against Maryland. Instead, the hit from those two disappointing games will be around 8K so expect an announced crowd in the 22K range. Anything more would be a bonus.

While those die-hards like us will be there, this, though, in a made-for-TV affair like most Temple home games. The difference this time is the Owls will have a captive audience and can enhance their brand with a big win.

OK, sure, there will be an NFL game on but, hey, it’s the Jets and Cleveland which leaves most of the TVs on Temple and Tulsa.

So this is a big opportunity for Temple to establish that the Maryland game was no fluke and to prove what the rest of the team believes: That the Owls who dominated a 2-0 Big 10 team who beat Texas are the team fans should have seen from Day One.

A convincing win over Tulsa would be step two in restoring a damaged brand because so many people who otherwise not ever watch a Temple game will be there—either on the couch or in local establishments—watching.

More importantly, all of the Owls’ preseason goals are still on the table. The No. 1 goal has been to win the league championship and, to do that, the Owls will probably have to win all the AAC games they are favored in plus grab at least one win against UCF or USF(those two could cancel each other out).

It will not be easy because this is a Tulsa team that hung with Texas (28-21) in Austin before losing to Arkansas State by essentially the same score (29-20) at home the next week but winning a championship is never easy.

If the Owls play the way they did the first two games, they could easily lose this one. If the Owls play the way they played last week, there is no reason to believe they can’t win by at least a similar score against Tulsa.

To me, on the list of reasons why the Owls lost their first two games right at the top was the refusal to run the ball against a horrid run defense (Buffalo) and an FCS team that gave up 45 points against Towson. The Owls committed to the run behind a blocking lead back against Maryland and that opened up the passing game for Anthony Russo. That’s the way they won 20 games in two years and the way they can still accomplish the goals set for this year.

The Owls will play a lot of games after tonight but, chances are, this will be the most eyeballs on them in any of them even including a possible bowl. This is their big chance to make a good impression.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

09.18.18
by

Russo: Collins’ First Litmus Test As CEO

russocollins

By 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, we will find out if Geoff Collins is either the Miller Huggins of Temple football or the Gabe Kapler.


Patenaude has a documented
history of making mistakes
in sticking with quarterbacks
too long. He went with his boy,
Logan Marchi, for seven games
and that cost the Owls embarrassing
losses to teams like UConn

The big question Collins has to answer is if he will take charge and name Anthony Russo the starting quarterback.

The evidence would suggest he should. Frank Nutile, the starter at the beginning of the season, threw interceptions all over the place in losses to FCS Villanova and MAC Buffalo. He did not look confident nor show the kind of arm he did in five of his last six games last year. Maybe Nutile was injured all along. Maybe he just had a sore arm.

Whatever, Anthony Russo, his replacement, looked confident and sharp and managed a convincing win over a Big 10 school that beat probable Big 12 winner Texas.

No-brainer, right?

HugginsMiller

 

“Psst: Geoff. It’s me. Miller. Miller Huggins. Trust me: Start Russo”

 

Only if you let someone with no brains make the wrong decision. After the game, offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said “Frankie should be OK for Tulsa” and that statement leads me to believe that this OC is leaning toward putting Nutile back into the saddle. Patenaude has a documented history of making mistakes in sticking with quarterbacks too long. He went with his boy, Logan Marchi, for seven games and that cost the Owls embarrassing losses to teams like UConn. Only the “luck” of an injury to Marchi reversed Temple’s season.

My guess is if Dave Patenaude was managing the New York Yankees back in 1925, Lou Gehrig would have never seen the field.

Huggins, then the Yanks’ baseball manager, passed his first litmus test as a manager.  If the Hugger were still alive, he would able to pass on some valuable Cliff Notes to Collins for his upcoming litmus test.  On June 2, 1925, Huggins told Gehrig that “(Wally) Pipp wasn’t doing too well” and Huggins thought a few days of rest would do him good.  Lou Gehrig took over the rest was history. Gehrig went on to play 2,632-straight games—the longest consecutive streak in baseball or any other sport until Cal Ripken Jr. came along.

Knowing Gabe Kapler, who probably will not make the Hall of Fame, this is what he would have said: “I have full confidence in Wally and, even though Lou did well, Wally is not going to lose his job because of an injury.” It’s probably the same deal with Patenaude and this is where Collins has to put his foot down.


… it’s not even a tie.
Russo was significantly
more impressive in his
game—against a foe that
would destroy both Buffalo
and Villanova—than Nutile
was in his two

In baseball, one of the axioms is “the tie goes to the runner” and, in college football, the tie in performance goes to the younger quarterback over the redshirt senior. Crazy enough,  but, in the case of Russo and Nutile, it’s not even a tie. Russo was significantly more impressive in his game—against a foe that would destroy both Buffalo and Villanova—than Nutile was in his two.

In college football, if it’s even close, the decision goes with the younger player.

In this case, as in Gehrig’s, the better one. Now is the time for Collins’ first litmus test as CEO of the Temple football operation.

In less than 48 hours, we will find out whether Geoff Collins is closer to Miller Huggins than he is to Gabe Kapler. We can only pray he is the real boss and doesn’t cede this authority to an incompetent subordinate.

If he does, he is a weak leader who won’t last long at Temple. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Thursday: Tulsa Preview

 

09.16.18
by

Shocked and Amazed (in a good way)

Sometimes you are shocked and appalled.

Others you are shocked and amazed.

Count a significant—maybe a majority—of the Temple football fanbase into that latter category today after a 35-14 win at Maryland. For the first two games, shocked and appalled would have been the more apt adjectives.

Raising my hand here because this is the team I thought I would see from the jump but due to so many head-scratching decisions of the coaching, err, brain trust we have not.

Until Saturday.

teamstats

The tight end position made a spectacular reappearance into the Temple offense as the Owls used Kenny Yeboah and Chris Myarick not only to catch key passes in the game but to essentially play the role of a fullback leading the way for Ryquell Armstead.

Anyone who has followed Temple football since Armstead arrived knows he is as good a back as any in the league while following a lead block. He does not do well when lined up in an otherwise empty backfield where the bad guys can send a blitzing linebacker at him.  The coaching staff did not give him a lead block until Saturday and they gave him several as the tight end lined up as an H-Back on Armstead carries and was put in motion with Armstead following the motion.

Why that wasn’t there from the jump is a mystery to me.

Better late than never.

It might also be helpful to use a blocking fullback in addition to the H-Back block, but maybe that’s asking for too much. Maybe Ed Foley and Adam DiMichele can talk OC Dave Patenaude and HC Geoff Collins into that.

predelicksions

Maryland site had the score right but the teams wrong

Love to see it in action on Thursday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN) against a Tulsa team that got hammered by Arkansas State last night. If it works, keep it in the offense going forward.

Anthony Russo, an Elite 11 quarterback, looked like the guy Trent Dilfer said he would be years ago.

He probably did enough to earn the job under center against Tulsa and, should he improve, keep it going forward.

Hopefully, an ancillary benefit from yesterday’s Owl win will be getting the Prodigal Son fans to return.

Some undoubtedly will be back for the Tulsa game. If the Owls can build a winning streak, more will come back and maybe, just maybe, this season will be the one we expected at the beginning.

My game watch plans were an absolute nightmare as the North Bowl location where the Temple Engineering grads had a party did not get the Big 10 Network on their TVs and instead pumped an internet feed onto a faraway screen behind the bowling alley with no sound. At halftime, it was onto Chickie and Pete’s in South Philly where the game was on two large screens in (empty) private rooms with no sound. I was the only Temple fan in there. They might as well made it a padded room because I was going nuts.

A very nice young lady ducked her head into the room when she saw me being there to cheer alone for the Owls.

“My son plays for Temple.”

“Who?”

“No. 40.”

“Yes,” I said. “Todd Jones, St. Joe’s Prep.”

She seemed shocked that I knew him.

“My mother passed this morning so I could not go to the game.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. My condolences.”

The first to congratulate Freddie Johnson in the end zone on his fake touchdown catch from Toddy Centeio?

Todd Jones.

I hope that made his mom proud on an otherwise sad day.

Monday: Fizz Breaks Down Maryland

Tuesday: What We’ve Learned So Far
Thursday: Tulsa Preview
Friday: Game Analysis

09.14.18
by

Fizzy: Spread (For and against)

empty

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Editor’s Note: Fizz played with perhaps the most famous player in Temple history (famous for something other than football) but we’ll just say he also played with former William Tennent legendary head coach Bill Juzwiak and Temple administrator Joe Morelli.

THE SPREAD – FOR AND AGAINST

In reviewing last week’s game, I forgot to give Temple credit for one reverse and one halfback pass. The pass was perfect and the receiver dropped it. The reverse was run at the wrong place, the two-yard line, and only succeeded with the last minute, ad-lib flip to a split end. But at least they ran them… kudos.

Now let’s talk about college offensive and defensive football in general,

The Spread

Everyone runs some version of the spread. (Probably that’s because many coaches can’t think for themselves.) As those of us who’ve been around for a while know, offensive formations become popular until the defense catches up. It’s been this way ever since the single-wing, so here’s my analysis.

For the pure spread to succeed, you must have a fast QB who can run whenever the opportunity arises. That’s because when the receivers all over the field, the defense is “spread,” and most of the time the pass defenders have their backs to the QB. The schools with dynamic runners are the most effective because they can quickly pick up undefended yardage.

On the other hand, if you don’t have a good running QB and you’re still trying to run the pure spread, you’ve severely limited yourself. You have only one back to fake to, and he’s six yards back. It’s a slow developing, very observable running game. The advantage is tailbacks have time to see open lanes developing if there are any. Temple is in this situation and it drives me crazy.

If you don’t have a good running QB, then you should modify your version of the spread.

Villanova did a good job against us in this respect. They ran traps and mis-directions to slot and wing-backs going away from the initial direction and fake. It was effective and reminded me of the (gulp) Delaware Wing-T. Also, you can line-up in the spread, but with motion and realignment, it doesn’t end up the spread at the snap of the ball. There are all kinds of variations imaginative coaches can do, depending on their player’s skills.

Defending The Spread

If I’m defending the spread (as I’ve said many times before), here’s how I’d do it. Basically, I’d have a run defense of five guys and a secondary defense of six. (Yep, that makes eleven.) I’d have different lineman on almost every play, lining up in different locations and with the one pure linebacker blitzing and faking the blitz, all the time. Depending on the strengths of each offense we play, there would be different priorities each week for blitzes, slants, and loops. I don’t want the offense to ever be sure of what we’re doing.

The six guys in the secondary could play any number of zones depending on the strengths of the offense, and to confuse the QB. The zones would not be observable to the QB when he lines up, therefore disrupting the lineup, and the wait for the coaches play call to come from the sideline. The zones could be a 4-2, 2-4, 1-4-1, 3-3. 5-1, and 1-5, etc. Each week, during preparation for the opponent, certain designated zones would be emphasized in practice. For example; against a good running QB on a third and ten, I’d consider a 4-2 or a 1-4-1. Repeat: I don’t want the offense to ever know what we’re doing.

It’s a big country, someone has to fix it. The meek won’t inherit shit!

Tomorrow: Maryland Preview

Sunday: Post-Mortem

 

09.13.18
by

How We Went From AAC Champs To AAC Chumps In 2 Years …

sharga

OC Dave Patenaude ditching the “Temple TUFF” offense of full-time fullback (and, more importantly, Geoff Collins’ role in enabling that blunder) is the No. 1 reason why Temple went from consecutive 10-win seasons to a likely 10-loss season.

On the morning Geoff Collins was hired, while finally finding my keys, stashing my wallet away and picking up the cell phone, I looked down and it was ringing.

“Mike, what do you think?” a friend of mine said.

“Think about what?”

“Temple finally announced The Guy.”

“Who?”

chumps

SB Nation’s current (unfortunately correct) assessment of the Temple football program

“Geoff Collins.”

“The guy from Florida?”

“Yeah, isn’t that exciting? I think it’s a great hire.”

“I guess,” I said. “From some of the guys on the list, he’s probably the best one.”


These are guys who
not only do not
understand Temple
TUFF but include an
incredibly arrogant
offensive coordinator
who intentionally sabotaged
the very fullback-oriented
offense that gave Temple
20 wins in two seasons.
That was an offense and
a toughness Temple fans
came to know and love

The list included guys like K.C. Keeler, Danny Rocco, Neil Brown and Matt Canada. Keeler was a failed head coach at nearby Delaware and resurrected his career at Sam Houston State. The other guys were FCS head coaches or FBS coordinators.

Not the kind of list Dr. Pat Kraft should have doodled for an Owl program that had long stretches in the top 25 in consecutive regular seasons.

Underwhelming at best, disappointing at worst.

Given that backdrop, my “I guess” response was appropriate. If Collins had brought with him a national championship Florida coordinator and a Florida quarterback coach—like Steve Addazio did with DC Chuck Heater and QB coach Scot Loeffler—that’s one thing. It’s quite another when your top assistants are from Coastal Carolina and Kennesaw State.

By comparison, Collins has surrounded himself with incompetence and, because of it, has placed a once-great program in jeopardy of a historic free fall. Here’s the empirical evidence:

recentjawns

These are guys who not only do not understand Temple TUFF but include an incredibly arrogant offensive coordinator who intentionally sabotaged the very fullback-oriented offense that gave Temple 20 wins in two seasons. That was an offense and a toughness Temple fans came to know and love.  It was an offense that perfectly epitomized the toughness of the school, its students, the alumni, the city, the neighborhood, even the corner of the practice facility.  It was an offense that had a purpose, with the run setting up a play-action fake and every play seemingly setting up an explosive play in the passing game.  Run the ball successfully with an elite tailback behind an extra offensive lineman (fullback Rob Ritrovato) to bring the linebackers and safeties up to the line of scrimmage. At that point, the defense is susceptible to a deft ball fake that freezes the linebackers and safeties in their tracks and allows the quarterback to find open receivers everywhere. Now, nothing sets up anything else except a five-yard loss on a handoff. This scatterbrained offensive scheme, pardon my language, is complete bullshit that every single one of the 20,000 or so current remaining Temple fans rejects without question.

My feeling was then and still is now that Temple as a program after consecutive 10-win seasons and two appearances in the league championship game reached a point where it could and should have hired an accomplished head coach and did not need to roll the dice on another coordinator again.

evidence

Make no mistake, hiring a coordinator as a head coach is a crapshoot. Coordinator and head coach are two different jobs. Just because you are good at one does not translate being good at another.

The checker at your local grocery store might be the greatest bagger in the history of supermarkets but that doesn’t mean he would make a good store manager.

You could end up with a guy like Al Golden or Matt Rhule or a guy like UConn’s Bob Diaco.

All three had impeccable credentials as a coordinator—Diaco was FBS coordinator of the year as DC at Notre Dame—but there’s plenty of evidence where great coordinators fail as head coaches.

So here we are, not long removed from being a Top 25 (albeit regular season) staple to one coming off a loss to the local FCS program and a team from a lower conference (Buffalo) that the Owls beat 113-13 in their last three meetings with them.

How did we get here?

By rolling the dice on another coordinator when Temple football got to the point where it could attract an accomplished head coach. Owls rolled a seven and 11 on the last two coordinators. It was only a matter of time until their luck ran out.

That appears to be the case now.

If Collins can prove to be Temple TUFF enough to upgrade his coordinators, he has some hope for resuscitating both his career and this precious program, whatever he values the most.

If not, none of us have any hope for anything.

Friday: Fizzy Offers Some Constructive Advice (6 a.m. publishing time)

Saturday: Maryland Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis