By Mike Gibson
Every week I participate in the MAC bloggers’ roundtable.
I always get the questions on Monday and submit my responses five minutes after opening my email, not because I’m all that anxious to answer the questions but because I know I’ll forget otherwise.
This week, it was my honor (err, honor and duty) to ask the questions and I wanted to get the pulse of my fellow MAC members about the Temple Question which will come up before the MAC presidents, maybe by the end of the season.
I didn’t answer any questions because it should be a violation for anyone to answer his own questions, but I did participate in the poll (I had Temple fourth, behind CMU, NIU and UT) and I won’t divulge anyone else’s votes but one member had Temple ranked two spots ahead of me.

My reasoning for not putting Temple higher is simple and reasonable: Give me a Temple win as impressive as NIU’s over Purdue, CMu’s over Michigan State and Toledo’s over Colorado. Until the Owls can close the deal on Penn State or even Villanova, they don’t deserve to be ranked among the elite.
At least not now.

So wthout further adieu, or even Freddy Adu, here are the questions and responses (more copying and pasting than should be asked of any human being, by the way):

1) What was the biggest surprise in your mind from Week 4? Was it Hofstra hanging at WMU or Boise State’s domination of BGSU or Temple’s win over Buffalo?

Let’s Go Rockets: Hofstra keeping it competitive at WMU was a bigger surprise in week 4. It was a foregone conclusion that Boise would bring it to BGSU, and while at the beginning of the season we thought Buffalo would be strong, it’s obvious in the first few weeks that they’re just missing something (Sparks) so Temple’s win isn’t that surprising. The biggest surprise will be if Temple can keep the momentum throughout the remainder of the season.

Fire Up Chips: I was surprised how poised Ohio was in it’s game against Tennessee. I don’t know what was giving Frank such a steady hand in his playcalling as 90, 000 fans were bearing down on the Bobcats, but I think it’s called experience….THAT, or the 40 of Mickey’s he slammed in the bathroom at halftime. Hofstra was coming at WMU like they owed them money or something. It was like that scene in Pulp Fiction were Butch (Bruce Willis) stop at a red light and sees Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) walking across the street carrying a box of donuts.We’ll Marcellus Wallace (Hofstra) went right after Butch (WMU). I don’t know what WMU did to make Hofstra so mad…but Hofstra should have won that game. I am not sure how my Fightin’ Dan LeFevour’s were able to put the hurt so bad on Akron. Does’t Akron have 4 ex-head coaches, including the ghost of Bear Bryant on their staff? I guess he wanted to coach in the greatest stadium ever constructed by human hands too.

Red and Black Attack (NIU): Ball State was a nice surprise scoring points against a tough Auburn team. My Huskies went ahead and laid an egg against the Idaho Vandals at home. I’m happy that it wasn’t conference yet and Idaho looks to be one of those underrated teams this year. Or so I’m hoping.
Over The Pylon: The last game in that list, the Buffalo-Temple game wasn’t surprising at all. Temple has a good football team which simply had a bad game against Villanova. Everyone acts like Buffalo is some world beater up there… newsflash… since Willy left they were a one trick pony in Starks who went down with an injury. Too bad for the Bulls fans… guess you’ll have to cling dearly to the MAC Championship you were handed on a silver platter with a side of Cardinal fumblitis.

Falcon Blog: I guess Hofstra and WMU, but if hanging around is a surprise, I guess I was just as surprised that OU hung around Tennessee. Both games, obviously, concluded the way they were supposed to.
Rasor on the Zips: Two games stood out. I was surprised to see Ball State put up 30 at Auburn. I was also stunned to see Temple shellack Buffalo.
Red and Black Attack: Ball State was a nice surprise scoring points against a tough Auburn team. My Huskies went ahead and laid an egg against the Idaho Vandals at home. I’m happy that it wasn’t conference yet and Idaho looks to be one of those underrated teams this year. Or so I’m hoping.

2) Temple’s contract with the MAC runs out in 2011? How do you see it shaking out? Will Temple be dropped to get to 12 or will another team come in to get to 14?

Let’s Go Rockets: Can’t imagine Temple would get dropped since Philadelphia is a huge market for the MAC. We think it would be more likely that another team would be added to the MAC, rather than give up the potential revenue/talent in the Philadelphia market.
Fire Up Chips: They are a legacy and their name brings a whole another level of distinction to our conference. The other team we should invite…Hofstra. They are just so pumped up. Let em’ play.
Over the Pylon: I doubt it will be dropped. I sort of hope that the MAC does get to 12, but I don’t want to see Temple bounced. I would like to see Buffalo shown the door… not because I despise them, simply because they’re too far away from any one else in the conference to make it an economical trip for us, and certainly not for all their road games. There’s not a geographical rivalry like the rest of the MAC, and in listening to most of their fans they act like the MAC is far too small time for them. So I say let ’em go. You want to join the Big East? Great. Have fun in that wasteland.If they, much like the freshmen who never know when exactly to leave a keg party, refuse to leave, then let’s scoop Army up. At least that’s someone that can make Buffalo not seem so out of left field. But… I would much rather be at 12.
Falcon Blog: That’s a really good question, one I had not thought of at all. My opinion is that Temple will stay in the MAC as long as they want to…which, I assume, they won’t if they end up winning consistently. As for having an odd number of teams, it does qualify as one of the most asinine things I have ever heard of, and having an odd number of teams makes scheduling difficult to ridiculous. (Note that teams in the East do not play a complete round-robin schedule. And hey…do cross-over games count this year or not? I keep forgetting). But, having said that, we are existing and functioning with 13 teams (even if it is stupid) and I don’t see us dropping Temple to get to an even number.
Rasor on the Zips: Temple has proven it’s worthy of playing in the conference. I think the MAC loves the Philly market too much just to drop the Owls.

Red and Black Attack: I’m no MAC commish, but I’m more about addition than subtraction. How’s Villanova looking this year?

3) For entertainment purposes only, some interesting early lines: Central Michigan favored by 9 at Buffalo, Temple favored by 4 1/2 at EMU, Toledo favored by 7 at Ball State, Cincy by 26 1/2 at Miami, Bowling Green by 2 1/2 over visiting Ohio, NIU by 6 1/2 over visiting WMU … WHICH LINE JUMPED OUT AT YOU AS OUT OF WHACK AND WHY?

Let’s Go Rockets: CMU favored by 9 at Buffalo jumped out to us first because CMU will win more convincingly than 9 points. If Toledo plays the kind of football we’re capable of, it shouldn’t be a problem to cover the 7 point spread. Ball State has had success against the Rockets in Muncie in the last few years, but that will change starting this Saturday. With Miami being so bad this year, Cincinnati by 26 1/2 is both expected and a pathetic MAC showing.

Fire Up Chips: Temple should destroy EMU. I talked to an EMU player who told me their O-line is decimated by injury. Rght now EMU has a manquin playing O-line. They just wheel him out, hit the parking break, and let the other team run around him in order to have 11 men on the field. The funny thing is, they are giving up less sacks per game with “Egbert E. Eagle” their newest paper machet recruit on the field, than last year, when they were asking a 210 pound true freshman to protect the QB.

Over The Pylon: Out of whack? CMU only getting 9. I would lay 19 were I betting. Everything else seems a bit ok, though the BG line and the Cincy line could be a whole hell of a lot higher and I’d still feel comfortable with them. Disclaimer: For anyone actually thinking of betting on MAC football… don’t. Mail me 50% of what you were going to be and I will come punch you in the nose. It will hurt less, be less frustrating, and only cost you 50% of what your sure to lose bet would have. You’re welcome.
Falcon Blog: Well, three jump out at me. I think 7 points is a lot to give Ball State at home. I know they are having a rough year, but they will win eventually, and Muncie has traditionally been a chamber of horrors for the Rockets, so that one might be a little out of whack. And, while I think NIU will beat WMU, it seems like 6.5 points is a little high. I know kicking the shit out of WMU has been the favorite pastime, but I would suggest their season has been a little better than people think, they are still dangerous–or at least as dangerous as Idaho, right? Finally, I like CMU by 19 or Buffalo. Or 29.

Rasor on the Zips: Toledo is laying 7 points on the road to the defending division champs. That is an awful lot.

Red and Black Attack: Toledo and Bowling Green both being favored on the road is very, very strange. I’ll take the home dog in either of these situations. Especially the OU game.

4) Who is doing the best head coaching job in the league so far and why?

Let’s Go Rockets: There’s plenty of evidence to support the notion that Tim Beckman, at Toledo, is doing the best coaching job in the MAC so far this season. He has turned the program in a new direction and resurrected the entire offense – taking one that relied on bubble screens (constantly) with little success, and turning it into one that is #9 in the nation, mixes it up, and really guns it down field when neccesary. More than just that, he’s instilled confidence back into the Rockets, on both sides of the ball and that leads to more dynamic plays and more efficiency on the field, in all facets of play. It’s impossible to say where the rest of the season will go, but Beckman has helped changed the way the University and the way the fans view the football team and that is directly beneficial to the success of the team for the long term.
Fire Up Chips: Butch Jones is pretty serious about our football program and he has our kids firing on all cylinders right now. Our program is probably one of the hardest to survive mentally and physically in the country. Players leave all the time because they don’t like how Coach Jones challenges them to be the best. But those who stay win a lot of games.
I of course will change my opinion when we lose a conference game and call on Jones to resign (kidding).
Over The Pylon: I think Tim Beckman, if only for the way they’ve played and how drastic that’s been compared to years past. Toledo Tom was no genious, but with this sort of talent on the roster that he misused and didn’t capitalize on, maybe he should have been fired way before when he was. A close second is Jerry Kill… if only because I am looking forward to the fun and festivities we’re going to have at his expense when BSU and NIU get it on like donkey kong till the break of dawn.

Falcon Blog: I’m going to go with Jerry Kill, for two reasons. First, that team is bouncing right back and is playing very solid football. Second, I can’t bring myself to say Tim Beckman.

Rasor on the Zips: While you can always point to Butch Jones, Tim Beckman has turned Toledo around for the time being.
Red and Black Attack: Butch Jones, and it’s not even close. Every other coach in this league has already had their ups and downs or looked extremely shaky. BJ has been consistent and upset Michigan State. Would have thought about Coach Kill here had it not been for this past weekend’s blunder.

5) Rate the MAC (1-13, poll results)
1) CMU … all seven first-place votes;
2) NIU
3) UT
4) BGSU
5) TU
6) WMU
7) OU
8) UB
9) KSU
10) UA
11) Ball State
12) EMU
13) Miami

No words necessary. Let’s just go get this title.

Terrific photo of Steve Manieri and Temple’s great fans.

Photos by Ryan Porter

By Mike Gibson
Message boards are a beautiful thing sometimes.
You can catch the pulse of a sports fan, or a sports community, by sitting down with a cup of coffee and paging down a list of threads.
Occasionally, something will catch your eye so you will click on it.
So it was with me on the day after Temple’s biggest football victory in years, a 37-13 win over defending MAC champion Buffalo.
The thread said something about Temple’s game at Eastern Michigan this Saturday being a “trap game.”
The coffee spit out of my lips and all over the screen.
After I got the Windex out to clean everything off, I had to laugh.
“Trap game?” I thought, with all of the incredulity Jim Mora Sr. once said when someone asked him about playoffs.
It’s still a classic response that lives on in a Coors Light commercial.
“Playoffs? Playoffs? Playoffs?” Mora said in three different tones of voice. “We’d be lucky to win a game.”
“Trap game?” I thought.
Trap game? This is Temple a team dying for every shred of respect it can get. Every time Temple steps onto the field, it should treat it like a crusade, not a game.
I still think that.
I always thought the great thing about college football, at least on the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level was that there were only 12 games, 13 if you are lucky.
Call it the lucky 13th in this case.
Trap games and letdowns should be for some other sport.
Here we are in college football where you work 365 days a year, lift weights, run, practice, to play in 12 regular-season games a year.

You practice and game plan for six days a week just to play that game the seventh.
Letdowns and trap games should not be part of the lexicon. Playing like a mad dog frothing at the mouth should be the norm not the exception, no matter who is lining up on the other side of the ball.
Especially if you are Temple, a school that the day before it faced Buffalo was ranked in ESPN’s Bottom 10. That’s what the world thinks of you as a Temple football player. It’s definitely not reality, but it is the perception.
It took awhile to acquire that perception so it won’t change after one game, but it will after a body of work called a season and the reality of this season is that the Owls are running out of games to make the statement they need to make.
The players should be fed up and play the rest of the season with a huge chip on their shoulder.
I know the fans have had enough of that “Temple sucks” mantra.
Those Bottom 10 days were supposed to be over.
Eastern Michigan is the next game and that’s why it is the most important one the Owls will ever play.
That’s why it bodes the Owls well if they pretend they are not headed to the Little House to play Eastern Michigan but instead headed to the Big House down the road to play the real Michigan.
It’s that important to Temple and its fan base to keep that momentum going this week and beat an opponent it is favored to beat. There’s a great photo accompanying this story of Temple’s fans watching Steve Manieri catch a pass in traffic against Buffalo, courtesy of Ryan Porter.
It reminds folks how hard it is to make plays to win in big-time college football and how hard it is to sustain the winning. That’s why the focus should be on Eastern Michigan now.
The Buffalo win was just one game, one of many the Owls have to win from here on out to accomplish their goals.
If they have to pretend they are playing the Wolverines, so be it. A long winning streak starts by focusing on each task at hand, not looking ahead to the next one after that.
Eastern Michigan is the task at hand. THEN comes Ball State.
That’s how this thing works.
Trap game?
Don’t make me laugh.

Temple 37, Buffalo 13. It is now OK to look, Ethel.

By Mike Gibson
I had to do a double take at the tailgate prior to the game.
Somebody was wearing a blue University of Buffalo T-shirt that said: “Buffalo Football: A Can of Whoop Ass.”
For a second, I didn’t know if he was referring to the Pitt game or the University of Central Florida game, both whoop-ass jobs.
Then I thought, oh, he meant Buffalo was going to whoop ass.
Never mind.
Sometimes you get the can and sometimes the can gets you.
Maybe the Owls will get to whoop ass, like Buffalo did last year, after Saturday’s 37-13 Temple win.
One piece of advice to my fellow Temple fans: When we get good, and we will reach the Promised Land soon, never wear a shirt like that.
It’s just bad Karma.
I thought the same thing when I read the pre-game prediction board on UBfan.com.
No one over there predicted the Owls would win. No one predicted a Buffalo win of less than 14 points.
Bad omen to get too cocky, especially against a Temple team many, including CBS Sportsline’s Dennis Dodd and the New York Times, picked to detrone Buffalo in the MAC East.
You would have thought last year’s Hail Mary pass would have taught them at least a little bit of respect for the Temple football program.
Whatever bad Karma pre-game, there was plenty of good Karma to go around at the post-game tailgate, thanks to what the Owls did the three hours it mattered on Saturday afternoon.
Some game balls:
The defense: When it came time to make a play, they made a play. They grew up big-time against Buffalo. From Peanut Joseph staying on his feet when he could have easily went down, to Andre Neblett staying with the ball or to Dominique Harris finally holding onto the ball, they are finding out that winners make plays. Let’s hope the lesson carries to the final nine games of the season. Make that 10. Only two teams gained over 500 yards of total offense against this year’s Pitt team. One was North Carolina State. The other was Buffalo. The Owls defense held one of those teams to 13 points.
Bernard Pierce: For all of Bernard Pierce’s great runs, the greatest was this: A spinning run near the goal line for about seven yards. As Pierce came out of his spin, he wrapped the ball up and held onto it like it was gold. With both hands. That shows maturity beyond his teenage years. The Owls might have found the stud running back they were looking for since Todd McNair/Paul Palmer days.

James Nixon: This guy routinely … and I mean routinely … gets behind the defense. Nobody can cover him. That’s what 4.3 speed will do for you and he doesn’t labor at the speed. He does it in one easy motion with great vision. He’s a weapon we should use more often.

Vaughn Charlton: This young man is finally realizing that he doesn’t have to be Peyton Manning for the Owls to win eight, nine or 10 games. He just has to be Vaughn Charlton. Play within himself. Hit the short- and intermediate routes, keep those sticks moving and occasionally take a deep shot when you have the defense off-balance. Manage the game. Great clutch pass to Evan Rodriguez.
Yeah, he said it: “I have to hide in the city. I have to hide in the state. But at least I’m 1-0 in the MAC.’’ – Temple coach Al Golden.

Factoid of note: Cap Poklemba has made Lincoln Financial Field a house of horrors for MAC foes. Whipping the crowd into a frenzy over the last three years has paid off for both the former Owl kicker and the Owls. Temple is 7-2 against the MAC at LFF since 2007. Fifteen thousand active and involved fans is better than 50,000 fans who sit on their hands. There is still plenty of time to join the party, Owl fans _ unless you plan to sit on your hands. Only the party people on the dance floor, as they say.

By Mike Gibson
They might have stumbled out of their dorm rooms at 10 a.m., taken the 10-minute subway ride to the game in Philadelphia but the estimated 6,000 Temple students will be from Missouri for Saturday’s game against Buffalo.
You can say the same for 5,000 or so Temple alums and maybe 4,000 “Joe Philly” types who have adopted Temple as their hometown college team. About 15,000 hardcore Temple fans will be there, about 15,000 softcore Temple fans have already said “why bother?” after the Sept. 3 debacle against Villanova.
This is about the hardcore fans, though.
Huh?
While they all may physically be in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, they definitely are in a Missouri state of mind.
You know, the “Show Me” state.
Almost 30,000 Temple fans, including about 12,000 students, left it all on the field against Villanova, screaming themselves hoarse, standing the entire game and generally providing by all accounts was a substantial home-field advantage against a school, Villanova, from the same town.
When they left the stadium, you could hear a lot of students _ Temple students who could have gone anywhere _ say, “same old Temple” after a 27-24 loss to Villanova.
Same old fumble up 10-0, going in for a 17-0 lead right after halftime.
Same old three interceptions.
Same old 24-14 fourth-quarter lead, followed by the same-old defeat on the last play of the game.
Temple coach Al Golden must have sensed the mood of the university community this week when he wrote this letter to the students:

Letter to the students
Thank you for your excitement and passion you displayed at our home opener versus Villanova.
The sea of Cherry and White on the Temple sideline and in the end zone was truly incredible and it marked the largest student attendance we’ve had since I’ve been head coach of the Owls. Your enthusiasm at our games truly does give us the best home-field advantage in the MAC.
I strongly encourage you to attend our first MAC game of the year this Saturday (9/26) at Noon versus Buffalo. Please see below for bus transportation and student ticket information. We need you in the seats this Saturday! Be loud & proud of your Football team and help us win a MAC Championship this season! Go Owls!
Al Golden, head football coach

Thank you for your excitement and passion you displayed at our home opener versus Villanova. The sea of Cherry and White on the Temple sideline and in the end zone was truly incredible and it marked the largest student attendance we’ve had since I’ve been head coach of the Owls. Your enthusiasm at our games truly does give us the best home-field advantage in the MAC. I strongly encourage you to attend our first MAC game of the year this Saturday (9/26) at Noon versus Buffalo. Please see below for bus transportation and student ticket information. We need you in the seats this Saturday! Be loud & proud of your Football team and help us win a MAC Championship this season! Go Owls!

– Al Golden, Head Football Coach
That indicates to me that the incredible disappointment in the overall Temple community over Villanova must have impacted Al to write the letter.
Students, alumni and fans can only take so much of same old Temple.
So those of us who can muster ourselves out of bed on Saturday morning, will get on the subway or head down I-95 and, while hoping things will be different in the noon showdown against MAC champion Buffalo, will be in a show-me mode.
Anybody who sits near me knows that I’m usually the first one off my feet (well, second to this guy), exhorting the crowd to get whipped up into a frenzy.
Not this week.
I’m going to sit there quietly and hope this team and most importantly coaching staff shows me enough to get excited about.
Show me some touchdowns.
Show me some big defensive stops.
THEN I might get off my feet.
I’ll be there, but my mind will be 1,000 miles away.
Hopefully, a few long Temple touchdowns will snap me out of a Villanova-induced stupor.

You might not be able to see it, but Tim Riordan is third from the left, first row, seated next to punter Sean Landetta.
I got an email the other day from a Tim Riordan and that got me thinking about Temple’s Tim Riordan, who was one of my favorite Temple quarterbacks.
Tim was Wayne Hardin’s last quarterback at Temple and Bruce Arians’ first, so he spanned a couple of eras in back-to-back seasons.
Under Hardin, Riordan called an audible in the Carrier Dome that beat Syracuse, 23-18, in 1982. Down, 18-16, in the fourth quarter, Tim looked over to the Owls’ sideline, gave a hand signal, patted his side, nodded to Hardin and Hardin calmly nodded yes. He then changed the play at the line of scrimmage and threw a fly pattern to tight end Scott Andrien that went for 44 yards and a TD. No histrionics, no confused looks to the sideline, no wasted timeouts, just a simple point and a simple nod. That was Temple football under Hardin. Supremely organized and efficient and constantly outsmarting the opposition.
That year, Riordan was the No. 7 passer in all of NCAA football. He still holds the Temple completion percentage record (63.9 percent) for one season.
In 1983, Riordan made just enough great plays to beat Syracuse, 17-6, in Arians’ debut at Franklin Field.

He went down with an injury early in the Owls’ loss to Penn State, ironically enough by the same 23-18 score he beat Syracuse by, and Joe Paterno grudgingly admitted afterward that the outcome probably would have been different had Riordan not gotten hurt.
Riordan was a third-round choice of the Arizona Cardinals and eventually played quarterback for the Philadelphia Stars of the old USFL.
Now Tim Riordan is in Buffalo, a big-time University of Buffalo football fan running a blog called Bull Run, the guy who sent me an email. He’s not OUR Tim Riordan, though, and not related to the former Temple quarterback. (Hey, if the REAL Tim Riordan wants to send me an email and tell me what he’s up to, it’s templefootballforever@gmail.com.)
Tim knows all things Buffalo football, so I tossed a few questions at him regarding Saturday’s noon MAC East conference showdown.
While this Tim Riordan will be in the stands on the Buffalo side, what this Temple team needs most is OUR Tim Riordan. I wish Vaughn Charlton could throw the short to intermediate throws like Temple’s Tim Riordan once could.
Vaughn does throw a better deep ball than Riordan, but what good does that do if you are only going to throw one deep ball a game?

Instead, we’re getting the other Tim Riordan in the stands for Saturday’s game.
Welcome, Tim, and here are my questions and his responses:
1) What is the difference between the running styles of Mario Henry and Brandon Themilus vs. James Starks. Temple fans are very familiar with Starks, not so much the other guys.

Over the past two seasons Thermilus (83 yards) and Henry (165 yards) have done far more damage to Temple than Starks (46 yards).

Thermilus is a horse, he will punish the defensive front seven every time he touches the ball but on the odd run when he breaks into the open he is not fast enough to take it to the house. Thremilus also lacks the burst needed to get around the corner on better defenses.

Mario Henry has impressive speed, he can hit the corner but he lacks the power of Thermilus. He is not going to break too many fundamentally sound tackles.

Both backs have had trouble holding onto the ball this season.

I’ve always though of James Starks as the best parts of Henry and Thermilus. He had explosive speed yet was powerful enough to take it through the center of the line. Most of all he was good as a receiver out of the backfield.

2) How would you compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of Maynard and Willy?

Maynard has a much stronger arm, a lightning fast release, and is far more mobile in the pocket. Maynard is, physically, the better quarterback in just about every way. He can make some of the tight trows that would have been difficult for Drew.

Drew had better leadership skills on the field and I think he had the immeasurable ability to be the quarterback you needed in a pinch but much of that is owed to his three years under Turner Gill, Maynard may eventually get there as well.

Maynard lacks the touch to put the ball in just the right place, that was a luxury UB enjoyed last season. Maynard also has shown some questionable pocket presence, nothing sinful, just what you would expect from a first year starter.

3) How would you compare UTEP to Central Florida and which team did you think was better and why?

I would have to say UTEP played the better game, They were a holding call away from beating us and they did it without 4 turnovers and as many short fields in the second half.

4) Who are the playmakers (names and numbers) on defense for UB?

Our defensive backfield is talented, experienced, and hard hitting. #30 Mike Newton is, in my opinion, the best player on defense. Davonte Shannon, #7, is the other big name in the secondary. Both, I think, Are good enough to be drafted.

Justin Winters, #34, is having a good year at linebacker but other than that our defensive front seven is having a pretty weak season. UB has yet to put real pressure on a quarterback, or shut down a running game.

Owls must swarm to the ball like this on every play against Buffalo.

My doctor has a Penn State mural that I have to look at when I go for my annual checkup.
It’s one of Joe Paterno leading the football team down the main street at State College, presumably during a pep rally. If you haven’t guessed by now, my doctor is a PSU grad.
We always have some small talk about the mural, then he asks me about Temple football.
He just shakes his head from side to side.

Al Golden’s RX: WIN … THE .. GAME!!!!!

It’s THAT look, the one every Temple fan seems to get all the time, the “why bother” look.
“I don’t think they are going to do it,” he said, never referring to what it is but I know what he means.
I tell him with the right coach, Wayne Hardin, they did do it once and what was done before can be done again. Hardin won 80 games (and lost only 51) against a schedule tougher than the current MAC one the Owls play. I tell my doc another coach, Bruce Arians, went 6-5 against a schedule that was ranked No. 10 in the nation one year.
Both had far less tools to work with than Al Golden does now.
I tell him, with the right coach, that someday the Owls will be competitive with Penn State and by competitive I mean final score and a drive at the end of the game deciding it either way. I tell him it happened before against better Penn State teams. I tell him if Central Michigan can beat Michigan State, we will have our day against Penn State.
He just shakes his head and gives me that look.
That was my No. 1 goal going into today’s game: Getting rid of THAT look forever.
It didn’t happen because James Nixon dropped a ball he should have held onto and it didn’t happen because we went for a trick play on 4th and 1 a couple of times when we could have run the ball and probably gotten the first downs.

The final score was 31-6, but add that touchdown Nixon should have had and add that touchdown or two we might have gotten except for those funky 4th and 1 calls and it could have been 31-20 or better.
I’m tired of adding imaginary points.
I want real ones now and a lot of them.
Could have, would have, that’s what I’m tired of at this point.
This is Year Four of the Al Golden Regime. He’s had four recruiting classes. There are no excuses now.
Other programs, like Toledo, Navy and Rutgers, have beaten PSU over the last 30 or so years.

Why not us?
Why not?
Just a guess, but probably because we look confused out there at times. How come the Penn State offense doesn’t need to constantly look over to the sideline before they snap the ball? The Lions get a lot more done, too.
How come Penn, a FREAKING Ivy League team, can hold Villanova to 14 points and we can’t?
I lay these first two games at the feet of the coaching staff.
They can’t do anything about the fumbles or the dropped passes, but they can get this Keystone Cops look on offense fixed. They can blitz more on defense.
So while other Temple fans might have been encouraged by this latest outing, I wasn’t.
I’m looking at a two-game body of work and what I see is Roseanne Barr-ugly. No amount of make-up is going to make that big fat pig look good.
Or this one: Oh and two is just that. Zero and two.
Temple fans deserve no less than a long winning streak starting this Saturday and could haves and should haves won’t cut it anymore.
Al Golden’s charge is simple and you can write this is big, bold letters: HE MUST WIN SEVEN OF HIS NEXT 10 GAMES. At least. I will take all 10, but I guess I’m more greedy than Al is. He would have had to win only six if not for the Villanova debacle, but that was his fault so he gets no Mulligan for that game. He must make it up down the line.
I don’t want to write about should haves anymore.
I want to write about great touchdowns, lots of them, and great defensive stops, lots of them.
The talent is here.
In 10 weeks, we’ll find out if the coaching is, too.
Five and six wins is just unacceptable anymore. Unacceptable.
Over these next 10 games we will find out if Al Golden is the right coach.
Winning, not coming close, not “enjoying the game” should be the only standard by which to judge him now.
It’s Time.
Buffalo is the biggest game of the year… be there and make noise. If you don’t have tickets, click here:

By Mike Gibson
Back in the day is a phrase kids like to use about crazy things they heard of way back when.
Here’s something really crazy: Temple and Penn State used to play great, great football games back in the day.
It’s true.
Back in the day, doesn’t seem so long ago to those of us in our 40s and 50s.
I suspect even 60s.
Back in the day, Temple used to play Penn State tough more often than not.
Believe it or not.
Back in the day, Joe Paterno wasn’t so gracious in his praise of foes.
The crusty old Penn State coach has been known to lay it the praise on thick recently for some pretty thin opponents, like Coastal Carolina.
There was a day, though, when JoePa occasionally let loose with what he really felt and the day Penn State announced it was resuming its series with Temple was one of those.
“The guy who scheduled Temple must’ve been drunk,” Paterno blurted out.
He was talking about his own athletic director.
Paterno didn’t want to play a game where he had everything to lose and little to win and that’s what he thought of Temple in those days. The Owls were good and posed a threat and they were an in-state opponent.
So a rivalry was born.
A couple of weeks later, Paterno and Temple coach Wayne Hardin posed for a publicity photo, arm-wrestling.
Eventually, Hardin would provide some of Paterno’s hardest-fought wins.
One of those games was the first one in the resumption of the series, on Sept. 6, 1975, at Franklin Field.
Temple sold roughly 30,000 tickets to the game and Penn State sold 30,000.
“I don’t want to be out pom-pomed in my own stadium,” Hardin told then athletic director Ernie Casale, talking Casale into buying 30,000 pom-poms.
Hours before the game, Hardin and Casale and a few other helpers put the pom-poms on the rows of seats behind the Temple bench, all 30,000 of them.
On the first play from scrimmage, an Owl speedster named Bob Harris took a simple handoff to the right, darted into the line, found a hole and went 76 yards for a touchdown.

Our 5 Keys to the Shock the World
1. Keep your QB off his ass _ If you see a lot of draws and screens to set up a long bomb or two, that’s a good sign of a well-designed offensive scheme.
2. Play mistake-free _ Easier said than done. When you tell a guy don’t fumble, it puts the word fumble in his head. Don’t fumble. Don’t throw an interception.
3. Put the other QB on his ass _ Basically, send more guys than they can block. Challenge your extremely talented linebackers to make plays and send safeties, LBs and DEs from spots Penn State won’t expect them. Keep blitzing blind side. Tell the blitzers to try to strip the ball as they arrive at the QB. If you can’t get to Clark with five, send six. If you can’t get to him with six, send seven and eight.
4. Get the ball to the playmakers _ That means if you hit James Nixon for another 75-yard bomb and find Michael Campbell on a jump ball in the end zone, don’t forget that they are still on the team.
5. Play Neapolitan, not Vanilla _ Aggressive schemes often result in a plus-turnover ratios. It’s risky, sure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. If the Owls come out and play vanilla on both sides of the ball, they will be nothing but a snack to the Nits. If they bring pressure and force turnovers, they have a chance to cause major mid-day indigestion for 106,000 people.

Temple 7, Penn State 0.
The first play of Penn State-Temple since the 1952 game and it was a Temple touchdown.
To this day, it was the loudest roar I’ve ever heard from Temple fans.
Half the stadium on their feet, cheering and waving Cherry and White pom-poms and generally acting like crazed, happy, lunatics.
Half the stadium in Blue sitting in stunned silence.
It was a beautiful thing and, for a moment, you thought it would last all night and maybe years into the future.
Temple lost that game, 26-25, on a Rich Mauti 64-yard punt return with 27 seconds left. Temple gained 378 total yards to Penn State’s 127 but still lost.
“That offensive line is the best we’ve ever faced,” Paterno said of Temple that night.
Afterward, Hardin admittedly cried like a baby.

The next year, at Veterans Stadium, Temple trailed, 31-17, entering the fourth quarter, but behind a quarterback named Terry Gregory, the Owls scored twice on TD passes to close the gap to 31-30. Hardin eschewed the tie and went for the win. Gregory’s two-point conversion pass was dropped.
“I don’t go for ties,” Hardin said.
“I have to give coach Hardin a lot of credit,” Paterno said. “A tie would have been big for their program.”
At the time the series was resumed, in 1974, Temple was in the middle of a 14-game winning streak, the longest in nation, longer than Nebraska or Oklahoma or Texas.
Only when Don Bitterlich, usually the most reliable of kickers, missed a chip-shot field goal on Nov. 2, 1974, did the Owls miss their chance for win No. 15. They lost that game at Cincinnati, 22-20, and then went on the road and lost to a very good Pitt team, 35-24.
The Owls finished up 1974 with a 35-21 win at West Virginia and a 17-7 win at Villanova before that Penn State opener in 1975. If you are counting, that’s 16 Temple wins in 18 games.
On Sept. 1, 1978, Temple extended one of the best Penn State teams. Utitlizing his great punter, Casey Murphy, Hardin quick-kicked on half the third downs, pinning Penn State deep in its own territory for much of the game. Murphy would not only kick it long, but he was a master in the art of the coffin corner kick and would nail it inside the 5 most times.
Temple would send its punt team on the field, pull it off, then send it back again just in time to get the kick off.
On offense, Temple showed reverses, halfback passes, throwback passes to the quarterback and shovel passes to the fullback, plays rarely seen in those days but ones that kept Penn State’s defense honest.
In the middle of all this, a silent press box was interrupted by Penn State beat writer John Kunda of the Allentown Morning Call.
“Hardin’s outcoaching Joe again,” Kunda said.
The press box erupted in laughter because they knew he was right.
The strategy worked until Penn State kicked a field goal with a minute left to win, 10-7.
In 1979, Hardin took his best team up to State College, led, 7-6, at halftime but lost, 22-7. A win and Temple would accept an invitation to the Liberty Bowl. A loss meant the Garden State Bowl.
That was the last of the good Hardin-Paterno matchups.
Bruce Arians would later lose to Paterno, 23-18, on Sept. 21, 1983 and, 27-25, on Sept. 14, 1985 but he never outsmarted Paterno.
Temple hasn’t had a good game with Penn State since, at least in terms of the final score.
There are a lot of reasons for that, mostly laid at the feet of the Temple administration for some bad football hirings.
They once made a great hire in Hardin and he gave Temple fans a lot of thrills, especially on days when the Penn State game came around.
It’s a shame a whole generation of Temple fans missed out on that party. Maybe Al Golden will hold an impromptu one Saturday afternoon.

If Temple beats PSU, season tickets will be sold out by Tuesday so buy yours now as a hedge fund:

By Mike Gibson
Playing Penn State, for this Temple fan, has been a little like playing the lottery.
I know I’m not going to win, but I plunk down my money anyway.
Little risk, great reward.
You can’t win if you don’t play.
Yet you pretty much know in your gut you’re not going to win.
For most of the past 20 years, Temple didn’t even have a puncher’s chance.
Now the Owls have a puncher’s chance.
Problem is, we’re Tex Cobb and they are Muhammad Ali.
Cobb is a big-time Temple football fan and a frequent visitor to Temple tailgates over the last 15 years or so.
I chalked his Temple fandom up to 20 years of getting hit upside the head until I found out reading Dan Gross’ column that Cobb recently graduated from Temple as a 50-something.
No truth to the rumor that Tex enrolled when he was 18.
One of the highlights of an otherwise uneventful life for me was having his beautiful wife come up to me at one of the tailgates and plant a big wet one on my lips. I looked over at Tex and was about to shrug my shoulders, but he smiled so I knew I was OK.
I say the Owls have a puncher’s chance because if there’s one thing Al Golden has done well over the last four years is bring up the talent level.
Not to Penn State’s level, but certainly past the Syracuse and Akron’s levels and I think the Nittany Lions will find that out Saturday.
Plus, as Joe Paterno has noted, Temple has no more fat guys so he’s improved the team’s conditioning.
As a point of reference, Akron fell to Temple, 27-6, in the final game of last season. The Zips fell to Penn State, 31-7, in the first game of this season. Last year, Akron beat Syracuse, 42-28.
Vaughn Charlton, for all of his faults, did throw for 318 yards and two touchdowns against perhaps the top FCS team in the nation and I think he’s an upgrade over Greg Paulus, who did not pick up a football in four years.
Plus, Charlton already had his day against PSU two years ago, playing in front of 70,000 at Lincoln Financial Field. In that game, he threw one touchdown pass that was called back due to a phantom hold and had another touchdown pass dropped by a freshman tight end. I don’t think he will be overwhelmed by the experience this time. He’s capable of putting points on the board.
Vaughn is a smart guy, so I think he will avoid throwing the type of pass (timing patterns, mostly) that caused him to throw three interceptions against Villanova.
We can only hope those pages have been ripped from the playbook.
Defensively, Mark D’Onofrio’s body of work outweighs some passive play-calling against Villanova. D’Onofrio doesn’t look like a passive defensive guy to me and he got away from his DNA against Villanova.
Here’s hoping he brings it against Penn State.
Think the A-gap blitz Trent Cole of the Eagles pulled off against the Carolina Panthers yesterday. I’d love to see Adrian Robinson line up in A-gap blitzes against Penn State. Move Robinson around. He’s your best pass rusher.
Also, the Owls have four playmakers at linebacker. I’d like to see Amara Kamara spy Darryl Clark and turn the others loose on run and pass blitzes.
If the Owls play an aggressive scheme, both offensively and defensively, they have a puncher’s chance to shock the world Saturday.
If they come out vanilla on both sides of the ball, it’s just another ripped up ticket to State College.