11.11.16
by

Rest, Relaxation and TV Watching

Colin Thompson is almost always wide open on that TE throwback.

About two hours into raking the leaves the morning after Temple’s last game, my cute and somewhat younger neighbor Abby and her dog Roadie dropped by to say hello.

Abby saw my Temple sweatshirt and said: “So how did Temple do last night? I watched early and they had a 21-0 lead.”

“They scored on three of the first 14 plays and called it a night,” I said.

Abby detected a hint of disgust in my tone of voice.

“Not good, huh?” she said.

aacstandings

“I’m a perfectionist. I thought they were headed for triple digits. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the win. It just should have been so much better.”

Roadie looked at me like he understood, not so sure about Abby.

At least Temple offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas probably thought along the same lines. After I shut off the TV the night before, I listened to Harry Donahue do the post-game show. Harry said Thomas was leaving the coach’s box and “looked very upset.”

I guess he’s a perfectionist, too, which gives me an enormous amount of hope for the balance of the season for the Owls. Twenty-one squat got the job done, but it was nowhere reflective of how much better Temple is than UConn and I thought the Owls let the Huskies off too easy. If Thomas applies a couple of simple fixes going forward, the Owls could be on Easy Street the rest of the way. Had Thomas been smiling ear-to-ear after the offense fell flat on its face for the final three quarters, I might be worried today.

The Owls get some needed rest this week, while we all go through Temple football withdrawal.

Thomas probably went back to the drawing board, played a little game of tic-tac-toe with the X’s and O’s and might have come to the same conclusion I did. P.J. Walker throwing over the middle and to the other side featuring the tight ends is probably something the Owls should have incorporated into their offense last Friday night and something that probably should be a part of the game plan for the balance of the season. One, P.J.  is extremely effective at moving the defense to the side where he rolls out, so that leaves the whole other side of the field open. Two, he sells that throwback pass to the tight end really well and he tosses it with impeccable touch.

That’s not just against UConn, but every team.

The Owls are tweaking today and off tomorrow, but that doesn’t mean Temple fans have nothing to do. There is a men’s Big 5 basketball game tonight against visiting LaSalle (7 p.m., ESPN News) to take in and, on Saturday, Tulsa being a 1.5-point favorite at Navy is one of two compelling league football games affecting Temple. My thought on this game is that Tulsa has an outstanding offense, but Navy chews up such large chunks of the clock that it might not mean enough and Navy wins this game outright. Also, South Florida is a three-point favorite at Memphis and the Tigers might have been emboldened by a 51-7 win at SMU last week. If Memphis takes down USF, the Owls will only have to win one of two to clinch AAC East.

So go Tigers and watch for the throwback to the tight end.

Tomorrow: Saturday Picks

Monday: How The East Will Be Won

11.09.16
by

What Have We Done (Part II)?

Matt Rhule talks about the bye week.

When the Temple Owls raced out to a 7-0 record a year ago with a win over Penn State and at Cincinnati, a lot of people were surprised.

Not as surprised, though, as what the team has done since the poor choice of black helmets and uniforms at Memphis.

The Owls have been more than just dapper in their choice of wardrobe since. Just think of this four-game winning streak this way:

unfinished

Temple 26, UCF 25—Since the Owls vanquished the Knights in their own stadium, the Knights have beaten Tulane, 37-6, and went up to UConn and won. They also had a big lead at Houston before falling by a touchdown. This might be the game that wins it for the Owls because, according to a computer projection BEFORE the 70-yard drive, the Owls were given just a two percent chance of winning that game. That was a miracle in the Orlando swamplands for sure.

Temple 46, USF 30 –The only game USF played since getting thumped by the Owls was an impressive one, leading 45-21 over visiting Navy in the second quarter before holding on for a backdoor cover. The Bulls were never really in jeopardy of losing that game as Navy scored on the last play of the game. Much will be learned about the Bulls on Saturday, when they travel to Memphis.

Temple 34, Cincinnati 13—The Owls totally dominated after taking a 17-13 lead at the half. Cincy’s only game was a 20-3 loss to visiting BYU at home, breaking a 30-game non-conference winning streak. Yet, at times, Cincinnati was impressive this year, including  a 38-20 win at Purdue and a 31-19 win over East Carolina.

Temple 21, UConn 0—Look, everyone knows UConn is having a down year but this is a team that beat Cincinnati, 20-9, beat a Power 5 team (Virginia) and lost a competitive game at Navy, 28-24.  In reality, Temple should have beaten this team, anywhere from 35-0 to 42-0 had they continued to attack the soft middle of the Huskies’ pass defense, the weakest part of an overall pass defense that was ranked No. 118 in the nation. Instead, the Owls inexplicably tried a couple of passes in the corner of the end zone that were picked off.

What does this all mean?

The Owls beat some teams that have talent on them and beat a team badly, which has a lot of talent on it, in perhaps their biggest game of the season.

The Owls need to clean some things up (see the last sentence of our UConn synopsis), but they are playing their best ball at the right time and a better time than now with the final two games against two of the weaker teams on their schedule.

If they end this season with the same seven-game winning streak they started last season, they will be hoisting the overall AAC trophy. There is nothing to suggest that they cannot do it.

Friday: We Are All Fans Of Someone This Weekend

11.07.16
by

P.J. Walker Appreciation Day

newestpj

P.J. Walker will have nearly every Temple QB record.

Old habits are hard to break but because of my admiration and appreciation of the young man, I tried to grant P.J. Walker’s request to call him Phillip.

For a while, I was able to do it.

No more. He will always be P.J. to me, Matt Rhule and I suspect the great majority of Temple fans. I am no more able to call him Phillip than a Saints’ fan is apt to call Drew Brees “Andrew” or, more precisely, a Giants’ fan is likely to call Y.A Tittle “Yelberton Abraham” Tittle.

So he is going to be P.J. henceforth, period, end of story, but that’s not why today is P.J. Walker Appreciation Day in this spot. It’s because he is the only winning quarterback (25-18) over a four-year period in Temple history and, to me, that’s the most important statistic.

Here are some others:

walkergraph

To be good enough to be a four-year FBS starter in college football is almost unheard of these days because three-year starters usually head to the NFL early, so that’s one point. For a school that has played college football since 1894, being the only four-year starter and one of the few winning quarterbacks in that school’s history is a really special achievement.

That’s the brand he has established, and it is not a bad one to have. Going to the numbers, a strong case can be made that he is the greatest Temple quarterback of all time. While some will say Walker is a compiler as much as an achiever, I will say that his sophomore year was wasted by an ill-advised multiple wide receiver scheme that often left him in an empty backfield unprotected by a fullback or a tailback and running for his life. I told P.J. as much on Chodoff Field after the next Cherry and White game and told him to keep his head up, that help was on the way and he would become an all-time Temple great. He shook my hand and thanked me for believing in him.

That all has come true with two games left in his final regular season.

The numbers do not lie. If you want to make a case for Brian Broomell, who really only started two years (1978 and 1979), no one can argue with you because Broomell was 17-5-1 as a Temple starter and that’s a higher winning percentage than Walker. The same case can be made for another two-year starter, Maxwell Award-winner Steve Joachim, who was 17-3 as a Temple quarterback.

Still, Walker’s resume is superior to everyone else near the top of the list. The Owls have a special quarterback in Walker and, if he hoists the overall AAC trophy in December, he will have the most important trophy none of the other great Temple quarterbacks have and that will be a league championship.

Phillip schmillip, P.J. is a mighty good name to me and always will be.

Wednesday: What Have We Done (Part II)?

11.05.16
by

Killer Instinct

When I started out in the workforce as a 14-year-old kid in the summer washing and packing Good Humor trucks in Northeast Philadelphia, I forgot to punch the time clock the first week I worked there.

Nervously, I approached the manager and told him of my mistake.

“Son, we don’t sweat the small stuff,” the foreman said, then gave me a piece of paper to sign.

As a lifelong Temple fan, the comment rolled around in my head after watching the Owls beat  Connecticut on Friday night, 21-0. The Owls were a 10-point favorite on the road and won by more than double that.

Sure, it would have been nice had my favorite Temple quarterback, maybe of all time, P.J.Walker, not forced two throws in the red zone. Sure, it would have been even nicer had Temple coach Matt Rhule not gone all Ghandi-like on Bob Diaco after the first 14 plays, but one thing is clear.

We do not sweat the small stuff, nor should any of my fellow Temple fans.

Looking at the stat sheet, other than the two Walker mistakes, my biggest complaint was that Temple threw the ball on seven of the first 14 plays and ran the ball on 67 of the next 87 plays. In those first 14 plays, the Owls completed all seven passes and scored three touchdowns.

That should have been a clue as how to attack the rest of the game, so maybe that’s why Temple radio play-by-play man Harry Donahue made a point to mention that Owls’ offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas looked upset exiting his spot in the press box on Friday night in the last minute of the game.

As far as murderers go, you have Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein on one end of the spectrum and Ghandi and Matt Rhule on the other. Rhule could have put his sharp-cleated foot on the throat of Bob Diaco by throwing the ball—particularly over the soft middle of the Huskies’ defense—but instead was satisfied on running out the clock with a 21-0 lead.

Had the Owls put the foot on the Huskies’ throats, there is no doubt in my mind that this would have been a 43-0 type win, rather than a 21-0 win. A win, though, is a win and the Owls do not get style point from the CFB playoff committee with a 43-0 win. Losses to Army, Penn State and Memphis eliminated the Owls from that kind of contention, so Rhule’s salting away the win was the right strategy. Phil Snow deserves kudos for recording his first FBS shutout since 1986 when he was the DC at Boise State. (On the other hand, Chuck Heater had back-to-back shutouts for Temple in 2011.)

Style points would have been nice but, with two games left to ice the AAC East, style points pale in comparison to getting the win.

As the Good Humor executive once said, son, do not sweat the small stuff.

Monday: P.J. Walker Appreciation Day

11.04.16
by

Lucky Strikes

templefans

These fans look like people whose prayers were answered (photo from  Shram Shukla’s phone)

If a Temple fan had one prayer after the Army debacle, it would have gone something like this:

“God, I know that there is nothing you can do to get a crowd like 34,000 back after that game, but, please, please, have the Owls get their act together and be the kind of team they can be by the AAC part of the schedule. Please let them beat USF at home and have them at least hold the tie-breakers over the Bulls the rest of the way. Also, please don’t let the final three teams on the schedule, UConn, Tulane and ECU, be any good. Thanks, God. Oh, God, one more thing. If SEPTA goes on strike, please let it be a couple of days after the Cincy game so that the strike can go on for nearly a month without a home game. That’s it, God. I’m done.”

Temple fans must have been living right because it looks like that fervent prayer—which admittedly asked for a lot–was answered.  A significant portion of the Temple fan base takes SEPTA to the games and a strike did happen two days after the Cincy game and, unless it is an all-timer, will be over long before the ECU game. If there was ever a thing like a Lucky Strike, and we’re not talking cigarettes, this was one.
 
In other Lucky Strike news, the way the schedule breaks for them could not have been scripted better. God has blessed the Owls, and now it is up to them to make the most of those blessings beginning tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2) at the University of Connecticut. God can take this team to the Holy Water, but He cannot make them drink it.

They must do the rest.

tvweek

If they are Temple TUFF, they should be able to close this bad boy out. Of course, the ball is not round and takes funny bounces but this first part of the Trifecta should be over fairly early. Temple holds a significant advantage in speed on both sides of the ball and that speed should make the night miserable for Huskies’ quarterback Bryant Shirreffs. The Huskies rank 109th in the nation in sacks allowed with opponents racking up 25 in nine games. Temple’s defensive ends, Haason Reddick and Praise Martin-Oguike, probably will be meeting at the quarterback a lot. They have combined for 11.5 sacks and 23 tackles for a loss. Reddick has 7.5 of those sacks and is rising near the top of the NFL draft board  as he is being projected as an NFL linebacker at that level.

If UConn has a chance to succeed, it is against Temple’s formidable run game because the Huskies rank No. 26 in rushing defense. None of those games, though, came against backs like Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead.

Anything can happen in a football game, but the Owls are in a mighty good spot.

Almighty good.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

pickers

 

11.02.16
by

The Conference Reacts

comebacks

One of the best twitter comebacks was Temple-Made

The LSU fan who liked the way Temple’s offensive line blocked in that video we published last week said the words “shots fired” to describe the way the Owls were plowing down foes.

No shot was more on target, though, than the ones fired by the Owls’ band at Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville (above tweet, since mollified for political correctness). That was a beautiful thing enjoyed not only by Temple fans, but even Cincinnati fans on their board.

four

Which brings us to how, exactly,  most of the rest of the conference looks at Temple.

One of the more entertaining pursuits after a particularly satisfying Temple win is to check out the reaction elsewhere in the conference.

The facts, as we know them, are these: Temple looks like a strong favorite to win out and clinch its second-straight AAC East title. Once there, this Temple team looks to be in better shape than the last one to bring home the coveted overall AAC trophy.

If you are expecting a pat on the back from any of our conference brethren, do not hold your breath.

one

There is significant biting of fingernails being done in Tampa, the home of the USF Bulls, who, for the last two seasons, think they are better than Temple. The realization, though, is sinking in that they will be on the outside looking in again.

On the UConn side, there is a lot of angst leading up to the game on the Boneyard Board, saying that any of their fans who think they will “miraculously become competitive” against Temple was smoking something other than cigarettes:

twouconn

It will probably be a long time before the Owls get the grudging respect they deserve, but they have to realize by now that they have to earn that respect by winning out.

Maybe the rest of the conference will never say the same kind of nice things about Temple that they did about Houston a year ago, but it would be nice for once to find out. In a month or so, we should have our answer.

It’s a three-game season now, one game at a time.

Friday: That One Game

11.01.16
by

Fizz Checks In With Thoughts on Cincy-TU

                                                             By    Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Well, double wow!  It’s obvious the Owls have a new confidence which emanates from the Central Florida miraculous comeback, and they refuse to be denied.  There was some pinpoint passing from Phillip Walker and two great catches for touchdowns.  The two-pronged running attack of Thomas and Armstead, along with outstanding blocking, wore down Cincinnati in the second half and put the game away.  Not only do we seem to have more depth than all our opponents except Penn State, which was about even this year and not the reason for the loss, we also seem to be better conditioned.  Finding our new kicker “Boomer,” was great scouting.  Props to the coaches.

boumerhi

Boomer: Great Scouting

There are, however, a few puzzling strategies that should be discussed.  For most of the first quarter, the defense pressured off and on with a five man rush and the Cincinnati quarterback was only modestly successful.  In the second quarter, we mostly went with a four man rush, and they scored two touchdowns. In the second half we went back to the pressure and shut them out.  Gunner Kiel is not a fast nor mobile quarterback, and no threat to pickup large chunks of yardage on the ground.  So why didn’t we blitz most of the time?

I did not enjoy half-time at all.  The reason was, when we got the ball back with 1:17 left on the clock in the first half in decent field position and we with all three timeouts (for the first time ever), the coaches chose to be very conservative and basically run the clock out.  The game was close then, why would you not throw the ball down-field and try to score?  A few weeks ago we went seventy yards in thirty seconds with no time outs.  Cincinnati ended up with forty seconds left to do some damage.

       Yeah, yeah, I know, we’re winning, and I’m thrilled. But I’m not just picking nits.  We have three more games in which we should be favored and we can’t afford any letdowns, either by the players or the coaches. Pedal to the metal, always.

Gossip:  Pre-game, I had a chance to speak with Pat Kraft our good guy A.D.  He was surprised to hear I’m totally against building a stadium on campus.  When he asked why, I told him to look around at the 25,000 or so people parked and tailgating in one spot, and that we can’t duplicate this.  I went on to predict we would lose many of the over fifty year-old season ticket holders who won’t drive to campus and have to walk to the stadium from remote parking.  I also foretold monster traffic jams at Broad & Vine.

The Other Football Team:  After the first three Eagles games I thought Doug Pederson was the second calling.  Then, he helped blow the Detroit game by being entirely too conservative in his play calling in the last two possessions, which precipitated the fumble.  This week, after he made so many bad and too conservative decisions against Dallas, he refused to shoulder any of the blame.  One more time and he will forever be known as Andy Jr.  “Time’s yours !”  

Tomorrow: Conference Reaction

10.31.16
by

What Have We Done?

bowlform

If you are part of the crowd who remains totally focused on the next game and believes any discussion of anything beyond UConn is unhealthy and counterproductive and somehow has an effect on the game result, please click the “x” in the upper right-hand corner of your browser and leave the room now.

If you believe there are other issues for Temple football to address beyond Friday night in a timely fashion, please remain glued to the internet.

I, like many people, was a little surprised to get an email from Temple athletics on Saturday night upon my return home from the game asking me what bowl I wanted to attend.

What have we done? Surely,  the only thing anyone in athletics should be thinking about is UConn. (Just kidding.)

There are easy answers and there are ridiculously easy answers and this falls into the latter category.

Still, I think a lot of fans are going to pick the warm weather sites like Miami and Boca Raton again without thinking this question through. In reality, there are only three games the Owls should even consider and only three games you should vote for and they are these:

  • St Pete Bowl (American vs ACC)
  • Military Bowl (American vs ACC)
  • Birmingham Bowl (American vs SEC)

In fact, I will go a step further and go on record that the one in Birmingham against an SEC foe is the most logical choice. This is where the Temple administration swung and missed last year. Shawn Pastor of OwlsDaily.com reported a year ago that, as the second-place team in the league, the Owls were given a courtesy choice of Birmingham vs. Auburn or Louisiana vs. Virginia Tech and turned that down in order to play Toledo in Boca.

Bad job by the Temple administration and we wrote so BEFORE the game. The Temple administration’s response was that the survey said the majority of the respondents wanted to go to Boca because Temple has a large alumni presence in Florida. If you fill out this survey, please do not make the same mistake twice. Beating a MAC team will earn a collective “blah” from the Philadelphia community. Beating a SEC team (or even losing to one close) will give Temple football the shot of legitimacy it sorely needs from the general public. Just give me a shot at beating a good SEC bowl-eligible team. That’s all I ask. That’s what we owe these kids.

Go check that box for Birmingham. After that, it is permissible to start thinking about UConn even though you or I thinking about the Huskies will have zero impact on the outcome of that game.

Wednesday: The Conference Reacts

10.30.16
by

Halftime Coming At Right Time

The rugby scrum at the 2:43 time stamp is what Temple TUFF is all about.

Maybe halftime adjustments is just another meaningless phrase, but the stark numbers told a different story on Saturday when Temple took control in what turned out to be  34-13 win over Cincinnati.

ourlad

Ourlads’ Guide has Kiel rated No. 3 QB.

Not only did the Owls shut out the Bearcats in the second half, 17-0, they held someone who will probably be drafted by the NFL, Gunner Kiel, to 0-2 passing in the second half and his offense to no first downs and minus-1 total yards.

Halftime has been a good break to Temple in this three-game winning streak. They were down, 25-14, at half against UCF and won, 26-25, and they built on a modest halftime lead in beating USF. Now this and a lot of the improvement can be traced to the defense.

The words to the alma mater are elsewhere in this post.

As good as Temple’s defense was the two prior years, it had never been THAT good against an offense like Cincy’s. In our mind before the season started, we thought that this defense would be faster across the board than the last two defenses were and that has only been shown the last three weeks.

Maybe Phil Snow has something going right now because the Owls are deep in edge pass rushers (Praise Martin-Oguike, Romond Deloatch, Jacob Martin and Haason Reddick) and have been getting significant inside push from veterans like Averee Robinson, Freddy Booth-Lloyd and Michael Dogbe. Sean Chandler is back in the secondary and that helped, too.alma

It did not look like the Owls did anything other than keep grinding in the second half and, as they extended their lead, they were able to ramp up the pressure.

This was the same Kiel threw for 348 yards and four touchdowns (no interceptions) in a 31-19 win over East Carolina last week, so what the Owls’ defense did cannot be minimized. Considering that the offense scored 46 and 34 points in the last two weeks over good teams, the inescapable conclusion is that both sides of the ball are peaking at the right time.

Mix in the fact, not fiction, that given that win over ECU and the fact that ECU plastered UConn, 41-3, on Saturday, the Owls probably already took care of the best of the Final Four teams on their regular season schedule. One game at a time, but Temple’s speed advantage across the board on both sides of the ball figures give the molasses slow Huskies fits on Friday night.

A viable now path exists to host the AAC title game at LFF. Owls need to win out (now only three games) and Navy needs to lose to Notre Dame, but win the rest. In that scenario, Temple finishes with the same overall and conference record as Navy and probably will be ranked higher than Navy due to finishing with six-straight wins, including one over a team that scored 52 on the Midshipmen. Temple should take care of its part of the bargain.

The notion that it is “unreasonable” to expect the Owls to run the regular-season table has been debunked by the same numbers that suggest halftime has been a good 15 minutes for Temple.

Monday: What Have We Done?

Wednesday: The Conference Reacts

Friday: UConn Game Preview

10.28.16
by

Tuberville’s Last Stand

An LSU fan gives love to the TU offensive line and fullback. This LSU dad is saying what we were saying the first two years on this blog: Put a fullback in the game.

You do not go unbeaten in big-time college football without being a good coach, and that’s exactly what Cincinnati’s Tommy Tuberville is going into Saturday’s game (3:30, Lincoln Financial Field) against the AAC East first-place Temple Owls. That game could represent a last stand of sorts for Tuberville to pull off a road win over a favorite.

It is not a role he has been unfamiliar with in his 62 years on this planet.

USATSI_8798475_149008644_lowres

“Just wanted to say that when you run the Wildcat, No. 13 always carries the ball. Might want to do something different off that to make it more effective.”

 

Tuberville went unbeaten at Auburn (13-0)  in 2004 and turned that single season into a $6 million buyout for being fired the next year. He winding road eventually took him to Cincinnati, where his wife is from and the natives there have been largely unhappy with his recent performance.

The question involving Tuberville surrounds whether coaches, like athletes, lose a little off their fastball and that appears to be his situation. He makes some in-game decisions that appear to be head-scratchers, yet his team is meticulously prepared prior to every game.

Tuberville still does a couple of things very well. One, perhaps no one in the league breaks down film of opponents better than Tuberville, who is a master at picking up on tendencies and exploiting them. In a 2014 game at Temple, for example, Tuberville said that his defense went into a jailbreak blitz whenever the Owls went to an empty backfield. With no back to block for P.J. Walker, he was the victim of seven sacks in that game and one of them set up a Cincinnati touchdown in a 14-6 victory.

Two, Tuberville is from the Joe Paterno School of buttering up opponents before making a tasty sandwich out of them. This week, Tuberville is calling Temple a “pro team” among other complimentary phrases. The Owls are going to have to remember that, before the 1979 team, Paterno called the Temple offensive line “the best we’ve ever faced.” Penn State won that game, 22-7.

There are a couple of things the Owls can do and one is ignore the noise and the praise coming from Tuberville and focus on what they have to do. The second thing is to mix up their tendencies so they do not telegraph their intentions.

For one, the Owls have a tendency when Isaiah Wright comes in on the Wildcat offense to line Walker up in the slot and leave him there and the play almost exclusively is a run for Wright, who ignores the pitchman. Tuberville knows that and will tell his linebackers to sell out on Wright. The Owls might be more successful on that play if Wright tosses a backward pass to Walker, who heaves the ball downfield to a wide open Ventell Bryant for six.

The Owls know what their tendencies are as well as Tuberville. A little tweak here there and to change things up might be a worthwhile game plan for Temple on Saturday afternoon against a master of breaking down film.

Sunday: Game Analysis

ourpicks