08.30.15
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Five One Keys to the Game

The key on Saturday will be the Owls sending MORE guys than the Nits can block, not like last year when PSU could use two lineman to block every rusher

The key on Saturday will be the Owls sending MORE guys than the Nits can block, not like last year when PSU could use roughly two linemen to block every rusher. (Photos by Temple Super Fan Ted DeLapp)

What was reserved for this space originally was at least one person’s opinion of what the five keys to the game would be on Saturday against Penn State.

There were five darn good ideas, cooked up all summer, but I thought, “Geez, who am I kidding?” There really is only one key to the game and that key opens up the other four doors: Put Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg on his backside early and often. Make him uncomfortable, take him down a lot, hit him more, and come at him from all sides. Make him think he’s going to get hit early on every play and he will give the ball up.

The guy is relatively immobile and has a documented history of happy feet and Temple should take advantage of that little bit of intelligence.

IF Owls go to play action, as promised, those 2 safeties in the middle of the field will be much closer to the line of scrimmage, allowing Owl receivers to get the separation they didn't get last year.

IF Owls go to play action, as promised, those 2 safeties in the middle of the field will be much closer to the line of scrimmage, allowing Owl receivers to get the separation they didn’t get last year.

In the six games Penn State lost a year ago, Hackenberg was sacked at least four times in each one. In five of those games, Hackenberg had 14 of his 15 interceptions and seven of his nine lost fumbles. Northwestern, coached superbly by Pat Fitzgerald, figured that out in a 29-6 win at State College, sacking Hackenberg only four times, but hitting him an additional 19. Temple fans would like to have 19 sacks and four hits, but they will gladly have what Northwestern had a year ago. This was the same Northwestern team that lost to Northern Illinois earlier the same season.

The Owls took the opposite approach a  year ago, more times than not dropping eight and rushing three. The Owls cannot afford to play that passively on Saturday.

Fitzpatrick is fighting an uphill battle at the Chicago-area school because the Wildcats have Ivy League type academic restrictions and those have limited his talent pool. What Stanford is to the Pac-12 and Vandy to the SEC, that’s what Northwestern is to the Big 10.  In addition, Northwestern has by far the smallest fan base in the conference. He can coach my team any day of the week, though. Northwestern might have had a losing season, but not because the team is ill-prepared or doesn’t game plan well.

Temple’s coaches could learn a lot from examining the Northwestern film. Let’s hope they dissected it like a frog in biology class.

08.29.15
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OwlsTV’s Greatest Month

The return of OVO.

Some of you have watched the practice videos posted here over the last month. If the Owls have as good a month on the field in September as Owls’ TV had in August, they should be 4-0 right out of the gate.

Not only has newcomer Kevin Copp done an outstanding job presenting a number of storylines breaking every day at the Edberg-Olson Complex, he’s mixed in a crew of familiar Temple faces like “Our Very Own” Scott Hartkorn and Chris Williams who bring their own unique perspective.

OVO, Arob and Fran Duffy back in the day.

OVO, Arob and Fran Duffy back in the day.

Copp has done so well we wish that he will one day become the radio voice of the football Owls, replacing Harry Donahue. There’s no nicer guy than Harry, but listening to Temple football over the past decade or so has become complete and utter torture. We’re just as likely to hear “it’s thrown over the middle and the Owls intercept … no, it’s dropped” as we are “P.J. Walker throws it into the end zone and it’s a Temple touchdown … check that, they are saying he’s out of bounds” than a clean call of any play. Paul Palmer deserves a better partner.

Hardened ISIS detainees in Guantanamo Bay immune to water boarding, Chinese water torture and the spiked whip have been known to spill some useful intelligence when forced to listen to a Harry Donahue Temple football broadcast.

When Al Golden came to Temple in 2005, he brought with him a detailed binder of how to build a football program from the ground floor up.

Hardened ISIS detainees in Guantanamo Bay immune to water boarding, Chinese water torture and the spiked whip have been known to spill some useful intelligence when forced to listen to a Harry Donahue Temple football broadcast

It was neatly typed, separated into chapters, and something he brought to an interview with then Temple AD Bill Bradshaw. It also got him a job at a place former coach Ron Dickerson once called “a sleeping giant.”

Golden did a better job waking up the Rip Van Winkle of college football because his binder served as a loud alarm, complete with clucking roosters, clanging trash cans and early morning lawn mowers. One of the chapters in the back of the book had to do with media, both internal and external.

Golden hired a 22-year-old kid, Fran Duffy, who was good enough to parlay his Temple experience into the head video job for the Philadelphia Eagles. His sidekick was Hartkorn, who’d he throw the report to with the familiar words, “now over to our very own Scotty Hartkorn.” Hartkorn became known as simply, OVO. At the annual football banquets, Golden called them, “the best in the business.”

Now with Copp and company, Temple football is back to being the best in that part of the business. Can’t wait to see the Arob Tribute on the video boards in a week. If the team follows suit, it’s going to be a great September.

Best interview of the summer (IMHO):

08.27.15
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Room for Improvement

When Temple head coach Matt Rhule talks about “room for improvement” and includes the coaching aspect of it, that has got to be a heartening sign.

In the 2-10 first season, there was not a whole lot of coaching responsibility being taken other than, after the loss to Fordham, Rhule saying that the loss was embarrassing and “it will get fixed.” Two weeks to get ready for a worse foe, Idaho, and it did not get fixed.

The lack of experience of the Temple coaching staff, especially offensively, reared its ugly head that first year and the numbers after halftime were so stark they could not have been ignored.

Halftime Adjustments?

Game First Half Points Second Half Points
Notre Dame 6 0
Houston 13 0
Cincinnati 20 0
UConn 21 0

All we can say is wow.

Things got only a little better last year, but not much in losses to teams the Owls should have been more competitive with, like Houston and UCF.

Those things have got to improve.

We’ll find out against Penn State. I have the feeling that the Owls match up physically well, but a 6-3 game got out of control a year ago after halftime and you have to wonder what went on in both locker rooms during the intermission. Penn State made the adjustments and Temple did not.

Another thing that cannot be denied is the Owls’ lack of previous winning experience among the current  Owls’ staff.

Coach Team Before TU Last Record

Before TU

 Position

With

Team
Matt

Rhule, HC

 NY Giants 9-7 Asst. OL
Phil

Snow, DC

 Eastern Mich. 2-10 DC
Marcus

Satterfield, OC

 Tenn.-Chatt. 6-5 OC
Glenn

Thomas

QBs

 Atlanta

Falcons

 6-10 QBs
Ed

Foley, STs

 Fordham 7-15

(2 yrs.)

 HC

Penn State has a head coach, James Franklin, who won nine games against a largely SEC schedule before he came to State College. He’s not getting paid $5 million a year because he’s a chump.

So far, Rhule has said all the right things about establishing a running game behind a two-back, two tight end system but, in recent days, he backed off the two backs and said the Owls might not use a fullback. Hopefully, that’s a ruse because we’d like to see, say, Jager Gardner following a lead block by, say, Nick Sharga behind Kyle Friend or Dion Dawkins.

Just once.

On the first play of the modern series with Penn State, coach Wayne Hardin tried a similar off-tackle play with world class sprinter Bob Harris following a crushing lead block by fullback Tom Duff through the hole. Seventy-six yards and 3.2 seconds later, Temple led, 7-0. That’s Temple TUFF. That’s Temple football right there. Harris behind Duff; Paul Palmer behind Shelley Poole; Kevin Duckett behind Mark Bright; Bernard Pierce behind Wyatt Benson and Montel Harris behind Kenny Harper.

Trivia question: Who led Temple in average punt return last year (21.0) but only got one chance?

Trivia question: Who averaged 21 yards per punt return but only got one chance?

Rhule also said he was at a loss to find out why the team had such a poor return game post-Delaware State but it was his  decision to use a slow possession receiver as the principle punt returner all season after Delaware State.

Duh?

Nate L. Smith, who is not a slow possession receiver, got one chance for a punt return last year and he returned it for 21 yards against Memphis. Smith is only the leading punt returner in Pennsylvania schoolboy history.

The leading punt returner in Pa. schoolboy history.

The leading punt returner in Pa. schoolboy history.

Sometimes, you wonder if these guys are looking at the same things we are but, again, there is room for improvement and personnel awareness is apparently one of those areas.

The running game to set up the play-action passing game and the punt return game are the two primary areas where the Owls have a lot of room for improvement.

The Penn State game will tell a lot about both. The Owls are physically there with Penn State. Mentally, it was another story a year ago. Losing a close game to Penn State will not cut it anymore. Establish the run with a tailback behind a lead fullback block, bring the safeties and the linebackers up to the line of scrimmage to respect the run game, then fake the ball into the belly of the tailback and go play-action. Under that scenario, P.J. Walker will have so many Temple receivers running free through the secondary he will not know which one to pick out. If he doesn’t get hurt taking back a punt first, Robby Anderson will be one of them.

Get ‘er done. It’s not rocket science.

One week and one day.

08.26.15
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Running Game: Toughness Over Flash

When the Temple football coaches got together in the War Room at the E-O at the end of the season, the No. 1 topic had to have been to fix what was broken.

There can be no doubt it was the running game, the worst in the AAC and the chief reason the Owls had the worst third-down efficiency in the FBS. (The punt return game was also a disaster, but that was because the Owls decided early to use a possession receiver instead of an explosive return guy like Nate L. Smith to take back punts.)

Now, with 10 days left before Penn State, the solution appears to have been toughness over flash. Jahad Thomas, last year’s leading rusher, appears to have won the job despite strong challenges from Jager Gardner, David Hood and Ryquell Armstead. Four-star recruit T.J. Simmons also is in the mix, but someone will have to redshirt and he appears to be the odd man out.

One of the best ways to measure a player’s potential impact is comparing what that player did against similar competition.

While Simmons played perhaps against the best talent (Florida) and Gardner against the worst (Western North Carolina), Gardner’s numbers and size cannot be ignored. He might have lost the job by fumbling in a scrimmage, but if the Owls need explosiveness and flash at the position they do know where to go.

Thomas was nowhere near as dominating against some pretty good high school competition, but he’s obviously earned the coaching staff’s trust by his toughness. Would love to see the Owls attempt a more traditional running game by using Nick Sharga as a fullback to lead interference for Thomas and some of the other tailbacks and, since Sharga has gotten time as a fullback (in addition to linebacker and defensive end), that is possible—probably likely in goal-line situations.

Some red flags are involved in every player, with the possible exception of Armstead and Gardner.

Thomas does not seem to have the elite breakaway speed needed for the position. He was caught from behind in the Houston game.

Simmons had his best season as a freshman but has not played significantly since his junior year (nine games).

Of these players, Gardner’s size and speed and high school stats remind me most of Bernard Pierce and that’s the kind of player the Owls need at the position.

Player Ht./Wt. H.S. Best Year Games Yards Touchdowns
Jahad Thomas 5-10, 170 Sr. 13 889 15
Ryquell Armstead 5-10, 205 Sr. 11 1,488 18
T.J. Simmons 6-1, 195 Fr. 11 1,487 20
Jager Gardner 6-2, 205 Sr. 13 2,776 36
David Hood 5-9, 185 Sr. 12 1,651 21
08.24.15
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Twelve days and counting

Every year something happens at Temple football camp that makes fans take a step back or at least raise an eyebrow or two.

Twelve days and counting to Penn State and these developments fall into that category:

  • Frank Nutile has supplanted Logan Marchi as the No. 2 quarterback. This is interesting only in that Marchi’s game has been compared to “Johnny Manziel Lite.” Nutile appears to be the better play-action quarterback and that is why he is moving up. P.J. Walker appears to have his mojo back and is the clear No. 1.
  • Play-action will go through the tight ends, not the fullbacks. The Owls probably will not have a fullback, so their additional blocker at the point of attack will be an extra tight end. The plan, a sound one in concept, is to establish the run with that extra blocker on the OL, then fake into the belly of a tailback to bring the LBs and safeties up to the line. Hopefully, that creates separation for big-play receivers like Robby Anderson and Adonis Jennings.
  • Averee Robinson is running with the ones. With Matt Ioannidis, Nate D. Smith, Jacob Martin and Michael Dogbe on the line, Robinson has worked his way into the top unit. Wearing No. 43, I look for Robinson—who had five sacks in the 2014 spring game—to have a big season. It’s vitally important that the Owls put Christian Hackenberg on his ass early and often and I expect Robinson to play a big part in that  game plan.
  • There is one and only one question I’d like to ask Matt Rhule in one of those pressers: What is wrong with putting the very elusive duo of Nate L. Smith and Kareem Ali Jr. back there to handle punts over exposing your No. 1 offensive threat to extra unnecessary hits? Love the toughness and reliable hands John Christopher brings, but his 2.0-yards-per-punt-return was a wasted year on what has been traditionally a very positive play at Temple . Smith averaged 21 yards per return a year ago, but only got one chance. That’s extremely puzzling.
  • Matt Rhule does not appear to trust the freshman RBs. The fact that Jahad Thomas is running with the ones as the tailback has to be OK from the standpoint that putting the ball on the ground is going to be unacceptable. Thomas has a lower ceiling than T.J. Simmons or Jager Gardner, but he is more dependable with the football and P.J. Walker trusts him. If the Owls need explosiveness later on, expect Gardner to be the go-to guy.

It’s less than two weeks and the Owls appear to be ready. Hopefully, Penn State will not know what hits them.

08.18.15
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No Fullback, No Problem

The good news from practice on Monday was that it was the best of the season. The bad news is that the coaches do not seem to know that both Kareem Ali and Nate L. Smith can return punts.

No fullback, no problem, but there’s a caveat to that.

Temple head coach Matt Rhule announced that he was not sure if there would be a fullback position, but that there would be two backs much of the time. With the kind of competition that currently is underway with the backs now, getting on the field will require the ability to be able to block and that’s why having no fullback is not that big a deal this year.

As many as seven running backs will by vying for playing time and, as athletic as they are and as smart as they are, surely they have to know that blocking and picking up protections will be a big part of whether or not they get on the field. Already, the Owls are ahead of that aspect of the game because nobody picked up protections for quarterback P.J. Walker a season ago and that was the chief reason he suffered a sophomore slump.

The running back who does pick up protections and serves as an effective lead blocker for the tailback should improve the overall offensive production of the team.

The most important commitment to the run is the two-back scheme that Rhule and OC Marcus Satterfield promised to employ and whether you call that back a fullback or just a good blocking tailback is immaterial.

Let’s hope Matt and Sat keep that promise.

08.13.15
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Temple Football’s Papal Immunity

Marcus Satterfield talks about adopting the two backs, two TEs, philosophy.

The Pope might be Infallible, but Temple football is immune to all of this Popeageddon craziness going on these days and that is something to be thankful for.

The Football Gods smiled upon the Owls and gave Temple a bye week at the right time for a change. Three years ago, the Owls had three bye weeks and that’s two too many. Getting a bye week the weekend the Pope visits and therefore an off day on Saturday, Sept. 26th, is an, err, blessing.

visit

When Channel 6, WPVI, 6abc or whatever you want to call it, leading the charge, TV is going to be pretty unwatchable that weekend. Do not plan on watching a college football game on that station because there are probably going to be numerous interruptions—probably a few while the ball is in the air—of the Pontiff doing routine things like leaving the hotel or talking to Jim Gardner.

It’s getting to be a little out of hand when they break into regular programming in August to say something like “be prepared to walk.”

Duh?
https://www.onlinecountdowns.com/w/179043

The Eagles will be out of town figuratively and the Temple students should be out of town literally because the school will be closed on Friday, Sept. 25. The students will probably take the opportunity to go home, even if home is Doylestown, Downingtown or Delmar. They probably would not have returned for a football game, if one was scheduled.

If this scheduling was intended, it was pure genius on Temple’s part. If not, call it Papal Immunity.