Walking out of the Penn State game on Saturday, someone wearing Penn State blue told me not to worry.
“Who do you have next week?” the man asked.
“Army, at Army,” I said.
“You should spank them pretty good.”
“I don’t think they can spank anyone right now,” I said. “I don’t think they’ve found the paddle.”
Mixing metaphors, I really don’t think they’ve found the trigger to their offense.

Bernard Pierce says he’s a fast healer, but  unless he went to Lourdes, I don’t think he’ll be able to play this week.

They have all kinds of weapons and plenty of gunpowder, but I question whether they have the right guy to light the fuse.
Tom Leonard had a great line earlier this week, tossing in another metaphor.
“He’s got a gun for an arm but he has no scope.”
Everyone said I should not judge Chester Stewart on the basis of the Penn State game because the Lions are too good.
Fair enough, but the four-game body of work is not all-that-impressive, either.
Sure, there was the game-winning drive against Villanova and the 62-yard touchdown pass to Michael Campbell.
Those were two drives out of 28 Temple drives that night.
Where was Chester the other 26?
That’s a fair question. To say he disappeared would not be an unfair answer.
Thirteen points against a Central Michigan team that Northwestern put up 30 on is not all that impressive, either.
UConn?
The Owls were down, 16-14, when Adrian Robinson stole the game.
They added to that total behind Delano Green and Bernard Pierce, not Chester Stewart.
I didn’t see very many big plays from Chester in that game, either.
Against Penn State, I saw a true freshman quarterback play like a redshirt junior and a redshirt junior play like a true freshman. A program-defining win theirs for the taking and only a 46-yard, three-interception performance prevented them from taking it.
Forgive me for not enjoying that.
So do I expect Chester to break out against Army and throw for 300 and three touchdowns?
That’s neither fair nor realistic.
I would not be surprised to see the Owls to be impotent on offense once again, especially if The Franchise (see crutches above) doesn’t take the field. Although Army’s 24-0 win over North Texas doesn’t look all that impressive on paper, North Texas won at Florida International (the same FIU that took Rutgers down to the wire) and North Texas lost excruiatiingly close games to in-state rivals Texas A&M and Rice. Army led at Duke, 35-7, before winning that one, 35-21. Before you dismiss Duke, the Blue Devils scored 48 points on Wake Forest. This Army team can score and ballhawk.
If the game is low scoring, this is a game Army can win. If Temple can only put up 13 against Central Michigan, will it put up a lot more than 13 at Army?
I doubt it.
Yeah, I’m worried.

No, that headline is not a typo and I know Temple lost to Penn State, 22-13, not, 31-30, on Saturday.
I came across this terrific video the other day while preparing for the Penn State vs. Temple game.
I looked at it again tonight.
It’s from the 1976 Temple vs. Penn State game, a 31-30 final with the bad guys, as usual, on top.
Temple coach Wayne Hardin went for two to win it (there was no overtime in those days) and the ball agonizingly went off the Temple player’s fingertips.
One of the things that struck me about it was how well Terry Gregory passed in that game and how well-conceived the offensive game plan was.
That was 1976, but the way Temple passed the ball in the 2010 game, you’d think we were back in the single wing days now and not then.
Terry Gregory was not even the 10th-best Wayne Hardin quarterback in my humble opinion but Hardin could recognize good quarterbacks when he saw them. Steve Joachim, Marty Ginestra, Frank DiMaggio, Tim Riordan, Lee Saltz, Brian Broomell, etc., all were better quarterbacks than Gregory. Why was Temple able to get those guys then and not now?
Call it what you will but Al Golden has struggled with identifying good quarterbacks or at least putting good ones on the field. He lucked into his best QB, Adam DiMichele, when Alex DiMichele was recruited as a fullback by former coach Bobby Wallace.
Since then, the Temple quarterback play as been spotty at best and that’s probably a generous characterization of it.
I think it’s pretty obvious the 1976 Penn State team was better than the 2010 Lions, so Gregory lighting them up for 300 plus yards was impressive.
My Kingdom for a Terry Gregory-type quarterback now.
Or an Adam DiMichele.

Subliminal message No. 1 for AG

UNIVERSITY PARK _ I had three overriding thoughts after this long day and a three-hour tease they called a game today:
1) Forty-six yards through the air ain’t cutting it. I don’t know if it’s Matt Rhule’s fault or Al Golden’s fault or Chester Stewart’s fault, but 46 yards through the air ain’t cutting it and it’s got to be fixed. After the Navy game last year, I mused out loud if Al Golden had the err, intestinal fortitude, to make a quarterback change. It turned out he did and I applauded him for it. How many coaches have the stones to remove a quarterback who has won six straight games for underperforming?  It turned out Al Golden did. Vaughn Charlton’s numbers against Navy last year were 5 for 17, 36 yards, two INTs. Chester Stewart’s numbers against Penn State on Saturday mirrored those, except he threw one more INT. I’m sure Chester is a nice kid, just like Vaughn is but now, like then, I think it’s time for a quarterback change. If Mike Gerardi or Chris Coyer can’t get me 200 yards in the air against Army, we’ve got to rethink our quarterback recruiting. But I think either one of them gets two bills against Army. Chester Stewart is a one bill quarterback, if that. You just can’t win over the long haul in major college football these days without a viable passing attack and Temple did not display a viable passing attack in any of the first four games.

Subliminal message No. 2 for AG.

2) Temple is just not any better than an above-average team without The Franchise in there. When TF (or BP) is in there, Owls are a great team. Without him, Owls struggle and I mean struggle to win the MAC (and probably fall short). Keep our fingers crossed that BP returns next week or the week after. Matt Brown is a great third-down back, but he’s not a feature back. It’s no coincidence that, with St. Bernard/The Franchise/Bernie’s MAC Show in there, Temple had a lead. When he left, it all went to the crapper. That’s pretty much the way the season has played out so far.
3) Unless a miracle happens, the best-case-scenario for Temple fans is two straight trips to Detroit, one for the MAC title and one for the bowl sponsored by a Pizza company. I only have one word for that. Ugh. I will make one but not both trips. I just have to figure out which one. Probably the MAC title tilt, since I want to see the Owls prance around Ford Field with the MAC trophy secured. I’m sure the walk from the parking lot to the indoor stadium will be too cold for at least one Temple fan to make either trip.

I can tell you somewhat fewer than this number are in the stadium now.

UNIVERSITY PARK _ My relationship with Black Shoe Diaries doesn’t go back as far as my relationship with Penn State fans, but both are solid and based on mutual respect.

I’ve been coming up here for 30 plus years and have gotten nothing but first-class treatment from Penn State fans. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had my Temple sweatshirt or jersey on and been invited to Penn State-run tailgates. I’ve made a lot of great Penn State friends over the years that way.
Once inside the stadium, it’s been the same thing. Penn State fans are tremendous fans.
Black Shoe Diaries found me about five years ago and we’ve had this question and answer session once a year every year since.
My thanks to Mike of BSD for the great questions and for keeping the comments on topic.
I do not tolerate personal attacks on my website and it’s good to have people out there like Mike and Shawn Pastor (Owlsdaily.com) and John DiCarlo (Owlscoop.com) who won’t tolerate personal attacks on theirs.
Today is all about the game. That’s all real Temple fans should be thinking about.
Is it the biggest game in Temple history?
No and yes.
No, because losing it wouldn’t be as big a blow to the solar plexes as losing to UConn would have been (Big East explusion, Big East refs, etc.).
Yes, because Temple would have the most to gain from this win over any other in its history. Win this one and the regional respect soars through the roof. Win this one and it clears the table for 12-0.
The benefits of 12-0 are enormous.
Can you say Rose Bowl?
Can you say Heisman Trophy?
I thought you could.
Go Owls.
(No prediction other than 24-21, either way.)

Way back on June 24, I hesistated to write this post because I knew Temple’s first three games were a mine-field.
I knew Temple could just as easily be 0-3 going into Penn State as 3-0.
Even most Temple fans I knew thought the Owls would be 2-1.
I went ahead and wrote the post anyway because I felt this was the year Temple is best-equipped to beat Penn State and it focused on what beating the Lions would mean to the Owls and their long-suffering fans.
Now that the Owls have zig-zagged their way through the mine field, this game should be fun.
The Owls can win this game.If there’s any pressure, it’s not on them but the Lions.
The Lions have quarterback issues.
Temple’s got a good defense.
If Bernard Pierce gets in a groove, the Owls can shorter the game on offense with some clock-consuming drives.
The Owls have a terrific punter and a great place-kicker.
They have six returning all-league players back on defense, so they should be able to contain a Penn State offense that had trouble sustaining drives even against Kent State. Despite the fact that defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio has not been as aggressive as I would like in rushing the passer, I think he’s figured out one of the best ways to win is rattling the true freshman into interceptions and fumbles. So maybe the Owls will change up and bring the heat this week. I trust D’Onofrio whatever he does.  He might be the best coach on the field Saturday.
Chester Stewart, the Owls’ quarterback, has improved slightly with each game and that’s a good sign.
Yeah, this is the year.
Will they get it done?
Hard to say.
This looks to me like a 24-21 game either way.
In that case, I’m glad Brandon McManus is on Temple’s side.

One of the great things about having a job like this, operating a successful, independent and award-winning blog, is that you don’t have to answer to anyone.
It’s a little like the job Joe Paterno has.

Kamara nominated for special award
Temple linebacker Amara Kamara (No. 56) has been recognized for his efforts off the playing field. He is a member of the 2010 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®, which recognizes players for their outstanding community service work.

A total of 112 players across all collegiate levels of the sport were
nominated for the award by sports information directors on behalf of
their teams, and Kamara was one of 22 players selected. His impressive
resume of community service accomplishments follows:

• A strong advocate for bone marrow donor awareness, he assisted in the
  registration of 1,270 new marrow donor registrations – the largest donor turnout in the history of the program.
• Coached over 500 kids grades K-12 on football techniques at three
  different youth football camps
• Named the 2010 male recipient of the Athletic Department’s Temple
  Teammates Award and the 2010 T.E.A.M. Award, designated for
  student-athletes that have demonstrated leadership and exceptional
  community service efforts.

The 2010 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team® features two 11-player teams,   one for the Football Bowl Subdivision (Div. I-A) and the other for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and NAIA. All players, including Kamara, will be invited to New Orleans in January to participate in a special community service project before the 2011 Allstate® Sugar Bowl.

He’s successful. He’s won coach-of-the-year awards. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone.
I admire the guy. I really do. He’s one of my favorite people in sports.
Like everyone else, Joe has a bad day. So what if he snaps out on a reporter now and then? The reporter can cry and scream and whine until he’s blue in the face and Joe can just ignore him.
Nobody’s going to fire Joe Paterno. He can coach until 100 if he wants to and he can say whatever he wants.
But that doesn’t mean the signs of slippage  go unnoticed. Take Tuesday’s press conference, for instance. Maybe Joe had a bad day, but he forgot the focus of at least one Temple question and his UConn-Michigan score was off by only 16 points.
No biggies, but food for thought.
 Here’s just one question from the official transcript:
 Q. Temple’s running back Bernard Pierce, what does he present for your defense this week? COACH PATERNO: “I think the whole Temple team presents a problem. Al Golden, he has two other kids that played for us, that are on his staff, one is defensive coordinator (Mark D’Onofrio), one is the offensive coordinator (Matt Rhule). And I think they’re very, very sound. They’ve gotten better each year. The kid you’re talking about is a fine linebacker. Does a lot of things really well. And they ask him to do a lot of things. But they’ve got a couple other people, they’ve got a couple of down kids who are big offensively.”
 Err, Joe, the kid they were talking about, Pierce, isn’t a linebacker but a tailback. Wait. There’s more. PATERNO: “They’ve played a couple of good teams since. Central Michigan is a good team and Villanova is ranked the best in their division (FCS) by far. And they beat them in a tough ball game. And they had a tough one with a good Connecticut team, (which) lost by four points to Michigan.”
Err, Joe, UConn lost to Michigan by 20, not four.
I saw this transcript and got to wondering if this slippage might result in a mistake or two during the heat of the battle on Saturday afternoon against Temple.
Joe’s been a pretty sharp guy for 50 plus years there, but the knife gets dull for everyone at a certain point.
In a game as close as Temple and Penn State might be on Saturday, every edge helps.
I’ve got to believe a 41-year-old Al Golden might be a little sharper than a guy more than twice his age.
The last time Temple avoiding losing on a football field to Penn State, a 7-7  tie, the Owls’ quarterback was named Gavin White, Jr., who later became athletic director.
The year was 1950. Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons, not Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, were the Phillies aces.
And that guy with the glasses on the Penn State side of the field, the quarterback coach for Rip Engle, was none other than someone named Joe Paterno.
You’ve got to admire his durability. When you think about him being a coach on the sideline in Philadelphia when across town Chuck Bednarik was playing his ROOKIE year with the Eagles, that’s truly amazing.
Way to go, Joe.

The late great Hal Holbrook had a great line in the movie “All The President’s Men.”
“Follow the money,” he told Woodward and Bernstein, played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.
Follow the money.
That’s pretty much how I feel today.
I never bet Temple games. There’s too much heart involved and not enough head.
In a perfect world, where all the refs and the replay judges were robots and not hired by conferences, I really believe Temple would win today, something like, 28-21.
This is far from a perfect world, this college football thing. When you have BCS schools controlling the fate of non-BCS schools, that’s corrupt. When conferences take their “own” officials on the road with them, that’s corrupt.
So college football is, in large part, corrupt.
Too many strange decisions are made on the field by people who are supposed to be robots.
Follow the money.
This line opened with UConn giving 4 1/2 points. It ballooned to 6 1/2 points in a day or so.
Do the bettors know something we don’t?
I wouldn’t put it past them.
So I think this game is going to go UConn’s way, maybe 24-17, with a Temple touchdown or two called back by Big East refs. Maybe Temple will get called for breaking the huddle with 12 players (when it has a no-huddle offense).

Some fair games to bet on:
(favorites underlined)
North Carolina will cover the 1 1/2 over visiting Georgia Tech
East Carolina will cover the 19 1/2 at Virginia Tech
Alabama will cover the 24 at Duke
Central Michigan will cover the 10 at Eastern Michigan
Toledo will cover the 3 1/2  at Western Michigan
Troy will cover the 3 1/2 at Ala.-Birmingham

Maybe something else highly questionable will happen.
This is one game that begs for a Mountain West crew, but the Big East and its damn corrupt self will be here.
If Temple wins, it restores my faith in humanity.
If Temple loses without any touchdowns or big plays called back, I can accept that and will tip my cap to the Huskies.
If Temple loses with question marks, I will raise my postgame glass to the late Hal Holbrook and say, “you were right, pal.”
Or, in his case, Hal.

The Husky Pokey, written and sung by Jimmie Ross.
There’s been a lot of talk about UConn being a “double revenge” game for Temple.

Temple AD Bill Bradshaw expects at least 25,000. Let’s surprise him and the suits in the Big East office and put 30K in there.

Double?
Might as well be a triple or quadruple revenge game, mostly revolving around Big East refs, who will unfortunately show their ugly faces on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Let’s count the ways:
Single
Temple was kicked out of the Big East and UConn was the replacement team. True, UConn was in before Temple was out but UConn wouldn’t have been in if Temple wasn’t out.
Double
Two questionable losses. Announcers from both teams (radio) and the regional television audiences felt Bruce Francis clearly caught the ball on replay, but Big East replay official Jack Kramer didn’t. This angle above shows feet in and a Philadelphia TV station showed clear possession on the reverse angle. In Philadelphia, Travis Shelton ran a reverse to the UConn 1 on the first play of overtime that was called back by (you guessed it) a Big East ref on a phantom hold.
There was no Temple player near the play. “That was a brutal call,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said on his weekly radio show. “Our coaches looked at it and we looked at it again. The Temple guy who they said held wasn’t even in the play and he didn’t hold anyway. Temple deserved to win that game.”

Tickets free for students
Will the Owls stay undefeated at the Linc? Be there on Saturday to watch it happen as Temple takes on UCONN Kick off is @ 12!

Free Student tailgate starting at 10:30am=FREE FOOD!
Free Student Buses start @ 9:30am from J&H, SAC and 1300
Free Student Tickets-pick them up at the Liacouras Center box office or look for athletics department representatives around campus at the SAC, Liacouras Walk and IBC all week!

Triple
The Big East invited a Philadelphia team, Villanova, that has no stadium to play in over a Temple team that already has a D1A program and an ironclad lease in the best stadium in the world through 2018. Disrespect? Stevie Wonder could see that.
Quadruple
Randy Edsall said his team respects Temple because anybody can lose to anybody, then compared it to James Madison beating Virginia Tech and North Dakota State beating Kansas. One problem. Those were FCS programs. Temple is a FBS program, just like UConn.
Disrespect?

Arrogance on the Boneyard board:

“If this game is closer than 28-10, I’ll be surprised.”
_ Section 138
Member
“We’re on the road. The place will be morguelike.”
_Freescooter

Yeah, I’d say so.
Double revenge.
This game is like the cycle of revenge games for Temple.
Temple fans packed the Linc for the Villanova game, drawing 30K of the 32K fans.
They have much more reason to do so on Saturday.

Temple fans have to make this kind of showing, like in the Villanova game, where it was wall-to-wall people wearing Cherry (except for one section of Nova fans) filling the entire lower bowl of the Linc. Bring your “Let’s Go Temple” signs and make some noise like the rowdy and enthustiastic Philadelphia fans you are.
UConn fans expect the atmosphere at the Linc to be “morguelike” … it will be if you consider the following morguelike:

Graphic by Tim Riordan, Buffalo blogger

MAC blogger questions this week. My answers are Golden, as in Al.

1. For the season, excluding intraconference matches, MAC teams are
0-10 against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents. Which MAC team will
be the first to record an out-of-conference win against any FBS team?
Temple against UConn. All indications are Al Golden will get Bernard Pierce on the field, something he hasn’t done nearly enough of in the first two games. Temple had a pedestrian running back named Jason Harper get 134 yards behind a suspect offensive line in 2007 at UConn. Pierce is not pedestrian. When he’s in there for a whole game, Temple’s offensive production triples. Temple’s last two games vs. UConn (a 22-17 win that was a loss) and a 13-9 OT loss. I’m concerned about quarterback Chester Stewart, though. I was expecting another Adam DiMichele this year. Instead, I’ve gotten another Tink Murphy. He needs to elevate his game and keep more drives alive.

2. Three teams — Akron, EMU, and Bowling Green — remain winless; when will each team record a win? Temple is undefeated; when will they take their first loss?
Bowling Green will win first. Clausen is a very good coach who almost knocked off Troy. Not easy. Temple’s first loss will be at Penn State. I think. The Owls have shown some chinks in the armor (bad game coaching, poor personnel packages, poor offensive scheme) that have alarmed me.

3. Although teams have only played two games, that is nearly 17% of the season. How has your team’s performance so far compared to your
preseason expectations? What key factors will you be watching over the
next two weeks?
Below my expectations. I expected a 35-14 win over Nova and a 27-17 win over CMU. Nova is better than James Madison, which knocked off Virginia Tech, so that win looks a lot better for Temple now. Had Pierce played more than a half, maybe I would have gotten my 27-17 win over EMU.
4. This Saturday, Central Michigan visits EMU. The last time they
played in Ypsilanti (2008), a school-record 26,188 fans turned out to see the teams run 174 plays, combining for 1,171 total yards of
offense, 15 touchdowns, and 108 points. How many people will show up
at Rynearson Stadium this Saturday, and how many yards of offense and
points scored will they see?
8,000, six thousand of them CMU fans. 28 points. 21-7, CMU. 300 yards total offense.

TFF’s rankings (first to worst, because I can’t count backward):
1. Temple

2. CMU

3. OHIO

4. Northern Illinois

5. Miami

6. Kent State

7. Toledo

8. Buffalo.

9. Western Michigan

10. Ball State

11. Bowling Green

12. Eastern Michigan

13. Akron

Temple AD Bill Bradshaw expects at least 25,000 and the weather should help. Be there, wear Cherry and yell like hell.

Back in 1979 and 1980, the Cleveland Browns were known as the Cardiac Kids.
Twelve of their 16 games in both of those years were decided by seven points or less, hence the tag.
Those Cleveland Browns had nothing on this year’s Temple Owls, though, now 2-0 as a result of essentially last-second field goals.
I’ll take it, warts and all.
Don’t kid yourself.
There were plenty of warts in both Weeks 1 and 2.
“We can’t play like this and beat UConn,” Al Golden said.
Right on, Al. I would add we can’t coach like this and beat UConn, but I hope he knows that, too.
My goal for this team was to beat the UConns and Penn State’s of the world and if the Owls play the next two weeks like they played the first two, they won’t get within a sniff of the Huskies or the Lions.
Two flawed wins over two great programs is better than two flawless losses, though.
The good news is that the warts can be fixed.
The bad news is that I don’t know if they will be fixed.
Some suggestions:
Offense
Wart: As someone who watched and admired the flawless game plans and play-calling of Wayne Hardin for 13 seasons, I can tell you right now our offensive scheme is way out of whack. We throw when we should run. We have the wrong personnel on the field. We have a Heisman Trophy candidate who doesn’t start. We have a playmaking tight end we don’t throw to at all. Our offensive coordinator is a career linebacker at Penn State, who was a linebacker’s coach at Temple before being moved over to offense. Doesn’t make much sense to me, nor does our scheme. Our biggest chess piece is a runner with world-class speed and size (6-0, 218) and moves to scare the bejebbers out of defenses, yet he doesn’t play much more than half the downs. Put Bernard Pierce is there and everybody else gets open. Throw the ball to Evan Rodriguez, not Vaughn Charlton. What is AG trying to prove with this overuse of VC and Matty Brown? I don’t get it. Fake to Bernard Pierce when he doesn’t get the ball and throw downfield. Do that and you win games by touchdowns in the first, second and third quarters and not by field goals in the fourth quarter or overtime. I liked our play-calling and personnel packages a lot better when Bruce Arians, a starting quarterback at Virginia Tech, was making the calls. Would Bruce Arians ever sit Paul Palmer? No. I knew Paul Palmer. I liked Paul Palmer, but Bernard Pierce has more talent than Paul Palmer. He should be out there.
Fix: If Bernard Pierce is healthy, put him in at least on first and second down. Matt Brown is a good change-of-pace, third down, back. Put the fear of God (i.e., The Franchise) into opposing defenses, then play-fake, ball-fake, to Pierce and you’ll see Rod Streater and Michael Campbell and Evan Rodriguez running wide open through the secondary. If Chester Stewart can’t hit them in stride, bring in someone who will.
Defense
Wart: We let immobile (i.e., slow and white) quarterbacks kill us by letting them sit in the pocket. Yeah, I said it. Slow, white quarterbacks. I can say it because I’m slow and white, too. These are guys who can’t hurt us running, but can do big-time damage with any time at all back there. Play the contain defenses against option quarterbacks, not the slow ones.
Fix: Let’s start putting them on their asses with all-out blitzes. Mark D’Onofrio called a couple of nice safety blitzes late in the fourth quarter that seemed to work. Let’s hope he sticks with it.
Special Teams
Wart: We’ve got the best kicker in the league. He should be the one kicking it through the end zone, not the Central Michigan kicker. Work on those high snaps to Vaughn Charlton. Twice in two weeks is two too many.
Fix: I think Brendan has been told to kick it high. When he kicks it on a line, it goes through the end zone. I like that.
This is football, not rocket science. Our coaches aren’t working for NASA. They are not trying to hook up two space crafts going at 25,000 mph.
These are easy fixes and we have enough time to do it.
Let’s  use this time to get smart with our game plan and put our best players on the field in a position to utilize their talents. That gives us the best chance to win.
Temple can’t beat UConn playing, or coaching, like it did against CMU.