Just about everyone who filed out of the stadium last night could be overheard saying the same thing, in one syntax or another: “If they play like this on Thursday, they’ll lose.”

The first “They”, meaning the special teams, which had been solid until recently but now appear to be out of sync. The second “they” meaning the team.  The last couple of games, though, the first they have been handling the ball like a hand grenade and that is going to have to be cleaned up.

Actually, with only a couple of exceptions, the Owls played pretty well all night in a 30-16 win over UCF. The exceptions, of course, will kill you—a pick six, a couple of fumbles on returns. Clean those things up, and the Owls have a chance to roll a 6-0 season into a 7-0 season.

Leave No Doubt, though, those things need to be cleaned up and nobody understands that more than head coach Matt Rhule. I now understand “Matt’s” big statement after the first summer scrimmage: “It was a little too sloppy for my taste. At Temple, the most important thing is that we do not beat ourselves.”

That’s true more this year than any other, especially because the Owls have a defense that is not going to be overwhelmed physically by anyone—including Notre Dame. The game that comes up this Thursday, at ECU, is even more important than Notre Dame because it is an a) AAC game; b) AAC East game.

It’s a short week, and a tall order.

Win on Thursday night and the path is clear to the AAC title game being played in Philadelphia. The Owls already hold the tie-breaker over Cincinnati. Win at ECU and that gives them tie-breakers over really the only two teams in the AAC East who can challenge the Owls.

Fixing it is the vexing problem. I’ve never liked the idea of having a team’s best offensive player taking back punts or kickoffs and, even though Jahad Thomas is the team’s best offensive player this season, Robby (then Robbie) Anderson was certainly the team’s best offensive player in the 2013 season. I don’t like giving up that down, either, with a possession receiver because Sean Chandler showed what a dynamic player can do with the ball.

Nate L. Smith was the greatest punt returner in the history of Pennsylvania high school football.

I’d like to see someone who has a history of returning punts and being reliable with the ball and, in Nate L. Smith, the Owls have the top punt returner in the history of Pennsylvania. He might be not as dynamic as Chandler, but he’s a little more reliable with the ball and a little more dynamic than having a possession receiver back there.

Either way, if the Owls clean that little messy part of their game up, they stand a good chance of turning a short week into a nice and tidy front porch.  Got to get that cleaned up in order to be able to invite Gameday for a visit in two weeks.

Postscript: Somewhat surprised to hear an interview with Rhule talking about his on-field halftime speech to the team and referencing that they were “booed and deserved to be booed.” Sitting in the middle of the stands, I respectively disagree. The booing  in the first half was without a doubt and unequivocally directed at the refs. At no time were any people in my relatively large section near the 50 booing the kids or the coaches.

To call what goes on early in the week at the E-O a news conference is really a misnomer, but that should be OK because, when the biggest news coming out of Tuesday’s Matt Rhule presser was that U.S. Senator Corey Booker and Drew Katz spoke to the team, that’s a sign that all is good in the Temple Owls’ football world.

Usually, the “news” coming out of these things is someone is hurt, but that did not happen on Tuesday. News conferences are like football officials. If you do not notice them, it’s good news. Even the “big” Temple news of the day–that Notre Dame is sold out–came long after the press conference was over.

Still, one of the many positive traits of Temple head coach Matt Rhule is that he brings a lot of enthusiasm to these things. Other than the obligatory praise for Central Florida, no small feat for an 0-6 team, here were some highlights:

Noticing The Wave:

Rhule noticed that the crowd did the wave “in the third quarter.” Kind of interesting that he knew what quarter the wave was done. He also gave a shout out to the students, who have done a spectacular job supporting the team.

On Ryquell Armstead’s two touchdowns:

“We got to see the big-play ability of Ryquell,” he said. (I thought that was interesting because it implied that Ryquell has been a consistent big-play guy in practice all along.)

On the defense:

“We’re a top 25 defense in nine categories,” Rhule said. “The defense is playing good football.” In the most important category, scoring defense, the team is ranked No. 13 in the country. Last year, it finished No. 4, but DC Phil Snow took responsibility for allowing 14 fourth-quarter points against Cincinnati by “playing too conservatively” and doesn’t expect the Owls to give up that many points in future games.

On the offense:

Rhule said the offense is (literally) 100 percent improved on third-down conversions. “We’re converting 44 percent on third down; last year we were 22 percent,” he said. (We looked it up. It was 23.8, but why quibble over 1.8 percent?)

On TE Kip Patton:

“Kip always knew he had a lot in terms of dynamic ability. Teaching him football; you know, he’s a basketball player. It was his decision. He made the decision to be a football player. You can just see the beginning of what he’s able to do.”

Tomorrow: A Special Milestone

When a group of guys get together like a lot of us have over the last 20 years or so of Temple tailgating, a lot of the talk invariably returns to the “good old days.”

Well, as Carly Simon once said, “these are the good old days” and the beauty of them is that all of the Temple family, old, young, middle-aged can experience the times together.

Right now, look around and savor them because those days are here and maybe it’s just a hunch but they are going to get better.

Without a doubt, the two greatest linebackers in Temple history.

Tyler Matakevich stopped by our particular Temple tailgate yesterday and I told him he was a POS. I think he took it in the good humor it was meant to be because I still have all my teeth but it came because he said he stopped by another tailgate first. It was great to see the linebacker who is going to break Steve Conjar’s career tackle record breaking bread with Steve Conjar afterward and it could not happen to two nicer guys.

The character of Matakevich was on display for all to see not only yesterday and every game this season but more importantly earlier this week when Tyler and his teammates stopped by to say hello in an old folks’ home to a 97-year-old ex-Temple player, James Woodside, who was the last living Owl to have beaten Penn State. The visit was a beautiful thing to see and that video was much of the conversation.

“Tyler, I just wanted to say that video of you with Mr. Woodside was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen,” I said. “It brought a lot of us to the verge of tears.” After Tyler said thank you, John Belli had perhaps the best line of the day, delivered with impeccable timing.

“Tyler, that was because all of us are closer to his age than we are to yours,” Belli said.

Everybody laughed one of those hearty belly (or in this case, Belli) laughs reserved for one of those stories of old guys reliving their youth.

You can talk about the football part of yesterday, the 49-10 win and the great plays and the great job of the Temple fans all you want, but the character part of it is perhaps the reason why the football part of it is happening. This team has great senior leadership from Tyler Matakevich to Matt Ioannidis to Tavon Young and that leadership is leaving no doubt.

The talk turned to the next game, UCF.

“The best thing about Leave No Doubt is that every game is a championship game,” I told Tyler.

“Absolutely,” he said.

It is the reason why we have “the good old days” right now and the reason why we can expect more in the near future. Knowing the leadership on this team, it could not happen to a nicer group of guys.

They are taking the rest of us on one heckuva ride.

Monday: Photo Gallery.

5. Attendance

If the crowd looks slightly smaller than half-filled and it is announced at 31,000, there will be 31,000 people in the stands. Temple does not “fudge” figures. The number of fannies in the seats are the number of fannies in the seats, because the figure is solely taken from the number of tickets scanned at the gate and that goes directly to the press box. Thirty-one K is the figure to shoot for since the last five Temple homecoming crowds were slightly over 25K. If a 4-0 start with a win over PSU isn’t worth at least six more K fannies, then we do not know what to say.

4. Explosive passing game

Temple coach Matt Rhule said that the wide receiver group is about to make a big impact in terms of explosive downfield plays in the passing game. With Jahad Thomas setting them up by establishing the  running game, this could be the week. Tulane will cheat up the safeties and LBs to try to stop Thomas, then P.J. Walker will fake it into his belly and pull it out and Temple receivers will be running so free through the secondary, Walker will not know which one to pick out.

All systems are go for a beautiful day.

3. The Tight End Pass

Kip Patton has shown flashes of brilliance so far and that trend should continue. A couple of plays that might work to Patton would be the old Chester Stewart rollout play to Evan Rodriguez and the old Chester Stewart jump pass to Steve Manieri in the back of the end zone. The problem is that Marcus Satterfield doesn’t know those plays. Matt Rhule, who originally drew them up, does. Hopefully, his headset works. (Note to Sat: The first play is where P.J. makes a quick fake to the running back, rolls two steps to his right and dumps an easy screen pass over the head of the DE to the TE; the second comes near the goal where P.J. jumps in the air and finds Kip at the back of the end zone.)

2. Some Passes for Frank

We finally saw backup quarterback Frank Nutile (pronounced NEW-TILE) last week, but that was only to take three knees. Hopefully, the lead becomes large enough to get Frank some passes in case P.J.’s shoulder goes out later in the season.

1. A Touchdown for Tavon

Tavon Young was a major playmaker for the Owls last year, scoring a touchdown on an interception against UConn and another on a fumble recovery against ECU. Something tells me he is going to jump a route an take one to the house against Tulane. Call it a strong hunch. Or just say he’s due.

Sunday: Complete Game Analysis