This week’s MAC Blogger Roundtable questions come from Let’s Go Rockets, the Toledo blog. His questions are in white, my answers are in yellow.

1.) This far into the season, what has been the single biggest disappointment from your respective team?
The lack of a sophisticated forward passing attack. Owls have had success with the short- and intermediate routes, but have struggled to throw the deep ball after some promising first couple of games in that area.

2.) If the first season to this point was replayed without any injuries or personnel loses to your squad, how different would your team’s position be at this point in the season? Would having everyone healthy and available drastically change where you sit now and the potential for the rest of the season?

I would say no different.  Penn State sold out to stop the run, leaving only a safety in the middle of the field and two corners and bunching the other eight players on the line of scrimmage. Temple’s used two quarterbacks in that game and neither one had a good day. Still, it came to a close spot on a fourth-and-one play that allowed the Nits to win it with 2 minutes left.

3.) We predicted winners in each division and a MAC champion at the start of the season – based on what we’ve seen of the teams now, revise your picks for MAC East, MAC West, and MACC winners.

Toledo and Temple. Either UT or TU will win the overall title. Not enough info at this point to determine that outcome.
4.) Announcements are surfacing this week that the Peace Pipe will be discontinued as the trophy for the victor of the Toledo / BGSU rivalry, but the rivalry will be rebranded the “Battle for I-75” and include a new trophy. Speak about what the loss of tradition and traditional rivalries would mean to your team and whether a trophy/name change, for example, would diminish from the rivalry.
I think a rivalry should be determined by an inadamant object. For example, “The Old Shoe” or the “bucket” or something like that, not by an interstate. Maybe an Ipod. Temple’s rival used to be Rutgers. Owls don’t have a “real” rival now.

5.) Rank ‘em.
Toledo
Western Michigan
Temple
Ohio
Northern Illinois
Bowling Green
Central Michigan
Miami
Ball State
Buffalo
Eastern Michigan
Kent State
Akron

Nobody is “representing” TU better than Raheem Brock these days.

Full disclosure.
I’ve never met Raheem Brock, but I feel like I know the former Temple star very well.
I was a big fan of his when he played in college.
Brock had a big role in Seattle’s win at the New York Giants on Sunday and, when he got back to Seattle, tweeted just three words:
“Landed in Seattle.”

Brock sports EBB bowl jersey at Super Bowl press conference.

I tweeted him back: “Congrats and thanks for representing Temple as usual.”
Two seconds later, he send me back a tweet thanking me.
Heck, he did not need to do that but that’s the kind of person he’s become.
Nobody mentions Temple more than Raheem Brock. Nobody wears the Temple football gear in the locker room more than Raheem Brock.
Other people talk representing.
Raheem Brock lives it.
Brock’s tweet got me to thinking about my “small world” story about him.
You hear about people saying it is a small world, but in a city of 2 million people this is a very freaky but true “small world” story.
When I was in college Zach Dixon, Raheem’s biological father, was thumbing down Broad Street at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night/Sunday morning wearing a “Temple football” sweatshirt, standing pretty close to the Baker Bowl sign at Broad and Lehigh.
I thought  “geez, that’s Zach Dixon” and I slammed on the breaks of my 1974 Opal Manta and gave him a ride back to the main campus.
(Heck, I didn’t want to get our 1,000-yard rusher killed by the guy who might be coming behind me.)
Fast forward, ohh, 20-some years later and I’m jogging on Kelly Drive with wearing a sweet Temple football game jersey I picked up for $20 on Cherry and White Day.
Back then, in the middle of the Owl football Dark Ages,  no one wore Temple football game jerseys while jogging on Kelly Drive except me.
So I’m wearing this jersey and a nice man who was working with a road crew yells out:
“Hey, Temple football. My son plays there.”
I had to stop, just like I did 20 years earlier.
“Really?” I ask. “Who is he?”
“Raheem Brock.”
He didn’t look like Dixon, but I had to ask.
“Are you Zach Dixon?”
“No, I’m his step dad.”
“Raheem Brock is going to make you a millionaire some day, he’s that good,” I said.
He just laughed.
“I hope so.”
“I know so,” I said. “It was great meeting you” and I continued my jog northbound toward the  Ulysses S. Grant statue.
Two degrees of Raheem Brock separation about 20 years apart.
The bloodlines continue at Temple today. Dixon’s son, Hassan, is on the team.
If the genes are any clue, he will represent Temple very well.

Our MAC blogger host this week is Alan Rucker of the excellent Ball State blog, Over The Pylon (OTP).
Alan did not want Steve Addazio as the Ball State coach  when that rumor popped up in December. Instead, he got former Lehigh coach Pete Lembo.
Addazio, I think, takes a little more talent into Muncie, Ind. to face Lembo so Saturday’s game (2 p.m.) provides a labratory to test Alan’s theory that Addazio would have been a bad choice for Ball State. If Lembo can be able to take his ‘ums and beat Addazio’s ums, that’s a pretty strong argument in his favor.
What follows below is his questions and my responses:

1.) Now that the nonconference has wrapped up for most everyone and we turn our eyes toward conference play, what did the nonconference season teach you? More importantly, what teams do you see as frontrunners thanks to their nonconference play? Any surprises?
TFF: The surprise to me is Western Michigan. Bill Cubit does a great job there. Losing at Illinois by a field goal and winning at UConn were eye-openers in addition to a 44-14 clocking of Central Michigan. WMU is going to be in the race to the end, as is Toledo. Ohio beat Marshall, 44-7, but was able to only beat Kent State by 17-10 so I think the East is wide open.
2.) It’s obviously early to be thinking about bowls, but what teams do you see going bowling? More importantly, will there be a MAC team that will surprise folks come bowl season? Where do you hope your team ends up bowling?
TFF: Western Michigan, Toledo and Temple. I hope my team goes bowling in a place not named Detroit or Boise.
3.) Again, it’s early, but are there any coaches on the hotseat that should be working their resume? Any MAC coaches you see moving on to greener pastures come season’s end?
I would think an Akron coach is wishing he was back as a BCS assistant. I don’t see why Cubit never got a chance at a BCS program.

4.) With all the talk of conference expansion and the assumption that WVU or Missou is the next to switch conferences, what do you see happening to the MAC? Any teams living? Where to? If teams vacate, how should the MAC respond?
TFF: I think the MAC should lock up the teams within its footprint, like Memphis and Marshall. UMass is just not going to work out, playing games in a pro stadium 100 miles away from the main campus. Temple plays in a pro stadium, but only four miles away from the main campus.
5.) While football is a team game, sometimes it’s about individual efforts. Who has had the most impact individually for your squad? Sort of the same line of thinking, but contingent on your own needs and roster, what other MAC player would you like to switch out for one of your own?
TFF: I’ll take the Miami quarterback, Zac Dysert, for a player to be named later.
6.) Power poll time, baby. First to worst… rank ’em

Toledo
Western Michigan
Temple
Ohio
Northern Illinois
Bowling Green
Central Michigan
Ball State
Buffalo
Eastern Michigan
Miami
Kent
Akron
PICKS THIS WEEK:
First the good news. We got seven out of nine games right, straight up homey. ATS, not so good. Three out of six. Buffalo screwed us losing by 31 (the spread was 29). Our only two losses straight up were Temple and Northern Illinois. We did get our one upset special correct. Rutgers was a three-point underdog and we picked RU to both win and cover.
Straight up
Last week: 7-2
Season 29-15
Against the spread:
Last week: 3-6
Season: 21-19
THIS WEEK (point spreads are from Monday’s Daily News):
(team in caps is picked to cover the spread)
ARMY (pick) at Miami (Ohio) _ Bookies made this an even game. This is a very tough one. I will pick the Cadets because they’ve had some success, beating Northwestern of the Big 10 and hammering Tulane. But I would not bet this game to save my life.
Temple at BALL STATE (10 1/2) _ I don’t see Chester Stewart turning the scoreboard into an adding machine, so I’m picking Ball State to cover the double-digits and Temple to win something like a 14-10, 13-10 game. Of course, if Mike Gerardi comes in there and throws a couple of deep balls to open things up for Bernard Pierce underneath, this could be a 29-13 game. I’m thinking Daz is not inclinced to pull the trigger, as Al Golden was, so this game will be closer than it should.
WESTERN MICHIGAN (11) vs. Bowling Green _ Cubit has this team playing too well right now. WMU, 31-10.
FIU (20) at Akron _ Florida International beat Louisville and Central Florida and should have no trouble covering the 20 spot vs. the Zips. FIU, 30-7.
Eastern Michigan at TOLEDO (20) _Rockets could put up 34 or more. I don’t see EMU putting up more than 10. Toledo, 35-10.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN at North Carolina State (12 1/2) _ My upset special No. 1 this week. NC State is the most unimpressive 2-3 team in the land, with wins over Liberty and South Alabama. Chips win this game outright, 20-13 and cover the 12 1/2.
KENT STATE at Northern Illinois (17) _ After coming off a strong performance in a 17-10 loss to Ohio, I see Kent State getting a little better with the number being slightly high. Northern Illinois, 31-20.
OHIO (7 1/2) at Buffalo _ Bobcats have no trouble covering the 7 1/2, winning, 27-14.
(POINT SPREAD) UPSET SPECIAL No. 2
I like to go for value when I look outside the MAC and I think Maryland getting 14 1/2 at Georgia Tech is a tremendous value. First of all, Maryland’s value was skewed by a loss to Temple but it still hung tough with West Virginia and beat Miami (Fla.). Also, Ga. Tech only beat a bad North Carolina State team by 10. Georgia Tech wins this game but by only 31-24.

BSU did something this year a TU team hasn’t done since 1990: Beat a Big 10 team.

I did not go to Harvard, but at least I went to the place my professor, Norm Kaner, called “Harvard on The Delaware.”
Kaner taught a course at Temple called “Sports in American Society.” It was a cake elective. A football player sat beside me, in front of me and to the left of me.
When I heard the greatest kickoff returner in the United States, James Nixon, flunked out of school this summer, I wish he knew about Kaner’s Sports in America course. With that course and Basket Weaving 101, he’d still be here.

Despite the easy elective, Professor Kaner was a very smart man. While most (err, many) of my fellow Temple fans have spent the past few weeks gnashing their teeth over whether or not the Owls will be invited into the Big East, I used my Harvard on the Delaware education to figure something out this week.
Simply, the clear message is forget the Big East.
Don’t get me wrong.
It would be nice to be wanted, but that’s not the most important thing right now.
The most important thing right now is beating Ball State, not going to the Big East, not winning the MAC, not even becoming the “Boise State of the East” but beating Ball State.
Beat Ball State and it becomes possible to win the MAC and win the MAC and it becomes possible to expand horizons beyond the MAC.
Lose to Ball State and the wheels come off the Temple bandwagon very fast. With one MAC loss already, it’s going to be difficult if not impossible to win the MAC East with two losses. This fragile fan base will collapse, too.
None of this is going to be easy, starting Saturday (2 p.m.) in Muncie, Ind.
Before Temple played Toledo, I thought the Owls really had a chance to be the “Boise State of the East.”
Then I saw the difference between Temple and Boise State was as big as the gap between the abilities of one Kellen Moore and one Chester Stewart.
Huge.
Boise State beat Toledo, 40-15, and Moore hit receivers 40 yards downfield like he was handing off to them. Toledo beat Temple, 36-13, and Stewart tried to hit receivers 20 yards away with the kind of futility that made you think they were 2,000 yards away.
Big difference.
That’s why this is going to be a tough game on Saturday. I don’t see the Owls’ offense getting a whole lot of separation from Ball State, like the high-octane offense of Oklahoma, because the Owls can’t hit an open receiver 20 yards downfield to save their lives.
Temple lost to Penn State, 14-10.
Indiana lost to Penn State, 16-10.
Ball State beat Indiana, 27-20.
Forget about Ball State’s double-digit losses to South Florida and Oklahoma. Those are teams with sophisticated passing games. Temple’s passing game, the last couple of weeks at least, is something out of the Teddy Roosevelt Era.
With Steve Addazio sticking with Chester Stewart, it tells you that he doesn’t have any other options. Or at least he doesn’t think he has any other options. Mike Gerardi threw a nice deep ball against Villanova and Akron, but he seems like a forgotten man now and I don’t know why. Gerardi’s ability to throw deep opens everything up for Bernard Pierce underneath.
Temple isn’t going to get it done with a lot of short passes, like it did against Maryland. Toledo figured that out. Going forward, Ball State and others probably will figure it out, too.
I’m not exonerating the defense against Toledo but if your offense continually goes three-and-out, it’s going to take both a psychological and physical toll.
That means, if Temple wins this game, it is going to be a low-scoring, 13-10, 21-14, type game. Temple is going to have to win this game on the defensive side of the ball.
Forget the Big East.
At least until Sunday.

Steve Addazio gives Temple fans a healthy dose of Vitamin A.





Add Toledo to the list of MAC teams screwed by Big East refs.

  
As a MAC fan, I’m still steaming from the Big East ripping off Toledo at Syracuse.
As a Temple fan, it was UConn redux.
Official makes an incorrect call, then the BIG EAST replay official blows an obvious call.
Both times, the Big East apologized to the MAC teams for making the mistake.
If that doesn’t prove Big East replay officials are corrupt or incompetent, I don’t know what does.
Now onto the MAC blogger roundtable, hosted by Eagle Totem (Eastern Michigan).
My answers are highlighted in yellow below:
1. What team and what player has been the biggest upside (better than expected) surprise so far? What team and what player has been the biggest disappointment so far?

Bernard Pierce has been the best Temple player, but that’s expected. The Temple player with the biggest upside (unexpected by most) to me, has been cornerback Anthony Robey, a redshirt freshman. He has been a lock-down cover and brings attitude to the job. It also helps to run a 4.3 40. I can’t think of a disappointing player on Temple. I haven’t seen much of the league outside Temple, so I can’t comment on that.

2. Evaluate your team’s performance, relative to your pre-season expectations?
I thought Temple would be 3-1, but with a win over Penn State, followed by a letdown loss to Maryland. As it turned out, the PSU loss pissed off the Owls so much they played with an incredible fire against Maryland that resulted in a 38-7 win.

3. What is one key thing you’ll be watching for over the next four games?

To see if Ohio, Temple, Northern Illinois or Toledo is capable of separating from the rest of the pack.

4. Although the PAC-12 seems to have put the breaks to the whole affair for now, how do you see conference realignment affecting the MAC?
I don’t see the MAC losing more than one team.

5. If you could pick two (at least somewhat realistic) teams to join the MAC for football as a result of conference realignment or advancement from a lower division, what teams would you pick?

I’d like to see one of the Florida teams (FIU, realistically) join the MAC along with Marshall, which makes a lot more sense for the MAC than it does in the CUSA. Marshall adds a value to the MAC than UMass doesn’t.

6. Rank ’em.

Temple
Ohio
Toledo
Northern Illinois
Bowling Green
Western Michigan
Miami
Ball State
Buffalo
Eastern Michigan
Miami
Kent
Akron
This week’s picks:
Last week, was a bad week.
Picking football is a little like the stock market. You are going to have bad weeks, but just don’t have a bad year.
We were 3-5 straight up and 2-6 against the spread. One of those losses was when the Big East refs screwed Toledo. We had picked Toledo both against the spread and straight up. Another came when Penn State up, 31-0, allowed Eastern Michigan to cover the 29-point spread by a point, 34-6.
Last week:
SU: 3-5
ATS: 2-6
Record for the season:
SU: 22-13
ATS: 18-13
This week’s picks, lines courtesy of Tuesday’s USA Today (HOME team in CAPS):
TEMPLE 35 (7), Toledo 21 _ I’m a believer now. Steve Addazio has the Owls focused. Last week was an incredible focus job after a bitter disappointment.
WEST VIRGINIA 34 (20 1/2), Bowling Green 24 _ No way WVU covers the 20 1/2 against a team that can score like the Faclons.
TENNESSEE 35 (29), Buffalo 7 _ The number seems a little high to me. Buffalo has a decent defense and should barely cover the high number.
EASTERN MICHIGAN 17 (9), Akron 14 _ If Akron has a chance to win a game, this is it. I believe the Lone Ranger, Clayton Moore, will keep them in this one.
Cincinnati 29 (13 1/2), MIAMI (Ohio) 13 _ Big rivalry game, bigger difference in the talent.
OHIO 40 (15 1/2) Kent State 15 _ Bobcats both cover the number and the over/under of 47 1/2.
Northern Illinois 30 (9 1/2), CENTRAL MICHIGAN 17 _ Huskies have the ability to put up points in bunches. Chips don’t.
OKLAHOMA 45 (37 1/2), Ball State 10 _ I know Oklahoma is No. 1 but 37 1/2 is too much to give up.
UPSET SPECIAL:
We will go out of the MAC for this week’s upset special. Syracuse is a 3-point favorite at home against Rutgers. Scarlet Knights will win this one by 10, unless the Big East refs miss three good field goals. Rutgers, 24-14.

Listen to the answer at the 5:19 mark. Do you love this guy or what?

Not a good day for the old Chevy Cavalier on Tuesday.
Went jogging for a couple of hours then, just as the sun was setting, I turned the ignition over and nothing happened.
I got the car towed to Pep Boys, sat in there for an hour and the guy came up to me and said: “Sorry I won’t be able to get to it tonight. It looks like a fuel pump. I don’t have enough mechanics.”
So I had to take the 96 bus from Montgomery Mall to the Lansdale train station, get off at the Jenkintown train station to hop another train to Somerton and the 58 bus home.
While at Pep Boys, though, I was able to read up on the coverage the Temple Owls received in The Daily News the past couple of days.
It took me all of seven minutes to read one story, only part of it was devoted to Temple’s 38-7 win at Maryland.
As impressed as I was with the Owls on Saturday, that’s how unimpressed I was with the Daily News over the last two days.
Let’s start with Monday first.

Temple was coming off the biggest BCS win possibly in its non-BCS history and both the back and the front covers had full-page Eagles’ photos.
Sixteen (that’s right, 16) more pages of Eagles followed, then a page devoted to the Jets-Raiders and the “NFC East this week” followed by another page of “around the league”  and two more pages of “NFL scoreboard”, three Phillies pages, a page devoted to an NBA pickup game and another page for the Flyers.
Finally, I find Temple on page 67 and that’s twenty-nine (right, 29) pages into the sports section.
The theme of Mike Kern’s story was not to praise Temple, but bury Maryland. He even put Maryland into his “Fraud Five.”
Why?

For losing to Temple? That is a not well-disguised rip at Temple. If Kern felt Temple was good, there was no reason to put Maryland in the Fraud Five. He provided no real good explanation for the rip.
How is Maryland not a fraud for beating Miami (Fla.) and a fraud for losing to Temple?
It’s not like Maryland was beaten by a bad team. What Temple is Kern going by, the Temple of 30 years ago?
He certainly is not going by the Temple that is 16-0 when Bernard Pierce gets the ball 18 or more times a game. Or maybe he just doesn’t know that fact.
Tuesday’s DN was worse.
Four pages of Eagles’ coverage was followed by four pages of Phillies coverage.
Another page was devoted to college basketball and the next page was high school football.
Not a single word about the Temple Owls.
I can see the interest in the Eagles, but it has become ad naseum.
An Eagle sneezes at the Nova Care Center and Comcast reports on it and hands the guy a tissue.
Sports talk radio is even worse.
Thank God for the great coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer, with a front-page of the paper photo followed by the lede story and photo on the cover of the sports section Sunday as well.
The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey has done a fantastic job. Last year, Kevin Tatum wrote one short story on each Temple game and used the quotes handed out on printed sheets by the SID.
Pompey busted his stones and wrote three outstanding stories on the win over Maryland.
The Daily News, when it comes to Temple, is no better than fish rap.
The DN has, like my car, a broken story pump when it comes to providing even a smidgen of fairness in its coverage.
It’s not worth the dollar.

This week’s host of the MAC Blogger Roundtable’s questions and answers  are below:

Here’s something I wonder a lot. Everyone knows about home court advantage in basketball. Over the past 5 years, in MAC conference games, 66% of the men’s hoops games have been won by the home team. In football, the number is normally in the mid 50s, or pretty even. People still talk about home field advantage? What do you think? How big is it?
Depends. It was a pretty big deal for Temple last week vs. Penn State. Over the last 30 years or so, Temple’s games in Philadelphia seemed like home games for the Nittany Lions. Due to a number of factors, like increased ticket prices and Temple’s resurgence, PSU did not travel as well this time and Temple had a representative crowd. Game drew 57K, of which 32K or so were estimated as Temple fans. Looked good on ESPN national TV to see a see of Cherry on both sides of the field. Despite that homefield advantage, Temple could not close the deal on PSU. I have a feeling, though, both teams will win at least eight games this year.


The MAC has started to run advertisements in games touting the conference’s integrity, saying that the league is “showing the way.” What do you think of this approach? Playing on a great thing in our conference, or asking for trouble?
Money talks, integrity walks. I think the league is probably better off not talking about that now.
The MAC has been working pretty hard to step up its digital game of late, with a mobile app and more video content. What grade do you give the MAC for its online presence and why?
I don’t watch too much online video so I have to bow out of this question.
So far, the MAC has only 1 win over BCS opposition and a handful of FBS wins, but a few close calls in big games. How satisfied are you with the MAC”s out of conference performance?
No. You’ve got to close the deal to change perceptions. Temple should have closed the deal vs. PSU. Northern Illinois should have closed the deal at Kansas. Toledo should have closed the deal vs. Ohio State. Temple’s got one more chance before conference play to do it and that’s at Maryland.
Rank ;em.

Ohio

Temple

Toledo

Northern Illinois

Bowling Green

Western Michigan

Miami

Ball State

Buffalo

Eastern Michigan

Miami

Kent

Akron
 
Week 4 Predictions:
After a hot start for Temple Football Forever, last week was a pretty bad week. We went 5-4 straight up and 4-5 against the spread. We picked Temple to beat Penn State, which was a loss straight up but a point-spread win. We picked Ball State to beat Buffalo, which was a straight-up win but a point-spread loss. (BSU was favored by 4 1/2 and only beat Buffalo by 28-25.) Week pretty much went like that across the board.
Here’s this week’s picks (home teams are underlined):
UPSET SPECIAL _ Toledo 24, Syracuse 14. ‘Cuse “only” beat Rhode Island, 21-14. How is ‘Cuse a 2 1/2-point favorite? Rockets win and cover.
UPSET SPECIAL No. 2 _ Ohio 26, Rutgers 20. RU is a five-point favorite. Ohio is the better-coached team by far.
Penn State 44, Eastern Michigan 7 _ PSU easily covers the 29-point spread and their fans exhale.
Maryland 24, Temple 13 _ It’s hard to bounce back psychologically from spilling your guts out on the field and just missing out on a program-defining win against Penn State. I don’t see Temple playing as hard and I just don’t like the spread offense with Temple’s current personnel. Unless Bernard Pierce carries the ball 45 times this game, the Owls come up short of the 10-point spread here. This is one game where I hope I’m wrong but I don’t like the quarterback mismatch here and that’s the most important position on the field.
UPSET SPECIAL No. 3 _ Bowling Green 24, Miami (Ohio) 20 _ The  six-point underdog Falcons rebound from a heartbreaking one-point loss to Wyoming.
Army 31, Ball State 24 _ Army, a 3 1/2-point favorite, rides the momentum of a win over Northwestern to cover.
UConn 31, Buffalo 17 _ Huskies show the Bulls that they are not to be confused with Stony Brook and easily cover the 10-point spread.
Season straight up: 19-8
Season against the spread: 16-7

This week’s host is Mike Trumbell of The Chip Report, a Central Michigan blog.
We’ll get right into the questions and my answers:

1) This week featured some out of conference games in which MAC schools had some strong showings but were unable to finish. Do these close calls do it for you or do these teams need to complete the upset to earn conference respect?

TFF: They need to complete the upset.

2) What Senior is really standing out as a pro prospect?

TFF: Adrian Robinson, rush endy. Will follow Muhammad Wilkerson or Jacquaiwn Jarrett as a first- or second-round NFL draft pick from the defensive side of the ball.

3) With CMU traveling to Kalamazoo to take on the Broncos this weekend I thought it fitting to ask, which MAC rivalry is most heated and why?

TFF: Kent and Akron used to be. I’m thinking CMU an WMU now. If Akon an Kent were ever 1-2, that would be it.

4) Which bottom feeder from last season has looked most improved?

TFF: Eastern Michigan. I know the sked is not OSU’s, buit they are impressive. A lot is working against them, but Ron English is doing a much better job this year.

5) List your MAC power rankings

1-Toledo

2) Northern Illinois

3) Temple

4) Ohio

5) Bowling Green
6) WMU
7) CMU
8) Ball State
9) Miami
10) Kent State
11) Eastern Michigan
12) Buffalo
13) Akron
Temple Football Forever’s picks this week:
(odds are from the New York Daily News, HOME team in CAPS)
FRIDAY
Boise State 31, TOLEDO 20 _ Rockets easily cover the 17 1/2.
SATURDAY
CINCINNATI 41, Akron 3 _ Bearcats cover the 30-point spread.
BOWLING GREEN 35, Wyoming 21 _ Falcons have no problem covering the 8 1/2.
TEMPLE 24, Penn State 20 _ Owls shock the world, but not their own fans who watched as they beat Fiesta Bowl-bound UConn by two scores last year. Temple is anywhere between a 9 1/2 to 8-point underdog.
Central Michigan 14,  WESTERN MICHIGAN 7 _ Anything can happen in a rivalry game and I’m picking 6 1/2-point underdog Chips to win this one outright.
Miami 10, MINNESOTA 7 _ MAC champ, a 3-point underdog, pulls off the 3-point upset win on the road.
OHIO U. 24, Marshall 17 _ Bobcats might be Frank Solich’s best team and the 2-point spread seems small to me.
BALL STATE 17, Buffalo 10 _ Cards beat Indiana and Buffalo isn’t as good as Indiana. They cover the 4 1/2.
Season record straight up: 14-4
Season record against spread: 12-2
(A lot of MAC games have appeared with no lines and those are included in the straight-up record.)
Our only loss against the spread last week was USF covering the 22 against Ball State.
We correctly predicted a straight up and against the spread upset when we picked Louisiana Lafayette, a 6  1/2-point dog, to beat Kent State, 24-20. LL won, 20-12.

TU fans could go head over heels for Ahkeem Smith (24) and Kamel Johnson (93).

Going into this game, I thought Temple would beat Akron, 38-7.
I was wrong.
It was 41-3 and it could have been much worse.
I thought to myself at the end of the first half that it would be nice if Temple head coach Steve Addazio rested Bernard Pierce for the entire second half, saving him for the Penn State game.
What’ya know?
Daz did just that.
Had Pierce played the second half, I had no doubt the final score would be 60-6 (if Akron was lucky).
Don’t get me wrong.
Matty Brown played well in relief, but he’s not a first-round NFL draft pick.
“DatBoy Nard” is a first-round NFL draft pick.
I believe it with every fiber of my being.
Mike Gerardi played OK, but he missed more throws than he did last week against Villanova.
No sense of urgency, though, and I think Gerardi is the kind of gamer who brings the play action when he needs it.
The defense and special teams played well.
Joey Jones should be first-team WR.
Right now, I think Temple is probably in the best position to beat Penn State since the Wayne Hardin years.

Will the Owls get that done?
That’s the question.
I don’t think Penn State can stop Bernard Pierce for four quarters.
If Bernard Pierce plays four quarters, Penn State is going down.
For the first time since Hardin, I believe Temple has the better coaching staff from head on down to the graduate assistants.
Does Penn State have better talent?
Sure.
Talent doesn’t always win.
It’s up to the 30K Temple fans who will be there to outcheer the 40K Penn State fans who will be there.
I saw a lot of people sitting on their hands against Villanova.
If that happens, Penn State will win.
If Temple gets the crowd behind it and the coaching differential plus the fans give the Owls a push, I think the Owls can win.
Can, should and would are all different stories, though.
Whatever seats are left, Temple fans should do their best to buy them up and then vow to become part of the team on Saturday.

By Mike Gibson
After working full-time continuously since I was 17 (I worked my way through Temple by holding two part-time jobs), I recently became a victim of the terrible economy and the spiraling newspaper business.
The Philadelphia Inquirer recently cut back two full-timers from its high school sports section and I, unfortunately, was one of them.
Pretty tough news considering I never missed a day of work in my life from the time I started in the newspaper business at The Doylestown Intelligencer and always showed up for work on time, pretty much to the minute.
Temple Football Forever has been a labor of love through all of this.
Now, at least temporarily, it is more than a labor of love.

Hopefully, through the support of the great fans of this site, I won’t be reduced to sending TFF dispatches by flashlight while living in a cardboard box at 16th and Callowhill. (If I had to set up a cardboard box home, that’s where I’d do it.)
I have a few months to look for another newspaper job, but I have to face reality here.
This business is dying and there is a lot of age discrimination out there in all areas of employment, so the prospects are not ideal.
So, we’re not asking for a Bill Cosby-like donation of $1 million here (Bill has never contributed a penny but that’s his prerogative as Bobby Brown might say), just anything between $5 and $10 would be greatly appreciated.
Either go through the pay pal link provided or  if you don’t like pay pal send a check to:
Mike Gibson
P.O. Box 243
Quakertown, PA 18951
Thanks again and only a few of my fellow tailgaters know of this and I appreciate their kind words of support.
Mike