Al Golden looks very happy to be at Temple these days.
By Mike Gibson
We were promised a statement from coach Al Golden on the rumors of his being involved with the Syracuse job.
Instead, all we got from the Temple media relations department was this lousy two-line statement from athletic director Bill Bradshaw.
We’re still waiting for elaboration from Golden, but it’s crystal clear from the statement that Al Golden only has eyes for TU.
We hope.

What we wish Al said …
“I’m never leaving Temple,” Golden said in a prepared statement. “Temple football is my life. I will not be satisfied until I win a national championship here and fill Lincoln Financial Field with happy Owl fans on a regular basis who can, to paraphrase Michelle Obama, for the first time in their adult lives be proud of their university’s football team. One man can make a difference for an entire university. I want to be that man for this university. That fuels my fire. I’m stoked about the possibilities next season can bring for this great school, city and the fans.”

We can only imagine what that statement would have said so we have formulated what we wanted to hear Al say and put it in the box to the left.
It’s time for Al to concentrate on the considerable tasks at hand.
There are signs that he’s doing just that, signing a big-time kicker, Brendan McManus, who was wanted by several BCS schools. It’s easy to see why McManus was so sought-after. Of his 70 kickoffs, 58 went through the end zone.
I don’t remember one Temple kickoff going through the end zone this season.
Since the Owls could be down to two serviceable quarterbacks, Vaughn Charlton and Chester Stewart, we’re hoping a big target (or two) will be mobile JUCO quarterbacks who can throw on the run.
We’ll see.

By Mike Gibson
Without a doubt, the best video short of the season.
Gotta love the blocking on Marcellus Griggs’ two touchdown runs and the misdirection the Owls used on his second touchdown (vintage Delaware Wing-T).
Also, great catch by Jason Harper, who has really embraced his role as the team’s next Bruce Francis. Notice he landed on the 2, but the MAC refs _ in all their infinite wisdom _ marked the ball on the 4.
Great interception by Kevin Kroboth, the surprise of this year’s recruiting class. I’ve got to believe that even Kevin, though, might be second-guessing his path to the goal on the interception because a fat guy, Akron’s No. 71, shows up in the picture late. Had Kevin cut it toward the fat guy, he would have been gone.
Love the scoreboard opening and the mugging of the seniors for the camera in it.
All in all, a very good day and a great job by video czar Mike Adkins.

This video is only 12 seconds long but pretty much tells the story of how Temple’s offense clicked Saturday against EMU in a 55-52 win. As you can see, Adam DiMichele had to run around to make a play before getting hit. He did that on five of his six touchdown throws. The offensive line didn’t give him a whole lot of time to throw.

By Mike Gibson
I had a glimpse today of what kind of sports fan I would have been had I lived 2,000 years ago.
At the Temple game in the late stages of a 55-52 win over Eastern Michigan, I friend of mine who claims he has been “entertained” all year by the football Owls, turned to me and said:
“C’mon, tell me you weren’t entertained by this?”
“No,” I said.
Pausing only for a second, I added:
“I would have been entertained by a 55-3 win, but I’m not entertained when I know we can do better than this.”
“We’re not there yet,” my friend said of that kind of dominance.
Well, then, I’ll take 55-14.

Don’t get me wrong.
I loved the win. I loved how my favorite Owl, No. 82, Bruce Francis, abused the Eagles’ secondary for four touchdowns. I love the seven touchdowns by my second favorite Owl, Adam DiMichele, six by passes, and one by run.
I was the one guy in the stands yelling for them to throw it to No. 82 on a fairly consistent basis.
(It’s not rocket science.)
I love the intimidation factor of our special teams and returner Travis Shelton.
But to be completely entertained, I would have liked to see our No. 1 unit coming into the season play at least to their potential.
Had I lived in the days of the Roman Coliseum and knowing how much I love animals, I might have been entertained by the Lions who killed every murderer, rapist or traitor on a given Roman Holiday.
I probably wouldn’t have been as entertained had the bad guys killed a few animals.
That’s pretty much how I feel about Temple football these days. I want blood. Bad-guy blood. To me, any team who doesn’t wear Cherry and White are the bad guys.
The Owls came into the season with the returning No. 1 defense in the MAC intact.
I expected, no demanded, that they at least repeat that same standard this season as well. Instead, they were ranked No. 6 coming into the game. I know there are some injuries back there, but not for this kind of drop off.

“Adam, disregard Rhule’s play call and throw it to No. 82!”
Darryl Rule photo

I did not understand why the No. 1 defense in the MAC was able to give up 41 points to a Kent State team every other MAC team pretty much handled, but I got a clue by watching our defense today.
We weren’t attacking. We were reacting.
I come from the school that says the best pass defense is putting a quarterback on his backside.
If you can’t get that done with a conventional 4-3 or 5-2 front, then it’s time to send a linebacker as well. If you can’t get pressure on the quarterback with a conventional front and a linebacker, then send two linebackers. If you still can’t get pressure, send linebackers and safeties. Send more than they can block and send them from every conceivable angle.
If you don’t know what that looks like, grab a Eagles-Steelers DVD off the NFL network from earlier this season.
Or at least look at how Mark D’Onofrio’s defense played last season.
Keep getting in the quarterback’s face, put him on the ground and make him feel pain. Or at least make him uncomfortable enough to throw the ball away earlier than he wants to.
I saw none of that against Eastern Michigan quarterback Andy Schmitt, who put the ball up 76 times. Except for the time linebacker John Haley got to him on a blindside blitz, I didn’t see Schmitt uncomfortable at all.
“We’ve need to straighten some things out on defense,” Temple head coach Al Golden said late Saturday afternoon. “We’re not playing the way we’re capable on defense.”
Last year, the Owls were an attacking defense, getting in the face of every quarterback they played on a pretty consistent basis.
If Golden is looking at what he can do in five days to improve things, getting back to that core philosophy might be a good place to start.

By Mike Gibson
When a bunch of old guys get together to compare players from past eras with the current ones, almost without fail the young guys can’t compare.
That’s been pretty much true with me over the years, but not this year.

I’ve been to every Temple home game for the past 37 years and I will go on record right now that there are three players on the current Owl squad who are every bit as good at their position than any former Owl and one guy, Bruce Francis, who is flat-out the best Temple receiver I’ve ever seen.
Yes, that includes Gerald “Sweet Feet” Lucear and Steve Watson and Pete Righi and Randy Grossman.
This season is sad for a lot of reasons, but none include these wonderful representatives of Temple University.
They deserved a better fate.
They deserve at the minimum to win their last two games. They really deserve to go to a bowl.
The tale of the tape:
ALEX DERENTHAL, center _ Because of the Rimington Watch List hype, I’ve made it a hobby to point the binoculars at No. 59 as much as I could and go back and watch the tape of the TV games. Alex is good, real good. There’s a reason you don’t see guys coming right up the middle at Adam DiMichele and his name is Alex Derenthal. He’s real good at picking off the loose defender, who might otherwise kill the QB. Donny Klein of the 2002 team was a great leader as a center and my favorite Owl of that year and so was Dick Beck, the captain of the 1990 team, but Derenthal is in the conversation with those guys and just as good.
ADAM DIMICHELE, quarterback _ The 3-7 record is not his fault. He’s a 7-3 quarterback playing on a 3-7 team. Look at it this way: When it was his turn to make a big play at Navy, he did, hitting an incredibly clutch 3d and 6 pass on the dead run for a first down. He was the guy who delivered the bomb right into Travis Shelton’s hands that would have made it a 13-3 game against UConn. He was the guy who drove the Owls down the field with 38 seconds left for what should have been the winning touchdown at Buffalo. In my mind, he’s better than that “second tier” of Owl quarterbacks that included Tim Riordan, Henry Burris and Matty Baker, three terrific quarterbacks. He might not be as good as Steve Joachim, Brian Broomell or Marty Ginestra but that even could be debated. Joachim, another guy who transferred from Penn State, was named National College Player of the Year by the Maxwell Club for quarterbacking the Owls to a 9-1 record. For my money, though, DiMichele is every bit the leader Steve Joachim was and that’s not taking a thing away from Steve. Broomell and Joachim were more talented, but this kid’s heart is just as strong.
BRUCE FRANCIS, wide receiver _ I’m willing to bet a significant amount of my inheritance to anyone who shows up at the tailgate Saturday that Bruce Francis will be on an NFL roster next year. As I have written many times this season, I don’t remember ever seeing a Temple receiver who NOBODY … and I mean NOBODY _ can cover. That includes players like Steve Watson (Denver Broncos), Leslie Shepard (Washington Redskins) and Randy Grossman (Pittsburgh Steelers). Nobody can cover Bruce Francis. If I was the Owls’ offensive coordinator, I would play everything off BF. Pitch and catch to BF until the defense puts two guys on him. Chances are Bruce shakes the first guy and scores anyway. Then drop back, pump fake to BF and run the underneath draw to Kee-Ayre Griffin. Roll right, look across the field to BF and hit the tight end over the middle. Or drop back, pump fake to BF and throw across the field to James Nixon. Then reset the whole thing and come back to BF again. The thing that separates him from “Sweet Feet” Lucear was that you could, at times, cover Gerald. This Francis kid is running free through some pretty good seconardies on a consistent basis. Get him the ball.
Despite the fact that Bruce Francis set records this year, he was underutilized. I believed that all season. I believe it now. He would have made the offense so much more effective had everything been run through him.
There are plenty of reasons not to attend the last two games. A lot of fans are disappointed, especially me. But I will be proud to go to support Nos. 59, 82 and 13 for leaving everything they had on the field for this program, the school and the fans.

Chickie and Pete’s will host a large Cherry and White contingent tonight in South Philly.

By Mike Gibson
Finding the right bar in which to watch Temple football is an art form.
That’s because there’s a sizeable segment of the population in Philly who thinks you, me and the few thousand other Owl fans are nutjobs for getting all worked up over Temple football.
In every bar in Philadelphia where I can convince the bartender to put the Temple game on, I’m met with derisive yells like: “Florida (vs.) Georgia is on so why are we watching the Temple game?”
That was actually yelled at me several times by an extremely drunk gentleman during the Navy game at a place called Graham’s Pub in Roxborough.
“Excuse me,” I said, “are Florida and Georgia located in Philadelphia?”
“Let the man watch his Temple game,” another drunk gentleman said.

I’ve had to deal with this stuff all my life, that’s why it burns me up when a stupid move like not punting costs us a game, any game.
Tonight will be the first Wednesday night Temple football game in history, but it will be hard to find on your home television (or even computer) if you get either service through the Comcast monopoly. That’s because Comcast and ESPN have a major feud going on that only Comcast and ESPN executives can really understand.
The loser in all of this isn’t Comcast or ESPN.
It’s you and me, the consumer.
That’s why we have to go on a Safari now just to find a TV that has a Temple game.
I’ve found at least one television that has the Kent State game on and it’s in South Philly. The one (maybe only) place to be is Chickie and Pete’s on Pattison Avenue near the stadium complex.
That’s because they’ll be a sizeable contigent of Owl fans like you and me.
A support group for addiction, like AA.
Except in this one, drinking is advised.

By Mike Gibson
There are very few people who understood my love of Temple football more than my Dad.
He was a guy who grew up a big Penn fan, went to Roman Catholic High and graduated from Villanova.
As a kid, around 10, he’d always send me off every Saturday with a couple of tokens so I could catch a couple of buses, a train, whatever, to Penn, Temple and Villanova football games.
I was a fan of all three teams but settled on Temple because I thought this was a school trying to do something the other two schools weren’t: Bring a big-time college football atmosophere and winning team to Philadelphia.
The Owls had a name coach, Wayne Hardin, a guy who took Navy to No. 2 in the country in the early 1960s.
Soon, Hardin would make Temple a big-time and respected name and I was hooked.
I became a Temple fan for life.
I made a point of turning town a scholarship to a smaller school so I could attend Temple, get a journalism degree, and experience the atmosphere as a student, too.
I would always tell my dad I was a Temple fan because I wanted Philadelphia, Temple alumni and Temple students to experience the things other towns and other fans get to experience all the time _ a big-time football team playing in a big-time atmosphere.
It seems like everybody else gets to experience that except Temple fans and this led to a lot of weekends, mostly after graduating, coming home after particularly bitter losses.
After every loss, he’d seen my sour demeanor and feel my pain. Just like nobody can cover Bruce Francis, nobody takes a Temple loss harder than me. I become almost comatose.
“Mike, why do you put yourself through this?” my dad would say.
Then I’d tell him Temple fans deserve what Alabama fans and Texas fans and Penn State fans have.
Just once.

“Mike, why do you put yourself through this?” my dad would say.
Then I’d tell him Temple fans deserve what Alabama fans and Texas fans and Penn State fans have.
Just once.

“Some day,” I told my dad. “Some day our stadium will be full and our fans will be smiling. Some day.”
I was convinced. I am convinced it will happen.
Some day.
He’d always nod and understand my pain and why I put myself through this.
Today, I experienced his.
This morning, at 9:07 a.m., my dad died.
If you don’t see any posts on this site for awhile, and you probably won’t, it’s because I’m helping handle things until he gets buried.
Hopefully, I’ll feel a little better by next Wednesday, but I don’t think so.