BE Offensive Player of the Week Montel Harris mentions two words in this video that sound great together.

The best weekend in recent Temple football history is over.
First Big East game in eight years, first BE win in eight years, large enthusiastic crowd, all good things.
The only way to make it better is to keep on pushing on and top it every week from this point out.
The focus when the kids put the pads on tomorrow should be on one thing and one thing only:
Beating UConn.

Montel Harris and Ryan Alderman exchange thoughts on how to make moves in the open field. Photo by Mike Edwards

The Huskies are no slouch, either. They won at Maryland and lost by three to an NC State team that just took down Florida State.
It’ll be important to buckle down the chin straps Saturday in Storrs, Conn.
I think this is a much better matchup for Temple than USF was because the Huskies have had trouble moving the ball and the Owls are just starting to find their offensive and defensive identities. UConn doesn’t have a QB who can make big gains out of broken plays like B.J. Daniels can. That theory goes out the window, though, if the Owls don’t play with the fire they showed against USF. The Owls have a history of losing focus after recent big wins.
For these purposes, we’ll call it The Toledo Syndrome.
That’s why the Owls should listen to Winston Churchill (and Steve Addazio) this week:
“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” Churchill said.
Here’s some recent Owl history:
2011:
TEMPLE 38, Maryland 7 _ At Maryland, franchise running back Bernard Pierce went for 159 yards and five touchdowns as the Owls took down an ACC foe that beat Al Golden’s Miami team, 32-24, two weeks prior. The next week? Owls lost at home, 36-13, to Toledo. After the Toledo loss, Addazio put the Owls back in pads and Pierce said “that was the hardest week of practice we ever had.” Owls went on to beat Ball State, 42-0.
TEMPLE 34, Buffalo 0 _ After a second-straight shutout win, Owls lay a 13-10 egg at Bowling Green. Five straight quarters of woeful offensive football got Chester Stewart a permanent seat on the bench. After becoming the starter, Chris Coyer finished the season with four straight wins.
2010:
TEMPLE 30, Uconn 16 _ After beating the eventual BE champs at home by two touchdowns, Owls fail to get a whole lot of offense going in the second half of a 22-13 loss to Penn State. Probably more due to Bernard Pierce spraining his ankle after giving the Owls a 13-12 halftime lead than a letdown, though.
2008:
TEMPLE 14, Ohio 10 _ Owls beat Ohio on a last-minute touchdown pass at home on national TV from Adam DiMichele to Steve Maneri then go to Navy, build a lead and lose, 33-27, when Golden eschews the kneeldown and hands off to Kee-Ayre Griffin, whose fumble was taken in for a score on the penultimate play of regulation. Golden could have kicked it to Navy and forced a triple-option team to go 80 yards with 17 seconds left and no time outs. Instead of allowing KAG a seat on the bus ride home, Golden throws him under it postgame.
But then, the program was just learning how to be great.
The sign of a great program is to follow one good win with another.
The Owls have a chance to do that on Saturday.

Steve Addazio calls the win over USF his biggest in the post-game presser.

The biggest play in the biggest Temple game this century was made by the guy on the cover of the The Temple Gameday Homecoming program.
Marcus Green blocked the field goal on the day when he was the only player on the gameday cover.
I mean, you can’t make that stuff up.

Cody Booth makes “Temple TUFF” TD catch .

A 45-yard field goal certainly is no chip shot, but Green made sure the 26,000 fans did not have to watch the agonizing flight of the ball toward the goal post.
After so many twists and turns and heart-stopping plays in Temple’s 37-28 win over South Florida, Green probably saved the defibrillators from being used on a few older alumni.
There were other heroes, too, some who didn’t even play.
Kevin Newsome simulated South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels in practice last week and that helped the Owls’ defense.
“Kevin Newsome, he was phenomenal, ” head coach Steve Addazio said. “Kevin Newsome’s coming into his own, by the way. He can really run explosively and he can really throw. We really appreciated what he’s done and where he is right now.”
The Owls are three-deep at quarterback with Newsome and Juice Granger backing up Coyer.
Temple baseball star Connor Reilly is no slouch at No. 4, either.
Still, I’d like to see the defense improved by putting Newsome at safety and moving Vaughn Carraway from safety to corner opposite lock-down sophomore Anthony Robey. Carraway’s got the speed to play corner and, at 6-3, 215 with a 37-inch vertical and a 4.5 40, Newsome would be a playmaker roaming the middle of the field at safety. If needed at QB, it wouldn’t take long to bring him on the other side of the ball.
Certainly beats Newsome holding a clipboard and running the scout team for the remaining seven games.
Have Reilly simulate the UConn QB next week.
Just a thought.
The other people who didn’t play and helped were the fans.
Everybody, from the student section, through the alumni were involved and loud and active.
When the fight song “T for Temple U” was sung in the second half, all 26,000 fans were on their feet and belting the song out at the top of their lungs. I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime but I hope to see it again in two weeks. These fans weren’t sitting on their hands. I was proud to be one of them. They were indeed the 12th man.
The team has to go to UConn and win a game next week but Rutgers thinks they are going to take over Lincoln Financial Field. I think they’ll be surprised that the stadium is solidly Temple’s now. They remember the “back in the day” Temple. They haven’t seen the new Temple.
They will.
Really, there were about 22 heroes on the field and this space is not large enough to list them all but, at least on offense, you’ve got to give credit to quarterback Chris Coyer, who was 16 for 20 with no picks and running back Montel Harris, who had 24 carries for 133 yards and two touchdowns.
Matty Brown left the game after accumulating 134 all-purpose yards and he got the longest standing ovation I can ever remember for a Temple player when he gingerly walked off the field in the fourth quarter.
The fans know Brown embodies the definition of Temple TUFF and sent him a message telling him that.
Hopefully, he will be OK.
The Owls were more than OK.
If they play with the competitive fire they showed Saturday, this season could get real interesting going forward.

Fans need to get crazy like here and not just the student section.

That sound you heard was Steve Addazio scratching his bald head.
While William and Mary offered a clear blueprint for Temple to beat Maryland and Ohio’s Frank Solich wrote the book on how to beat Penn State, there was not much to glean from Ball State’s 31-27 win over South Florida a couple of weeks ago.

Skip Holtz wants Brandon McManus to squib kick to his team. McManus has 15 touchbacks.

I know.
I pieced together all of the clips I could find off Ball State’s excellent TV network and this is what I found:
Ball State beat South Florida the old-fashioned way:
The Cardinals earned it.

Tweet from Greg Auman of the Tampa Tribune.

No special formula like William and Mary’s blitzing of a Maryland true freshman quarterback or Solich’s quick-slant passing game moving the sticks against Penn State.
Just a couple of great plays by quarterback Keith Winning, throwing a tight spiral twice into the corner of the end zone and the BSU player making great catches over his shoulder.
Easier said than done.
One way would be for the fans to get off their hands and cheer. The team needs to hear “Let’s Go Temple” early and often and not just when they get behind.
My guess is Temple is just concentrating on being the best Temple the Owls can be:
Here’s what the Owls must do:
1) Get away from the ground-and-pound philosophy they used so much in the first three games. Sure, the Owls can run the ball but only after establishing the pass as a viable threat. Roll Chris Coyer out of the pocket and hit those five-yard slants to playmakers like Jalen Fitzpatrick, Romond Deloatch and Khalif Herbin. Then go back to the run behind right tackle Martin Wallace after Wyatt Benson leads either Matty Brown or Montel Harris through the hole. Mix it up. Get both Harris and Brown in space by utilizing screen passes, shovel passes and pitchouts.
2) Play Temple defense. That means swarming to the ball and sacking the quarterback. It also means being aggressive  when the ball is in the air. That’s Vaughn Carraway’s ball as much as it is the receivers. Step in front of it and pick it off, rather than let the guy catch it and tackling him 20 yards down the field. Keep B.J. Daniels in the pocket, but get after him, too.
3) Make special teams plays that make a difference. It’s time for Brown  to bust a big one.
4) Bring the Temple swagger back. The Owls must play confidently and aggressively, not the passive team on their heels that we saw the last two games. Think back to how the Owls played in a 42-0 win over Ball State and a 34-0 win over Buffalo last year for reference.

Picks this week: BOSTON COLLEGE giving 9 1/2 at Army; WEST VIRGINIA getting 7 at Texas; UCLA giving 2 1/2 at California.
Locks of the week: None
Record: 4-1 overall, 1-1 locks of the week (had Toledo as a pick at Western Michigan and Rockets won, 37-17; lost with Ball State at Kent State).

Tomorrow: Complete analysis of the game

Dick Kenney’s barefoot FG gave MSU a 10-0 lead over ND in 1966.

The first “Game of the Century” of my lifetime was the infamous 1966 showdown between host Michigan State and Notre Dame.
Infamous, because Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseighan elected to fall on the ball with a 10-10 tie rather than go for the win. Notre Dame was ranked No. 1 at the time, Michigan State No. 2. That might have had something to do with the decision.
Too young to remember it, but I read up about it when subsequent “Games of the Century” followed in 1968 (Harvard vs. Yale) and 1971 (Oklahoma vs. Nebraska).
By 1971, I was old enough to know that “Game of the Century” didn’t mean “Games of the Century” so I did some research.
All three had legitimate claims.
Notre Dame was No. 1, Michigan No. 2.
Nebraska No. 1, Oklahoma No. 2.
Harvard and Yale?
The last game between Ivy League schools when one (Yale, ranked No. 22) was nationally relevant.

All great hype, all great games.
A lot of debate there, so I couldn’t decide.
That got me to thinking.
What is Temple’s Game of the Century?
Since this century technically started in 2001, I’ve narrowed it down to two choices:
Eagle Bank Bowl, 2009
Temple vs. South Florida, 2012
Eagle Bank Bowl is a fine choice because that was Temple’s first trip to a bowl in 30 years and gave the Owls an opportunity to beat a “name” opponent (UCLA) on national TV. The Owls fell short in that one, 30-21, primarily because franchise running back Bernard Pierce pulled a hammy and didn’t play in the second half after leading the Owls to a 21-10 lead.
Tomorrow’s Temple vs. South Florida game is a better choice, at least in my mind.
That’s because Temple is in the UNIQUE position (unlike any other team in the United States) to play a first game in a conference that kicked it out for being non-competitive and the statement Temple can make is to beat an opponent who got votes as the best team in the Big East in a pre-season poll.
In fact, Louisville got 24 votes to finish in first place. South Florida got the other four.
Temple has gotten hammered in the Big East media and elsewhere for losing its non-conference games in a conference that has three unbeaten teams. Even South Florida (Nevada) has a quality win.
Temple does not.
Yet.
If Temple wins, it gets to make a statement it could not make in any other game this century, beating a team that was at least going into the season considered one of the best two in the conference. It can make a statement before a large Homecoming Day crowd saying 26 wins in three years is no fluke and not the product of being in the MAC.
If Temple loses, it’s just another game and could cause an unexpected slide backward.
If Temple wins, it’s saying something else, like Temple is a contender for the title right now, not five years down the road. Montel Harris’ dream of leading the Owls to the Orange Bowl remains alive.
Game of the Century?
You bet.
And that ain’t no hyperbole, pardon my French.

Tomorrow: Game Day Preview

The clock is certainly ticking on all of us and, when someone remembers the good works we did as youngsters, it means a lot.
When I was a kid, Doug Shobert was my favorite quarterback.
I remember Shobert well.

Lance Johnstone as an Owl.

He didn’t play for my pro team, the Philadelphia Eagles, but he played for my favorite college team, the Temple Owls.
Shobert was Wayne Hardin’s first quarterback at Temple and he will be inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday with the other football inductee, Lance Johnstone.
I blacked out during Johnstone’s years because the Owls never won more than two games in any of them but I also remember Johnstone as a tough player who did the Owls proud. I don’t remember Lance as I do Doug, primarily because the Owls won in the Shobert days pretty much all the time.
Lance, though, did something Doug didn’t do: Have a career in the NFL.
Lance, though, broke Steve Conjar’s record for tackles in a season with 288 and Conjar was a helluva player.
Ironically enough, Shobert broke the record for completion percentage in the North-South game set by another high-profile Hardin quarterback, a guy named Roger “The Dodger” Staubach.
So Shobert was taught well.

Homecoming weather should be great.

Later, as a sports writer in Doylestown, I covered some of Shobert’s Quakertown teams. Shobert went on on a high note in 1987, with an 8-3-1 season, as head coach of the Panthers (I still think Quakertown should be named the Quakers). After dealing with him professionally, I can truly say that Doug was/is as great a person as he was a quarterback.
His wife at the time, Cookie Shobert, was a reporter for the Quakertown Free Press.
At the other end of our coverage area at the time, in Upper Moreland, I also dealt with Joe Injaychock, who was head coach there. Injaychock started at cornerback on the same teams Shobert played for at Temple. I don’t think Joe is going to make the Temple Hall of Fame, but he was a good high school football coach and part of a terrific cornerback tandem with Joe Cioffi.
A lot of good football minds came out of those teams and they owe the education to Hardin, the greatest football mind of all.
On Saturday, remain in the stands at halftime and give both Shobert and Johnstone a rousing ovation.

Tomorrow Fast Forward Friday: Biggest Temple game this century?

Steve Addazio talks the new E-O with TFF partner No2-minutewarning.com

Approaching 10 years later, Temple fans have to read the same things being said about the program that were said back then:
“Temple is bringing the conference down. Temple is poop. Temple shouldn’t be here.”
A quick survey of Big East message boards and that’s the predominant reaction. Quick was all my stomach could take. That RU board is one example. The rest of the Big East pretty much feels the same way.
Perception is reality throughout the Big East.
It’s not my reality, though.

As this photo aptly demonstrates, the great majority of fans at last year’s TU-PSU game were wearing Cherry. Hopefully, the Owls get a big and loud crowd for Homecoming.

I still think this is a Temple team that has under-performed to date and will get better as the season progresses.
The Owls need to get that old Temple swagger back, the one that allowed the team to win 16 of its last 20 games at Lincoln Financial Field.
Swarming on defense, picking off balls in the air instead of allowing the receiver to catch it and tackle him 20 yards downfield, is a good place to start. It would help if the Owls pass rushers, led by John Youboty and Sean Daniels, get to the quarterback and put him down instead of being a split-second too late like they were at Penn State. I hope they take a look at Adrian Robinson’s spin move and sprinter’s speed dash to the QB for pointers on how it’s done.
I think the offense will be OK now that Steve Addazio and Ryan Day have had three games to determine how best to move the ball. The Owls have weapons all over the place in quarterback Chris Coyer, RBs Montel Harris and Matty Brown and 6-6 WR Deon Miller and speedsters Jalen Fitzpatrick, Romond Deloatch and Khalif Herbin. Deloatch, Herbin and Sam Benjamin, all true freshmen, have been running with the first team this week. It’s just a matter of getting them the ball in space where they can do their thing. Pounding the ball up the middle is not this team’s thing. It may be Penn State’s, but it’s not Temple’s.
I still think that the schedule isn’t as demanding as some people make it out to be.
So, when Temple plays South Florida on Saturday (noon, LFF), the Owls will be playing for respect.
Lose, and we have to listen to that poop talk for one more week.
Win, and some eyebrows get raised (although I wouldn’t be surprised if the result of the win is for the rest of the conference to hammer USF).
Win that winnable game and a winnable game against UConn next week and more than eyebrows get raised.
Listen, it’s not going to be easy. USF won at a very good Nevada team, yet it lost to a mediocre Ball State team. The Bulls are an enigma.
If the Owls play well, they can beat anybody on their schedule. If they play poorly, they can also lose to anybody.
The Owls ripped off four-straight wins to end the season last year.
Ripping off four straight here would change a lot of perceptions about Temple once and for all.
Now is the time to do it.

Hopefully, the presser above was the last SA will have to meet the media after a loss.

Love the return of the shovel pass to Matty Brown and Montel Harris. That’s the first time I’ve seen Temple use that play since the Wayne Hardin Era. Get Brown and Harris in space, not between the tackles, and watch them go.

Going into the season, I felt this was the most intriguing one in a long time, maybe ever, for Temple fans.
Now it’s shaping up as a strange one with a crossroad coming up in six days.
A return to the Big East after being the only school ever evicted from a major conference offered a chance for some sweet redemption.
Now, after the first three games, I don’t know what to think except that the Temple football team I saw the last two games should have been better than that. Maybe the best competition is in the past. Villanova (4-1) is better than expected. Maryland lost by three to UConn, but stayed in the game against No. 8 West Virginia. Penn State hammered Illinois, 35-7.
It’s Temple’s turn to impress this week.
This week’s theme is “Get ‘er done.”
If Pete Lembo and Ball State can deliver their fans a win over USF,  Steve Addazio and Temple should do the same for Temple fans.
Whatever Ball State did to beat USF should be copied and done better by Temple. William and Mary stayed in the game against Maryland by relentlessly blitzing a true freshman quarterback and Ohio beat Penn State by negating a Big 10 pass rush with a short passing game that featured quick slants. Ohio bled PSU to death with nickel-and-dime passes, then would take a deep shot downfield.
There was no evidence Temple tried to copy the same thoughtful strategies against Maryland or Penn State.
That was disappointing.
The Temple players and coaches should win on Homecoming  Day for all the Temple fans who were disappointed by the Maryland and Penn State outcomes but, most importantly, for themselves . They know they are better than this. It’s time to show it.
There are five encouraging things going forward into the last eight games of the season:

Owl QB situation is in good hands with CC.

CHRIS COYER _ The most important position on the team is in good hands. The team dropped eight passes against Maryland and seven more against Penn State. If just half of those passes get caught, Coyer’s quarterback rating is among the best in the Big East. I just watched the Penn State game replay and both announcers were raving over him, saying this is a kid you can win with and that’s something I’ve been saying all along. In fact, they said far more positive things about Coyer than Matt McGloin.

Ryan Alderman: Sure-handed

DROPPING THE DROPPERS _ The Temple coaching staff has had three game tapes to evaluate who is dropping the passes. I don’t think we need to go into that here, but Jalen Fitzpatrick, Ryan Alderman, Cody Booth and Romond Deloatch can all go after and catch the ball. Keep them in the rotation. I’m somewhat surprised we haven’t seen more of Khalif Herbin, but maybe they are grooming him to be an RB replacement for Matty Brown next year instead of the slot WR they recruited him to be. He needs to get on the field in some capacity, though. He’s a touchdown-maker. If you think he’s too small to be an RB, just remember this: He’s two inches taller and 20 pounds  heavier than Brown.

Get Montel Harris “in space” and watch him go.

OFFENSIVE RECOGNITION _  Addazio said all season “we’re going to run the ball, I promise you that.” After two games of running into a brick wall, I think even he recognizes that the way to move the ball is to get Coyer out of the pocket and strike fear in a defense with the ball in Coyer’s hand, the same way the Eagles do with the ball in Michael Vick’s hand rolling out. Coyer should pump once. If no receivers are open, take off. If the DBs come up on run support, float the ball over their heads to wide-open receivers. Then take a few cracks at the running game, not the other way around. Love the return of the shovel pass to Matty Brown and Montel Harris. That’s the first time I’ve seen Temple use that play since the Wayne Hardin Era. Get Brown and Harris in space, not between the tackles, and watch them go. Harris showed what he could do against PSU with a late long gain that set up the touchdown.

It’s only a matter of time before he breaks one.

SPECIAL TEAMS _ Brandon McManus is one of the top placekickers and punters in the nation. In a close game, he will win it for Temple. Field position should be in Temple’s advantage the rest of the season and, in Matty Brown, Temple has one of the top returners in the nation. It’s just a matter of time before he breaks one. I hope it’s Saturday.

Whenever TU fans have to watch UConn football, they think of this.

Not that you could tell it by the last two games, but a Saturday without Temple football is a Saturday without sunshine.
Since there will be no sunshine tomorrow (literally, as well as figuratively), I will be out for a three-hour jog during most of the early football games.  I’ll have the headset on set to scan to pick up whatever games I can get on the radio.
When I get home, I hope to check in on some games on TV.
These are five games Temple fans should care about tomorrow since they involve past and future foes (my picks are underlined):

Buffalo at UConn two years ago.

Buffalo at Connecticut (noon, 6ABC) _ Buffalo is pretty putrid this year, even more so than recent years, and this should be an easy UCONN win, something on the order of 36-7. Buffalo lost to a Kent State team that got blown out by Kentucky. UConn lost to a Western Michigan team that got hammered by Illinois, which lost by four touchdowns to Louisiana Tech. We’re talking last-place Big East vs. last-place MAC and even though the top of the MAC has proven to be better than the top of the Big East this year, the BE bottom half is better than the bottom half of the MAC. Huskies should easily cover the 16 1/2.

Penn State at Illinois (noon, ESPN) _ Don’t have the foggiest idea why the Lions are 1 1/2-point underdogs, but I think they should win the game outright. Louisiana Tech’s passing game exposed the Illinois’ defensive backs and I think PSU has enough of an improved quick-strike passing attack to do the same.

Stony Brook at Army (noon, CBS Sports Network) _ Stony Brook gave Syracuse a good game. If that was a one-time deal, I would pick Army but Stony Brook also took UTEP into overtime last year and UTEP took an unbeaten (at the time and for most of last year) Houston team into overtime as well. Army is the FBS program, but this is one time where the FCS program prevails. No line since this is a FCS/FBS matchup.

Virginia Tech at Cincinnati (3:30, ESPNU) _ I previously thought Cincinnati, not Louisville,  was the best team in the Big East and that was reinforced by a 34-10 win over Pitt. But Cincy struggled to a 23-7 team over a Delaware State team Delaware beat by 48-14. Virginia Tech lost to Pitt, but I think that was more an abberation than the Cincy struggle because of the Hokies’ solid body of work elsewhere and I think Frank Beamer and company should have no problem with the touchdown cover.

Florida State at South Florida (6 p.m., ESPN) _ A must-see for all Owls, players and coaches.  Hopefully, the Seminoles running roughshod over the Bulls won’t make the Owls overconfident because any team that loses to Maryland shouldn’t be overconfident against anybody. Still, I’m a little concerned that Temple’s coaches didn’t follow Ohio’s game plan to beat Penn State (short passing game) or William and Mary’s game plan to stay in the game against Maryland (blitzing on defense) so I’m hoping Steve Addazio and Chuck Heater are using this telecast to take copious notes. Florida State should win this game easily, but I wouldn’t bet the 17-point spead. This could be something in the order of 31-14, 37-23. This is a game to stay away from at all cost which, for me, is nothing. For TU’s sake, I hope USF wins but I don’t think that’s possible.

Locks of the week: Ball State (giving 1) at Kent State and Toledo, a pick at Western Michigan.