Another excellent job by Fran Duffy (not to be confused with hoop coach Fran Dunphy) and the boys in the Temple video department.
Less than 30 days until the two-month countdown appears and, presumably, that will include different highlights, limited to all returning players, of which there are many.

And just a reminder:
Because the season tickets soon transfer from the control of Temple to the Eagles’ ticket office, you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches by purchasing season tickets from Temple in the next month or so. Click over the Temple football helmet and let’s fill up the stadium for the Nova game with people wearing only Cherry and White. With 260,000 living alumni, 33,000 full-time students and 5,867 full-time employees, we can make it happen.
We should make it happen.

I got a lot of grief on this site last year when I wrote that, in my mind, Adam DiMichele is a better quarterback than Donovan McNabb.
By my mind, I meant for my team.

I had more confidence in DiMichele getting the job done in a big spot for my primary team (Owls) than I had McNabb getting the job done in a big spot for my secondary team (Eagles).
That’s based on close observations of both over the last three years.
Is the 22-year-old DiMichele better than the 32-year-old McNabb?
That’s for the Eagles to decide, since they have now invited him to a preseason mini-camp for rookies.
We’re talking about a young quarterback with a fresh set of legs and a world of moxie against an old quarterback with tired legs and questionable moxie.
You can say that Reid did this out of a professional courtesy to the local team, but leaving the door ajar for DiMichele might just been good enough for him to find a permanent home there.
The Eagles will find out a few things about my favorite quarterback at the upcoming mini-camp:

• He can make throws on the run;
• He won’t throw balls at the feet of receivers;
• He can still scramble;
• He has a knack of making the big play at the big time;
• He can throw an accurate deep ball;
• He doesn’t wear a flak jacket that limits his mobility in the open field;
• He won’t throw up on the field like a certain other quarterback has done twice at crunch time.

My admiration for this tough-as-nails young man is well-documented here.
I wish he would have had the opportunity, for example, to go up against Penn State for four full quarters, that game would have been a lot closer than a 42-point spread, I really believe.
Maybe 10-15 tops.
Maybe Adam could have made enough plays to keep them in the game to the end.
There are 22 guys on a football field at any given time but, for Temple, it’s been a long time since one man has made such a difference.
That man was (I have to use was now, unfortunately) Adam DiMichele.
Football is a funny game.

Had ADM been fully healthy for the last two seasons, I have no doubt that the Owls would be going for their third-straight winning season.
No doubt.
Adam now has a blog on Owlsports.com and he’s shown a nice ability to express himself on paper. Heck, I even like his blog better than McNabb’s.
The Eagles have had one quarterback who has mostly infuriated me for the last three years. They now have another who has never let me down.
All he has to do is be himself and Andy Reid will love him. So will Eagles’ fans.

Video courtesy of Owlified… great job, Owlified

Our parking lot is No. 10, the green blotch circled in map and shown in photo below.

Photo, courtesy Owlsports.com

I have a love/hate relationship with Cherry and White Day.
It dates back to the Bruce Arians’ days.
One year, the team looked particularly good in April and went out and laid a 4-7 egg a few months later.
It was then I decided I hated Cherry and White Day because, no matter how good the Cherry looked against the White or the White looked against the Cherry, the bigger picture was skewed.
A fellow reporter, it may have been Chuck Newman, it may have been Joe Juliano, I don’t quite remember who, turned to me once and said:
“They always look good on Cherry and White Day.”
There’s about as much truth to that sentence as any single one ever composed.
Come to think of it, I don’t remember ever leaving on a Cherry and White Day not impressed.
So, as a barometer of what might come in the fall, take it with a (very) large grain of salt.
Make that a boulder of salt.
That’s pretty much why I hate Cherry and White Day.
Then there’s the love part of the relationship.
I love getting together with Temple fans to discus the upcoming season.
I love meeting the parents of recruits and inviting them to our Parking Lot K tailgates, to become part of the Temple family as such.
I love the best day in the world in the best place in the world to do one-stop shopping for some inexpensive and quality Temple stuff, including game-worn jerseys.
I love the tailgating in April (hey, when can you get a chance to tailgate in April?) and I love getting together with all of the old tailgate friends.
I love the dedication of a guy like Ken Mayo, coolowl on the message boards, who holds a first-class tailgate and is inclusive of everyone in the lot.
Heck, I love being a Temple fan because there are no cliques.
We as a people (to borrow a Martin Luther King, Jr. phrase) are not large enough to have cliques.
One day, when all (or half) of the 260,000 living alumni and all (or half) of the 33,000 full-time students are clamoring to get into a sold out Lincoln Financial Field, I hope that part of being a Temple fan never changes.
Even though all of the lots will be filled with a sea of Cherry and White, everybody wearing a Temple T-shirt or sweatshirt or hat will be welcomed by every other Temple fan at whatever little or big satellite tailgate in the lot.
This Saturday, at 2 p.m. folks will be over at 11th and Norris Street to catch that rather skewed preview of the 2009 Owls.
By 11 a.m., most should be parked in Lot 10 (12th and Norris) to do some serious tailgating.
Nobody leaves until 1:55 when we all walk over to the $7 million Edberg-Olson Football Complex. Since it’s a two-minute walk, we should be standing on the sidelines by 1:58, tops.
Bring brewskis and money.

Temple football’s four-month countdown.

The people have spoken.
At least the Temple fans who occasionally check this site from time to time.
Someone in the sports information department will run a slogan by Al Golden, who will either approve it or improve it, and the slogan will appear on the front of the media guide.

Click here for Temple football season tickets and order them by June 12 to get a free 2009 media guide

If the fans voting on the recent poll have anything to say about it, “Unfinished Business” will be this year’s Battle Cry.

Here is the final vote count, with the number of actual votes next to the percentages:

Awe and Shock 2 (3%)

Shock and Awe 2 (3%)

Unfinished Business 19 (35%)

Bowl or Bust 9 (16%)

Sky’s The Limit 14 (26%)

Destination Detroit 7 (13%)

It took a couple of days getting use to, but I like it.

Unfinished Business.

My slogan, Shock and Awe, came in a distant last.

I tried.

We had a couple of other suggestions since, though, that bear some examination:
FLIP THE MAC _ A takeoff on last year’s “Flip The Switch” Flip the MAC refers to the constant barrage of negative messages about Temple football on the MAC bulletin boards. One guy keeps saying Temple=Bad Football when two teams he trumpets, Miami and Akron, were beaten two years in a row by the Owls. Another guy from Kent State keeps bringing up Temple attendance problems when there were maybe 400 folks, tops, at Kent State for the Temple game last year. The slogan can be accompanied by a logo that shows the familiar Styrofoam No. 1 finger given out at Temple basketball games. In this case, the finger is switched one digit over and a MAC logo appears on the back of the hand.

IT’S TIME _ Shortened version of “It’s Time To Win” or “It’s Our Time to Win” or “It’s T Time” with the Temple logo substituted for the T. I can’t argue with that, either, because it is time to win.

Unfinished Business captures what went on the last two seasons as good as anything.

Two years ago, the Owls left 28 points on the field in a 31-0 loss to Penn State.
Last year, the Owls didn’t finish after leading, 27-7, at Navy, in the fourth quarter.
This year it’s time to finish that business.
It’s Our Time.
It’s T Time.
If, in the process, it flips off the MAC, then so be that, too.

By Mike Gibson
I’m sure someone other than Bill Parcells said it first:
“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.”
I’ll give credit to Parcells because I like the way he says it, nodding his head like you all should know what he does.
“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.”
You can say the same for quarterbacks.

Temple quarterbacks in their final high school seasons:
Adam DiMichele, Sto-Rox _ 2,706 yards and 36 touchdown passes.

In the mix currently:

Vaughn Charlton, Avon Grove _ 1,337 yards, 9 touchdown passes.

Chester Stewart, DeMatha _ 1,348 yards, 17 touchdown passes.

Aaron Haas, St. Joseph’s Prep _ 1,430 yards, 21 touchdown passes

Mike Gerardi, Parsippany Hills (N.J.) _ 2,300 yards, 35 touchdown passes

Chris Coyer, Oakton (Va.) _ 1,407 yards, 15 touchdown passes (and 15 TD runs)

Despite “defined measurables” like 40 speed and vertical leap, quarterbacking now, as always, is better measured by a poised athlete’s ability to hit another athlete in the open field while under pressure.
It doesn’t matter if the QB is running or if the receiver is running.
It doesn’t matter if there’s a 6-5, 280-pound guy charging at you.
Or, during the same play, all of the above is happening at full speed.
It’s about your ability to do your job and hit the receiver.
Meet Mike Gerardi, Temple’s Duck.
If Gerardi looks like a quarterback and throws like a quarterback, it’s because he is a quarterback and a pretty darn good one.

Mike Gerardi

It would not be a stretch to say Gerardi was born to be a quarterback.
He’s been one since Pee-Wee ball and excelled at a really high level from the time he first put on the pads.
I don’t buy that stuff about “if he’s so good, why didn’t he get a scholarship offer” that so many negative fans parrot.
Good quarterbacks slip through the cracks all the time. At one time, UConn showed some interest but backed off.
For every Henry Burris, who was wanted by just about everyone out of Spiro (Okla.), Temple has had a Matty Baker _ a kid who was wanted by no one but became a winning quarterback.
Looks to me like Gerardi could be cut out of the Baker mold, a high-achiever in high school who somehow slipped through the cracks.
At Parsippany Hills in New Jersey two years ago, Gerardi threw for 2,300 yards and 35 touchdown passes. That performance made him a first-team New Jersey all-state performer at quarterback. The other quarterback on the first team was Matt Simms of Don Bosco, son of Phil Simms.

“Really the surprise has been Mike Gerardi. He’s really come in. Every time he’s gotten in, he’s led us down and scored or played really well. So he’s getting a lot of reps now.” Matt Rhule
Offensive coordinator
Temple University

In prep school last fall, he tossed 16 TDs against no (zero) interceptions.
So, while most things in spring practice are pretty secretive these days, it should not be surprising to hear this out of offensive coordinator Matt Rhule’s mouth when talking about Gerardi on Owlsports.com:
“Really the surprise has been Mike Gerardi,” Rhule said. “He’s really come in. Every time he’s gotten in, he’s led us down and scored or played really well. So he’s getting a lot of reps now, because want to see who can lead us, who can move the football, who can push.”
That could very well be coachspeak, something designed to light a fire under incumbents Vaughn Charlton and Chester Stewart.
Even if Mike Gerardi lights it up in the Cherry and White Day game on April 18, we probably won’t even know then.

At this point, it’s about even money that Charlton, Stewart, Gerardi or even incoming freshman Chris Coyer takes the first snap against Villanova on Sept. 3.
That’s the way it should be.
Nobody should be awarded the job because he’s been here longer or it’s his turn or because his feelings will be hurt if he doesn’t get the chance.
It’s all about moving the team and scoring touchdowns.
It’s all about who gives your team the best chance to win a championship.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
Somebody is going to have to knock Rhule’s socks off between now and Sept. 3.
So far, it’s been Gerardi but we have months to go before we know who wins this most important of competitions.

By Mike Gibson
Occasionally, a brilliant idea will come upon me at a place I least expect.
Usually, just before I nod off in the middle of the night or while I’m driving my car.
Tough places to reach for the notepad and jot the fleeting idea down so the idea flies by and I sometimes don’t catch it again.
I was thinking about that while reflecting on last year’s Temple football team slogan.
You know, it’s the thing that appears on the cover of the media guide and in the ads for Temple football.
Last year’s slogan was “Flip the Switch.”
Good, but not great.
I want everything about Temple to be the best in the Mid-American Conference.
I want us to have the most wins, the most fans, the best quarterback, the best offense, the best defense.
I want us to have the best slogan, too.
Flip the Switch, while good, was lacking something.
I could not put my finger on it, but it wasn’t inspiring.
All winter, I brainstormed looking for another slogan.
I could come up with nothing.
I thought of “Just Win, Baby” but I’m sure Al Davis has a copyright on that one.
Unfinished business was another.
Then something occurred to me a couple of weeks ago while watching television.
Semaj Inge was being interviewed after winning the A-10 tournament.
“Sky’s The Limit,” Inge said, referring to the Owls’ chances in the NCAAs.
Hmm, I thought.
“Sky’s The Limit” might be a damn good slogan for this year’s Temple football team.
With three excellent recruiting classes in place and for the first time a sizeable group of redshirts to help the 2009 team, the sky is really the limit for this football team.
If Flip the Switch was good, then Sky’s The Limit is great.
Then, while turning into the parking lot of the gym last night, I thought of an even better one.
“Awe and Shock.”
Temple having a winning or championship season won’t shock us or anybody associated with the program, but it would everyone on the outside.
The “awe” part comes into play with the terrific skill set our players have both on offense and defense.
Awe leads to shock.
That’s why I would pick “Awe and Shock” over “Shock and Awe.”
Think of James Nixon, Vaughn Carraway and Jason Harper catching long touchdown bombs from Vaughn Charlton, Chester Stewart or Chris Coyer.
Awe.
Or Kee-ayre Griffin showing the kind of running form in the open field that made him a consensus first-team all-state tailback in New Jersey for St. Peter’s Prep.
Awe.
Or Daryl Robinson intercepting a pass in the flat and returning it for six.
More than once.
Awe.
So the potential for awe is there.
If realized, the Owls can shock the world.
Awe and shock is my first choice. Sky’s The Limit is No. 2.
Those are my top two choices for this year’s slogan.
Either way, I’ve got “Flip the Switch” beat.
What’s yours?

By Mike Gibson
That puff of white smoke coming from the Edberg-Olson Football Complex today was not exhaust from the train station above, but the rather important annoucement that the Owls’ 2009 football schedule has finally been released.
The Mid-American Conference released the schedule at 2:36 p.m. today or about 20 minutes ago.
Last year, they released the schedule on March 11.
Both years, the MAC was the last league to release season schedules.
The holdup?
Waiting for league braintrust to formulate various deals to keep games on national TV.

2009 Temple Football Schedule
Sep.
3 Villanova, 7 p.m.

19 at Penn State

26 Buffalo

Oct.
3 at Eastern Michigan

10 Ball State

17 Army (Homecoming)

24 at Toledo

31 at Navy

Nov.
5 Miami, 7:30 pm (ESPNU*)

13 at Akron, 8 pm (ESPNU)

21 Kent State

27 at Ohio, tbd (ESPNU/ESPN360*)

*ESPN Multiple-Game Selection Date

In one example, Miami was supposed to host Colorado. Kentucky wanted to play a game against Miami in Cincinnati, so that MAC had to find another league opponent for Colorado. They found one in Toledo.
That’t the way these things work.
Temple will open its season on Thursday night, Sept. 3, at Lincoln Financial Field against Villanova. That much we knew weeks ago.
What we didn’t know until today was exactly who the league opponents will be for the Owls.
They will host Buffalo, Ball State, Miami and Kent State.
They will visit Ohio, Akron, Eastern Michigan and Toledo.