Temple fans came disguised as empty seats last week. Photo by Matt Breen

Almost two years to the day after giving me my proudest moment as a Temple fan, my fellow Temple fans gave me a not-so-proud moment a week ago tonight.
Not unexpected, just not proud.
First, the good part.
Eagle Bank Bowl, Dec. 29, 2009. Of the 23,000 fans in attendance on a night where wind-chills reached sub-zero temperatures, 20,000 were Temple fans and they were all loud and proud.
Just before Matty Brown scored Temple’s second touchdown of the evening, a familiar “Let’s Go TEM-PLE!” chant started from my section (lower level, 50-yard-line) at RFK Stadium.
It got louder.
“Let’s Go TEM-PLE!”
Then, finally, a rhythmic “LET’S GO TEM-PLE” literally shook RFK from its rickety foundation.
We all looked around.
The lower deck, the upper deck, both sides of the field, everyone was on their feet screaming “Let’s Go TEM-PLE!” from the top of their lungs.
I think the fans willed Matty into the end zone.

I said to my friend, Nick, “buddy, take this in. We may never see something like this again at a Temple game.”
Sadly, we never have.
Sure, there have been other great moments, like when 40K Temple fans sounded like 100K fans to Penn State’s 17K fans, who sounded like 1K fans, this season.
They needed to be rewarded with a victory.
At this year’s Villanova game and Penn State game, the atmosphere was, as Steve Addazio said, electric.
If you are going to be considered for a BCS Conference, that electricity has to stay on all the time.
At the Miami game, the atmosphere was befitting an electrocution.
It’s not like I didn’t see this coming from, oh, about 400 miles away.
It was an imperfect storm that led to the fan apathy.
First off, you can’t lose to a gosh-awful team like Bowling Green and let the starting quarterback remain in that game after 135 straight three-and-outs. There’s got to be more of a sense of urgency to move the ball against a defense ranked No. 10 in a 13-team league.

Perfect football weather forecast for Saturday (1 p.m.)

Then, you can’t lose to an Ohio team that LOST to teams YOU beat by scores of 42-0 and 34-0.
On the heels of both of those laid eggs, you can’t have a home game on TV to give a lazy and fragile fan base an excuse to be lazy and fragile.
All of those factors led to a poor showing at the gate.
Army is an attractive opponent and hopefully the win over Miami has restored some of the fans shaken belief. Keeping the game off TV is just as important.
This is a bowl game for Temple, as is next week’s game versus Kent State because, without wins in both, there will be no bowl.
I said to one of my tailgating buddies a couple of hours before the Miami game: “This is bad. I don’t expect more than 15,000.”
When at least half of my other tailgating buddies, people who show up for every game that’s not on TV, are missing, you know it’s bad.
I expect a good and representative Temple crowd on Saturday, something between 21-27K.
I’m hoping that nobody sits on their hands when someone starts a “Let’s Go TEM-PLE” cheer.
We need to get that electricity turned on again.
Where’s that damn switch?

If you were hit by JJ, you’d go play baseball, too.

Heck, my favorite college football player is Bernard Pierce.
Didn’t get to see him on Wednesday night (except for yelling encouragement from the sidelines).
Damn.
My favorite pro player is DeSean Jackson.
Won’t get to see him today (suspended for missing a team meeting).
Damn.
But my two favorite teams are the Temple football Owls and the Philadelphia football Eagles (in that order) and I will get to mix both of those starting today (1 p.m., Fox).
That’s because former Temple Owl Jaiquawn Jarrett gets his first pro start.
Go JJ.
Go Birds.
(Both Eagles and Owls.)
Then I’ll go work off the Applebee’s Oriental Chicken salad I’m planning to eat while watching the game.

The latest edition of Temple TUFF.

Nothing perturbed me more at the beginning of the season than the notion “Temple is going to take a step back without Al Golden.”
If I read that once, it seemed like I read it 100 times.
That logic might have computed to those on the outside, but made no sense at all to those of us who follow the program closely.
Logically, Golden gave new coach Steve Addazio his best group of players to date (save for the quarterback position) and Addazio was bringing in a battle-tested SEC staff to “coach them up.”

Temple-Miami common scores
Bowling Green 13, Temple 10
Miami 37, Bowling Green 23
Miami 41, Buffalo 13
Temple 34, Buffalo 0
Toledo 49, Miami 28
Toledo 36, Temple 13

An improvement upon last year’s 8-4 record was expected.
I still expect an improvement.
But Addazio’s margin of error now is zero.
The Owls must win three straight games and at least appear in a bowl game this year for any reasonable person to see an improvement upon last year’s 8-4 season.

Temple TUFF will be put to the test more than ever, starting tomorrow night (8 p.m.) at Lincoln Financial Field against a good-but-not-great Miami (Ohio) team.
Does Temple TUFF have any meaning or is it just an empty phrase?

He nearly got Bernard “The Franchise” Pierce killed with an ill-advised third-and-five draw at Ohio. Hopefully, Bernard will play and they will find ways to get him the ball in space (i.e., pitchouts and screen passes). If not, Matty Brown will do a fine job with similar plays.


Temple could not have ordered bettter weather.



It boggles my mind that a team which shut out Ball State (42-0) and Buffalo (34-0) can lose to a team that lost to both of those teams. The defense played with a purpose and a ferocity in those two games they did not show at Ohio.
Temple should (will) be favored in all three of its games, but there is significant reason for concern.
Miami (Ohio) beat Army and Army beat Northwestern and Northwestern beat Nebraska, so these teams have talent. Kent State pummeled Bowling Green. These are no slouch teams Temple is playing.
Still, Temple has more talent and the time to show it is now.
Remember, Temple beat a Maryland team which beat the real Miami which beat the real Ohio (State). That’s why a loss to the fake Ohio and the fake Miami will be harder to take. Temple was two minutes away from beating a Penn State team which is unbeaten in Big 10 play.
Two weeks ago, bowl scenarios were talking about Temple playing Ohio State in Detroit or the real Miami in D.C. After losing to Ohio, nobody is talking about that anymore.
It’s time to polish the Temple brand and finish strong and make the Owls an attractive national name again.
To do that, Temple will have to do no more or less they play the way it played most of the time on the way to a 5-2 record.
Temple TUFF is needed now more than ever.

“Listen, if it looks like Temple is going to take this next kickoff to the house, throw the flag.”

Every time I mention that Temple should get out of the Mid-American Conference, I’ll always have one or two Temple fans (out of about 30) say something like: “Let’s win the MAC first.”
I try to explain that should be immaterial to things like school size, TV ratings, size of the market, etc.
I should have added officiating.

The impossible dream
The ONLY scenario Temple can win the MAC:
Temple wins over Mia and Kent
Ohio loses @ CMU, @ BGSU and Mia
BGSU loses to NIU and Buffalo but beats Ohio
Mia beats Ohio
Temple wins MAC title game in Detroit
source: emh55

If Temple has any chance to win a big MAC game, you can bet on officiating playing a factor against it.
Bet is the key word since the line opened and 5 1/2 points and quickly went down to three by game time.
You think maybe some of the Vegas people might have seen that Temple was penalized 12 times to Bowling Green’s two last week and that might have set off some MAC officiating alarms behind the betting window?
Just sayin’.
For Exhibit A, I give you tonight’s 35-31 loss in Athens to Ohio.
Both ESPN announcers said that one of the Ohio touchdowns should have been taken off the scoreboard due to the new launching yourself into the end zone rule, commonly known as the “excessive celebration” penalty.
“These points are coming off the board,” play-by-play guy Mark Neely said after watching the replay. “That’s the new rule.”
“Yeah, Mark,” color guy Ray Bentley said.

The official saw the celebration (how could he not, it was right in front of him) threw the flag, but then put it in his back pocket, then announced they would enforce a sideline penalty instead. You cannot launch yourself into the end zone while ahead of the field of play. It’s a rule in the books that has been enforced all year but not against any MAC team playing Temple.
I don’t expect it ever will.
Have Matty Brown do it next week on national TV against Miami and I’m sure the flag would be thrown, points taken off the board and the call would stand without hesitation. I would bet $100,000 that would be the case.
Once a “supposed” catch that preceded a touchdown, the replays clearly … clearly …  showed the ball was never in possession of the receiver yet the replay official refused to overturn it.
Shades of UConn.
Not only did the ESPN announcers say the ball appeared to come out, but Mike Tirico said so on Sportscenter.
When a sports center anchor not named Kevin Neghandi implies Temple is hosed, Temple is hosed.
I read lips pretty good and Steve Addazio told the official: “He never had control AND he was out of bounds.”
Addazio was right.
Ryan Alderman catches a ball right at the sticks and the officials move it a yard farther back.
Adrian Robinson gets horsecollared to the ground on Ohio’s last long pass play and the officials keep the flag in their pocket.
Etc., etc., etc.
Something smells rotten in Hicksville, Ohio.
I feel sorry for the Temple fans who made the trip and for players like Chris Coyer, who had a breakout game in his first real action as an Owl. He was put in an unfair position of having to win a game his team already won twice before.
Look, the MAC is a fine conference and it is hard enough to win these games on merit.
It’s impossible to do so when the field is tilted so heavily in the direction of the old-line MAC teams against the newcomer.
I don’t care if it’s the Big East or Conference USA, the time to get out of this hick conference is now.