12.07.10
by

Hosed, thy name is Temple

Results of the Al Golden poll:
Question: Of all of Al Golden’s good qualities, what ONE does he do best?

Running the show (CEO) 40 (42%)
Recruiting 30 (31%)
Public Relations 22 (23%)
Coaching during games 2 (2%)
(Note there were two votes for coaching during games. Thanks, Alfred, and Kelly for voting.)

We don’t usually talk Temple basketball here.
Not because I don’t like the sport (I do, I used to play lunchtime fullcourt for an hour every day at the Doylestown YMCA in my 20s and 30s) or Temple basketball (I do), but because I don’t enjoy the sport nearly as much as I do football.
I like playing basketball.
I like watching football.
That’s the difference.
For me, Temple basketball is no more than a diversion between the end of the football season and the Cherry and White football game. I understand for a lot of the university it is much more than that and that’s cool.
I bring up basketball today because both the Temple basketball and the football teams had something in common during this calendar year.
They both got hosed.
I did watch the A-10 basketball championship game with Richmond last year from the comfort of a treadmill in the gym.
Afterward, all the talking heads gushed all over Temple.
One of the guys, I forget his name, said: “This means Temple is a three (seed) and I think you can even make an argument for a two.” The other three agreed that Temple deserves no worse than a three.
On the ride home, I thought three, dreaming of a two.
I wasn’t the only one, as this story from the 700 Level indicates.
Then I got to the Liacouras Center and saw it was a five.



ESPN led its 3 p.m. show Monday with Temple.


As Muhammad Wilkerson would say on his Facebook page, smh.
(That’s Shaking My Head for anybody over 30.)
Everybody said Temple got hosed. Nobody said Temple deserved a five.
I thought about Temple getting hosed while on the stairmaster yesterday afternoon, watching ESPN. The tease to the college football show at 3 p.m. was:
“They beat a BCS Conference champion, finished 8-4, and nobody wants them in their bowl. We’ll tell you why in a few minutes.”
Ugh.
I couldn’t wait.
I had to get off the stairmaster and get to work.
I pretty much knew what the story was anyway.
After I got home last night when reading all the reaction across the country, pretty much agreeing that Temple’s football team got hosed out of a bowl bid.
What is this about Temple and getting hosed?
It wasn’t the only time Temple’s got a big-time hosing on the national stage.
Speaking about UConn, remember UConn?
Instant replays in 2007 clearly showed Bruce Francis catching the game-winning touchdown, yet a Big East replay official, Jack Kramer, let a call on the field stand instead of doing the right thing, the proper thing, and overturning the call.
Oh yeah.
UConn was in the Big East.
Temple was kicked out of th same conference three years earlier.
I’m sure that had nothing to do with the decision.
Yeah, right.
Hosed?
What about Navy, 2008?
Temple’s defensive front wall stopped a Navy ballcarrier cold. A whistle was blowing loudly, so Temple stopped playing and a pitchout resulted in a game-winning touchdown.
Everybody heard the whistle (from a Navy fan in a white T-shirt) except the officials, who said it wasn’t them.
I guess those same officials would have flagged Temple for roughing the ballcarrier if they put him to the ground.
Temple lost in OT.
How about UCLA last year?
Apparently on the way to a big bowl win, Matt Brown gains two yards on third-and-one. All the replays confirmed this, but Temple was out of challenges. Oh wait. The officials rule him down inches short. Temple gets stuffed on fourth down.
Hosed.
Now this.
They said what won’t kill you will make you stronger.
If we’re not dead, we’re getting awfully strong.
I think we’re strong enough, thanks.

12.05.10
by

No Bowl for Temple

DEJA VU.. 20 years earlier …
Nov 23, 1990
By Mike Kern, Daily News Sports Writer
No, Temple (6-4) is not going to a bowl
for the first time since 1979, now
that the Independence Bowl has decided to take Louisiana Tech (8-3)and surprise
late entry Maryland (6-5).
And, yes, second-year coach Jerry Berndt is obviously disappointed.
But, no, he is not discouraged.
If the Owls can win at Boston College(4-6) tomorrow afternoon, it would be
the first time in 11 years they won more than six games.
“That’s something to be proud of,” Berndt said late last night.”There’s no
question, we felt we had a legitimate shot (at the bowl). And we did. Then, all
of a sudden, Maryland comes out of nowhere. But sometimes, you just don’t know
what’s going on behind the scenes. “
The Independence Bowl settled on Louisiana Tech and Maryland for the Dec.
15 game in Shreveport, La., after Baylor announced Wednesday night that it
was withdrawing from consideration.
The Bears, who remain in therunning for the Southwest Conference title and
a berth in the CottonBowl, had been under pressure from the Independence to make
a commitment.
“It’s unfortunate they (the Independence committee) made the decision
when they did, without giving us a chance to participate Saturday,” Berndt said.
But I feel pleased for (Maryland coach) Joe Krivak. And they did upset Virginia.
We’ve had one of those miracle kind of seasons(after going 1-10 in 1989), and it
would have been a great reward. But as I told the squad today, it’s something we
have no control over. We can’t let it affect us.
“They were down. But we had a good practice. I hope we’ll use that as
a little more incentive. The fact that we were even considered shows some
respect for what we’ve done. It’s a credit to the players and the staff to
even be considered. It’s a real privilege and an honor, particularly coming off
of the season we had last year.”

This just in … players are reporting on their numerous Facebook pages that the Owls did not receive a bowl invitation.
I can’t say I’m surprised.
Earlier this week, I posted a “30 percent chance at no bowl” and got assailed that the number was way too high.
Well, I was around in 1990 when a 6-5 Maryland team got picked over a 7-4 Temple team, so I have viewed these opportunities with a jaundiced eye ever since.
The list of 8-4 teams who have not made a bowl this decade is a very short one.
The list of 8-4 teams who have beaten an 8-4 Fiesta Bowl-bowl BCS Conference champion by two touchdowns and not made a bowl is even shorter.
One.
Temple University.
There’s plenty of blame to go around and we will address it in the days ahead, but here is the Cliff Notes’ version:
Temple has way, way, way (did I say way?) too much talent on the offensive side of the ball to be struggling to score points.
Some one’s head is going to have to roll and the guy operating the guillotine is a good friend of the potential rolling head, so I don’t know if he has the gonads to release the cutting device.
Also, please make sure the defensive coordinator reads former Eagles’ coach Jimmy Johnson’s book on blitzing.
It might come in  handy next year.
I’ve never seen a Temple team in my life make slow, white, quarterbacks look like Peyton Manning by absolutely refusing to go after them with linebackers and safeties.
We have super fast linebackers, guys like Amara Kamara, who have a history of rushing the passer well at other positions. They were never used to do that this year.
We played an Ohio team that used the belly option to embarrass us in Ohio last year and, despite having a year to look at that film, seemed comfused and perplexed every time that same team ran plays out of that same formation this year.
The kids have a saying for that on Facebook these days.
WTF?
SMH.
Our offensive and defensive schemes need an overhaul.
Will they get one?
They better.
Our football life depends upon it.

12.05.10
by

Minny AD’s dirty tricks (and latest bowl news)

The latest bit of controversy coming from Minnesota extends to a record-setting former Gopher player sending emails to eight Temple officials, including athletic director Bill Bradshaw, about the Minny AD’s underhanded methods of recruiting a head coach.

Joel Maturi, bad guy AD

The way these coaching searches are supposed to go is that the AD of a school looking for a coach is supposed to contact the AD of a school with a coach in order to get permission to speak to said coach.
This Minnesota AD, Joel Maturi, supposedly routinely skips over that protocol and that has riled some grads.
I say good for the grads, boo to the AD.
Turns out Temple never had to be worried.
Al Golden is not interested in Minnesota.
He still has bowl games, and championships, to win at Temple.
In bowl-related news, it appears the Owls will have to wait until tonight to learn of their bowl destination.
Saturday night was a good night, not a great one, for Temple.
The Owls needed three of the four teams vying for bowl eligibility to lose and one to win.
The good news is that Middle Tennessee State won.
That means no way, no how, are the Owls going to Detroit to play another MAC team and that’s very good.
The bad news is that Washington also won.
Louisiana Tech and Oregon State lost, which was very good.
The latest possibilities are vs. Fresno State in Boise, an unknown foe in New Orleans or Nevada in San Francisco.
Nevada ain’t happening, so my gut tells me Boise.
My heart tells me New Orleans.
Go heart.

12.04.10
by

Doomsday bowl scenario faces Owls today



Go Freaking Blue Raiders!!!!

A Doomsday Bowl scenario faces the Owls today.
No, I’m not talking being one of the few teams in history to miss a bowl with an 8-4 record.
I’m talking about going to a meaningless bowl in Detroit to play another MAC team, Toledo.

MTSU vs. Fla. Int.
Time: 6 p.m.
TV: None
Radio: Link here


There’s a lot of scuttlebutt out there that the MAC, in order to maximize its teams in the bowl picture, will pit two of its teams, namely Temple and Toledo, in the Little Ceasars Pizza Bowl in Detroit.
I’ll pass on that one, thanks.
I’m sure there are some positives in there, but I fail to see them.
To me, it has all the appeal of moving the Cherry and White game to Detroit.
All week long, the talk has been of Las Vegas and El Paso and, recently, New Orleans.
If the announcement tomorrow is Detroit against another team in the same conference, downer would not be a strong enough word to describe my reaction and, I guess, that of my fellow Owl fans.
We can do two things now.
Hope for the best and root like hell for Middle Tennessee State in Miami for tonight’s 6 p.m. game.
That’s because, if Middle Tennessee State wins tonight at Florida International, it takes the automatic spot in the LCB opposite a MAC team, probably not Temple (hint: Toledo).
It eliminates the tempting option (only to MAC officials) of putting two MAC teams in that bowl and opens up a spot for Temple in another locale.
MTSU has a shot. It’s a 4 1/2-point underdog on the road, which means it would be favored at home. The Blue Raiders (5-6) have had their moments this year, pummeling Louisiana-Lafayette (34-14) and beating Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic in their last two games.  That might not sound impressive, but Florida Atlantic beat Florida International, 21-9, and LL hung tough at Ohio (38-31).
Really, MTSU is playing for Temple tonight and, in the absence of the Owls having a game, I’ve adopted the Blue Raiders.
As much as I’ve railed against Boise, I’d take Boise over Detroit in a heartbeat, particularly if the Detroit foe is another MAC team.
As bowltoligist Chris Squieri (Doogie on a pair of Owl message boards) points out, Temple’s dream scenario tonight is a Middle Tennessee State win coupled by losses by Washington (vs. Washington State), Oregon State (vs. Oregon, a given) and Louisiana Tech vs. Nevada (a probability).
Should Florida International win, I will be doing a lot of tossing and turning tonight with the possibility of throwing up at about 8:30 Sunday night.

12.03.10
by

Al Golden to Minny? Ha … Ha



The Al Golden Football Camp is the largest one-day camp on the East Coast.

 Today, long-time reader of TFF Brian sent me an excellent question about how speculation about Al Golden going to Minnesota and anywhere else, for that matter, affects Temple.
While not getting into the Temple part, I answered it this way:

All I can say about Minnesota is that Owlscoop.com, which has direct access to Al Golden, has said that Al Golden has no interest, had no interest and will have no interest in the Minnesota job.

Al Golden has done enough RIGHT NOW at Temple to move into the No. 1 or No. 2 spot to replace JoePa at PSU, which is his dream job.

Could you imagine what would happen if, before 50,000 screaming TEMPLE fans (and maybe 20K) PSU fans at the Linc next year, he, Mike Gerardi/Chris Coyer, Bernard Pierce/Ryan Brumfield, Rod Streater, Mo Wilkerson and Adrian Robinson, et. al. BEAT Penn State?

He immediately moves into the No. 1 spot at PSU and gives Temple the greatest parting gift of all.

Going anywhere right now jeopardizes dreams he has for two of the three major educational institutions in Pennsylvania.

And, more importantly, himself.

Golden has the largest single-day camps during the summer within easy driving distance of 45 percent of the nation’s population (and football talent). This is Golden’s recruiting footprint.
He won’t give that up to go just anywhere.
Minny?

Ha. Ha.

Now to answer the Temple part.
I don’t like Al Golden’s name coming up in speculation for all of these jobs every year.
It can’t help recruiting.
However, look at it this way:
If his name wasn’t to crop up every year, he wouldn’t be doing his primary job, which is to put Temple football on the national map.
Is that job done?
Heck no.
A bowl game against UCLA was a nice step last year.
A bowl win, over say a Utah or a Miami (Fla.), is the next step.
Beating Penn State next year would put Temple football right in the middle of the national map with a thumb tack over an Owl logo.
Only then will the job be complete.

11.30.10
by

Orlando Sentinel: Sun Bowl vs. Miami



It’s not going to be this dark in El Paso on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m.

 Gotta love the MAC.
It’s the only conference where you can look reasonably horrible before a small crowd in Ohio in the last regular-season game and get what amounts to a reward.
Win the conference or division and go to Detroit,  Boise or Mobile.
Finish somewhat farther back in the conference and go to El Paso or Las Vegas.
Or D.C.
It was that way last year for the Temple Owls, when they spit the bit at Ohio and lost, 35-17, in the defacto MAC East championship game and got the marquee opponent of the MAC postseason in UCLA before 20,000 Temple fans in D.C.
It appears to be that way again this season, the marquee opponent part, not the D.C. part.
I must admit that I thought the season was, for all intents and purposes, over with a 23-3 loss at Miami.
The Owls would not have been a hot team coming into the postseason.
Their one marquee player has been an injury question mark and they would not bring 20,000 fans on the road with them like they did last year.
Reading the reports, though, I’m thinking that the Owls will find their way to a bowl game, more likely than not in a sunny and warm (err, warmer) climate.
If I had to handicap it today, I would go with these numbers:

  • 30 percent chance of Sun Bowl vs. Miami of Florida;
  • 20 percent chance of Vegas Bowl vs. Utah;
  • 15 percent chance of Humanitarian Bowl vs. Nevada or Fresno State;
  • 5 percent chance of “some other bowl”;
  • 30 percent chance of no bowl;

That’s from a selective reading of the situation. So it looks more like bowl than no bowl for Temple.
Orlando Sentinel says the Owls will go to the Sun Bowl to face Miami (Fla.) and I will take that.
The first thing you have to do when you read a bowl projection is skip over the ones that have “bleacher report” written next to the writer’s byline.
It’s a bunch of Joe Schmoes, like you and me, reports worth money Bleacher Report paid for them _ which is nothing.



The MAAC Vegas Bowl in, well, you know.

 The people you have to pay attention to are the ones who are paid and answer to the person paying them.
That’s why I’m giving credence to sites like CBSSportsline.com and people like Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated.
Those sites have the Owls going to either the Sun Bowl to play the U (the real Miami) or the Vegas Bowl to play Utah.
I’ll take either one.
I will pass on playing Boise or Nevada in Idaho, which is where many of the Joe Schmoes on Bleacher Report have us going. Pass, because it’s too much of a hardship for our fans.
The only reason I want to play a bowl is to get this bad taste out of my mouth that I’ve had the last couple of weeks and I want to be there when it happens. Since I haven’t been eating garlic, it must be the losing that’s eating at me.
I like what Michael Vick said after the game last night.
“I hate losing. It makes me sick. It makes me ill.”
I hear ya, Michael. Losing makes me sick, too, and the only remedy is to win again.
I don’t want to wait until next year for the cure.
It’s only a reward, though, if you go there (wherever) and win.  I want to see these Owls and especially the seniors go out with a swagger. I want to avenge the loss to UCLA and close the season the way it started _ bringing home a trophy. The season started with a Mayor’s Cup Trophy.
I want it to end with a Sun Bowl or a Vegas Bowl Trophy.
You can only get that by playing the game.
Beating Utah or the real Miami is the best mouthwash I can think of right now.

11.27.10
by

Al Golden can fix his team with one phone call

The Brumfield File:

  • No. 2 all-time rusher in Pennsylvania history with 8,595 yards;
  • Averaged 9.79 yards per carry against defenses designed to stop him;
  • Over 100 TDs for his career;
  • A 3.0 GPA;
Quotable:
“You hate to say the word ‘unstoppable,’ but that’s what Ryan is. He likes the challenges. The more he gets challenged, the better he plays. But what you like most about Ryan is that he’s a great kid. Here’s a kid that has every right to have an ego, and he doesn’t. He gets along with everyone. It’s why his teammates don’t only want to play with him — they want to play for him.”


_Tom Barr, head coach, Owen J. Roberts

Sometimes numbers mean nothing.
Sometimes the numbers all add up and the mathematical formula is pretty clear.
I found some numbers that were pretty fascinating over the last few days and I just want to share some here.
They tell the story of why this Temple season has a different, more hollow, feel for me than last year did.
They also show me the equation for getting the Owls out of this morass.
Temple football by the numbers:

  • Al Golden is 0-14 against MAC teams with a winning record;
  • Al Golden’s two most impressive non-MAC wins were against Navy last year and against UConn this season;
  • Against Navy last year, Bernard Pierce went for 268 yards and two touchdowns with a pretty anemic passing attack on his side;
  • Against UConn this year, Bernard Pierce went for 179 yards with three touchdowns (again, with an anemic passer).

So who is most responsible for Temple’s success?
Al Golden or Bernard Pierce?
Certainly, you can make a case for Bernard Pierce to date.
Going forward, to use a term Al Golden fancies, going forward, Al Golden is most responsible for Temple’s success.
That’s because the one thing he can supply is out there for the taking.
Bernard Pierce. Or at least a Bernard Pierce clone.
Certainly, we’d all like to see the Bernard Pierce of last year show up for his junior season (and the bowl game if the Owls are lucky enough to secure one).
What Al Golden failed to do “going backward” was make sure the Owls had a running back with Pierce’s ability or close to it backing up Bernard should Bernard have gone down.
Let’s face it.
Bernard had some injury issues after last year ended. Temple should have been better prepared than to replace him with a 5-5, 150-pound guy, no matter how good that 5-5, 150-pounder was.
The No. 1 running back recruit was a guy named Myron Ross (now Myron Myles) out of Wissahickon. Myron’s a nice back, like Matty Brown, a nice back, not a Gosh-darn superstar.
I don’t think Myron Myles on his best day can give Temple going forward what Matty Brown did.
And that, quite frankly, wasn’t enough against Ohio and Miami.
And it won’t be enough going forward.
He struggled to go over 1,000 yards in his senior year at Wissahickon.
Bernard Pierce was a Gosh-darn superstar, a 2,000-yard back, at Glen Mills.
We all kind of knew he would be something special in college.
So what Al Golden can do going forward is get me another Bernard Pierce as an insurance policy should the real one go down.
Short of cloning Bernard and waiting 18 years for the gestation period, I have a sure-fire answer:
Ryan Brumfield of Owen J. Roberts.
Brumfield, like Pierce, is a gosh-darn superstar.
I wrote about this kid in Friday’s Inquirer.
He’s five inches taller than Matty Brown (5-10) and 30 pounds heavier (180). He’s a tenth of a second faster (4.4 compared to 4.5) and he’s a lot shiftier and stronger. He’s not quite Bernard (6-0, 218) but he’s proven to be more durable.
Think a bigger version of Paul Palmer and that’s what I’m talking about.
Brumfield has an offer on the table from Buffalo (Al Golden, I beg you, please don’t let this kid go to Buffalo) and “interest” from Pitt, Penn State and Rutgers.
If Temple gets involved now, the Owls can have him.
The Owls should get him.
Temple needs Brumfield and Brumfield needs Temple.
That’s a one plus one that adds up to two superstar runners for the Owls.

11.24.10
by

Thanks for a nice season, everybody


“And that’s the way I used to play linebacker.”
“But, coach, I’m a QB.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.”

Goodnight and good luck.
I think that was Edward R. Murrow’s line, but I was too young to remember him.
Let’s face it.
The season is over, thanks to the BCS schools who derailed the teams-with-worse-records-can’t-be-chosen-over-better-records rule at the end of last season. That means eight-win teams with small fan bases are in jeopardy of getting shut out this year.
Last year, no eight-win team could have been taken over nine-win Temple (excluding bowl tie-ins). This year, any six-win team can be taken over eight-win Temple.
The BCS schools pushing that rule change through is another example that big-time college football is corrupt to the core. The rich get richer. The poor get poorer.
If you think anybody is going to bend over backwards to invite an eight-win Temple team to a bowl, your thinking process is all wrong.
The only bowl that would want us, The Military Bowl, is spoken for with two tie-in participants eligible.

Geez, I hope Al Golden decides to stay at Temple but my gut tells me he’s gone

Why would the Military Bowl want us?
That was the former Eagle Bank Bowl and we helped them out big-time by putting 20K fannies in the seats last year vs. UCLA.
Can we even put 1K fannies at any other bowl?
No.
It’s all about the Benjamins in college football, in case you forgot.
It was a nice season, not a great season, not even a good season.
Why?
Because you can’t return 21 starters at 16 positions and not improve from 9-3 to 10-2 or better.
And you certainly can’t go from 9-3 to 8-4.



Bruce Arians, the only logical choice as next Temple coach.

 It’s a nice season, not a good one, and it represents a regression from a year ago.
So there is blame to be assessed (in this order):
1) Matt Rhule. Sorry, Matt, you do not deserve to be back as offensive coordinator. You are a defensive guy, a career linebacker and a career linebacker coach. There are way too many weapons (Rod Streater, a 318-pound average offensive line, Michael Campbell, Bernard Pierce, Matt Brown, Delano Green, Erod, AJax, etc.) for this team to struggle putting points on the board. There already is an accomplished offensive coordinator on the staff. His name is Rob Spence and he turned scoreboards into  adding machines at places like Clemson and Syracuse. He deserves at least a chance to move up and show what a lifelong offensive mind can do.

Why do we consistently make slow, white quarterbacks look like Fran Tarkenton? Because we don’t blitz anywhere near enough to sack these guys 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, like we should


2) Mark D’Onofrio. Why do we consistently make slow, white quarterbacks look like Fran Tarkenton? Because we don’t blitz anywhere near enough to sack these guys 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, like we should. We should punch these guys in the mouth (figuratively, of course) early and often and make them uncomfortable back there.
I’ve been a big Mark D’Onofrio supporter to take over Al Golden’s job once Al Golden leaves.
No more.
I’ll take a 57-year-old Bruce Arians, a guy who is not afraid to blitz, over Mark D’Onofrio any day of the week. I’ve never seen a more passive defensive coordinator when it comes to attacking the other guy’s quarterback.
Fifty-seven is not old anymore.
I never thought it was.
When I was 21 and working at the Doylestown Intelligencer, I wrote a column that Temple should hire John Chaney as its new basketball coach.
I got called into the office of the Managing Editor, Jim McFadden.
“Mike, don’t you think 50 is a little old for a new basketball coach?” he said.
“Fifty’s not old,” I said.
My boss smiled.
“You get a raise,” McFadden said.
He was 50, too.
The point is if you can do the job, it doesn’t matter how old you are.
Bruce can do the job.
Bruce can recruit. He knows Temple. He loves Temple.  He will put other quarterbacks on their asses and make them give the ball to us early and often.
He’s a Super Bowl winner.
An NFL pension is no longer an issue with him, like it was last time. He’s making $600,000 and his boss is Mike Tomlin. At Temple, he would be making $1.2 million with no boss.
This move makes sense for both Bruce and Temple,
If there ever was a time for Bruce Arians at Temple, it is now.
Do I think Al Golden is leaving?
Geez, my heart says he stays but my head says he’s gone.
If my heart was right tonight, we would have won, 23-3, instead of lost, 23-3.
So I think my head is right this time, too.
The tug might be too strong this year.
Yes, he’s as good as gone. Benjamins also figure into the Al Golden saga. We don’t have them. Other schools do.
I salute him.
What a terrific job he’s done here and I can’t thank him enough.
If he failed this year at all, it was sticking with his Penn State boy, Rhule, for way too long.
Golden proved that you can win at Temple, just like Arians did some 20 years ago.
When Al leaves, let’s keep this momentum and move forward with the only other guy who’s proven he can win here. I don’t want to go back to the days that existed between those two regimes. Hiring Jerry Berndt, Ron Dickerson and Bobby Wallace was a crap shoot. I don’t want any more crappy crap shoot hirings.
I want a sure thing next time and Bruce Arians is the only sure thing out there right now. He’s the round peg that fits nicely into Temple’s round hole.

11.23.10
by

Miami: The most important game so far (seriously)

Temple quarterback Mike Gerardi discusses the Miami game.

You hear it all the time.
“This is the most important game of the year.”
Usually, it’s hyperbole.
Not this year. Not with Temple.
The next game is always the most important because it’s the next game but Temple has had more games that were “most important” for other reasons, too, than any season I can remember in my 30 years of following the team.
Against Villanova it was the most important game because you could not retain any credibility in your hometown by losing to that school again.
Against CMU it was most important because it took down the reigning MAC power.

Temple at Miami (O)
TV/RADIO: ESPN2; WPHT-AM (1210).

Records: Temple, 8-3 overall,
5-2 Mid-American Conference;
Miami, 7-4, 6-1.
Series: Temple leads, 3-1.

Against UConn it was most important because it send a message to the Big East flirting with Villanova that, hey, there was a better-looking girl on the same block.
Against Penn State, it would have been a statement game nationally for the program.
And so on and so forth ….
It was true last week against Ohio and it is true Tuesday night at Miami.
Each game was and is more important than the prior game.
Here’s the reason why Tuesday night’s game with Miami is the MOST important:
Last week, Temple AD Bill Bradshaw sent out a questionaire to Owl fans about which bowl they consider most appealing to travel to, listing Boise, Mobile and Detroit as possible destinations.
My strong educated guess is that Boise was a runaway winner _ for last place. There will be no fans (other than athletic support personnel and parents) going to that game. Maybe the Boise alumni club (one person) will arrange a trip on a motorscooter.
Go to Mobile or St. Petersburg or Dallas and there are likely to be thousands of Owl fans, who will be watching tonight from home or area P.J. Whelihan locations where there will be organized Temple viewing parties. All locations will be having viewing parties with the biggest one at Blue Bell in Montgomery County.
Those fans know if the Owls don’t win in Miami (Ohio) tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2), they are likely ticketed for Boise.
Or worse.
Home.
That’s where it stands right now.
Even though head coach Al Golden assumed that the Owls were going bowling for the second straight year in the post-game press conference after the Ohio loss, a closer examination of the available data indicates that Temple could be left on the outside looking in with a loss.
That’s because it’s a 50/50 shot that all of the bowls MAC teams are listed as backups will be filled with primary conference tie-ins.
Win, and it’s impossible to keep a nine-win Temple team out.
Lose, and it’s a 50/50 shot at no bowl at all.
So this is the most important game of the year.
Until the bowl game.

11.19.10
by

Mac Blogger Roundtable: Week 12


Ouch.

TFF’s real and magnificent picks
Until I hit the lottery, I have two rules for betting:
1) Don’t bet with real money;
2) Wait until the season is at least 10 weeks old (in order to get a perspective).
But I do like to test my knowledge of college football against Vegas, so I’m happy to report I am 5-1 this year against the spread.
Two weeks ago, I was 2-1.
Last week, I lost on Iowa at Northwestern, but won on Fresno State getting eight at Nevada (it lost, 35-34), Louisiana-Lafayette getting 10 against Florida Atlantic (it lost, 24-23) and Tulsa getting the 3 at Houston (Tulsa won the game outright, 30-28).
This week’s picks:
Ohio State 21 at Iowa 10 (OSU favored by 3);
Northern Illinois 35 at Ball State 14 (NIU favored by 15);
WESTERN MICHIGAN 27, visiting Kent State 20 (WMU favored by 3);
Florida International 23 at Louisiana-Lafayette 20 (FIU favored by 10)

That hurt.
Sixteen returning starters, a Heisman Trophy candidate (going into the season, at least) and a team coming off a 9-3 season.
Another 9-3 season, to me, would seem to be going sideways.
So, at best, we’re going sideways.
Unless we finish 9-3 and win a bowl game.
Then we’re going forward.
Some of the more savvy amongst you might have noticed we changed our banner. Since Jan. 1, we put the heading “It’s Title Time” in it.
Since there will be no MAC title, I’m removing it.
Congrats to either NIU or Ohio.
The title time headline does not fit anymore.

Now I have to answer questions from my MAC brethren in the weekly MAC Bloggers’ Roundtable.
I can’t remember a week I have been up for this less, but these guys have blogged through some pretty tough seasons (except for NIU) so I will soldier on this time.
1. Northern Illinois is having a nice season and appears to be getting stronger. Do you think NIU is a Top 25 team as of today?

I think of two guys who gave young Al Golden a clinic in game coaching and Jerry Kill was one of them. Frank Solich was the other. I think if NIU plays Penn State or some decent above Northwestern-level (Dan Persa is out) Big 10 team and wins, which I believe it will, NIU deserves a top 25.

2. We talk a lot about skill players, but the game of football is often won and lost on the front line. Evaluate your offensive and defensive fronts, including your best players.

Adrian Robinson has been a season-saver (blocked extra point against BG, stolen ball for TD against UConn) and Mo Wilkerson is one of the top defensive linemen in the country. I’m extremely disappointed in everyone else across both lines with the possible exception of Sean Daniels, a true freshman from Highstown, N.J., who is an incredible talent at DE.

3. Similarly, special teams are an often overlooked part of football. Evaluate your special teams thus far this season and what contribution they have made to winning….or losing.

I thought James Nixon would be more deadly on kickoffs and Delano Green on punts. Neither one were, unfortunately. Brandon McManus had a solid sophomore season, but he could not afford to miss an extra point in the Ohio game and he did just that. He is an NFL kicker, though. No doubt.

4. To date, what is your best memory of this season? And what memory are you currently seeing therapy to block from your memory.

My best memory is getting revenge against UConn, beating that team by two touchdowns, and then watching that team beat West Virginia and Pitt. My worst memory is sitting there in the rain against Ohio and watching Frank Solich run the same schemes he did a year ago against Al Golden and Al Golden, with a year to watch that film, does nothing substanitive to counter Solich.

5. BG and Toledo have their rivalry game this week, and your team has had one on the schedule somewhere. Do you think rivalries are important to the quality of play in the MAC, or are they a distraction that make it harder to get up for other games.

I love rivalries. I just don’t think Temple has one with anyone in the MAC due to geography. Rutgers was the Big East rival and before that Delaware was the rival. Now Villanova is the rival for two more years.

6. Rank ‘em.

1. NIU


2. Ohio


3. Toledo


4. Temple


5. Miami


6. WMU


7. Kent


8. Ball State


9. Buffalo


10. BG


11. CMU


12. EMU


13. Akron