By Mike Gibson
If you listen to coach Al Golden, and I try to do that every chance I get, whether it’s on signing day or Fan Fest or Cherry and White day, whenever, you will become conversant in what I call Goldenspeak.
“Core values” … you’ll hear that a lot.
“Going forward” … that’s another favorite catch phrase of his, so is “it’s all part of the process.”
There are a few more, but I won’t write a Golden/English Dictionary here.
The point being that before all of that, Golden came up with a phrase he thought enough of to put on the wall at Edberg-Olson Hall.
“Hunting a MAC title with local talent.”
It’s become a core value, if you will, of the program, err, going forward. So much so that it has appeared in the school’s football media guide the past few years.
What you won’t hear Golden say is that he’s going after this Holy Grail, this MAC title, with BCS-level talent.

“Let’s face it, guys, Temple is a Big East team playing in the MAC. Their talent level made us look like a high school team.”
_ Akron fan’s post on ZipsNation.org
after Temple’s 56-17 win last year

If Hunting for a Title with Local talent is the program’s self-proclaimed headline, then “by the way, we’re playing with BCS-level players in a non-BCS league” has to be some kind of subhead.
I know it’s not as catchy, but it’s true.
It’s like the guy wrote on the Akron message board, ZipsNation.org, after Temple thumped Akron, 56-17, last year.
“Let’s face it, guys,” the long-time Akron fan said, “Temple is a Big East team playing in the MAC. Their talent level made us look like a high school team.”
The implication was clear and so were the on-field results.
While Akron might beat out Kent State or a player, Temple is beating out Vanderbilt.
While Kent State might beat out Ohio for a player, Temple is beating out Maryland and Michigan State.
You only need to stop at the A’s, B’s and C’s of the signing brochure to find that out.
I did a story for the Philadelphia Inquirer today on a couple of basketball players from Friends’ Central, who received offers from Temple and other big-time schools. Before that goes into the paper, you have to fact-check those claims against the Scout.com database. Soout.com will say “yes’ if a player has been offered and “no” if he has not. It’s a pretty cut-and-dried system, the best there is.
I thought about that while thumbing through the pages of the 2010 signing class brochure the other day.
I followed the same routine Temple’s football signees and the claims made in the brochure, with only one or two exceptions, were verified by Scout.com’s system. That’s pretty good when talking about 27 incoming freshmen.
Niyi Adewole, a linebacker from Upper Darby, had an offer from Vanderbilt, as did Myron Ross, a running back from Wissahickon.
Antonio Belt, a wide receiver from Forestville, Md., “selected Temple over Maryland and Michigan State.”
Wyatt Benson, a linebacker from Haverford School, picked Temple over “Stanford and Pitt.”
Brian Burns, a defensive back and former next-door neighor to Benson in Southwest Philly, “selected Temple over West Virginia and Rutgers.”
Taray Carey, a defensive end from Whitehall, picked Temple over UConn and Boston College.
Those are just the A’s, B’s and C’s. It’s like that all the way down to defensive tackle Dante Weaver, who the brochure says picked Temple over Rutgers and Maryland.
Lsst year, the Owls signed a quarterback, Chris Coyer (pictured), on the night Ohio State extended him a conditional verbal offer (you visit us, we will offer). Temple was on Coyer for months and OSU arrived on the scene in the last day.
Coyer said, basically, “thanks, guys, but no thanks I made my mind up. I’m going to Temple.”
Now, after a year of fine-tuning, the Coyer quarterback Stealth Fighter is shined and polished and ready to leave the E-O hanger to wreck havoc on the rest of the MAC.
He could have gone to Ohio State, much like many of his teammates could have gone to more recognized schools.
Good schools with good football programs.
They could have gone anywhere.
They chose Temple.
Bill Cosby, who made that commercial famous some 20 years ago, should be proud.
So should every Temple fan.

There’s that old saying, “statistics are for losers.”
That’s grounded largely in truth, but not always.
I’ve always said there are two stats that will separate a winner from a loser:
1) Turnovers;
2) Sacks.
Win the second battle and that team is more likely to win the first.
That’s why I am heartened most by two of the recent signees in the Temple recruiting class of 2010.
Aaron Hush of Piscataway, N.J. and Jaimen Newman of Matoaca, Va.
Hush you probably know about. He was the Bridgewater Courier-News’ defensive player of the year, then took a prep year at Fork Union. His specialty is rushing the passer.
You’ve probably not heard so much about Newman, who flew under the recruiting radar far enough away from Virginia to glide into North Philadelphia.
It’s usually impossible for someone 6-4, 254 to fly under a radar, but this could be a first.
In people like Newman, Hush and Taray Carey (Whitehall), I’m confident the Owls will find someone who can help MAC defensive player-of-the-year Adrian Robinson collapse the pocket. One of those guys will step in and free Amara Kamara to go back to his more natural position of linebacker.
Bring mayhem to the football in September, err, hem. That collapses the pocket, creates a nervous quarterback, who either fumbles or throws the ball up for grabs.
Then I’ll be able to show you what kind of stats are for winners.

Nice to see Andre picked the best-looking hat.

Highlights of Brian Burns (above) and Niyi Adewole (below).

By Mike Gibson
When I think about recruiting and how big the story has become on a national level, I’m reminded of the kid I used to be in the back seat of my dad’s car on the way to vacation in Wildwood, N.J.
“Are we there yet?” I would say every 10 miles or so while riding along a winding Route 47.
Recruiting is a little like that, especially at Temple University these days.
It’s a long and winding road, just like Route 47 was, with some bumps along the way.
Like the first day of vacation, there’s a lot of anticipation with Signing Day but you know the trip will be worth it when Al Golden gets you there.
The only bump so far this year came when Florida and head coach Urban Myer stole Tyler Murphy from Golden and Temple.
I love college football, but you’ve got to admit it is corrupt to its core because the power conferences can and always do steal recruits and coaches from the non-power conferences. There’s no protection for the non-BCS schools. College football today is like the Wild Wild West with the one major difference is the bad guys have all the guns.
How are the little guys ever going to succeed against that brutal backdrop?

Signing Day 2010
Wednesday, Feb. 3
3:00 PM: Press Conference
4:00-5:00 PM: Reception
5:00-5:45 PM: Recruit Highlights
Student Center, room 200
13th and Montgomery streets
Main Campus
$10 per person includes light hor d’ouevres.

It’s why what happened at Boise State and what is happening at Temple has been and will be a very special story, a lot more special than what can happen at a place like Florida or Alabama.
America likes teams and people who overcome all the odds. America loves the underdog, the rags-to-riches story, and one is being written at Temple today.
It’s tough, but it’s possible, and when it’s done inside a corrupt system, it is all the sweeter.
If you believe in Karma, Urban Myer will get his (bad) day and Temple will get its (good) day.
For today, we’ll concentrate on the non-transfers. Temple has one coming in from Michigan, one from Hofstra and one from Northeastern. We want to write about those guys later this week, so we’ll concentrate on this list, courtesy of Owlscoop.com.
The following guys will help Temple get to the college football moutaintop:

Committed but unsigned:

Niyi Adewole LB 6-3 220 – Upper Darby, PA _ Adewole had a teammate at Upper Darby, a linebacker named Amara Kamara. Adewole will have a teammate at Temple this season, a linebacker named Amara Kamara (cousin of the other Amara Kamara). Two teams. Two Amara Kamaras. Two different people. If Adewole is the player Temple’s Amara Kamara is, he will be a good one. This story tells you more about Niyi Adewole the person.
Antonio Belt WR 6-1 190 _ Forestville, MD _ The latest to commit to Temple, Belt is an accomplished wide receiver who received high marks for his hands, speed and RAC (run-after-catch) ability at a number of five-star camps. “My trip (to Temple) was really good,” said Belt. “They showed me a lot of love and all the coaches kept it real and honest with me. I really love the campus there.”
Wyatt Benson LB 6-0 215 – Haverford, PA _ Tremendous player and student from Haverford School, Benson has the distinction of being the first player in this class to commit. He was a first-team All-Inquirer choice at linebacker.
Brian Burns DB 6-0 170 4.52 Upper Marlboro, MD _ Burns has a tremendous upside with his ability to hit in the open field. Think Jacquain Jarrett.
Taray Carey DE 6-5 210 4.6 Whitehall, PA _ A nonstop motor characterizes this talent, who has the speed and athleticism to get in the quarterback’s face and the height to knock the ball down when he doesn’t. He’s a terrific wrestler, who will use the moves he learned on the mat to pin a few offensive linemen.

Doesn’t look like he’s got the requisite vertical leap required of a Temple punter …

Andrew Cerett K 6-5 240 – Huntingdon, PA _ More of a punter than a placekicker, Cerett’s measureables (44-yard average. 5.2 seconds of hang time) give him stats Temple punters haven’t seen since Casey Murphy. Plus, he’s never violated a team rule. Doesn’t look like he’s got the requisite vertical leap required of a Temple punter, but maybe spring ball will produce a reliable long snapper.
Desmond “Andre” Coble ATH 5-10, 180 4.4 Richmond, VA _ Could be used anywhere on the field, as a kickoff returner, defensive back or Wildcat quarterback. Tremendous acceleration in space.
Sean Daniels RB/LB/DE 6-3 220 – Highland, N.J. _ Rushed for over 1,400 yards as a senior at Highland but is versatile enough to play any of three positions at Temple. A punishing inside runner who had 242 yards in Highland’s Thanksgiving Day win over Clearview, Daniels will excel anywhere Golden needs him.
Marquise Goods DB 5-11 175 – Orange, NJ _ Marquies will deliver the Goods to wide receivers and tight ends coming over the middle. He had an incredible 95 tackles last year from his cornerback position, so he’s not afraid to hit people.
Elijah Grant OL 6-6 340 – Fork Union, VA _ Fits the mold of the current Owl offensive linemen in that he has the size to dominate right away. From Fork Union, via Piscataway (N.J.) High.
Aaron Hush DE 6-4 250 – Fork Union, VA _ Was the Bridgewater Courier-News’ defensive Player of the Year his senior year at Piscataway High. His 18 1/2 sacks demonstrates an unstoppable motor. Gotta love the headline possibilities using the name Hush.
Tyler Johnson TE 6-7 240 4.71 Wanaque, NJ _ The second signee in this class, Johnson has excellent hands and the ablity to contribute to a talented tight end group right away. He was the second player, after Benson, to commit.
Adam Metz OL 6-5 295 – Hummelstown, PA _ All you need to know about Adam is that he was named to the Big 33 team. The Big 33 picks only the best of the best. Another Big 33 player, guard Wayne Tribue, started as a true freshman.
Deon Miller WR 6-6 200 4.7 Fork Union, VA _ Think Plaxico Burress, not only in size, but in his abliity to catch the ball in traffic. Matt Rhule always wanted to dust off the fade pass in the red zone. Miller gives him that chance.
Connor Reilly QB 6-4 180 – Fairfax, VA _ Don’t let the boyish face fool you. Reilly produced measurables in touchdowns and yards that a Temple quarterback coming in hasn’t had since Adam DiMichele broke all the record books at Sto-Rox. According to the Washington Post, he was 171 completions in 318 attempts for 2,279 yards and 18 touchdowns in his senior year. That’s Reilly. Really. Those are more yards and touchdown passes throw for a senior year than Chris Coyer, Chester Stewart and Vaughn Charlton had in their senior seasons. To be fair, though, Coyer had to share time at QB his senior year and those undoubtedly skewed his numbers.
Anthony Robey DB 5-9 172 4.4 Norristown, PA _ Extremely fast, the 4.4 is not a misprint. Don’t be deceived by the height. His coverage ability makes up for it.
Myron Ross RB 6-1 205 4.5 Ambler, PA _ Also in the 4.4, 4.5 range, Myron can help the Owls in a variety of ways and his versatility is his major asset. He can return kicks, run from scrimmage, catch passes and play defensive back.
Darryl Shine WR 5-10 175 4.45 Fullerton, CA _ All the reports from California indicate the Owls got a real star, who is capable of starting right away.
Gerald Silvera WR 6-0 180 – West Orange, NJ _ Rutgers’ fans I know tell me Temple is getting a real under-the-radar prospect in Silvera. More of a possession receiver than a deep breakaway threat but, given all the drops the Owls had last fall, wouldn’t you rather have a possession receiver?
Nate Smith LB 6-0 220 – Highland Park, NJ _ My personal favorite in this class is Nate Smith because I’ve seen the film and I believe in the same way I believed when I first saw the Glen Mills’ film featuring Bernard Pierce. How did that turn out? A sportswriter I know who covered his team tells me “he has five times the talent of his brother” and his brother was an NFL tight end named L.J. Smith. That same sportswriter also covered L.J. in high school so he has a solid basis to make that comparison. I’ve haven’t seen a Temple football player since Kevin Harvey (Paulsboro) make Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd, but Nate did.
Hershey Walton OL 6-4 320 – Reading, PA _ Comes from the same town as 6-7, 300-pound Owl Darryl Pringle, who picked the game up late. Walton is a more polished version of Pringle.
Dante Weaver DT 6-2 320 – New Brunswick, NJ _ The only three-star OL prospect snagged by Golden. It’s nice to know that other groups of recruiters have Weaver rated high on their board which probably means he’ll be more ready to play right away.

Future Owl Rod Streater is No. 81 in highlights.

Axel Ofori:
“I visit Temple this weekend,” said Ofori. “I am really looking forward to the trip. If everything goes well I should leave with an offer and it is one that I want.
….
“I just want to be at a place where I can compete and play. That is the fit I am looking for. It doesn’t have to be a certain level but it has to be a certain type of place. … I am not ruling out anybody.
….
“I am expecting to really like Temple and if they like me and offer than my recruiting could be done. I feel that strongly about the school.”
From Scout.com, Jan. 20, 2010

By Mike Gibson
They say there are three seasons in college football.
Spring practice, the fall season itself and recruiting season.
I have a hunch that we are in the middle of the most important season, the recruiting one.
My thinking is that if you do well in this season, the one between the end of the bowl game and Feb. 3, success will naturally follow in the other two seasons.
It ends on Feb. 3 when the faxes with the signed letter-of-intents arrive at Edberg-Olson Hall, but this is the stretch drive, the playoffs if you will.
Axel Ofori was one of a handful of guys who made their visits to Temple this weekend.
I don’t know Axel Ofori from Axel Foley, but I like him already.
I like any defensive back who runs a 4.4-40 because you can’t have too much speed back there on the last line of defense.
What I like most about him, though, is the attitude on top of his talent.
Or, as they say here in Philly, his Attytude.
There might be bigger stars in this class of commits so far. I write might because you never know until they get here. Judging by the film, though, Nate Smith (RB/LB) of Highland Park (N.J.) could be one of the cornerstones. WR Deon Miller (coming in via last year’s class this year) could help right away, too.
Still, to me, it’s not as much about what they have done it’s what they say before they get here.
Every year, someone has said something that jumped off the page to me.
Last year, it was an offensive lineman from Immaculata High (N.J.), Cody Bohler, who called the guys on the Temple team “the greatest bunch of guys I’ve ever met.”
This year, it’s Axel Ofori.
Gotta love his quotes from a couple of days ago on Scout.com about Temple University, the Temple football program and how much he likes the school.
Axel Ofori was in town this weekend on an official visit to Temple hoping to receive a scholarship.

One of the hallmarks of Al Golden’s stay here is that he does things the right way and the kids can sense he’s genuine.
He won’t go after other people’s commits and usually does a good enough job holding onto his own.
If Ofori gets the offer and does commit, he will be the 20st of this class. Already 19 have committed.
By my count, there are about five scholarships left.
Whoever gets one of those four, should accept.
They will get a chance to play right away for a guy who does things the right way at a school about to win championships and make the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Think about it for a second.
Golden already has told boosters that Temple is “loaded” next season. The Owls return six first-team All-MAC performers.
With just a little help with the pass rush and passing game and secondary coverage (heck, maybe long-snapping), it’s not a stretch to think this team can’t take the next step.
What’s the next step?
Take down national FCS champ Villanova before 45,000 people in the opening game and then repeat a similar run through the MAC all the while adding wins over Penn State and UConn.
Do that and Temple makes the cover of Sports Illustrated and becomes the No. 1 “feel good” story in the nation.
Some of these recruits will write that story next season, just like the one true freshman Bernard Pierce help pen last season. That one was a nice little story that had what Golden called an “unimaginable” ending.
This story could be a lot more compelling with a much happier end.
I can’t wait to read the Axel Ofori quotes in that one.

By Mike Gibson
Once upon a time not so long ago, being a Temple football fan was like being a member of an exclusive club in the Dark Ages.
You’d meet, watch the plague spread, then hope that someday the university would hire a savior to find a cure for the football program we loved.
The group would be so small in selected seasons, maybe down to three or four cars in the tailgate section of Veterans Stadium.

DANIEL H. GLAMMER III
DANIEL H. III, suddenly January 11, 2010 of Jenkintown. Beloved son of Grace and the late Daniel H. Jr. Devoted and loving father of Victoria and Alexandra. Brother of Nancy Gagnon and Steven. Special friend of Colleen Berry. Uncle of Nicole, Elena and Annah. Dan was an avid Temple Owls Football fan. Relatives and friends are invited to the Viewing on Friday eve. 7 to 9 P.M. and on Saturday from 9:00 A.M. until time of Service at 10:00 A.M. at the JOSEPH J. McGOLDRICK FUNERAL HOME, 507 West Ave., Jenkintown. Interment Hillside Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to the Breathing Room Foundation, 120 S. York Rd., Suite 7, Hatboro, PA. 19040. Published in Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News

We commiserated because we all knew what it meant to be a Temple football fan in those days. We all experienced similar pains.
It meant walking into a bar and asking for the Temple game to be turned on just one of the TVs and inevitably bracing for the bartender to laugh at you.
He might turn the Temple game on and he might not.
It was a 50-50 shot.
Then you’d brace for the smart-aleck comments from the patrons asking “who put the Temple game on? …”
Well, that exclusive club lost one of its most treasured members this week when Dan Glammer passed away at the all-too-young age of 46.
I first met Dan through the message boards discussing Temple football in the late part of the last century, then later at the tailgates.
When there were five (that’s 5) left at the Miami (Ohio) pre-game tailgate in 2005, Dan Glammer was one of those fans. I was another one.
Dan was smart, funny (enough to be an award-winning comedian) and kind.
The kindness will always stick with me.
When Temple was playing at Kent State two seasons ago, a rumor got around on the Internet that the game would be on at Chickie and Pete’s in South Philly and that they had some kind of special hookup that no other place had.
I was off work that night, so I headed down there.
I was five minutes from home when the cell rang in my car.
Nobody has my cell number, but Dan knew I wanted to see the game so he somehow found it.
“Mike, this is Dan. The game’s not on. It’s not on anywhere.”
“Thanks, Dan. You saved me a trip.”
A random, unsolicited, act of kindness and a much-appreciated one.
Dan didn’t have to do that.
He just did.
I saw him at the bowl game in D.C. and I remembered thinking I’ve never seen him look that happy.
Heck, until the unexplainable pick-6, I’ve never been that happy.
He was sitting (standing, really, the whole game like the rest of us) in the row in front of me.
He knew about the conniption I get every time Bernard Pierce is taken out of the game so, at one point, he turned around and said:
“Preps! Pierce is out. McPherson’s in.”
“GET HIM OUT!! GET HIM OUT!!” I yelled in the direction of Al Golden. “PUT THE FRANCHISE BACK IN …”
McPherson then ripped off a 12-yard gain.
Everybody was cheering, going crazy.
Dan was clapping and laughing when he turned around to say:
“Keep talking, Preps,” he said.
Those were, sadly, the last words he ever said to me.

Sign Dan’s guestbook

Bars in Philly, unlike Somers Point, were packed last Tuesday cheering on the Owls.
By Mike Gibson
A couple of days ago, I dashed off a note to Inquirer TV writer Mike Klein and asked him to get the ratings for Temple’s EagleBank Bowl football game with UCLA.
I thought they’d be high because Temple always did well on TV when Paul Palmer was going for the Heisman Trophy in 1986 and before that when Wayne Hardin put together a string of winning years.

My email to Mike Klein
From: Mike Gibson
To: mklein@phillynews.com

Date: Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 9:20 PM
Subject: Ratings for Temple-UCLA football

Hi Mike,
I don’t have access to local Neilsen TV ratings, but you might so I thought I’d ask this question:
Could you please publish in your column the local Neilsen ratings for the Dec. 29th TU football game with UCLA?
I was in Washington, but my guess is that the game did very well.
Thanks,
Mike Gibson
Temple Football Forever

There always has been a lot of interest in a “winning” Temple team.
While the “hardcore” fan base delivered some impressive numbers at RFK Stadium, with 20,000 Temple fans making the trip in brutal cold, the “softcore” fan base also produced last Tuesday.
While there were reports all over the place that several watering holes inside Center City (the game was played during Happy Hour) were packed with people cheering on the Owls, there’s nothing like cold, hard numbers produced by the ratings folks at ESPN.
The numbers Klein found were even beyond my expectations and ran in his Inqlings column Tuesday.
I dashed off a similar email to Daily News’ columnist Dan Gross, a Temple grad, who wrote me back: “I’ll try to get you the numbers, Mike, but I don’t think I’ll put them in my column.”
Klein beat Gross to the punch.
Page under “Owls fly” and Klein’s numbers is really the best empirical data supporting the “latent” support and interest for Temple football in the Philadelphia area.

An estimated 140,000 viewers watched the game, which made it the most-watched ESPN bowl game in Philadelphia since 2007 (Penn State was in the Alamo Bowl then).
All of this proves a couple of points:
A winning Temple football team can deliver the fourth-largest market to any football conference in the country and there is a “softcore” group of fans just waiting to jump on the bandwagon and follow a Temple team that proves to be a consistent winner.
The bandwagon’s journey will get underway only with a convincing win over Villanova to start next season but there is enough evidence that there are thousands of people waiting to jump on this Owl Express once that happens.
Warm up those engines.

The EBB’s MVPs (most valuable persons)=Temple’s fans

2010 Recruiting checklist:
1. Long-snapper
2. Pass rushing DE
3. Big-time JUCO QB

WASHINGTON, D.C. _ Walking out of RFK Stadium, I thought about this town just about 150 years ago.
Ford’s Theater, the place where Abraham Lincoln was shot, is only two blocks away from the Renaissance Marriott, the Temple team hotel.
I thought about the famous phrase born out of that tragedy.
“So, other than the ending, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
If we have any Temple fans named Mrs. Lincoln who care as much about the Owls winning as I do, she’d probably say the same thing about Tuesday’s EagleBank Bowl game with UCLA.
Liked both the play and the game, but the ending was, err, shot.
Lead?
Check. (Owls were leading, 21-20, 2 minutes, 29 seconds into the final act, err, quarter.)
Fans?

Hardin: ‘You always wanted to put your team in a position to go.’

“Cal wanted to exchange films of every game,” Hardin recalled. “Usually you just take the first one, one in the middle and the last one. So I said, ‘Find out which coaches on their staff want them?’ Turned out, it was the defensive coaches. OK. We spent night after night after night, digging and digging and digging. We came up with one or two things we had to do.
“We found out that if we pulled our guards up the middle, we’d end up with one of them going down the field untouched into the secondary. So did the back. Get the hell out of the way. There was no one to block. We had 21 points on the board before we even started. We probably would never have discovered that, had we not graded all the film. That’s how things work. You just don’t know. They did me a favor. We got into the defensive coach’s head.”

The Owls outrushed the Golden Bears, 300 yards to 23.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hardin went on. “The quarterback [Rich Campbell] was taught, which we knew, to read when he didn’t see anything [to] throw blindly into the flat to the fullback. I mean, game after game. The fullback was catching the ball and making big yards. So we developed a two-man [pass] rush, which we wouldn’t have done. We’d have one guy come up to meet the fullback, whichever way he went, 5 yards deep in the backfield. And eight guys would drop into coverage. So there’s nothing to read, except a lot of jerseys.

“The first time they do it, they completed it. I told Vince Hoch, the defensive coach, ‘We worked on this. If our kid can’t get to the guy, put [somebody else] in there.’ I had already told [linebacker] Steve Conjar that he was going to intercept one for a touchdown. The second time, he makes a tackle. The third time, the ball hits him in the hands and he drops it. He would’ve walked in.

“You always wanted to put your team in a position to go.”
Complete Mike Kern story here

Well, 20,000 of the 23,000 were from Temple, so check. Great job by our terrific fans, by the way. Loud and proud and everything I dreamed they would be.
In the seconds before Temple scored that second touchdown, the loud “Let’s Go Temple” cheer shook the old stadium so much I thought it was going to collapse.
Jonathan Tannenbaum, in his excellent blog Soft Pretzel Logic, wrote that the roar of the Temple fans after the first touchdown was “as loud I have heard for any” D.C. United soccer goal in that stadium.
D.C. United, by the way, has scored a lot of goals in that stadium.
Maybe three or four thousand.
So Temple’s fans deserve my MVP (most valuable persons).
Then the game, like the Mrs. Lincoln’s play, imploded.
I don’t care too much about theater, but I care a lot about the game, the team and the school involved, that’s probably why I walked around the stadium about 45 times before leaving Tuesday night.
“I thought you were still walking around the stadium,” my friend, Mark, said when I finally arrived at the team hotel.
Hell, if I didn’t realize I was in a supposed dangerous neighborhood (I couldn’t tell, but my pre-game briefing cautioned me), I’d probably still be walking around the stadium.
On the train down to D.C., I read a terrific article by Mike Kern on Temple’s last bowl game and how Wayne Hardin outsmarted Roger Theder, the then California coach.
Hardin said Cal asked for game films, then made a point to ask his assistants which Cal assistants wanted the films. He gave them three, then tailored the game plan to counter what the Cal assistants would see.

Pure genius.
Pure freaking genius.
I wasn’t surprised. Hardin outsmarted everybody, including Joe Paterno.

Other thoughts walking around RFK:
• On my 24th pass around the stadium, I wondered why it’s always TU messing up on center snaps and never another team.
• On my 27th pass around the stadium, I wondered why Kee-ayre Griffin wasn’t out there at right cornerback (I saw him at the team hotel and he looked healthy and wasn’t limping).
• On my 29th pass around the stadium, I wondered where was Jason Harper, who defined the term “warrior” all season and someone who can make yards after the catch and refuses to go down.
• On my 32d pass around the stadium, I wondered what would have happened had their been a smooth transition of Adam DiMichele to a quarterback with similar skills and toughness and leadership.
  (There wasn’t.)
• On my 37th pass, I wondered what Chester Stewart did wrong to lose his job over the last month.
• On about my 44th pass around the stadium, with steam coming out of my ears (I swear it was from being mad TU lost, but it was probably just the cold), I thought about that Hardin story.

Could you imagine Al Golden intentionally deceiving a fellow member of the coaching fraternity so Temple could benefit?
Could you see Al Golden cutting Rick Neuheisel’s throat (I mean that figuratively, of course) to win a game?
I couldn’t.
Al Golden is a very good coach in every way and a great (and I mean GREAT) CEO/Ambassador of Temple football, but I’m not ready to say he’s a great game coach.
Or even a better-than-average one.
I will say that when I see Temple do all the little things (i.e., fix the kicking game) a good team needs to do routinely. I mean, snaps on punts are routine for just about everyone else.
Why not Temple?

From the Ball State game on, snapping on punts has been a needless adventure and the CEO needed to fix that long before now.
That’s what he needs to do before I can call him an above-average game-day coach.
Great game-day coach?
Who knows how long that will take, but I don’t think it will be long because Al is a smart guy. Remember, Hardin came to Temple as a head coach with prior experience from a then big-time Navy program. Golden, who was never a head coach before, is still learning on the job.
Hardin was a smart guy and great game coach and he’d do everything short of robbing a bank to win a big game for Temple. That’s how much Temple winning meant to him.
Afterward, Al Golden said he hopes the team learns from the experience.
I hope he doesn’t exclude himself from doing the same.

This is the way I thought it would play out …
I’m never going to use this blog to criticize the kids, but let’s just say I’m hopeful certain players who had prominent roles last night get diminished ones next year.
I’ve always said that last year should have been a better year, but this year’s gravvy and next year’s the year.
If the devil came to me with a contract before the Villanova game and said 9-4, I would have signed off on that.
(Now if he had said 7-5 with a bowl and a win over Villanova, I would have traded for that, but that’s another story.)
We’ll talk about the X’s and O’s some other time.
I’m excited to see a healthy Bernard Pierce for a full year.
I’m excited to see that we’ll have a Nate Smith or a an Ahkeem Smith or a Nahjee Gibson (no relation) as an option should he go down again.
I’m excited to finally get some balance in our offense.
I’m excited to see what a defensive front four that includes Mo Wilkerson at an end (yes, I’d move him to end) and Levi Brown and Kadeem Custis at tackles can bring.
Heck, I’d go with a 3-4, move Adrian Robinson to RUSH linebacker, put Brown on the nose and Custis and Big Mo at the ends and move Amara Kamara back to his natural linebacker position.
No X’s and O’s talk today.
Just looking ahead to our next BOWL game.
Villanova.

Photos by Ratna
The Eagle Bank Bowl gambled and rolled the dice with weather.
Actually, it’s a gamble any outdoor Northeast bowl takes this time of year.
It could have won.
It could have lost.
I will call this year’s bowl, at least in terms of weather, a push.
The “average” high temperature for Washington, D.C. for Dec. 29th is 48 degrees.
The high on Tuesday is expected to be 16 degrees below that, or freezing.
Yikes.
It’s going to be cold.
It’s going to be damn cold.
It might be the coldest Temple football game I’ve ever attended and I’ve attended most over the last 30 years.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that there won’t be a snowstorm.
So weather, at least in my mind, is a push.
You can play football in it and, if you are a smart fan, you can survive in it.
I consider myself a smart fan, so here’s my survival plan:

• Two (2) T-shirts;
• Two pairs of sweat pants;
• Three (3) pairs of socks;
• Two Temple sweatshirts, both hooded (I will wear the zippered one on top of the regular Cherry Temple one);
• Ear Muffs;
• One light pair of gloves to be worn under one heavy pair of gloves;
• One heavy winter coat, to be worn on top of everything (also with a hood);

The all-time low D.C. temperature for Tuesday is minus-2 degrees.
Just be thankful you aren’t these girls:

If these girls can be there (and they will), so can you …