11.01.12
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Throwback Thursday: Temple 55, Louisville 14

Bill Cosby opened a monologue on Oct. 11, 1982 praising TU’s win over Louisville.

The Tonight Show host opened his guest stint on Monday night, Oct. 11, 1982 with this line:
“I love Louisville. I love Louisville because Temple beat them, 55-14, in football Saturday night. Crushed them. I love Louisville.”
The guest host, a comedian named Bill Cosby subbing for Johnny Carson again, received loud applause from those in the audience who loved Louisville the town and Temple football.
Then Cosby went right into a hilarous routine about his playing days at Temple.
Louisville football fans did not appreciate the mention as much and flooded NBC with letters (this was before the days of email).
Evidently, there were few Louisville football fans in the Burbank audience.
There are many more Louisville football fans today.
Winning can do that for a program.
There was a time not all that long ago when Temple was not only where Louisville is now, but was much better than Louisville. History shows that the Owls are 3-2 all-time vs. Louisville, with their only losses coming, 21-12, on the road in 2003 and 62-0 at home in 2006, the first year of the Al Golden Reclamation Project. Temple has beaten Louisville by an average score of 24-12.
Louisville is rated about 105 slots ahead of Temple in the current rankings.
Temple coach Al Golden is confident that the Owls are headed in the direction Louisville is now.

Rick Pitino explains to reporters that Temple can beat Louisville
if the Owls use play-action fakes to Montel Harris on first down
to find open receivers and buy time for Chris Coyer to throw.
At least that’s what we think he’s saying.   Meanwhile, the Daily News’
Dick Jerardi (background) looks  longingly at the buffet table.

Golden is not a patient man and both he and Temple fans hope they can get there sooner rather than later.
What follows below is what can happen when a superbly-coached Temple team takes the field, an account of the Owls’ 55-14 win at Louisville a generation ago.
By Jere Longman
Inquirer Staff Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There was great optimism in the Louisville athletic department last night. Basketball practice starts Friday.
Football? Well, that’s another story. Football here ranks a distant fifth to varsity basketball, intramural basketball, fast-running horses and slow-sipping bourbon.
It’s not hard to see why.
Take last night’s 55-14 humiliation by Temple (3-3). The Cardinals jumped ahead early but were helpless as the Owls steamrolled ahead, 27-7, by halftime.
Led by linebacker Tom Kilkenny, the Owls tuned up for Pittsburgh by sacking quarterbacks Dean May and Scott Gannon eight times and intercepting May twice.
”Our defense gave us good pressure to make the offense go,” said Temple coach Wayne Hardin.

This is the Louisville weather starting tomorrow.

Louisville’s defense was as inept as its offense, surrendering 402
yards and resuscitating the Owls repeatedly with mental lapses.
Temple played with injuries to several of its running backs but still
delivered 277 rushing yards. Harold Harmon rolled up 108 yards in the first half before exiting with a bruised heel. Rod Moore, understudy to injured fullback Brian Slade, scored twice in the first half.
Quarterback Tim Riordan completed 8 of 11 passes for 132 yards and a 38-yard
touchdown.
Early in the third quarter, Louisville (2-3) closed to 27-14, but its defense was too leaky to contain anyone stronger than Wisconsin-Stout. First, the Owls drew the Cardinals offside on a fourth-and-one at the 38, then repeated the trickery to gain first-and-goal at the eight. Riordan rolled right, and tightroped his way into the end zone, putting the game out of reach, 34-14.
“We’ve come close before, but recently our offense has been
sputtering,” Hardin said.
“I don’t know of another team in the country who could lose their top three runners (Jim Brown, Slade and Joe Baiunco) and still play the way these kids played.”
For good measure, cornerback Anthony Young intercepted May late in the third quarter and returned the ball 54 yards to the Louisville four. A facemask penalty put the ball at the one, backup tailback Sherman Myers (58 yards rushing) vaulted over and the margin was now 41-14. The audience of 19,223 at Cardinal Stadium was not amused.
Early in the fourth quarter, a group of students began singing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over,” but Temple scored twice more before anyone could find the switch.
Gannon was flushed from the pocket at the four, only to be rammed by
nose tackle Bob Shires. The ball bounced into the end zone and was
pounced on by Jerry McDowell.
With 5 minutes, 29 seconds left, Young fielded a punt and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown, pulling Temple ahead, 55-14. That was the most points the Owls had scored since 1978, when they rang up 56 on that vaunted football power, Akron.
“Anthony Young had another outstanding night,” Hardin said. “That was
our first TD on a punt return in about 10 years.”
The outcome was quite unexpected and embarrassing in Bluegrass
Country.
Fueled by an earlier win over Oklahoma State of the Big 8 Conference, the locals figured Louisville football finally was emerging from the shadows of its basketball team.
Indeed, Denny Crum, the basketball coach, has been appearing on television boosting Bob Weber’s football program. The local media wondered whether Louisville’s big problem this weekend would be taking Temple too lightly.
Now Louisville’s big problem appears to be regaining whatever shred of
credibility it once enjoyed. Some schools don’t score 55 points on the
Cardinals’ basketball team.
“We just got an old-fashioned whipping,” Weber said. “We played much poorer than I ever thought possible. The first half, we were just standing around, and the second half was just an after-the-fact happening for us.”
Temple grabbed a quick 3-0 lead on Bob Clauser’s dying-quail field
goal of 39 yards.

belt
Frank Minniefield gave Louisville some false confidence, fielding a punt and slashing up the middle for an 88-yard touchdown. The Cardinals were temporarily ahead, but it was all a mirage.
Temple quickly regained the lead, 10-7, driving 80 yards to score in
seven plays.
“What bothers me is that we started so slow and never got into the
game mentally,” Weber said.

Tomorrow: Fast Forward Friday

10.31.12
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Hawaii pulls out of talks with Temple

If the Owls get to six wins, they would likely be slotted into a sweet bowl.
Hawaii could not resolve a myriad of issues.

The road ahead just got a lot bumpier for Temple’s football team on becoming eligible for a bowl for the fourth-straight season.
Hawaii pulled out of talks to give Temple a 12th game today because it could not resolve ticket issues.
It would have been tough enough to get to a bowl game with Hawaii on the schedule and now it appears to be near impossible.
Now the Owls will have to get to a bowl the old-fashioned way: By earning it.
Four games left, two against teams that have been in the top 20 most of the season, one against a Syracuse team with a premier quarterback, Ryan Nassib, and another against an Army team that beat Boston College.
 Not easy. The Owls will have to hold serve against Army, pull a mild upset against Syracuse and an even more shocking one against either Louisville or Cincinnati.
 The road ahead:

Anthony Robey: Lock-down corner

LOUISVILLE _ The game will be played at 11 a.m. Louisville time (12 in Philadelphia) and is the only home game not a sellout the rest of the way. Louisville has a tendency to play “up” or “down” to the level of competition. It was not able to blow out a horrid Southern Mississippi team in the rain (21-17) and it barely got by a bad Florida International team (28-21). Louisville and Temple both struggled to beat South Florida (Cards by 27-25, Owls by 37-28), but Cards handled a Pitt team (45-35) that handled the Owls. If the Temple secondary doesn’t start knocking balls down (and maybe even intercepting one or two passes), it won’t matter against a quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater. Except for lock-down sophomore corner Anthony Robey, a 4.39-40 speedster, the Owls look lost on the back line of their defense.
ARMY _ Hopefully, Matty Brown will be 100 percent for this game at West Point because he has been Army’s worst nightmare the past three years. Two years ago, in a 42-35 win, Brown singlehandedly led the Owls back from a 28-7 deficit with 226 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Also in that game, the Owls did something they have not done the Steve Addazio Era: Score on a trick play, a 48-yard pass off a double-reverse thrown by Joey Jones, by far the best pass thrown by a Temple player in 2010. Last year, Brown had 159 yards rushing against Army in a 42-14 win prompting the Army fan sitting next to me to ask, “Doesn’t he graduate this year?” No, I told him it was Bernard Pierce who probably is leaving. “I wish it was Brown instead,” the man replied.

Chris Coyer: More effective throwing on 1st down than 3d.

CINCINNATI _ The Bearcats have shown some chinks in their armor but mostly have been outstanding. They were able to beat Delaware State, 23-7, a week after Delaware beat Delaware State, 48-14. They also allowed Fordham to stick around for most of the first half. On the other hand, they beat Pitt, 34-10, and Virginia Tech, 27-24. They also have a sophisticated passing attack, something the  Owls might have if they let Chris Coyer throw on first down instead of third down all the time. The pathway to winning is to ratchet up the passing game and head away from pound and ground. The Owls should follow the blueprint they had against USF: 16 for 20 in the passing game and, not coincidentally, 37 points. The plan to win should be 37-28, not 17-14. Planning to win 17-14 is a good way to lose, 47-17.
SYRACUSE _ If the Owls go into this game with only four wins, a crowd of about 11,000 should be rattling around Lincoln Financial Field putting a sad punctuation mark on the dreariness of the season. If, on the other hand, they go into the game with five wins and a chance to reach a bowl game with six, there should be a big crowd cheering them on and a win will depend on whether the Owls’ new 3-4 defensive alignment with an abundance of athletic linebackers will be able to put enough blitzing pressure on Nassib to rattle him into a loss. (That new alignment might be wishful thinking on my part but when you can’t cover anybody on the back line and you have six linebackers who can run a 4.6 40, that’s the way to go IMHO.)
That’s the road ahead. It won’t be easy to navigate, but earning greatness or even a BCS bowl never is.

Tomorrow: Throwback Thursday

10.30.12
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When did Temple stop playing smart?

… Breaking News: Temple’s proposed game with Hawaii is ‘off the table’ … Hawaii could not resolve ticket issues on its end …

Note Boston College was beaten badly by Temple, yet beat Navy, 37-0. This was the only time I ever saw Hardin say he was outcoached but Temple had better personnel than Marshall and won, 31-10.

Not long ago in the general scheme of history, Temple was known as having a smart football team.
Smart coach.
Smart players.
“I was outcoached by Wayne Hardin again,” Joe Paterno said after his second-straight one-point win in a row over the Owls in the 1970s. “We were lucky they didn’t connect on that two-point conversion.”
“Hardin is outcoaching Joe again,” late Allentown Morning Call sports columnist John Kunda said out loud  in the press box after Temple took a 7-6 lead on PSU at halftime in 1979.
Everybody in the press box laughed because they knew it was true.
Something happened along the way to change that perception, certainly in the 1990s, and again maybe in the last couple of weeks.

Also at Pitt, Temple gets two cracks at a score inside the 5. On third down, instead of rolling Clint Granger out on a pass/run option, the Owls run it up the middle behind an inexperienced offensive line and a true freshman running back. That’s just beyond stupid.

I get all the Temple TUFF talk and the team generally over the last five years has been as tough as nails.
What’s alarming is the number of extremely dumb plays being made out there by both players and coaches. Here are four touchdowns worth of stupidity at Pitt:
1) Ball goes off Temple player’s leg on a punt, leading to an early Pittsburgh possession.
2) Temple player catches a kickoff while standing on the sideline. If you are standing on the sideline at the 10, that’s usually a pretty good clue the ball is going to go out of bounds.
3) Temple player gets the ball stripped. That probably falls more in the area of toughness than smartness, but it takes some smarts to secure the ball.
4) Also at Pitt, Temple gets two cracks at a score inside the 5. On third down, instead of rolling Clint Granger out on a pass/run option, the Owls run it up the middle behind an inexperienced offensive line and a true freshman running back. That’s just beyond stupid. Give Granger two cracks at finding a receiver in the end zone on a rollout.
To me, that’s the most egregious stupidity because it came from a coaching staff who should be thinking on the fly better.
Just once, I’d like to see the team play as smart as those Hardin teams did most of the time.
There’s still four games to get the team’s head in the same place as their heart. If that doesn’t happen, there won’t be a fifth.

Tomorrow: The Road Ahead

10.28.12
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Storm clouds brewing

There’s a storm coming our way and it’s headed for 10th and Diamond.

It’s pretty damming when Kent State is able to befuddle Rutgers with a sophisticated offensive scheme while Temple is stuck in the Stone Age, offensively. Kent State has no more offensive talent than Temple has

Batten down the hatches, this storm headed our way is going to be a bad one.
Hurricane Sandy?
Heck no.
All those Temple haters waiting to come out of the woodwork to pile on the Owls’ program, Steve Addazio, the quarterbacks, the kids and the coaches.
Is some of it warranted?
Sure.
I’ve been the first to criticize the offensive scheme and I will continue to do so until it is changed from a run-to-set-up-the-pass approach to a pass-to-set-up-the-run.
To me, nothing would maximize the ability of the Owls’ great running backs more than play action on first down, bubble screens, shovel passes to spread the field and open up the run.
This run-first to set up the pass has been a disaster.
I wrote as much after losses (Maryland) and I was just as adamant about it after wins (UConn).
It’s pretty damming when Kent State is able to befuddle Rutgers with a sophisticated offensive scheme while Temple is stuck in the Stone Age, offensively. Kent State has no more offensive talent than Temple has and that includes the line.
This is what I wrote after the UConn win and I highlighted it in red:

The way this team currently is constructed, the run can never set up the pass. It’s not going to work. It’s got to be the other way around.

On defense, I wrote last week that Temple was beaten on so many jump balls in the secondary that they needed to get 6-foot-3 scout team quarterback Kevin Newsome, a three-time All-State safety in Virginia, back there and move another 6-3 player, Vaughn Carraway, from safety to corner in order to best utilize their best athletes.

This from former Temple hoop great Mike Vreeswyk yesterday. I know who is embarrassing here and it ain’t Temple football.

That didn’t happen and the Owls’ secondary got scorched again.
The Owls need playmakers in the secondary and Newsome would be a playmaker. He looks good holding the clipboard on the sideline, but he’d look a lot better getting a pick six and holding the ball over his head in the end zone.
The coaches are big boys.
They can take it.
I will not criticize the kids, though.

The kids are another story.
I believe they are giving their all in some misguided schemes.
Right now, I believe big changes have to be made on defense in order to put the Owls’ best athletes on the field.
Newsome and Carraway and Anthony Robey need to be back there. Put your tallest, fastest, highest-jumping athletes on the back line.
Heck, with the D-line so thin due to suspensions and the linebacking corps top-heavy in talent, I would also seriously consider going from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defensive scheme. Play Hershey Walton at nose guard and John Youboty and Sean Daniels at end and rotate in the other guys. That gives you two more athletic and faster guys in there to either rush the QB or make game-changing plays in the secondary.
Kent State beat Rutgers by disguising its defense and forcing turnovers. Mostly because of that, the Flashes got seven turnovers. The RU turnovers were the result of pressure, something TU almost never dials up on defense. Instead of tipped balls becoming interceptions, the TU secondary’s best move is tackling a guy 20 yards downfield.
Temple played a vanilla defense against Rutgers and did nothing to force turnovers.
Yeah, it’s a gamble now to change the base defense from 5-2 to 3-4 in four practice days but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing next week and expecting a different result.
Really, could they do worse than give up 47 points to a Pitt team that had a hard time scoring 20 on Buffalo?
The other problem with that is you need practice time to do it and the oncoming storm doesn’t help. Maybe the Eagles could allow use of NovaCare but that’s far from an optimal solution.
The Owls are looking at getting ready for Louisville with mimimal outdoor practice time.
That’s a double wammy of a storm and far from a perfect one.

10.27.12
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Game Day Wake-Up: Hope and Change

Will today be the day the Owls finally throw play-action on first down or will  it be Groundhog Day again?



It only seems fitting that the Temple football team flew over Punxsutawney on the way to the University of Pittsburgh for today’s game with the Panthers.
Every game day this year I feel like Bill Murray’s character in the movie Groundhog Day. Murray was a weather man who is reluctantly sent to cover a story about the day. On the “next” day, he wakes to discover it is Groundhog Day again and again. He comes to the realization that he’s doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing over and over again.
 I’m not at that same point with Steve Addazio’s offensive approach, but I’ve got to admit at least five of the six MORNING AFTER game days I’ve waken with the idea that I’m going to be stuck in eternity of an antiquated “three Groundhogs and a cloud of dust” offensive approach.
On the other day, Temple went 16 for 20 passing and scored 37 points.
You look at all of these other big-time teams in the SEC and Big 10 and they all integrate a balanced approach of running and passing on first down. At Temple, it’s 75.9 percent running on first down and that’s never a good thing.
In football, as in life, you need balance.
So today’s theme, other than Groundhog Day, is Hope and Change:

Hope: Owls use play-action fakes to Montel Harris on first down to allow quarterback Chris Coyer time to find open receivers running through the secondary.
Change: Temple receivers catch the ball.

Hope: Daz runs Harris when the defense is on its heels, not when there are eight guys in the box.
Change: Move the sticks.

Change: Defensive line finally gets pressure on the opposing quarterback.
Hope: Ball is put up in the air for grabs and Vaughn Carraway and Anthony Robey come up with picks.

Hope: Matty Brown is healthy.
Change: Brown breaks first big return since Villanova.

Maybe today will be a day hope turns into change.

Picks this week: I have not picked in a few weeks because nothing jumps out at me. A few games jump out at me this week and the top one was Boston College being a 1-point favorite against Maryland. I think Maryland wins this game outright, but am staying away from the game due to the injury of QB Perry Hills.
Other picks:
KENT STATE getting 13.5 at Rutgers; NORTH CAROLINA STATE getting 7.5 at North Carolina; PENN STATE getting 1 at home vs. Ohio State; TOLEDO giving 7.5 at Buffalo.
Record for the season straight up: 9-4.
Record for the season ATS: 8-5

10.26.12
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Now would be a good time to dust off the spread

“Wilbur, tell coach Addazio the best blueprint to beat Pitt is the spread offense.”

The only architect I ever knew was Wilbur Post, who spent his working days in the barn talking to a horse named Mr. Ed while making blueprints.
Mr. Ed even talked back.
They say Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest architect of all time, but he died a year before Mr. Ed came on the air as a CBS Television smash hit.
So Wilbur Post was the only architect I ever knew.

Youngstown State drew up the blueprint for beating Pitt.

Blueprints come to mind this year because Temple head football coach Steve Addazio had a nice blueprint to beat Maryland and tossed it in the trash and a nice blueprint to beat Penn State and tossed it in the trash and now he has a nice blueprint to beat Pitt tomorrow.
 I hope he doesn’t throw that in the trash, too.
Youngstown State beat Pitt, 31-17, at Heinz Field using the spread offense that Addazio talked about Temple using all summer.
 “We now have the quarterbacks we need to run the kind of offense we wanted to run last year,” Addazio said before the season. “I’m talking about explosive plays downfield in the passing game.”
Nice words, but have you seen any signs of Temple using the spread this year?
 I didn’t think so.
 Now would be a good time to dust that off.

“This wasn’t a last-second stunner. The Penguins never trailed, baffling Pitt with a spread offense that kept the Panthers off balance during a soggy night at Heinz Field . Youngstown State converted 11 of 16 third downs and held the ball for more than 35 minutes.”
_ USA Today, 9/1/12

 From the Sept. 1 USA Today: “This wasn’t a last-second stunner. The Penguins never trailed, baffling Pitt with a spread offense that kept the Panthers off balance during a soggy night at Heinz Field . Youngstown State converted 11 of 16 third downs and held the ball for more than 35 minutes.”
Temple lost to Maryland in my mind largely because the Owls did not follow the blueprint William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock drew up to battle Maryland to a 7-6 game. Laycock noted that Maryland was playing a true freshman quarterback, Perry Hills, out of necessity. He figured that if the freshman was blitzed enough so he wouldn’t have time to throw, good things would happen for the Tribe. So Laycock blitzed the heck out of Hills (14 times), got three sacks and three picks.
Temple?
Blitzed Hills just twice, getting to him once, but allowed Hills the time to throw all kinds of jump balls to talented Maryland receivers.
Ohio coach Frank Solich drew up a nice blueprint to beat Penn State and all but hand-delivered it to 10th and Diamond. A lot of quick one-drop slants to move the sticks and keep the Big 10 pass rush away. It befuddled Penn State all day in a 24-13 win.
 Temple?
 Ran up the middle all day and lost by the same score.
Now Youngstown State has delivered the blueprint, maybe even UPS special delivery, to beat Pitt and it is by utilizing a spread offense. I’m told Temple has that offense somewhere in its repertoire.
Let’s hope they open the mail at the E-O.

10.25.12
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Throwback Thursday: TU beats No. 4-ranked Pitt

… Breaking News: Hawaii players are posting on their Facebook pages this morning that the game with Temple is a “done deal” and they will probably be playing the Owls on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012 … a day that will live in infamy (maybe) … …

Program covers have come a long way since this Sept. 25, 1976 Temple vs. Pitt game.

Temple plays Pitt a week after a loss to Rutgers its head coach called “an embarrassment.”
October, 2012?
No.
September, 1984.
The difference then was that Pitt at the time was three weeks removed from a No. 4 preseason ranking in the country.
Temple beat Pitt, 13-12, on a field goal by a kicker named Jim Cooper.
Temple will have a kicker named Jim Cooper next year, but more on that later.
The win in 1984 gave Temple a 2-1 record on the way to a winning season under 32-year-old head coach Bruce Arians.

Story in the Allentown Morning Call the week after Temple beat Pitt.

“We were embarrassed at Rutgers, didn’t play to our ability at all,” Arians said. “We oughta be 3-0 and we know it.”
The Owls played the No. 10-toughest schedule in  the country then and its wins over East Carolina (17-0) and Pitt were sandwiched around a one-point loss to Rutgers.

Bruce Arians made a habit out of beating nationally-ranked Pitt teams.

Pitt was coming off an 8-3-1 year and maybe that influenced its inflated preseason ranking in Sports Illustrated. The Temple loss was one of four straight for Pitt (BYU, Oklahoma, Temple, West Virginia) and the Panthers never met their expectations.
At the time, it was the first win for Temple over Pitt in 39 years but Arians made sure it would not be the last.
The next week, Temple was to play Florida State and Arians fully expected to win that game, too.
“Florida State is a great opponent and it is a game we can win,” Arians said. “There’s no doubt about it. We can take the field anytime, anywhere and we have a chance to win.”

Temple’s last win over Pitt came 14 years ago.

This week, Temple renews its long-standing “rivalry” with Pitt. It’s just a one-year deal since Pitt moves to the ACC next year, but when the teams meet on Saturday it will bring back fond memories of Cooper and Arians for a lot of Temple fans. Arians beat Pitt three out of his five years as Temple’s head coach.
Later, he became well-known (and sometimes vilified) in that town as the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Still, Arians is mostly fondly remembered in Philadelphia by Temple people as an energetic young coach who did the best he could with the tools he was given.
Beating Pitt in a year it was ranked No. 4 in the preseason AP poll certainly helped foster a positive impression of Arians, who is still helping Temple football today.
Arians figuratively begat then kicker Cooper who literally begat another Cooper by the same name, Jim Cooper, Jr.
Next year, Cooper Jr. will take over the kicking duties for Steve Addazio.
If he beats Pitt, 13-12, like his dad did, it will have to be in a bowl game.
I’m sure dad and son would sign for that now but first both, being long-time Owl fans like the rest of us, just want to win the next one.

Tomorrow: Fast Forward Friday

10.23.12
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The case for the defense

On the touchdown passes in the end zone, you can see Owls around the ball but nobody makes a play on it.

Temple’s defense experienced the worst kind of replay on Saturday, three similar touchdown passes within a seven-minute stretch of the fourth quarter.
For all intents and purposes, the game was over right there, a 21-10 Rutgers’ lead on the way to a 35-10 win.
After giving up two touchdown passes in the first quarter at Uconn, the replays are maddening familiar.
Progress, at least in this case, was the coverage.
If you look at the coverage, Owls are there. On one touchdown, it was a linebacker (Nate D. Smith) and a corner (usual lock-down left corner Anthony Robey, beaten for the first time all season for six). On another, two Owls miss tackles in the open field against Juwan Jamison, one of the best halfbacks in the conference. On another, three Owls are around the ball.
Against UConn, over the middle, nobody was.

Kevin Newsome: Too good an athlete to keep off the field.

Temple defensive coordinator Chuck Heater made the adjustments he needed to make at halftime to close off the middle and the rest of the field. There’s nobody better than Heater making halftime adjustments.
Problem on Saturday was there was no halftime to make adjustments and no offense to make a comeback with.
There would have been an offense if the Owls had thrown on play-action passes on first down in the opening half (see Sunday post below), but 21-10 is too large a deficit for Temple to recover from when facing the No. 15 team in the BCS standings. Throwing is a whole different story when you HAVE to throw the ball. Temple should have mixed it up in the first half, when it didn’t have to throw.
This is about the defense, though.
To me, the solution is simple: Get athletes in there who can make plays and knock the ball down and maybe even intercept it.
They don’t even have to be recruited. They are already here.
Vaughn Carraway, the starting free safety who was suspended for the Rutgers’ game because of a questionable hit (the hit looked OK to me) at UConn, will be back for Pitt.
He’s one of the athletes. I think Carraway makes the tackle on Jamison.
I’d love to see them move Carraway to one corner and move Kevin Newsome, a three-time first-team all-state safety in Virginia, from scout team quarterback to roaming the middle of the field. It’s not like the Owls don’t have Big East talent back there. Carraway, Newsome, Tavon Young, Robey and Abdul Smith are Big East talents. Heck, Newsome (PSU recruit) and Carraway (Michigan recruit) are Big 10 talents. It’s not like the Owls have to play MAC defensive backs against BE wideouts. It’s not like the brain trust at the E-O hasn’t thought about it. Newsome said as much after the Maryland game: “Coach Addazio asked me if I would play either wide receiver or safety and I said I would do anything to help the team.”
The “or safety” comment was the most intriguing to me.
What happened since? I’m told Addazio was not comfortable with only having one spread offense quarterback in reserve should starter Chris Coyer go down. When you are constantly getting beaten on jump balls in the secondary, that’s not a good enough reason for me. Heck, it’s not like if Newsome moves over to defense he won’t be available to play quarterback in a pinch.
Can you imagine how much different it would be on the back-line defense with two 6-foot-3 guys with 4.5 speed  and near 40-inch vertical jumps (Carraway and Newsome) back there to make plays?
We might be talking about three field goals and not three touchdowns.
Even with the Owls’ anemic offensive game plan, we’re also talking about a 10-9 lead going into the final quarter.
And maybe, just maybe, a 3-0 Big East record.
Is it too late to change secondary personnel?
Maybe,  but I think it’s worth a shot even at this late juncture.
Otherwise, get used to more jump balls in the end zone landing in the wrong hands.

10.21.12
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The square-peg round-hole offense

Steve Addazio’s post-game press conference.

On the way into the stadium yesterday, I mentioned to a few of Wayne Hardin’s ex-players that this was a game that Wayne would have loved to have formulated a plan for because of the over pursing nature of Rutgers’ defense and its stout defensive front.

My worst fears about the offensive game plan were realized

In his day, there was no better offensive mind than Hardin. That wasn’t me saying it. It was guys like Tom Landry, Joe Marciano (see quote at bottom of this story) and Joe Paterno.
“Wayne would pull out all the stops,” I said. “He would throw on first down, throw little waggles and slants to move the sticks on first down, then hand off when the defense was on their heels. Then he might throw in a double-reverse and maybe even a pass off it. All that stuff used to work when coach Hardin called it.”

New York Post picks Temple to beat RU in Friday paper.
Unfortunately, the game wasn’t played in the Friday paper.

 I also expressed my concern that Steve Addazio would do just the opposite.
Too often, Addazio has tried to fit a square peg into a round hole. When you try to move bigger, faster, more experienced, defensive fronts with an inexperienced OL, you might as well be pounding your head against a brick wall.
All you get is a headache.
Why do I have the feeling that if this was 1940 and Steve Addazio was a Field Marshal in the German Army, he would have attacked the Maginot Line head-on instead of adroitly going around it like Rommel did? Rommel was going for the championship of Europe that year while Daz was only going for first place in the Big East in 2012, but the analogy stands the test of time.
Yes, Temple has to run the ball to be successful but it must convince the defense it can throw the ball first to make the run work.
The best chance to do that would be play fakes on FIRST down, not third when the defense is pinning their ears back on the quarterback.
“One of Steve’s great strengths is his stubbornness,” I said. “One of his great weaknesses is his stubbornness.”
A look at the play chart suggests my worst fears were realized.

Temple had 10 first-down play calls in the first half and seven were Montel Harris running plays, two were Chris Coyer running plays and one was, you guessed it, another running play, a two-yard gain by Jamie Gilmore.  In the third quarter, the two initial first-down plays were a Montel Harris rush and a Chris Coyer rush.Sense a pattern here? I’m guessing the Rutgers’ coaches did, too.

Temple had 10 first-down play calls in the first half and seven were Montel Harris running plays, two were Chris Coyer running plays and one was, you guessed it, another running play, a two-yard gain by Jamie Gilmore.  In the third quarter, the two initial first-down plays were a Montel Harris rush and a Chris Coyer rush.
Sense a pattern here?
 I’m guessing the Rutgers’ coaches did, too.
As I have written many times, what would be the harm in opening up the game with a two-minute drill, the same two-minute drill that won the game at UConn?
What would be the harm  in taking advantage of Temple past tendencies by faking the ball right into  Montel Harris’ belly ON FIRST DOWN to freeze the defense and throwing the short- and intermediate sideline routes that have a high likelihood of success? Temple does have edge athletes who can do damage, too.
What would be the harm in having Jalen Fitzpatrick, a Big 33 quarterback, throw off a reverse?
If it’s not there, just have Fitzpatrick tuck it away and take off. He’s damn elusive, as his short stint as a spring practice running back showed.
Yes, the defense could have played better in the third quarter but a better-designed offense might have put a lot more than 10 points on the board by then.
Just once, I’d like to see Temple putting square pegs into square holes.
Maybe Saturday at Pitt.
We can only hope.

10.19.12
by

Montel Harris: ‘I want to help my team to the Orange Bowl’

Steve Addazio implores fans to take it to the next level.

About two minutes before the start of Temple’s game at UConn last week, a very loud chant of “LET’S GO TEMPLE” could be heard from the corner of the end zone where about 900 Temple fans stood.

Montel Harris, standing right next to Steve Addazio and loosening up, turned around and gave a “thumbs up” to the Temple cheering section and raised both palms as if asking for the volume to be turned up.

I’m glad  Harris is on Temple’s side for tomorrow’s game (noon, Lincoln Financial Field) with Rutgers.
He hears it and he gets it.

Michael Basiden has a phrase he repeats on WDAS-FM (105.3, Mondays through Fridays, 3-7 p.m.) when he says something people might construe as outrageous.

When you see the “this is our house” in the video, it’s a cue for a “Let’s Go Temple” cheer.

“That’s right, I said it!” Baisden, who has a popular nationally syndicated radio show, will repeat.
Harris doesn’t need to repeat it, but this quote has all but one Harris YouTube clip so far this season:

“I want to help my team to the Orange Bowl. That’s our goal.”
Harris wasn’t talking about Boston College.
 He was talking about Temple.
That’s right. He said it.
Last week’s game against UConn might have been a bowl elimination game.
Tomorrow’s game against Rutgers might be an Orange Bowl elimination game.
Win, and the dream remains alive.
Lose, and the dream in all likelihood is dashed.

Set the alarms for 7 a.m. tomorrow and enjoy the beautiful day at LFF.

If Temple wins, it is 3-0 in the league and might be all alone atop the Big East standings by 7 p.m., depending  on how the rest of the day plays out.
If Temple wins the league, it will go to the Orange Bowl and no amount of backroom dealing can keep the Owls out.
I like the way Montel Harris reaches for the stars.
Some Temple fans poo-poo such talk. Some might even call it embarrassing.
It is not embarrassing to tell people your goal is to be the best you can be.
Right now, the 2-0 Owls can be the Big East champs.
That’s a fact.
Whether they will be in a position to do it depends I think on a couple of things:
1) Can the fans take it to the next level? Can we get the 30K TEMPLE fans in attendance to stand and chant “Let’s Go Temple” at the top of their lungs and sing the fight song in unison like they did several times in the second half of the USF game? (If you don’t think the kids on the team hear it, see the first graph above.)
2) Will the offensive game plan be diverse enough to get the job done? In other words, maybe open up with a two-minute drill, throw in a trickeration play or two, throw on first down enough to set up Harris’ on second- and third-down runs?
I saw enough evidence in the second half of the Maryland and USF games to think No. 1 can happen.
No. 2, I’m not so sure about but I have to trust that a coaching staff with muliple national championship rings can  figure that out.
Harris and the rest of the Owls will be ready.
Will you?

Tomorrow: No story due to power tailgating but complete analysis on Sunday