02.08.12
by

Memphis and Temple by the numbers

In addition to 2-, 1- and 2-win seasons the past 3 years, Memphis adds this fan base to BE football.

Memphis-Temple by numbers:

  • TV market (Temple 4th, 2,993,370 households; Memphis 49th, 669,940)

  • Full-time students (Temple 39,386; Memphis 22,755)

  • 2011 avg. football attendance (Temple 28,060; Memphis 20,078)

  • 2011 football record (Temple 9-4; Memphis 2-10)

  • 2010 football record (Temple 8-4; Memphis 1-11)

  • 2009 football record (Temple 9-4; Memphis 2-10)

  • 2011-12 current basketball record (Temple 17-5; Memphis 16-7)

  • 2012 football recruiting rank (Temple 54th, 1st in MAC; Memphis 87th, 6th in CUSA)

    • If there’s one famous quote that sums up Temple’s long-running sad saga with the Big East, it might be something Damon Runyon once said: “The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.” Runyon’s quote was in in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Big East these days. By adding Memphis to ostensibly replace West Virginia today, the Big East inadvertently might have set the charges to blow up its own house. The BE is neither swift nor strong, bereft of men of understanding and today’s chance decision could prove its undoing. Memphis is the worst program in college football today and has been for the last three years. This story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal talks about the school’s putrid attendance and provides a photo of an Oct. 15 game against East Carolina. Despite what it looks like, it was not an end zone photo.

    Without a doubt, the smartest Owl
    ever (Wayne Hardin) meets the
    swiftest Owl ever (4.29 speedster
    Travis Shelton) at a luncheon
    on Monday.

    Now, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by an excellent reporter named Paul Zeise, Pitt is saying, “Hey, if West Virginia can leave by 2012, so can we” and may petition for early admission to the ACC. Syracuse could soon follow.
    Can you say implosion?
    Hey, at this rate, Villanova might be the only team left.
    From Temple’s standpoint, chaos is good.
    The more teams leave the BE, the better the chances that the Catholic Cartel’s blocking of Temple fails in the next go around which could be as early as weeks and months and not years.
    Does Temple want to even join this ship of fools?
    Well, yeah.

    College football is about the break off into the haves and have-nots and, no matter what you say about the current Big East group (even the leftovers), they are still part of the haves and probably will be.
    Big East schools will have a seat at that dinner table.
    Pressing their noses at the window looking in at the feast will be CUSA and MAC teams, unfortunately.
    They won’t even get scraps and, as a result, probably starve and die of hunger.
    Temple could stay in the MAC, but who’s to say what configuration college football will have for traditional MAC teams five years from now. I don’t want Temple to be in that group to find out.
    Implosion?
    Bring it on.

    02.02.12
    by

    Final month boosts Owls into ‘][‘op spot

    The 2012 Temple football recruiting class.

    Kevin Newsome was No. 2 PSU QB in 2009.

    Well, there were the 2010 baseball Giants and the 1993 Phillies and, now, you can put the 2012 Temple football Owls into that elite group.
    All three teams went from worst to first in a very short time.
    For the two baseball teams, we’re talking about last-place to first-place finishes in pennant races within a 365-day period.
    For our beloved football Owls, we’re talking about being ranked dead last in MAC recruiting (by Scout.com) as late as November to being ranked No. 1 (by both Scout and Rivals.com).
    From my money, give me Temple’s performance in football as being the most impressive.
    Steve Addazio carried the baton to the finish line to grab gold like Carl Lewis in the Olympic 400-meter relay race, getting the No. 7 all-purpose running back in the nation in Jamie Gilmore and Penn State transfer Kevin Newsome (once rated the No. 10 overall recruit in the nation) in the final days.
    The last Penn State quarterback who transferred to Temple, Steve Joachim, merely won the Maxwell Trophy emblematic of college football’s best player (1974). Here is a trip into the Newsome “way back” machine, if you consider Dec. of 2008 way back.

    Robinson: I’ve always loved Temple.

    Throw in Archbishop Wood defensive back Nate Smith, a West Virginia decommit that we talked about here on Saturday night, and the Owls moved to the top with bullet-like speed.
    Now I don’t put too much emphasis on stars because they are skewed in favor of the big-conference teams but this is the most impressive fact about the current Temple Owl group:
    Nineteen (yes, 19) of the 28 turned down offers (not just interest) by BCS schools to attend Temple.
    That, my friends, is how you win championships and I expect this group will join the current Owls in winning multiple titles, whether it is in the MAC or the Big East or somewhere else.
    This sent me scouring over the recruiting guides I got from attending Al Golden signing days and the highest number of definite BCS turn downs (not including the vague notion of interest) was Al Golden’s second recruiting class and that was a harvest of nine.
    I’m not sure how Addazio was able to quantify this as “Temple’s best recruiting class ever” which he did, but Daz can certainly make a strong argument that this is better than any Golden recruiting class. Best ever might be a little strong, since Temple recruiting classes brought in by Wayne Hardin and Bruce Arians were competing against a high BCS schedule, not one weighed down by eight MAC games a season.

    Still, the high school deeds of the playing coming into Temple University take a back seat to no era.
    Averee Robinson was 43-0 as a state championship wrestler during his junior year but said “truth be told, I really enjoy football more” and “I’ve always loved Temple.” Do you love this kid or what? With that kind of attitude, it won’t be long before he comes out from under brother Adrian’s shadow. He’s built low to the ground (6-1, 290) but nobody has the kind of leverage he does.
    Adrian’s number at Temple was 43, the same number of wins Averee had in wrestling last year and the same number of touchdowns Gilmore scored.

    Herbin ran away from
    the competition in N.J.

    Khalif Herbin also scored 36 rushing touchdowns against outstanding competition and averaged a sick 13.1 yards a carry from the line of scrimmage, often while taking off the entire second half because his Montclair (N.J.) team was benefiting from the Mercy Rule. I know they have him listed as a slot receiver, but I’d really like to see Daz give Herbin a shot at running back. Hey, if it worked for 5-5, 150-pound Matty Brown it will work for 5-7, 170-pound Herbin.
    This story calls Herbin “arguably the most electrifying player in the state” but I did not get a single argument when I asked a North Jersey colleague who would be the other part of that argument.
    “Nobody,” he said. “I guess the writer just wanted to use the word arguably but, honestly, there was no close second.”
    Truth be told, to borrow a phrase from Averee Robinson.

    For a complete list of bios and photos click here:

    02.01.12
    by

    ‘][‘ime to sign on the dotted ‘]["

    North Marion’s Jamie Gilmore could have gone anywhere. He chose Temple.

    Wednesday morning update: All 28 Temple recruiting targets have signed their LOIs, according to TU football office … complete bios and videos in TFF tomorrow

    This year’s event
    NOT open to public

    PHILADELPHIA – Wednesday, Feb. 1 is National Signing Day for football.
    Temple head coach Steve Addazio will discuss the 2012 recruiting class in a 4 p.m. media conference. This year’s event is not open to the public.
    Fans will be able to watch the press conference LIVE on OwlSports.com.
    Biographies and videos of the signees will be posted on OwlSports.com.
    Temple football opens spring drills in March, concluding with the annual Cherry & White Game on April 14.

    You can have the Super Bowl, World Series and the NBA finals but, to me, National Signing Day rates right up there with the first day of the NCAA Tournament as the most exciting sports day of the year.
    (Heck, I won the Inquirer’s NCAA pool last year so I have a personal stake in why the first day of the tournament will be extra special this year.)
    For Temple football fans, though, it’s ‘][‘ Day today, Feb. 1.
    It might have something to do with my teams not (like almost never) being in the Super Bowl rarely in the World Series and that I’m not a big fan of the NBA but National Signing Day has a special appeal.
    First, it’s an example of the circle of life.
    As sad as I am to see Bernard Pierce leave the household dinner table (although he did leave before desert), that’s how happy I am to welcome guys like Brandon Peoples, Jamie Gilmore, Khalif Herbin and Montrell Dobbs into the Temple family.
    I hope they work out as well as Bernard and, say, a lot better than Daryl Robinson, Tony “Soul Train” Cornelius or Eric Reynolds did.
    Only time will tell.
    

    Nate Smith decommited from West Virginia for TU.

    
    When the fax machine in the Edberg-Olsen Complex starts rolling today, the first 25 sheets of signed names will have Temple University football scholarships.
    Later that night, at the Liacouras Center, head coach Steve Addazio will be hosting a press conference to talk about the recruits. It will not be open to the public, but can be watched online.
    In the past, fans got to see the recruits on film and they looked like Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus on the big not-yet-HDTV screen.
    Gilmore is the No. 7-ranked all-purpose running back in the nation. (Thank you, Daz. That is just what this doctored ordered after Bernard Pierce left.)
    It’s a beautiful night that way.
    It might not be a rite of spring, but it’s certainly a rite of Groundhog’s Day Eve.
    On the average, no more than five of the signees provide immediate help to the next varsity team but I can see at least this much help in the current class.
    Gilmore and Herbin I see as helping right away.
    Once Daz gets over this notion of using Harrisburg’s Jalen Fitzpatrick as a running back and moves him into his more natural slot receiver role (picture a more explosive Joey Jones), it’ll be up to guys like Herbin, Gilmore and Peoples to fight for that coveted backup tailback spot to Matty Brown. (The way I read the NCAA partial qualifier rule is that Dobbs won’t be eligible to play for the 2012 Owls.)
    If there is an area of need in this class, that’s it _ a reliable and explosive Brown backup.
    Although I would like to see the Owls move Kenny Harper over to safety to bolster that side of the ball, I think they are pretty much OK in other areas. Deon Miller should be a big-time wide receiver. If Fitzpatrick has any hands at all, he should complement him on the other side with a reliable “Wes Welker-like” type in Ryan Alderman as a probable starter.
    Daz’s final three days produced a harvest (West Virginia DB de-commit Nate Smith has joined the fold) that should push this group to the top the MAC-rated classes.
    That’s not as important now as it will be five years from now but help, to quote John Kerry, is on the way.

    01.29.12
    by

    TU people needs Peoples

    An idea of the Brandon Peoples’ running style.

    Just by sheer dumb luck, I ran into Brandon Peoples the other night.
    I was coming out of the LA Fitness Center and holding the door right in front of me was a young man wearing an Archbishop Wood jacket and “B. Peoples” across the back.
    “Welcome to Temple,” I blurted out.
    He flashed a broad smile and an inquistive look.
    “How’d you know that?” he asked.
    I told him I’m a big Temple football fan.
    We shook hands.

    Potential TU backups at RB

    (numbers represent rushing figures during each player’s final high school season while playing the tailback position:
    Kenny Harper, Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz (2010) _ 17 carries, 179 yards, three touchdowns (mostly played defense).

    Brandon Peoples

    Darius Johnson, Philadelphia Overbrook (2007) _ 147 carries, 1051 yards, nine touchdowns (his last high school year was indeed 2007).
    Brandon Peoples, Archbishop Wood (2011) _ 103 carries, 1,013 yards, 22 touchdowns.
    Spencer Reid, Harriton (2010) _ 142 carries, 960 yards, 12 touchdowns.
    Note: Khalif Herbin and Jalen Fitzpatrick, currently tabbed as slot receivers, had the most mind-boggling senior year rushing stats but those came out of the quarterback position. Herbin (Montclair, N.J.), had 105 carries, 1,950 yards and 43 touchdowns. Fitzpatrick, from Harrisburg, finished his senior year with 1,116 yards rushing with 13 TDs on 115 carries.
    Sources: tedsilary.com, pennlive.com, NJ.com., Gainesville Sun.

    “Good luck, man,” I said.
    “Thanks,” he said.
    (Geez, I should have asked him if he was related to Gary Peoples. I used to play fullcourt noontime pickup basketball 20 or so years ago at the Doylestown YMCA with a great player from Abington named Gary Peoples. The next time I see Brandon, I will ask.)
    If I had left LA Fitness five SECONDS later or five seconds earlier, I might have never crossed paths with Brandon Peoples until he arrived at Temple. Funny how those things happen. Heck, I did not even know he worked out at the same place I do. (And I only go to that LA Fitness because they have the TVs attached to the cardio machines.)
    Meanwhile, I’ve thought about that “good luck” remark for the past couple of days.
    A real smart man once said that luck is result of opportunity and hard work.
    It appears to me now that the opportunity part is right there for Brandon Peoples.
    Matty Brown is the No. 1 back and he’s earned it. Heck, I might be prejudiced by I think Matty Brown is the best running back in the Mid-American Conference by far and that’s not an indictment of the MAC as it is my belief that Matty is THAT good.
    The opportunity comes right behind Brown and that’s where Peoples comes into play.
    Right now, Temple’s backups at tailback are (in no particular order) Spencer Reid, Jalen Fitzpatrick, Kenny Harper and Darius Johnson. None of them had particular distinguished high school careers running the football.
    Peoples, on the other hand, did have an outstanding career running the football.
    What was that Bill Parcells said?
    Oh  yeah: “The best predictor of future success is past success.” (I wish Al Golden would have consulted that mantra before signing Vaughn Charlton, but that’s a whole other story.)
    Temple is about to sign a megastar in Montrell Dobbs, but it appears as though Dobbs won’t be eligible for the 2012 season.
    It does not look like that Addazio will reach out and get a big-time JUCO at the last minute, like Tiger Powell of Lake City, Fla.
    That leaves the incoming recruits, led by Peoples.
    I used to get Brandon and his cousin, Desmond, confused.
    They both have the same last name.
    They both played for Archbishop Wood.
    I solved that by associating Brandon Peoples with another BP (Bernard Pierce).
    If this BP has even half the career the other BP had, Temple’s peoples (fans) will be pleased.

    01.28.12
    by

    Source: RU leaning toward Flood

    Call me naive, but I believe him.

    In a perfect world, Steve Addazio would take the microphone at halftime at today’s St. Joseph’s University at Temple basketball game and say something like:
    “I was offered an opportunity to interview for the head coaching job at Rutgers yesterday and I declined. I’m not going anywhere. Temple is where I wanted to be all along and this university is better-positioned to do great things than Rutgers.”
    Cue the thunderous applause from the 10,006 fans in attendance.
    Band breaks out into T for Temple U.
    Students storm the court at halftime to slap Daz on the back.
    Owls finish up their rout of St. Joe.
    As we all know this is not a perfect world and that probably won’t happen.
    (Don’t say I didn’t throw the suggestion out there, though.)
    Still, Temple fans should calm down.
    I have a good friend who I worked with here, now working in North Jersey, who said his paper is earlier today was about  to break the story that Florida International University (FIU) coach Mario Cristobal will accept the head coaching job. If that fails, current assistant Kyle Flood would be the fall-back choice.
    Now it looks like Cristobal doesn’t see the Rutgers’ job as the Alabama of the North (only Rutgers’ fans are that delusional) and he’s going to pass.
    That opens up the, err, floodgates for Flood.
    Flood would not be the big splash RU fans are looking for but Greg Schiano’s leaving for Tampa Bay made the timing bad all around.
    Pernetti was given permission to speak with Addazio, but that never made it past the phone call stage according to my source.
    The guy is a first-rate reporter and I believe him.
    Still, I long for the days when Temple football had coaches like Harry Litwack, John Chaney and Fran Dunphy, guys who see  the Owls as a destination not just a step along the way.
    I long for the days when Temple football had a guy like Bruce Arians, who did not take the Virginia Tech job when it was flat-out offered to him (not just an interview), saying, “I couldn’t leave my Temple kids.”
    I long for the days when we had a guy like Wayne Hardin, who turned down the offensive coordinators’ job with the Dallas Cowboys to stay and do big things at Temple.
    Before the game with Wyoming, Steve Addazio said he was that kind of guy, saying that he loved Temple and could see this as his last stop.
    I sense that Steve is different than Al Golden in that he is principled and loyal enough not to leave after one year at Temple.

    01.25.12
    by

    Joe Paterno and Temple

    Joe Paterno and Wayne Hardin promote series.

    By Mike Gibson
    Every death is an incredibly sad thing, but I can’t help but think Joe Paterno’s passing on Sunday was sadder than most.
    Paterno was faced with reporting a repugnant crime, something none of us ever even think about, and he went to someone who was effectively the head of the Penn State police department.
    I thought he did his duty.
    He could have done more and, in retrospect, he would have done more.
    I don’t think that should erase all of the wonderful things he did for Penn State in particular and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in general.
    The true measure of a man is how many people whose lives he has touched in a positive way and I think Paterno more than met the measure.
    I’ve never even been aware of a man who came into contact, directly or indirectly, through more Pennsylvanians than Joe Paterno.
    My colleague at the Inquirer and fellow Temple News sports editor, Joe Juliano, often told me great stories of the “off-the-record” cocktail parties for Penn State beat writers. Paterno held them at his modest home a block or two away from Beaver Stadium. I wish I could tell you some of those stories, but off the record means off the record to me.
    Even after the man’s death.
    Paterno would have a cocktail or two and loosen up, giving the reporters a more human side of the legend.
    When it comes to Temple, I have my own Paterno story.
    As I young Temple fan, I read an anecdote that appeared, ironically enough, in a Bill Conlin column in  in the Philadelphia Daily News about Temple signing a deal to play Penn State beginning in 1975.
    “The guy who scheduled Temple must have been drunk,” Conlin quoted Paterno as saying, referring to the PSU athletic director at the time.
    Who knows, maybe Conlin both picked up the quote at one of those cocktail parties and violated a confidence mentioning the exchange.
    I have a strong suspicion both of the above are correct.
    Either way, the remark stirred enough of my fuel that I wrote Paterno a letter (back in those days we wrote handwritten letters), detailing how improved Temple was and that the Owls would be a worthy foe.
    Paterno wrote me a letter back, also handwritten, and admitted to the quote but said he was first against the idea but, upon refection, thought the series would be a “great gift to our wonderful Philadelphia alumni.”
    (Originally, the plan was to play all of the games in Philadelphia but that changed when the first one ended in a 26-25 win for Penn State at Franklin Field in 1975.)
    At the end of the letter, Paterno wrote:
    “Good luck to Temple.”
    I wish I had saved it but, to the best of my knowledge, it was in a shoe box I lost in one of my many moves since.
    Later, while working at the Doylestown Intelligencer, I fielded a call every Thursday morning from Paterno to Terry Nau, the sports editor of the Intel at that time. Nau and Paterno were friends from State College, where Nau was sports editor of the defunct daily the Pennsylvania Mirror.
    I was floored when he first called.
    “Hold on, Mr. Paterno,” I said.
    “Mike, it’s Joe,” Paterno said.
    “OK, here’s Terry.”
    On one of the calls, I mentioned to him that I wrote him a letter as a kid about the resumption of the Temple series and thanked him for his handwritten response.
    He said he remembered. He might have just said that, but I chose to think he really did remember.
    Love the guy, but always wanted to beat him just once to get back for the drunk comment.

    01.23.12
    by

    Auburn gets a great OC in Scot Loeffler

    Scot Loeffler’s first press conference at Auburn starts at 0:30 timestamp.

    If you are an Auburn football fan, you’ve got to be feeling pretty good today.
    Heck, you might not know who Scot Loeffler is but, trust me, you’ve got to be feeling pretty good today.
    The most unpopular guy on a struggling football offense is either the starting quarterback or the offensive coordinator.
    Scot Loeffler was Temple’s offensive coordinator for one season and all you need to know is that every Owl fan loved the guy and the plays he called.

    That came one year after EVERYBODY hated the guy who preceded him, Matt Rhule. (Well, everybody loved the guy but hated the plays he called and the overall offensive scheme, which was bleeped up for want of a better term.)
    Rhule’s offense, broken into its most basic terms, was this:
    First down _ Handoff to Bernard Pierce (or Matt Brown);
    Second down _ Handoff to Bernard Pierce (or Matt Brown);
    Third down _ Pass (usually resulting in a sack);
    Fourth down _ Punt.
    The second page of Matt Rhule’s playbook is illustrated in the graphic here. All you need to know is that the graphic was made by the most precocious 17-year-old Owl fan ever. And there was not one long-time Owl fan sitting in the stands who disagreed with him. The only person I came across who supported Rhule was the father of a Rhule recruit and I run into a lot of Owl fans. Even more importantly, I know what I see and smell and it didn’t pass the vision and smell test with Rhule.
    Loeffler passed with flying colors.
    For one year at least, Loeffler injected some imagination into the offense.

    The Matt Rhule offense
    Egad, passes on first down, a waggle to a talented tight end to open things up for an NFL running back.
    Second down runs.
    Touchdowns.
    Who would have thought?

    The Rhule Apologists  say it was because Al Golden was a micromanager.
    I’m not buying it.
    I sincerely hope that Addazio doesn’t promote Rhule to his old job. Matt would be much more valuable in the role of special teams’ head coach.
    We need a new guy in charge of the offense.
    Otherwise, it’ll be Matty Brown left, Matty Brown right and an incomplete pass on third down.
    That’s not my idea of an offense.
    Fortunately, it won’t be that way for Auburn fans this fall. I expect Loeffler will see what the defense gives him and take it.
    I also, sadly, fully expect Daz to hire Matt Rhule as his new offensive coordinator. Rhule’s title was “co-offensive coordinator” this season if that’s any clue.
    My fervent hope is that he does not change that to sole offensive coordinator.
    Daz, your move. Show me you are a better CEO than Al Golden.

    

    This play will work with Alex Jackson next season, too.

    

    01.18.12
    by

    Recruiting heads into the home stretch

    Khalif Herbin is about two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than Matty Brown. Otherwise, the two games are very similar as you can see here.

    

    Khalif Herbin’s 2011 rushing stats

    College football has evolved in the last 20 years in a lot of ways I’m not all that excited about.
    One of the ways is the BCS and the power that group of schools have over the other half of the schools who attempt to play FBS football.
    It’s not fair when six conferences get automatic bids into BCS games while the conferences on the outside looking in have to go without a loss even to be considered for a seat at the table.
    Not fair at all.
    It’s particularly disconcerning that one of the few “good” rules curtailing that kind of power was overturned two years ago surrounding  bowl games. Back then, in the good old days, a 6-6 BCS team could not be considered for a bowl over a 7-5 team, no matter what conference you come from. Likewise, a 7-5 team over an 8-4 team and so on and so forth.
    The BCS schools, naturally, got together to overturn that rule.
    Not fair again.
    Recruiting has evolved pretty much the same way.
    Non-BCS staffs can work their asses off to assemble a recruiting class to be proud of, only to see the BCS vultures swipe in at the last minute and snatch some of their best recruits away.
    Not fair again, but get the trend here?
    So I take recruiting with a very large grain (make that boulder) of salt when it comes to Temple football.

    As excited as I was for some of Al Golden’s classes, I learned to wait until the ink is dry on the dotted line before assessing the harvest.
    Golden spent five years here pushing that rock uphill and he did a pretty darn good job, even though Addazio flattened him with it when he “stole” Tyler Murphy away from Temple.
    In those days, Addazio was pushing the rock downhill as Florida’s top recruiter.
    The closest I ever came to contacting a recruit came was when a top-flight one was considering Temple three years ago.
    I heard he committed, but I wanted to make sure so I dashed off an email to a sports writer I knew in that state. I’ll call him Doug because that’s his name.
    “Geez, his father was a boyhood friend of mine,” Doug said, “why don’t you ask him? Here’s his phone number and his email.”
    “You sure it’s OK?”
    “Yeah, he’s a good guy and a  straight-shooter.”
    My colleague Doug was right and the kid did sign at Temple after all and the father turned out to be a good guy from the get-go.
    Still is.
    That was the closest I came and still it didn’t feel right, so I stay out of the process altogether now.
    I believe all fans should do likewise, even in these days of instantaneous social media.
    Generally speaking, though, I’ll be a little more excited to see a tailback who can hit the home run like Bernard Pierce or a pass rusher who can put a quarterback on his ass like Adrian Robinson than I would recruits at, say, other positions.
    That’s the kind of immediate help Temple needs now.
    Temple’s got maybe the best quarterback in the league in Chris Coyer and the best tailback in Matty Brown, but I see a huge dropoff behind Brown that needs to be addressed with this class. If Montrell Dobbs or Khalif Herbin can get eligible and play right away, it has been addressed. If not, another home run hitter needs to be brought into the fold.
    When it comes to recruiting individual players, I’m of the firm belief that  fans should be seen and not heard.
    Not only does it border on NCAA violations, it’s a big waste of time until Feb. 1.
    That’s the day when the faxes arrive with the signatures on the dotted line.
    That’s when I get excited.
    The way the field is tilted so heavily against the non-BCS schools, the only thing you can do is root for Steve Addazio and company to bring in the best class possible.
    Pushing that boulder uphill after years of rolling it downhill is a hard-enough task.

    01.17.12
    by

    Two Owls on Fox Sports Network

    Temple’s photogenic and effective offensive line in the waning moments of Kent State game.

    (thanks for the photos, Cyrus)

    The mom/son firm of Kroboth, Tribue, Kroboth, Tribue.

    This completely slipped my mind because I’ve always associated college all-star football games with Saturday afternoons after the BCS national title game but two Temple Owls, Kevin Kroboth and Wayne Tribue, are on the field now (1/16/12) in the Casino Del Sol All-Star game in Phoenix.
    The game is being carried on Fox Sports Network is 722 (Comcast) in Philadelphia.
    The game started at 9 p.m., Philadelphia time, and should be over by midnight. If you miss it Monday night, keep checking that Fox Sports Network channel. They will replay it at times this week.
    It’s on different channels if you have Verizon Fios, Direct TV and Dish TV.
    Kroboth and Tribue kick off the “draft geek” season where everyone from Mel Kiper to the kid living in his mom’s basement can make their own evaluations against that of the NFL experts.
    Already, Temple tight end Evan Rodriguez is getting rave reviews for his play on the first day of practice at the East-West Shrine game in Tampa, Fla.
    Right now, if I had to bet, Bernard Pierce and Evan Rodriguez will definitely be drafted and Adrian Robinson will go anywhere in that 4-6 range as an OLB.
    Pierce is a third-rounder. ERod could go as high as fourth.
    Derek Dennis, Wayne Tribue and Kee-ayre Griffin could also be drafted as well.
    I see Kroboth as a seventh-rounder or a free agent and I’m sure Stephen Johnson will get a shot somewhere. Joey Jones and Rod Streater can play pro somewhere, be it in the NFL, CFL or Arena League.
    That’s what these all-star games are for to sort most of this out.
    The nice thing is that they are easy to spot on Fox Sports Network as both are wearing the familar Temple T with their same college numbers, Kroboth wearing 37 and Tribue 69.
    Here is a complete list of their East roster teammates. The roster was the only one I could find on the internet and had to take a photo of it, so it’s a little blurry but you can still make out the names.

    01.12.12
    by

    The Montrell Dobbs Show Debuts

    Montville rival coach speaks in glowing terms of Montrell Dobbs.

    “He’s got to be the most in-shape athlete I’ve ever seen in any sport in the state.”
    _ Montville coach Tanner
    Grove, speaking about
    Ansonia’s Montrell Dobbs

    About this time last week, I was lamenting how Temple could lose a guy named Bernard to the NFL draft while a guy named Montee returned to Wisconsin for his senior year.
    Never mind the guy named Montee was rated higher than Bernard in every statistical and other rating category and therefore had MORE to lose than Bernard by returning to college. Bernard Pierce is rated as a high third-round pick. Montee Ball would have gone in the first round.
    Well, a lot has happened in a week.
    A couple of days ago, Temple got a full Montee as in a Montrell.
    We don’t know if Temple’s Montrell Dobbs will be as good or better than Bernard but, judging on their high school stats, Dobbs outperformed Pierce in a number of categories.
    While Pierce’s stats were impressive as a high school senior at Glen Mills (1,356 yards, 26 touchdowns), Dobbs’ 45 touchdowns were literally off the charts (see accompanying chart).

    Temple Football Fun Fact
    Owls finished ahead of the University of Florida, Notre Dame and Miami (Fla.) in the final USA Top 25 poll. Owls had two votes, Notre Dame and Florida one and Miami zero (sorry, Al Golden).

    We don’t know how good a high school league Dobbs played in, but he followed that up with 1,227 yards and 21 touchdowns on a prep school level rated at about a JUCO level.
    That’s a pretty good level of football.
    Add in the fact that Dobbs, like Pierce, is a 4.5-40 speedster and appears to have Paul Palmer-type durability (he even had a few games over 50 carries) and this just might be the best pickup of the Steve Addazio Era (and he’s had a few good ones).
    Dobbs told the Stamford Advocate that he’s “real excited” about coming to Temple. The only person more excited about Montrell Dobbs coming to Temple is me because a top-flight running back should have been Temple’s No. 1 priority in this class from the get-go and Dobbs fits the bill.
    Since he’s a partial qualifier, getting Dobbs on the field ASAP to play the same role Pierce played with Matty Brown now becomes urgent.
    

    Montrell Dobbs’ senior year transcript from Ansonia (Conn.) High.

    
    Addazio appears to have addressed that  by having Dobbs enroll on Jan. 17 where he can work with Temple’s excellent staff of academic advisors to come up to 4.5 speed in the classroom as well.
    Al Golden once told me that the formula for winning in the MAC is pretty easy.
    “Trust your eyes on most guys, but get five or six guys per class who were wanted by BCS schools,” Golden said. “To win in the MAC, you’ve got to have BCS-level talent at the key positions.”
    When Temple ripped off that long winning streak in 2009 (stopped when Bernard Pierce got injured), I felt for the most part I was watching a BCS team play in a FCS league.
    With Temple’s recruiting advantages over the other MAC schools, that’s the way it’s got to be going forward.
    Addazio seems to have gotten a lot of guys wanted by the Old Dominions and the Akrons, but is finally showing signs of getting guys wanted by the UConns.
    Golden had a handful of guys offered (not just wanted) by BCS schools every year. Adrian Robinson was offered by Pitt. Kee-ayre Griffin was offered by Boston College. Kadeem Custis was offered by West Virginia. Evan Rodriguez actually played at West Virginia before transferring to Temple.
    And those are just some examples.
    Now Addazio has a marquee player offered by UConn.
    By recruiting a quarterback who was wanted by Ohio State (which made an offer based on a visit) in Chris Coyer, Golden finally filled that key position and Temple fans finally saw the value of that scholarship this year.
    Dobbs was wanted by UConn and signed with that school a year ago before going the prep school route.
    Running back is a key position as well but, unlike quarterback, it is a position where impacts are made right away.
    Montrell Dobbs has all the measurables to make an impact right away.
    It should be a show worth watching.

    “Get your popcorn ready. It’s gonna be a show.”
    _T.O.
    (ok, nuke the popcorn first and then come back and click on the video below.)


    This is how you break all of Shady McCoy’s rushing records at Milford Academy.