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.

08.09.15
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Some Encouraging Words From Matt Rhule

Another great job by OwlsTV.

You have to take it with a large grain, maybe a boulder, of salt but this is the best quote we’ve heard in three years from Temple head coach Matt Rhule:

“How do we differentiate ourselves? How do we make ourselves hard to prepare for? Put two backs on the field. Put two tight ends on the field.

“This is what your roots are. These kids have made themselves really tough. And that’s the only way we’ll ever win–by being a really, really tough football team.”

“How do we differentiate ourselves? How do we make ourselves hard to prepare for? Put two backs on the field. Put two tight ends on the field. “This is what your roots are. These kids have made themselves really tough. And that’s the only way we’ll ever win--by being a really, really tough football team.”
“How do we differentiate ourselves? How do we make ourselves hard to prepare for? Put two backs on the field. Put two tight ends on the field. This is what your roots are. These kids have made themselves really tough. And that’s the only way we’ll ever win–by being a really, really tough football team.”

It was great to hear because two backs, not necessarily two tight ends, has been the essence of the “Temple Tuff” philosophy Al Golden took five years installing at Temple. By doing so, Golden paid tribute to the great Temple teams of the past under both coach Wayne Hardin and Bruce Arians in particular. Those were the Temple teams Golden remembered playing at Penn State, teams that would come at the Nittany Lions with a smash mouth approach and, though it took five years, Golden got it done at Temple.

When the Owls played UCLA in the Eagle Bank Bowl, Golden went with two backs and tried to ram it down the more talented Bruins’ throats. It would have been a successful approach had Bernard Pierce not pulled a hamstring at halftime. He beat Fiesta Bowl-bound UConn the next season with Pierce running behind a great blocker in fullback Wyatt Benson. The Owls did not have a quarterback people feared for either game.

In recent years, we have not yet seen what kind of offensive numbers this approach could lead to with a talented quarterback at the helm, but we might this season. Except for Adam DiMichele, who except for Joe Paterno’s pettiness would have been eligible for the Eagle Bank Bowl, the Owls have not had a quarterback perfect for this kind of offense. P.J. Walker is.

What we’ve seen offensively the past two seasons certainly has not been Temple Tuff. Too many empty backfields and single back approaches have not worked. Now the Owls have seemed to figure out that if you can attack a defense with more blockers than the defense has tacklers, you are giving your featured back a bigger hole to run through.

Whether that back is Jahad Thomas, Zaire Williams, T.J. Simmons or Jager Gardner, that extra lead blocker is going to make a difference. When the Owls show opponents they can run, everything else opens up. Watch P.J. fake it into the tailgate’s belly, pull it out and find Temple receivers open all day. That only works when the run is established first. I wonder what Wyatt Benson, who still has a year of eligibility, is doing these days?

If Matt Rhule is sincere about this approach, get your popcorn ready. It’s gonna be a show.

08.06.15
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Not Much to Choose Between Player A and Player B

Owls began practice today for the big showdown 9/5/15.

Owls began practice today for the big showdown 9/5/15.

One of the tricks of the trade David Murphy uses to compare players the Philadelphia Phillies might be after is to compare statistics of two guys and then unmask them at the end.

It is a useful exercise not only for baseball but for college football. One of the remarkable things about the first week of play this fall is that there are two quarterbacks with almost identical stats and almost exactly the same freshmen and sophomore years who will be playing that week.

One is talked about as being a first-round NFL pick in the 2016 Draft; one is not even in the discussion. A close look at both players indicates that there is nothing to separate them.

Player A

  Games Comp. Atm. Pct. Yards TDs INTs Rating Year
2013 9 152 250 60.8 2,084 20 8 150.8 Fresh.
2014 12 203 381 53.3 2,317 13 15 107.8 Soph.
                   

By now, you might have figured out one quarterback is Christian Hackenberg and the other is P.J. Walker, but, except for the number of games involved, it is hard to tell.

In many respects, Walker—Player A—was the more productive quarterback as a freshman than Hackenberg was. He had just as many touchdown passes in three less games and two less interceptions. Hackenberg had more yards, but that could easily be explained by his three extra games. Walker’s QB rating was considerably better, 150.8 to 134.8.

Player B

  Games Comp. Atm. Pct. Yards TDs INTs Rating Year
2013 12 231 392 58.9 2,955 20 10 134.8 Fresh.
2014 13 270 484 55.8 2,977 12 15 109.4 Soph.
                   

The next year, was similar with Hackenberg getting only the slightest of nods, a QB rating of 109.4 to P.J.’s 107.8. Still, in one less game, P.J. had one more touchdown pass than Hackenberg.

Both will admit they had down seasons, but the numbers suggest that there is not much to choose.

To borrow a new NCAA basketball phrase, there is something called the eye test. Because of his ability to escape the rush, I think P.J. is the better college quarterback. Hackenberg is taller and might be the prototype quarterback, but I think P.J. will come out on top 9/5/15.