By Mike Gibson
The Temple football season so many of us had waited so long for and looked forward to so much has reached a crossroads.
Many of us, me included, feel with any breaks at all or at least the breaks the Owls should have received, this team should be 3-1.
In reality, it’s 1-3.
Prior to Penn State, a deserved loss, Temple trailed for a grand total of 1 minute, 49 seconds the entire season.
The refs took away the UConn game and even Penn State coach Joe Paterno said as much on his radio show last week.
“Temple threw a bubble screen on the first play of overtime and got down to the 3 an it was called back,” Paterno said of the UConn game. “It was called back for a hold and it was a bad, bad, bad call. Temple should have won that game.”
That’s three bads from Paterno, who was obviously watching the film closely.
The Owls’ own stupidity was responsible for the inexplicable Buffalo loss.
First, they allowed quarterback Drew Willy all the time in the world to throw the final dagger, a Hail Mary pass. Then they compounded that stupidity by going to tackle the wide receiver, rather than knock the ball down.
In my mind, if Al Golden really wants to beat Western Michigan this week, he will throw caution to the wind and turn his bend-but-don’t-break defense into an attacking one.
Blitz.
That’s this week’s buzzword.
Sneak into the locker room down the Lincoln Financial Field tunnel and steal a chapter from Eagles’ coordinator Jimmy Johnson’s playbook.
It’s a rather large chapter entitled “Blitz.”
Utilize Temple’s strength _ athletes on defense _ to make plays, force turnovers, dictate field position.
Help give first-time starter Chester Stewart a short field in his first start.
Play eight guys up on the line.
Get into Western Michigan quarterback Tim Hiller’s head.
Take the play to them, not let them dictate to us.
Get that big Homecoming crowd involved.
Play to win, not avoid to lose.
Al Golden and Mark D’Onofrio, it’s time to unleash the Dogs of War, Temple’s Pit Bulls, and tell them to sick the quarterback.

This looks like a black cloud to me.
By Mike Gibson
Taking a somewhat gallows humor approach, Al Golden tried to lighten the mood at practice a week ago after a heartwrenching 30-28 loss to Buffalo.
“We checked the field; there were no locusts,” Golden said.
You might want to check the sky this week.
Although it could be blue, that looks like a black cloud hanging over the Temple football program.
“Why us, God?”
Consider:

• A great job by Temple promotions and sales looked like it was going to put 35K in the stands for the opening game against UConn. Two weeks before the game, I said mininum 30K if no rain. We got a Hurricane and 17K. The next day, the Eagles, who can draw 70K in a Hurricane, got 86 and sunny.
  “Why us, God?”
• Three weeks ago, against UConn, three fourth-quarter Temple plays that gained over 30 yards each were called back by, you guessed it, Big East refs. I guess it was just a coincidence. Not.
  “Why us, God?”
• Two weeks ago, Temple decided to defend the pass in the end zone, rather than rush the quarterback. As a result, Drew Willy had all the time in the world to throw a Hail Mary for a touchdown. He did. Inexplicably, three Owls went to tackle a guy who was already in the end zone rather than knock the ball down.
  “Why us, God?”
• Yesterday, the game plan was to keep everyone healthy for the MAC season ahead. Everybody, meaning at the minimum 75 percent of the team’s total offense. What happens? Seventy-five percent of the offense goes down on one play. For the second year in a row, no less.
  “Why us, God?”
• Our top high school quarterback recruit follows up an 8 for 24 start in his first three games with those same exact numbers, 8 for 24, in a Saturday loss. There could be extenuating circumstances, but 8 for 24 is 8 for 24.

“Why us, God?”
Why indeed?
In a season that could have easily been 3-1 right now with a world of momentum headed into the teeth of the MAC schedule, all that is certain is uncertainty.
On a day when my college alma mater lost its star quarterback for “a significant amount” of time, my high school alma mater lost its star quarterback for the rest of the season.
My college team lost, 45-3. My high school team lost, 51-7.
If that doesn’t look like a Black Cloud, then I don’t know what it is.
Maybe sunny days are ahead but it’s hard to see through that ugly cloud.

By Mike Gibson
One of my favorite blogs is Black Shoe Diaries.
It’s got just the right mix of humor, irreverence and insight that so many other websites don’t even come close to having.
There’s no better place to check on the pulse of Penn State football fans.
Plus, Temple Football Forever gets plenty of mentions on it.
Last week, when BSD mentioned that we sacastically said “we can’t wait to see how the refs” rob Temple against UConn next year, our site meter lit up.
I dashed off a quick note to Kevin at BSD thanking him for the plug and he mentioned that he might like to submit a few questions for us to answer prior to the Penn State game.
I’ve been waiting by the phone for a few days and, so far, no call.
No call. No email. No letter.
It’s the same feeling I had when I left Jessica Simpson my cell number.
Empty.
And it’s almost Thursday already.
We understand things are a little busy over there, so I’ve anticipated the list of their questions, borrowing a few themes from last week’s list to Syracuse blogger Troy Nunes:
1) Temple? What the heck happened?
Well, we’ve become a pretty good football team in three years, thanks to a crash course by Penn State grad Al Golden. The guy is a tireless recruiter who any mom and dad would be proud to have in their homes. Hence, the top three recruiting classes in the MAC.
2) Adam DiMichele? How will he be different from the quarterback Penn State fans saw in State College two years ago?
Night and freaking day. Merrill Reese, during the Eagles’ broadcast on Monday night, threw this line out to partner Mike Quick, “Mike, I’ve watched three Temple games and, pound-for-pound, there isn’t a better quarterback in all of college football than Adam DiMichele.” DiMichele (pronounced DEE-MIKE-EL) is the kind of kid who can take a team on his back and will them to a win, as he did three straight weeks last season before breaking his leg. If he’s pressured, he’ll run out and make yards. He can throw on the run. He can throw in the pocket.
3) What happened in the UConn game?
Very suspect officiating by, you guessed it, Big East refs. All three Temple plays covering over 30 yards in the fourth quarter were called back by flags. On the first play of overtime, DiMichele completed a bubble screen to Travis Shelton, he sprinted to the 3 and that was called back due to a hold on D’Oynne Crudup. Film showed Crudup not only didn’t hold, he did not touch the guy he was supposed to be holding. The refs compounded that call by a bad spot, moving the ball back 6 yards further than it should have been spotted. “They apologized,” Golden said, “but that’s bad football. I have 112 kids in there. What am I going to tell them?” What should have been a first-and-4 was a 1st and 10. “First-and-4, that’s house money,” Golden said.
4) What happened on the Hail Mary pass?
Keystone Cops. Temple had three defenders, two positioned behind the receiver and one in front. All three go to tackle the guy in the end zone, instead of going to knock the ball down. Gotta wonder what good tackling the guy in the end zone does. “We didn’t execute,” Golden said.
5) What do Temple fans expect Saturday?
Most are pretty realistic. They want a team that competes and makes plays on Saturday and gets out of State College in good health. They basically tied a UConn team that laid a 45-10 number on Virginia so they know they have the talent to do some damage in State College.

… “We punched them in the mouth and they quit.”
_ Buffalo defensive back Kendric Hawkins after a 42-7 win over Temple in 2007 …

The schedule says that Saturday’s noon showdown at Buffalo is just the opening game of the Mid-American Conference season for the Owls.
For all intents and purposes, though, it might as well be a bowl game.
The winner of this game has an inside edge on the MAC East title and a bowl game that would undoubtedly come with such a title.
So what to call it?
Hmm.

Kendric Hawkins
Call it The Kendric Hawkins Bowl.
Not content to let sleeping dogs lie, Hawkins got one cutting turn of the knife in after leaving Philadelphia with a 42-7 win last year.
“We punched them in the mouth and they quit,” Hawkins said of the Owls.
That quote might speak to the “old” Temple, the Bobby Wallace Temple, but certainly doesn’t apply to the “new” Temple, the Al Golden Temple.
Golden does not like to speak about motivational tools, so I will just say this:
He was a sports psychology major at Penn State and a very good student.
There’s nothing like a good challenge to one’s manhood, especially in a manhood sport like football, to get someone fired up.
“Quit, huh?” a lot of the Owls must be thinking this week. “I’ll show you quit.”
Expect a lot of sweeps to be run in Hawkins’ direction on Saturday afternoon if, as expected, Hawkins plays after missing the first two games with an injury. He’s listed No. 2 on the depth chart at cornerback.
He’s No. 12 in your program and but it might as well be a bullseye instead of a No. 1 and 2 on his back this Saturday.
What Hawkins said last year should help the Owls focus on every down for three hours on Saturday afternoon more than anything Golden can tell them.
No punch in the mouth would hurt Hawkins more than knowing he might have been at least partly responsible for a big Owls’ win.

This is getting to be like Groundhog Day against UConn, but another blown call killed the Owls today in a 12-9 overtime loss on Hurricane Hanna Day at Lincoln Financial Field.
Not our words, but the words of an esteemed colleague writing for The Bristol (Conn.) Press.
It’s getting to be old hat, old news, whatever you want to call it.
Suffice it to say it’s old and I’m tired of it.
I can’t wait to see how the refs factor into next year’s game.

Breaking and good news.
Fox Philly is forecasting a dry pocket of mostly no rain between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The forecast was came this morning and showed a track of rain bands from a feature called “futurecast.”
It’s always risky, they say, to forecast exact bans of rain but there appears to be a hard pocket of rain between 4 and 8 a.m. Saturday and then it settles down.
THERE IS NOW NO EXCUSE FOR A TEMPLE STUDENT, FAN, STAFF MEMBER OR ALUMNUS TO NOT BE THERE SUPPORTING THE OWLS in this important game.
No excuse at all.
Wear a poncho just in case but make it a cherry or, at worst, a red one.

By Mike Gibson
Back on Media Day, Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele said, “we’re only a couple of days away from starting special.”
DiMichele was talking about a season of headlines.
One of those headlines is in, the Hartford Courant’s simple “Temple Routs Army” telling the story of the opening-day 35-7 win over the Cadets slightly better than the Philadelphia Daily News’ “Temple Football Opens with a 35-7 Win at Army” or the Philadelphia Inquirer’s “Owls Storm West Point in Triumphant Opener.”
Those are the headlines that were.
These are the headlines that could be in the coming weeks and months:
Sunday, Sept. 7 _ Owls slog out a 6-0 win in torrential rainstorm _ The UConn fans who returned roughly half of the school’s ticket allotment must have known something. Hurricane Hanna made a run right up the East Coast and arrived in Philadelphia just in time for the 8 a.m. pre-game tailgate. Temple abandoned its no-huddle offense and went to a pro-set two-back attack. Backup tailback Ahkeem Smith shined, gaining 167 yards and scoring the Owls’ touchdown on a 22-yard run in the first quarter. UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen was stopped on fourth down at the Temple 2 as the clocked rolled down to zeros in the final quarter, but Big East officials awarded him the touchdown anyway. As several Temple fans headed toward the replay booth with baseball bats in hand, MAC officials quickly overturned the call. “It used to rain like this in Bethlehem all the time,” a beaming Smith said afterward. “I love it.” Owls’ kicker Jake Brownell slips in the mud and misses the extra point.
“Harper killed us again,” UConn coach Randy Edsall said, not knowing Jason Harper is no longer No. 34 for the Owls. Surveying the damage to the field post game, Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie was rushed to Thomas Jefferson Hospital with chest pains and did not make the opener with the Rams.
Sunday, Sept. 14 _ Owls exact messure of revenge _ The number 12 was lucky for Owls. With the No. 12 on their helmets, the Owls beat host Buffalo by the same score, 26-14. Afterward, reporters found out why No. 12 was on the helmet. It wasn’t to honor redshirt quarterback Vaughn Charlton but to help the Owls remember what Buffalo’s No. 12, junior defensive back Kendric Hawkins, said after last year’s game. “We punched them in the mouth and they quit,” Hawkins said then. Owls ran several sweeps in Hawkins’ direction and pulling guard Andre Douglas pancaked him on one Marquise Liverpool touchdown run. Defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio unleashed the dogs of war on Buffalo quarterback Drew Willy, calling for several blindside blitzes that buried Willy. “I never saw them,” Willy said. “I don’t know about punching them in the mouth,” D’Onofrio said. “But I did see him bleeding a couple of times. This is bigger than UConn. Much bigger.”
Sunday, Sept. 21 _ Penn State’s Season Goes Down the Toilet _ Penn State coach Joe Paterno was seen running off the field four times during Temple’s stunning 28-21 win in State College. Remarkably, the Owls scored all four of their touchdowns during Paterno’s bathroom breaks. “Guys, I take Flo-Max, OK,” the 81-year-old Paterno said. “I forgot to do that this morning and it came back to bite me. I heard some cheers and a whole lot of moans while I was in the head. I figured something was going on. How did Temple score?” Paterno was later told Travis Shelton took the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown and former Penn State recruit Adam DiMichele tossed three more touchdown passes. “We pick up the biggest win in the school’s history and I know the headline in the Philadelphia paper is going to be Penn State loses and not us winning,” Temple coach Al Golden accurately said afterward.
Sunday, Sept. 28 _ Owls remain unbeaten with 16-3 win over Broncos _ A Homecoming Day crowd of 65,478 greets the Owls after their win over Penn State. Ironically, Jimmy Rollins was honored at halftime for his attendance at Temple basketball games and takes the microphone. Rollins was at the game because he was injured running out a foul ball and could not play for the Phillies. “You guys are front-runners,” Rollins said, adding, “just kidding.” Everyone laughed. Temple’s defense dominated.
Sunday, Oct. 5 _ Owls move one step closer to MAC East title _ In a repeat performance of last year, Temple beat Miami, 24-17. This time, it was closer as the Owls’ Eric Reynolds scored on a 67-yard punt return in the fourth quarter to break a tie. “This is why we practice all over the place,” Golden said. “I told the guys we have to learn to win anywhere and they’ve adopted that mindset.”
Sunday, Oct. 12 _ Owls hand Central Michigan first loss _ Long touchdown runs by Joey Jones, Marquise Liverpool and Ahkeem Smith gave Temple a 21-0 halftime lead and the Owls coasted past the defending champions, 35-14, before a stunned crowd of 18,568. “Where did those guys come from?” Central Michigan coach Butch Jones said. “I read MAC Report Online and they never said the Temple runners were that good.” After the game, Joe Jones legally changes his first name to Joey. “That’s in honor of coach,” Jones said, pointing to Golden.
Wednesday, Oct. 21 _ Owls hammer Ohio, 41-0 _ ESPN Game Day makes a special trip to the rare Tuesday night game with Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit throwing bouquets at the Owls as several thousand Temple students ham it up for the cameras in the background. Corso interviews former Temple kicker Cap Poklemba, who arrives to the halftime set in a Dr. Suess hat. “You lead the cheers,” Corso said. “I understand you led the cheers when no one was here. It must be sweet.”
“Lee, you don’t know the half of it,” Poklemba said. “It’s sweeter than sweet.”
Owls go to 8-0 and move into the top 20 for the first time since 1979.
Sunday, Nov. 2 _ Owls sink Navy, 21-14 _ Temple uses experience gained from stopping Army’s option to stopping the Middies as well. “I don’t know how to say this diplomatically, but I think they found out we’re not Towson,” Golden said. Owls go to 9-0 and Philadelphia radio station WIP announces that it will now take calls on Temple football.
Thursday, Nov. 13 _ Owls sack Kent State, 21-7 _ Temple’s defense finds diminutive quarterback Julian Edelman for nine sacks in the win. “Those guys are so tall I couldn’t see over them, so I tried to duck for a view downfield and, by then, they had me,” Edelman said. “It’s frustrating.” D’Onofrio: “We weren’t going to let a midget beat us.” Temple goes to 10-0 and DiMichele and Golden make the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Sunday, Nov. 23 _ Owls give Eastern Michigan an empty feeling, 28-0 _ Before an announced crowd of 5,234 that looked like 534, the Owls coasted to a routine road win. “We’re not used to this,” DiMichele said. “It was like playing in library but, like coach says, you need to be prepared to win everywhere. Man, I didn’t know it was this cold in Michigan.” Owls go to 11-0 and clinch the MAC East title by a full game over Bowling Green.
Saturday, Nov. 29 _ Record crowd sends Owls off to MAC title game _ Temple tunes up for the Dec. 5 MAC title game with a 26-7 win over Akron before a record crowd of 71,222. “It’s the beginning of a new tradition in Philadelphia,” Golden said. “Everybody goes to a Thanksgiving Day game on Thursday and our game on Friday. I saw a lot of turkey sandwiches in the stands.” Owls spend two hours going around the stadium and high-fiving the fans afterward. Owls go to 12-0 and are mentioned as a possible BCS Bowl game foe.
Saturday, Dec. 5 _ Owls beat Central Michigan for MAC title _ Using the no-huddle offense Temple last used in the opening game against Army, Temple befuddles Central Michigan in a 35-25 win. “It’s my fault,” Central Michigan coach Butch Jones said. “In our game against them earlier, they pounded us running the ball. I thought they’d do the same thing so we practiced using an eight-man line. Then they go no-huddle. We got outcoached.” Unbeaten Temple named as foe for once-beaten LSU in 2009 Fiesta Bowl.
Saturday, Jan. 10 _ Tigers topple Temple, 22-17, for National Title _ In an eerie end to the game at the Fiesta Bowl, DiMichele finds Bruce Francis in the back of the end zone for an apparent score but he is ruled out of bounds. Fox Replays from several angles show Francis clearly caught the ball but LSU fans insist Francis bobbled the ball. “If he bobbled the ball, why is there no video anywhere of him bobbling the ball?” Golden asks. On ESPN afterward, Corso rips the officials and says both the BCS refs and the BCS replay officials are corrupt.
“As far as I’m concerned, Temple is the national champion,” Corso says.