Category Archives: Temple

10.15.12
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The (not so) secret formula to beat Rutgers

The media blitz already has begun for this game with a crowd of at least 40K expected.

“We’ve got the best kicker in the country. That was the mindset. I was tempted to go for two (at the end of regulation) but  I thought, ‘Let’s go to overtime.’ In overtime, we were really starting to pound the ball in there and almost scored (a touchdown) but I had enough. I was afraid we were going to have a center/quarterback exchange problem so I was going to center the ball to the left and I thought the best kicker in college football has got to win the game for Temple right now. And that was our strategy. We’re lucky it worked out.”_ Steve Addazio

One of the requirements for a journalism degree when I was at Temple was to take Creative Writing 101.
The basic tenant of the course was that a good story always has a solid beginning, middle and end and all three are intertwined.
So it is with Temple University’s 2012 football team.
The beginning (a 41-10 beatdown of Villanova) was good. Villanova is a much better FCS team than most people give it credit for and the 5-2 Wildcats are coming off a 38-14 win at No. 3 Old Dominion in front of a sold-out crowd of 20,000. Right now, Villanova looks like it could put up about 100 on Howard and 40 on Tulane.
The Owls are 3-2 and 2-0 and that’s better than most prognosticators expected.
The middle and end of the story is yet to be determined.
The middle comes EXACTLY at halftime Saturday against Rutgers and how that plays out will go a long way toward determining what happens at the end.
No one know knows what will happen on Saturday, but the formula to beating Rutgers is pretty simple:

1) Get off to a good start. The Owls have had some trouble doing that largely due to their stubbornness about establishing the run against solid fronts. Maybe they can tweak the game plan to fix that (see No. 2).

2) Get away from the offensive philosophy of pound and ground. If you thought the Penn State and UConn defenses were good at stopping the run, Rutgers is better. The Owls can move the ball on the ground against Rutgers ONLY if they set it up with some well-designed short slant passes. They can take advantage of past tendencies by play-faking to Montel Harris to freeze the defense, particularly on first down (not third). Roll out terrific running and clutch throwing quarterback Chris Coyer, the New Mexico Bowl MVP. That moves him away from the rush and gives him an option to run (if it’s open) or pass (if the DBs) come up on run support.

Brandon McManus kicks the game-winner against UConn.

3) Get field goal kicker Brandon McManus, on the Lou Groza Watch list as placekicker of the year in BCS football, in field position to kick five FGs. He’s got a range of 55 yards and in, so that should not be too difficult. McManus has also kicked a 70-yarder (under a rush) in practice. Hopefully, the Owls can get him closer and more often Saturday. He is also on the Ray Guy Watch List as best punter in the nation and  the Ray Guy in him will do the Lou Groza in him a favor with his normal booming punts.
“We’ve got the best kicker in the country,” Steve Addazio said. “That was the mindset. I was tempted to go for two (at the end of regulation) but  I thought, ‘Let’s go to overtime.’ In overtime, we were really starting to pound the ball in there and almost scored (a touchdown) but I had enough. I was afraid we were going to have a center/quarterback exchange problem so I was going to center the ball to the left and I thought the best kicker in college football has got to win the game for Temple right now. And that was our strategy. We’re lucky it worked out.”

4) Show some “trickeration” for a change. That has not been on any past Temple game film and would probably work now. A throwback pass from Big 33 starting QB Jalen Fitzpatrick, now the Owls’ best WR, off a reverse (or double-reverse) to either Coyer, Romond Deloatch or Khalif Herbin would work against an over-pursuing defense.

That gets Temple 22 points.
Then the Temple defense just has to do about as good a job as Howard and Tulane did against RU.
Not much to ask since the Temple defense is about 100x better than Howard and Tulane.
It’s as simple as 1-2-3-4 and would be a heckuva middle to a great story, setting up a terrific ending.
It might even be a classic in the non-fiction section by New Year’s Day.

Tomorrow: Got a winner in town
Wednesday: TU-RU by the numbers
Thursday: Throwback Thursday (TU-RU theme)

10.14.12
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How ’bout ‘dem OWLboys?

Chris Coyer talks about the fateful two-minute drill.

Coyer absolved those sins with what I believe is the most clutch throw I’ve ever seen from a Temple quarterback and I’ve seen a lot of clutch throws

Five games into the season and there are so many theories about how this football season is going to play out for the Temple Owls.
Prior to the fifth game, I had a premonition that this was going to be a “16-13 or 21-14 game” and I wrote that in my Friday post, adding “go with the Owls.”
I was wrong.
It wasn’t 16-13 or 21-14.
It was 17-14.
And they needed overtime.
Close enough, and I got the right side.
We all know now how the first five games have played out, with the Owls winning more than they have lost and being unbeaten in the all-important conference games.

My reaction to UConn players walking through the halls.

Still, though, my belief turned into absolute metaphysical certainty only when I found myself sharing the same hotel as the UConn players, the Sheraton in Rock Hill, CT.
Not having a refrigerator in the room, I had to get up every two hours in the middle of the night and walk down the hall to keep my tailgate, err, stuff cold. My makeshift “refrigerator” was a trash can filled with ice that kept melting. So I needed frequent refills.
Each time I opened my door, I saw two or three UConn players wearing Huskie sweat clothes walking aimlessly through the halls.
At least it looked like aimlessly to me.
At the same time, I was being told that Temple ran plays in the parking lot at its team hotel on the other side of town in Cromwell and also received texts from that hotel saying the Owls were safely tucked in their beds and not wandering the halls.
Temple head coach Steve Addazio has that kind of stuff pretty much locked down.
I didn’t know UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni was lax on the discipline end, but the evidence seem to have suggested otherwise.
Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement in other areas for Temple, either.
Hey, I wasn’t thrilled with the offensive game plan (I WAS thrilled with the defensive game plan) but a win is a win.

The way this team currently is constructed, the run can never set up the pass. It’s not going to work. It’s got to be the other way around.

Coach Wayne Hardin used to always say, “run when they expect you to pass and throw when they expect you to run.” A simple but effective philosophy taken from the old shell game. He wasn’t considered an offensive genius for nothing.
I can honestly say that every time Temple runs (first and second down, mostly) I expect Temple to run. The same can be said for the Temple passing downs. If a schmuck like me can figure that out, well-paid RU coach Kyle Flood has a whole lot of easy tendencies to game plan for this Saturday.

For the life of me, I can’t figure how Temple ran Montel Harris (28 carries, 142 yards) wide on fourth and inches when center Sean Boyle was left uncovered and quarterback Chris Coyer could have gone 20 yards on a sneak. Coyer absolved those sins with what I believe is the most clutch throw I’ve ever seen from a Temple quarterback and I’ve seen a lot of clutch throws.
I don’t know what the harm is in a play-action throw every once in a while on first down, not third, or rolling Coyer out with quick slants to Jalen Fitzpatrick and Ryan Alderman to set up success in the running game. The way this team currently is constructed, the run can never set up the pass. It’s not going to work. It’s got to be the other way around.
That’s the kind of stuff that has to be locked down as well as bedcheck has been.
Success in the final six games depends on it.
I can say that with the same absolute metaphysical certainty I felt about Temple winning after watching those UConn guys walking the halls.
Unless I see the offensive approach change against Rutgers, no more predictions.

10.12.12
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New York Daily News likes Owls

Yesterday’s New York Daily News called it.

Temple vs. UConn
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Rentschler Field, East Hartford
TV: ESPN3 (internet only)
Radio: WPHT (1210-AM)
Line: UConn favored by 5 1/2

Weather: Tailgating should be cold, with early-morning temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s, but game time temps should be in the mid-50s. Gloves re recommended if tailgating.
Directions (from Philadelphia): North on I95 to exit 48 (I91). Take I91 North to I94 N; take exit 91 toward Silver Lane and follow the signs to Rentschler Field
ETT: At least 4 hours

What have Wayne Hardin, Bobby Wallace and Al Golden done that Steve Addazio has not?
All but Daz have beaten Connecticut as a Temple head coach.
According to sentiment from the New York Daily News (above), Steve Addazio should join that club tomorrow (1 p.m., Rentschler Field, no over-the-air television).
Yeah, we know that the NYDN picks by the 5 1/2-point spread but the consensus is so overwhelming that it’s probably a safe bet that 1-4 of the panelists think Temple is going to win that game outright. For the record, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey picked Temple to win, as did CBS Sports. Two ESPN bloggers picked UConn to win.
And, err, why not?
If Temple and UConn were on the stock market, one would be rising and one falling.
UConn has had trouble scoring points of late and Temple is coming off a 37-point outing in a win over South Florida last week.

CBS Sports likes Temple to win the game OUTRIGHT.

Temple has a dynamic quarterback in New Mexico Bowl MVP Chris Coyer and UConn does not.
Coyer, rated near the top of the nation in passing efficiency last season, went 16 for 20 against USF last week and added 54 yards on the ground.
Temple has Boston College’s all-time leading rusher, Montel Harris, an 8-time ACC Player of the Week and one-time Big East Player of the Week. Harris is coming off a 133-yard, two-touchdown performance. UConn has a nice running back in Lyle McCoombs, but he is no Montel Harris. Not even close. The UConn rushing game ranks 112 out of 120 teams nationally and is averaging 2.8 yards per carry. Without a significant inside threat, expect Owl pass rushers Sean Daniels and John Youboty to have a field day pinning their ears back and going after the quarterback.

Steve Addazio returns to the state where he won
three straight titles at Cheshire High.

Temple has shown signs of improvement on defense only lately, while UConn has been solid all season.
Temple has a great kicker and punter in Brandon McManus, while UConn has no similar weapon.
Since field position figures in any close game and this one figures to be close, give that advantage to Temple as well.
UConn has the experience edge on both sides of the ball, a large enthusiastic home crowd.
Temple has the edge at QB, RB, special teams and coaching. UConn has an aging coach and offensive coordinator, Paul Pasqualoni and George DeLeone, that the fan base is generally dissatisfied with while Temple has three key members of two SEC national championship teams (Addazio, DC Chuck Heater and OL coach Justin Frye) running the show.
It should be close, but all the New York Daily News experts can’t be wrong.
Go with the Owls, something like 16-13 or 21-14.

Tomorrow: No story due to travel
Sunday: Complete analysis on the game

10.11.12
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Throwback Thursday: The infamous call at UConn

Temple people have moved on from injustice, but the animals (below) are still having a cow.

Throwback Thursday this week was supposed to be about Scott Andrien’s remarkable catch that beat Syracuse in 1982, but the gentleman I met in the parking lot on Saturday who promised to send me photos of that play either forgot to do so or forgot that he promised me.
No matter.

Fans driving by a busy intersection this week saw this.

We’ll save that throwback for Syracuse week.
We’ll keep the throwback theme intact for UConn and that’s the infamous game of 2007, when the Owls beat UConn, 23-22 (extra point not even counted), as Bruce Francis clearly caught a tipped ball by Adam DiMichele.
Great play, though. I love passes off reverses and I hope to see former Big 33 quarterback Jalen Fitzpatrick, now the Owls’ top receiver, throw one some game.
Why Dyonne Crudup was throwing to DiMichele and not the sure-handed Francis (who never juggled a ball once in his four-year career at Temple) is a story for another day, but my guess is that most Temple fans have moved on from that miscarriage of justice.
So have I, even though I was sitting on the side of the field where I could clearly see the ball stick to his one hand like crazy glue and the foot come down about 10 inches inside the back line.
I used to have a cow about it, but now only cows are having a cow.

Bruce Francis was so sure he caught it, he immediately called
for the protest flag to be thrown by Al Golden.

The photo above and to the right, taken in suburban Philadelphia this week (we won’t say where to keep the cownappers away), shows Larry Holstein (yes, that’s the cow’s name) still protesting the call of Big East replay official Jack Kramer, who might as well have been Kramer from Seinfeld because that call was a joke.
Unlike Larry, though, the day I moved on was when Temple beat UConn by two touchdowns. Both teams finished 8-4 that year and UConn went to the Fiesta Bowl while Temple stayed home.
Those days of an 8-4 Temple team staying home are over, thanks to a BCS conference affiliation.
Still, the Big East has not been immune to calls that it protects its teams against other conferences (although I’m waiting for that to benefit Temple some day).
At Syracuse last year, a Big East crew ruled a clearly made extra point by Toledo missed and ‘Cuse went on to win the game in overtime.
I’ve always written that non-conference games should have crews from neutral conferences. The Penn State vs. Temple game, for example, should have had a field crew from the Sun Belt and a replay official from the PAC-12. Instead, there was a field crew from the Big 10 and a replay crew from the Big East.
Take the competing conferences crews away and all of the conspiracy theorists will be restricted to talking about Freemasons, the Kennedy assassination Temple home attendance figures.
Hopefully, the NCAA will wise up and do that in the future.
Now, though, things should be decided on the field since Temple is back in the BE.
Hopefully, this game won’t come down to a controversial call either way.
Or I’ll have a cow.

Tomorrow: Gameday preview 24 hours early

10.10.12
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Robert Burton Week at UConn

This was the talk of national radio and ESPN TV on Jan. 26, 2011.

 

Game time is 1 p.m. Saturday.

In the crowd of about 35,000 fans at the Temple vs. UConn game on Saturday, there will be one person who can’t lose.
His name is Robert Burton.
You won’t see them, though, unless you have a pretty good set of binoculars that can peer through some stained glass or the ESPN3 telecast catches a glimpse of him because Burton will be in one of those fancy heated club boxes.

Our prediction on this game, published on June 4 in this blog (before
Montel Harris got here).

UConn or Temple is going to lose, that’s a given, but Burton will be a winner either way.
That’s because if UConn wins, Burton will get to see his favorite school win an important college football game at Homecoming.
If UConn loses, he’ll get to say “I told you so” and probably will be trying to suppress a smug grin behind the stained glass. Largely because Hathaway left, Burton has since patched up his well-publicized differences with UConn.

Connecticut v Temple

Temple

Burton was the guy who donated $3 million for his name to be given to the Robert Burton Football Complex, then wanted it back after UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway hired Paul Pasqualoni instead of Steve Addazio.

The Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Club parking lot, at
Silver Lane and Simmons Road, is where visitors usually tailigate at UConn
but the official TU alumni tailgate will be at the Gray Lot across the street.

Now Addazio is at Temple and Pasqualoni is at UConn.
That’s why this week is Robert Burton Week and Saturday is unofficially Robert Burton Day at Rentschler Field.
It didn’t matter that Temple already hired Daz in the days before Randy Edsall resigned, Burton wanted UConn to go after him anyway.
I’ve got to give Hathaway a lot of credit for showing some ethics in picking the best available person and not raiding a fellow institution of hiring learning’s most recent hire.
At the same time, it looks like Temple made the better hire in that the Owls’ stock appears rising while the Huskies seem be going in the opposite direction.
The Owls can further solidify that general consensus with a solid win on Saturday.
In all games, there are winners and losers.
In this one, on this day, at least there is one person who could be both.

Rentschler Field forecast for Saturday.
09.27.12
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Throwback Thursday

Thanks to Jeff Thomas for this video of a great day for Paul Palmer.

Temple football almost killed me.
I’m not talking about the last two games, either.
I’m talking about literally being dead.
Thanks to former great Temple Owl defensive back Jeffrey Thomas, this video brings back a lot of memories, some of them good, some bad.
The good part was a record-setting day by Paul Palmer who was a Heisman Trophy runner-up that year. A great day and I filed what my bosses thought was a terrific story in the Sunday papers.
Little did they know I was sick as a dog.
The bad part was going to the hospital for pneumonia the next day.
In those days, I covered Temple football for Calkins Newspapers, which are a string of papers surrounding Philadelphia, including the Bucks County Courier Times, Doylestown Intelligencer and Burlington County (N.J.) Times.
We went home and away with the team those days and, thanks to an offer from then Sports Information Director Al Shrier, I secured a seat on the football team’s charter to the BYU game.
The plane’s air conditioning unit failed and we sat in about a 100-degree airplane an hour before being cleared for takeoff. I knew this was a bad sign because I was beginning to catch a cold right about then.

Hopefully, the Let’s Go Temple signs and cheers will be out in full force next week. 

When we landed in Utah some six hours, we deplaned and had to wait outside in 40-degree weather for an hour for our stuff.
I was wearing just a golf shirt and sweatpants. The team was in blazers.
The heat and cold combination turned out to be a double knockout punch.
For two weeks, the cold got worse, turned into pneumonia and the fluid surrounded my heart. I still blame myself for not going to the doctor earlier. When you are in your 20s, you think you are indestructible.
So I found myself in Doylestown hospital waiting for an operation.
The first call I got was from former coach Wayne Hardin wishing me well. Right after that, it was Bruce Arians. That meant a lot to me.
The doctors told my mom and dad that I was one of 5,000 people who had this condition and had to have this kind of operation. Lucky me.
Then a doctor with a thick Indian accent explained the risks of the operation.
“And in about 10 percent of the cases, this operation results in death,” he said.
“What was that last word you said?” I stuttered.
“Death.”
“Go ahead, do it,” I said.
I lived.
So that was the closest Temple football ever came to killing me. The second-closest was a 20-game losing streak and the 26-3 halftime deficit to Maryland cut about five years off my life expectancy, too.
After the way this season has gone so far, I just hope to be around in a few weeks should the Owls carry Montel Harris off the field after beating Cincy for the BE title and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
I might faint. You might faint. But, as I write this, it is still possible.
If they had to carry me out in a body bag after that, I couldn’t think of a better way to go.

Tomorrow: Fast Forward Friday

09.24.12
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Eagles and Owls: Birds of a different feather

“Let’s face it, you want to run the ball all the time and I want to pass it all the time.”

Watching Andy Reid and Steve Addazio the last two days, it suddenly occurred to me that this is a tale of two coaches, same city, two different philosophies.
Reid wants to throw the ball all the time.
Addazio wants to run it all the time.
Well, not all, but you get what I mean.

Have to give it up to Nate Bauer of BWI for this correct prediction.

If you could put Steve Addazio’s head in Andy Reid’s body and Reid’s head in Addazio’s body, probably both teams would be better off.
For purposes of argument, the words never and all mean most.
Reid has a guy, Shady McCoy (almost went to Temple, by the way, but that’s a story for another day), who ran for 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns last year and he never gives the ball to him.
Instead, he leaves his fate in the hands of a turnover-prone quarterback.
Addazio has an offensive line incapable of opening up holes up the middle, but he forces that square peg into the round hole with a stubborn trait of relying on runs up the middle.
Yet Addazio has a quarterback who never turns it over and throws nice balls, most of which are dropped.

Roll Coyer out to the left with the option of passing or throwing. If the pass is there, take it. If the run is there, take it. The fear of what Coyer can do with his feet will open up things for the Temple offense

Chris Coyer is not perfect, but he’s missed only two vital throws in this season in my mind and both were in the Penn State game. Even those might have been timing patterns that were the fault of the receivers.
He’s a kid you can win with if you put the offense in his hands.
Roll Coyer out to the left with the option of passing or throwing. If the pass is there, take it. If the run is there, take it. The fear of what Coyer can do with his feet will open up things for the Temple offense. Have Matt Brown and Montel Harris in space as dump-off options. Put Ryan Alderman near the first-down sticks as a target. Have 4.3 sprinters Jalen Fitzpatrick, Romond Deloatch and Khalif Herbin go deep.  Coyer in the straight dropback should only be a change of pace for Temple. The guys who have been dropping passes for Temple should sit on the bench.
Temple’s spread passing attack should open up lanes for the running game, not the only way around.
Just as importantly, moving those sticks will give the beleaguered defense a needed rest.
Same with Shady McCoy of the Eagles.
Establishing his running should keep the pass rush off Michael Vick and mitigate that team’s recurrent turnover problems.
Andy Reid and Steve Addazio. Both guys are pretty stubborn and I guess that’s one of the reasons why they got to where they are.
Something tells me, though, the first guy who recognizes the need for change will be the most successful this season.
I’m hoping it is both.
I’m praying it’s Addazio.

09.21.12
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Penn State fans taking smug attitude again

Temple will be seen on ABC TV in all of the blue areas.

For about 20 years, I’ve had a neighbor who was a Penn State fan.
I always envied him because his football program won all the time and my football program, except for the last few years of those two decades, lost all the time.
The relationship worked this way.
He felt sorry for me.
I envied him.

Then it changed a little bit over the last few months.
I felt sorry for him over the Jerry Sandusky thing.
He envied me because Temple didn’t have to deal with all that crap.
Before all that went down, we tailgated together at last year’s Temple game, his group welcoming me even though I wore my Temple jersey.
I then extolled the virtues of my favorite player, Bernard Pierce, telling them how good he was, that he was a football player who happened to become the Pennsylvania schoolboy 100-meter track champion while messing around with that sport his senior year.
“The great thing about him,” I said, “is that he’s got moves like Barry Sanders, but he’s not afraid of contact. He runs like a fullback. He can go 70 yards on any given play.”
One of the group then said something that pissed me off.
“No, offense, but if he’s so good, why is he playing at Temple?” in a matter-of-fact way and not kiddingly.
I just shook my head. Offense taken.

‘Temple won’t score a touchdown. They’ll get two field goals.’
_Philly sports talk radio host

I said there were a lot of guys who played at Temple who were really good, mentioning All-American and All-Pro Joe Klecko, former Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer, Big East offensive and defensive players of the year Dan Klecko and Walter Washington, former Redskins’ Tre Johnson and Leslie Shepard, Jets’ first-round draft choice Mo Wilkerson, etc., etc..
Then the game began and it was evident Temple had just as many good players as Penn State and played with a passion and pride Penn State didn’t display except for the final drive. When it was over, most of the Penn State fans in the group showed a lot of class.
“You guys deserved to win,” one of them said.
“One of these days we will,” I replied.
I’m heading up to Penn State with the same group tomorrow. I will bring my laptop and try to find a place to file a post-game report late Saturday night.
There’s a lot of that familiar swag among Penn State fans this year, that Temple can’t possibly win. Mike Missenelli, the sports talk host in town and a Penn State alum, said today on the radio, “Temple won’t score a touchdown. They’ll get two field goals. The score will be 20-6.” I hope Missenelli gets a lot of calls from Temple fans on his show Monday.
Pretty smug attitude about a Penn State team that lost to Virginia and Ohio. Virginia got smoked by Georgia Tech, 56-20, and Ohio struggled to beat Marshall, 27-24.
I know Temple will score a touchdown and I suspect the Owls will score several.
If that happens, and the Owls win, forgive me for not feeling sorry for Penn State.

09.20.12
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Early forecast for Saturday: Temple sunshine

While the rain won’t be coming into Philadelphia until dinner time, it should be at Penn State by kickoff.

The early forecast is for rain on Saturday during Temple’s game at Penn State.
They might as well call it Temple sunshine.
Before the season, Penn State lost its top running back, Silas Redd, to a USC transfer.
Early reports this week indicate his top two replacements, Derek Day and Bill Belton, are banged up and might not play.

Bill O’Brien answers a question about the availability of top tailbacks Derek Day and Bill Belton.

Conversely, Temple lost its top tailback, Bernard Pierce, to the NFL draft but replaced him with an arguably better version of Pierce in Montel Harris. Also, Matty Brown, not Pierce, was Temple’s No. 1 all-purpose runner last year.
Unlike two Penn State tailbacks, Harris and Brown are 100 percent healthy and ready to go Saturday (ABC-TV, Channel 6).
As good as Pierce was, not even the biggest Pierce fan (err, me) is ready to say that Pierce would have been the second-leading all-time rusher in the ACC had he played in that conference.
Harris was and would have been the all-time leader had he remained at Boston College for his senior season.
History shows rain tends to dramatically reduce scoring and teams that can run the ball and have a good field goal kicker have a major advantage.
Temple can run the ball and its field goal kicker, Brandon McManus, is a darn sight better than Penn State’s (Sam Ficken). McManus is also a great punter and field position could be especially important under adverse weather conditions.
One of the most infamous times Penn State played a home game in a pouring rain and mud at Beaver Stadium, Navy posted a big upset win, 7-6, in 1974, one year after Penn State beat Navy in Annapolis, 39-0. In the rain, maybe it is a 10-7, 6-3 game and not in a 24-21 range. The last time Temple played in a steady rain was a 12-6 overtime loss to UConn during Hurricane Hanna.
I’ve never placed a bet on a Temple game and probably never will (it hurts enough to lose straight up and covering in a loss doesn’t make me feel any better), but it’s something to consider for those so inclined.
The under looks very appealing, Still, I’ll take any Temple win over cashing in at the payout window.

09.07.12
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Cecily: Weather stays dry until after 3


 Steve Addazio recaps Villanova and talks Maryland.


Cecily says no snow (and rain) until after the game is over.

One of the most frustrating things about watching the weather is they say vague things like, “on Saturday it’s going to rain.”
Then I scream at the screen “WHEN!” and they don’t listen.
One of the many reasons I like Cecily Tynan is that she seems to listen when I yell.
Last night, on Action News, Cecily said: “And, on Saturday, it looks like rain comes in …”
After pausing to hear me ask when, Cecily said: “It looks like it’s going to hold off until the late afternoon or evening.”
I’m going to hold her to it because, by then, the Maryland at Temple game will be over.
I know a lot of my younger friends like Sheena Parveen better, but give me Cecily Tynan any day of the week. First, I like women over 40. (I’m told she’s over 40; she doesn’t look a day over 30, though.) Second, Sheena doesn’t listen to me. She’ll give the vague “it’s going to rain sometime on Saturday” and think that’s enough.

Update from Cecily (thanks, Cecily)

When you are going to a football game in a tight noon-3 window, you need to know what is going to happen between noon and 3.
I don’t know if the weather is going to help or hurt Temple at all on the field of play. Owls have a better running game than Maryland does, so maybe it will.
If enough forecasters keep mentioning rain, though, it will definitely hurt Temple at the gate.
Who can forget the night before Temple’s 2008 game vs. UConn, Fox29’s John Bolaris signed off by saying: “No way Temple will play tomorrow” without checking with Temple officials. Hurricane Hanna came and went, but Temple played. That really hurt Temple at the gate.
That’s the way it’s been in the past. Temple’s got a very fragile fan base. If it rains, a significant portion won’t bother to show up. Heck, if it’s too cold, some fans won’t go to a bowl game, even if it’s nearby in D.C. That’s probably the way it will be in the future.
That’s why I love Cecily. In her educated opinion, the rain won’t come until “late” afternoon. I define late afternoon as after 3. I hope she’s right.
Hopefully, that’s the only meteorological source Owl fans were watching.

Tomorrow: Gameday preview