09.22.23
by

Defying All Logic Would Be a Miracle

Depressed Ginger, an Ohio State fan, is more optimistic about Temple’s chances than I am but he’s done about 21 more hours of film study on the Owls than I have.

About a year or so before I matriculated down the road from Northeast Philadelphia to Temple University, Joanne A. Epps was a teenager working in the bookstore at Temple University.

That was a long damn time ago.

The rain will serve as an appropriate backdrop for the Owls’ first game in a long time without Joanne A. Epps in attendance.

She worked and sweated and studied her way from pretty close to the bottom to the top of the university as the school’s 13th President.

She embodied what Temple was all about. Upward mobility.

I’m sure if she worked in the bookstore two years later I would have talked to her then but I don’t remember. My guess is that she was on to the next thing by then. I didn’t really meet her until one of those alumni pre-game tent functions during the Matt Rhule Era and she asked me a ton of questions about Temple football and I hopefully supplied some answers that made sense. She was particularly interested when I told her I wrote every single member of the Board of Trustees and asked for Bobby Wallace to be fired instead of the nuclear option (dropping the program) they considered back then. I included a letter sent to me from a then current football player, Chris Harris. Temple’s BOT decided to part ways with Wallace, join a new league and hire a real head coach: Al Golden, who proved to be as perfect for Temple as he was imperfect for Miami.

Picks this week. Went 3-3 last week and now 3-3 for the season. Really like a Tulsa team beating an NIU team that lost to FCS Southern Illinois, UConn to be outclassed by Duke and Memphis getting six vs. a Missouri team coming off an emotional win. Oregon will burst Deion’s bubble in a big way.

President Epps was a true Temple football fan, loved the school and even before her death hit the radio and TV the other day my phone text messages blew up with the sad news that she passed away unexpectedly (and shockingly because I assumed she was in great heath).

In my mind, there couldn’t have been better choice to succeed Jason Wingard as President of Temple. She was Temple through and through, loved the school, loved the students, loved the alumni, loved the teams. If you were an alum like me, she wanted to hear your whole story and I’m sure I bored her with mine but she listened. (My advice to the BOT: Ditch the national search nonsense and pick a Temple person as the next President.)

In the Catholic Faith, you need three miracles to become a Saint and Epps must’ve have talked to The Really Big Guy to Provide Miracle No. 1. Tropical Storm 16 is about to pass only 13 miles south of Lincoln Financial Field by tomorrow’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff against the No. 20-ranked Miami Hurricanes.

True story. Before she passed this wasn’t even in the forecast. Every single bettor will tell you there is nothing that erases a talent disadvantage than bad weather.

Second miracle?

An Owls’ win over Miami because as much as I would like to believe the Owls have a chance tomorrow I really don’t and it all stems from the Rutgers’ loss. If this team let Kyle Monangai run over them (and they did) in the fourth quarter of a 36-7 loss, I don’t see them stopping better running backs from Miami. Miami beat Texas A&M and the other Miami and both are probably better teams than Rutgers.

So Temple winning is really out of the question.

Or is it?

Unless The Really Big Guy says “JoAnn that was a really good life. You need a favor?”

“Thanks for the Tropical Storm, God, but could you do one more thing?”

“You got it JE.”

“Make Miami fumble as many times as East Carolina did in 2014.”

This was how many times East Carolina fumbled.

This is what happened the last time it rained really hard at a Temple home game against a ranked foe

God: “I’ll do my best.”

We still don’t know what the third miracle might be but Miami losing only to Temple this season would certainly qualify. Temple losing only to Rutgers would be a bonus miracle. I will be there in the flesh and she will be there in spirit.

We know she’s a Saint and we’re giving her credit for Miracle No. 1.

Nos. 2 and 3 yet to be determined.

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.18.23
by

Miami and Temple go way back

For a couple of schools who are separated by over 1,000 miles of prime East Coast real estate, Temple and Miami football have a lot in common.

The Owls and the Hurricanes go way back when Temple was the powerhouse team and Miami was a team lucky to get on the Owls’ schedule back in 1930. The Miami players were so grateful for the game that they brought the Owls coconuts as gifts.

In return, the Owls beat the Coconuts out of Miami, 34-0. That year the Owls finished 7-3 and somehow squeezed in a crowd of 16,000 to see that game at Atlantic City’s Convention Hall.

The Owls haven’t beaten Miami in the 13 subsequent meetings but will take another swing on Saturday (3:30 p.m., ESPN2) at Lincoln Financial Field.

If the Canes bring turnovers this time instead of coconuts, the Owls might have a chance. Miami comes into the game ranked No. 20 and the Owls are unranked but unranked teams have beaten ranked teams before and Group of Five teams have beaten Miami before. The Hurricanes lost to Florida International and Middle Tennessee in recent years and that fact has to give the Owls some hope.

Other things Miami and Temple have in common:

Vinny Testaverde and Paul Palmer with Brian Bosworth. All were wearing Cherry and White.

In 1986, the Hurricanes had the Heisman Trophy winner (Vinny Testaverde). The second-place finisher that year? Temple’s Paul Palmer.

Both teams tried to build on-campus stadiums. The Hurricanes’ proposed 8,000-seat stadium in 1926 was blown down by a literal Hurricane and plans to build it were scrapped. Temple held a meeting with the community to explain its Board of Trustees approved plan to build a 35,000-seat on campus stadium on March 18, 2018 and that was blown down by carbon dioxide emitted from the breaths of protestors at Mitten Hall. Plans to build that stadium apparently have been scrapped as well.

Both teams were originally members of the Big East Football Conference.

Temple’s field goal specialist, Camden Price, used to be Miami’s starting kicker.

Temple defensive lineman, Allan Haye, was once a defensive lineman for Miami.

Miami hired two Temple coaches, Al Golden in 2010 and Manny Diaz in 2018. Temple erected a billboard on Interstate 76 to welcome Diaz as its new head coach. Eighteen days later, Diaz reneged on his Temple contract to take the same job at Miami.

Temple almost hired current Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, who was considered the front-runner for the job in 2012 until he called then athletic director Bill Bradshaw from the Philadelphia International Airport asking “directions to Temple” for his interview. That call caused Bradshaw to pause and take the advice of then assistant AD Al Shrier who said, “Bill, listen to me. Hire Matt Rhule.”

Bradshaw listened and told Cristobal to get back on the plane. Rhule didn’t need directions to Temple and produced consecutive 10-win seasons for the Owls, including Temple hosting ESPN’s College Game Day on Halloween of 2015.

If the Owls beat Miami on Saturday, it will be the most significant thing they’ve done since that day.

If the Canes bring the turnovers, the Owls should return the coconuts. It’s the least they can do.

Friday: Defying All Logic

09.17.23
by

Norfolk State: They were what Vegas thought they were

Amazing to me how much Vegas nails the line exactly and probably oddmakers’ best performance came on Saturday in a game it should have known little about.

The line for the Norfolk State at Temple game was not set until Friday when Temple was made a 30.5-point favorite.

By kickoff, the public moved that line up to 32 and that’s where it rested.

Thirty-freaking-two.

Temple won, 41-9.

That’s 32.

Two Super Bowl quarterbacks and one great T-shirt

Good news and bad news because by Sunday No. 22-ranked Miami should be a 30-point favorite over Temple before a much larger crowd. (Temple grad and Miami fan Howard Eskin will probably be there wearing Miami swag, sadly.)

The Owls have some work to do to bring that line down.

Or Miami will probably win 30-0, 40-10 or 50-20.

Maybe too much work.

The 41-9 win over Norfolk State exposed a lot of warts, mostly among the coaching staff.

Put it this way: The other home team that plays in that stadium, the Philadelphia Eagles, opened the season with a heavy dose of Kenny Gainwell on the first series of the year. Since he wasn’t stopped, they kept going to the (Gain)well and ended up with a touchdown.

Temple opened with a similar heavy dose of Florida’s top high school running back last year, Joquez Smith, on Saturday.

He was never stopped and the Owls had a 7-0 lead.

Correctly, head coach Stan Drayton went back to a diet of Joquez on the next drive. When they got down to the Norfolk State 20 or so, Drayton got the “great idea” of putting Edward Saydee back in the game.

Substituting the best high school running back in Florida with someone who wasn’t even the best high school running back in Roxborough is never a good idea and Drayton had to be kicking himself after Saydee fumbled.

Temple could have gone up 14-0 there and 21-0 after Quincy Patterson’s first touchdown. Halftime should have been 35-7, not 28-7.

Football is not rocket science.

If someone is doing the job for you that Joquez was doing for Temple (15 carries, 142 yards), feed the beast. Don’t bring in a pacifist to replace the beast.

No reason to put the failed running backs of the past back into the game.

That’s not the only coaching mistakes Temple made.

Stan Drayton taking Joquez Smith out for Edward Saydee caused Temple to trend nationally.

The kickoff guy they recruited from Purdue is not working out. He had one kickoff out of bounds against Rutgers last week and two more against Norfolk State. He either has a sore leg or a sore head. Either way, he needs to sit.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me three times shame on everyone. There should be no fooling around next week and field goal kicker Camden Price should get those kickoff duties against Miami.

It’s one thing to be giving short fields to Norfolk State. It’s football suicide to be giving those same short fields to Miami.

The Temple kids–which the exception of stupid penalties–mostly did their jobs well.

The Temple coaching staff not so much.

Football isn’t rocket science. Temple has the best colors in the country (Cherry home, White away) and whoever picked black is a dufus.

It all goes back to decision-making.

If that end doesn’t improve, we will probably be writing about how amazing Vegas is again in this space next week.

It’s up to the coaching meeting room at Temple to change that dynamic. Playing Joquez and getting a new kickoff guy should be priority A and 1A. Not using Saturday to hone Quincy Patterson’s passing skills was also a coaching mistake. Patterson should have been given the opportunity to pass the ball at game speed now because, judging by the number of hits the offensive line is allowing E.J. Warner to take, he will need to do so later.

Even that might not be enough but the kids deserve the coaching staff’s best effort.

Vegas needs to be wrong sometime and next week would be a good place to start.

Monday: Similarities between Temple and Miami

09.15.23
by

Biggest worry of the season: Big Bodies

This $10 million addition to the E-O was built to win titles and not to lose to an FCS team.

Normally in this space on every Friday of the football season you will read a “real” preview of the next day’s game.

No such preview is needed today.

If my beloved Temple football Owls don’t take care of business and destroy Norfolk State, there is no reason to open up the Edberg Olson Football Complex on Monday. The university spent $7 million to build that complex in 2005 and $10 more million on improvements five years later to win FBS titles, not to lose to an FCS team.

Daz hugs Bill Bradshaw after beating Maryland 37-7 in 2011. These are the kinds of games Temple needs to schedule and win.

The reasoning is simple: Any team who loses to Marshall 55-3 and James Madison 63-7 last year deserves to lose to Temple by 48-7 or worse this one.

If we are not getting that kind of business done we should not be in this kind of business.

I will not be at the game because I’ve said for years that Temple should not be playing FCS teams and I will not pay a dime to see Temple play those teams. We will be back in attendance against Miami (9/23, 3:30) and hope to run into a lot of Temple fans there. (Aside to KJ–we’re no longer in that corner you saw us a couple of years ago, we are now alongside the primo row where the team walks into the game. Thank you, Arthur Johnson.)

Really convinced FIU will win outright over a UConn team that loses its starting QB for the season. NIU would have passed the eye test with the win over BC but the loss to SIU was the last straw. Akron passed the eye test for me against Temple so should not lose by 30 to Kentucky. NW’s 38-7 win over a decent UTEP team sold me on the Wildcats.

This Saturday, though, this 40+ year Owl fan will be watching from home (ESPN+, 2 p.m.) tomorrow and I am confident we will be able to deliver on this site a decent post-game report.

Temple’s main goal should be getting into a P5 conference and beating FCS teams does nothing to advance that goal. Scheduling and beating P5 teams does advance the football in that direction. The Owls beat Vanderbilt, 37-7, in 2014. They beat Penn State 27-10 in 2015. They beat Maryland 35-14 in 2018 and 20-17 in 2019. Those are the kinds of games they need to schedule and win.

Meanwhile, more pressing issues are at hand.

The biggest worry of the season is what we saw in the first few games: Temple is running out of big bodies on the offensive and defensive lines.

The Owls defensive line in particular got worn down in the fourth quarter at Rutgers, where a less-than-mediocre Big 10 team was able to score 23-straight points on them. Blowing that possible win really hurt.

Who to blame?

Certainly, the current staff is first in line. They should have known the Owls needed a lot more big bodies in the program that they were able to attract in the transfer portal. They should have over-recruited like an airline overbooks but didn’t.

Will it come back to bite them?

Geez, I hope not.

A possible fix that might work is a 3-5-3 defense–two DEs, a nose guard, five LBS (which we have plenty of) and three DBs.

Meanwhile, say a prayer that no one gets hurt along either line until after the AAC championship game is over in December.

If those prayers are answered, the Owls have a shot at being in that game.

If not, 6-6 will be a monumental struggle.

Let’s beat Norfolk State like a drum, go to the 3-5-3 defense and hope for the best.

Picks: Started out slow (3-3 against the spread). Would have definitely been 4-2 had Michael Pratt of Tulane played against Mississippi State. This week’s picks are above.

When you schedule Norfolk State, you don’t appear on “regular” TV. The Akron-Kentucky and VT-Rutgers games should be of particular interest to Temple fans. Owls are on ESPN+ at 2 p.m.

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.11.23
by

This is the week to avoid the trap

Down only 13-7 in the fourth quarter, Temple TUFF means grabbing this game and taking it away. That didn’t happen. Stan Drayton has to diagnose why and provide a pill to cure the Owls this week.

Most doctors will be able to diagnose a simple problem by asking you what the symptoms are, when did they happen and what changes in the diet might have caused the sickness.

Changing the lifestyle or a simple pill usually–not always–solves the problem.

Staying the course of a bad diet or habit usually exacerbates it.

The big temptation Temple head coach Stan Drayton has is to stick to the plan he brought into the season and make it work or determine if a 36-7 loss to a team that got shut out, 37-0, by Maryland two games ago is acceptable.

From this perspective, it isn’t. I’m not a doctor but I watched Wayne Hardin, Bruce Arians, Al Golden annd Matt Rhule work on some pretty sick teams so I’m confident that a change is needed right away. Watching Hardin coach all by himself was better than a 13-year stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

The symptoms are pretty clear, Temple has not been able to establish a running game and E.J. Warner subsequently has been under intense pressure.

The Owls have run out of offensive line pills but half the battle there was not having a running back with the ability to 1) Make people miss and 2) break tackles.

Temple has that pill in Joquez Smith. He separated himself from the other Temple backs on Saturday night. Take one Joquez and call me in the morning. That should cure the headache of a bad running game. This kid has the unique ability to get lost behind the offensive line and come out the other end. No other Temple back is that slippery. Put him in the game and give him 20 carries.

My guess is that he goes for over 100 yards against Norfolk State and gives Miami something to think about in two weeks.

The other “pill” is fixing the passing game.

Smith being in there certainly would open the lanes for Warner to throw deeper and that’s what he needs to do. Once Smith gets rolling, Warner can fake it into his belly and pull it out, freeze the linebackers and throw over the defense. Receivers like Dante Wright, Zae Baines and Amad Anderson need to get the ball in space downfield and work their magic. Five-yard outs ain’t doing it.

Temple has too many talented edge players to come away with just seven points against any team, even Big 10 ones.

If Warner can’t get these guys the ball with an improved running game, Quincy Patterson deserves a shot. Defenses will be looking for Patterson to run and with that threat, more lanes to throw will be open. If you can live with the stomach ache of five-yard outs all year, keep E.J. in the game. If you want a multi-dimensional offense, try a Quincy Patterson pill. It might be a placebo and it might not, but you will never know until you try.

Smith’s running will keep the defense off the field and nothing helps a defense that gave up 23 fourth-quarter points than an offense that controls the clock and moves the sticks.

Norfolk State will be the perfect game to make these changes. You can beat NS with Edward Saydee and doing the things you did to beat Akron but you can’t win an AAC title sticking to that plan.

It might be a bitter pill to take now but holding your nose and talking it gives your team the best chance to get over the malaise of a 36-7 loss that should have never happened. Bold changes are needed now, not next Tuesday.

Otherwise you fall into a trap that could lead to another 3-9 season.

Friday: The Biggest Worry of The Season

09.09.23
by

Rutgers: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward?

These days are over, unfortunately

We don’t like to say “I told you so” in this space but, at least in two specific instances over the last few days, we told you so.

Our last post was about Quincy Patterson coming in to “pass” the ball instead of running it. Even the headline of the post was: “HERE’S A THOUGHT: HOW ABOUT HAVING QUINCY PATTERSON PASS?”

What did Stan Drayton do in the first half of a 36-7 loss to Rutgers on Saturday night?

Do the same damn thing he’s done for 99 percent of the time he’s brought Patterson into the game: Try to run.

No. 24 is the future of an improved Owls’ running game.

It’s telegraphing the play to the opponent and Rutgers’ head coach Greg Schiano didn’t need a Navajo codebreaker to determine what Patterson was going to do. Drayton had Patterson run the ball–and like most coaches before him–Schiano was able to stop it.

Who knows had Patterson been allowed to pass if the Owls would have been seven points closer but it would have been something Rutgers would have been unprepared for and the Owls needed those points at that time. ECU sent the house in last year’s final game “knowing” Patterson was going to run it but Drayton fooled them by having QP take one step forward as to run and then one step back for a touchdown pass. Would have been nice to pull that ace out in the RU game.

As it was, the Owls were shut out in the first half, 13-0.

New Temple rule: If a quarterback gets shut out again in the first half, a new quarterback should come into the game.

Thirty minutes is plenty of time to score a point and that’s the quarterback’s job.

Patterson passes there and Temple maybe scores and goes down 13-7. Warner’s second-half touchdown pass would have made it 14-13, good guys. Since the TD pass came in fourth quarter, that’s a full 45 minutes of shutout football Drayton gave Warner.

Too much. Waaaaaaay too much.

The second “I told you so” moment came when true freshman Joquez Smith came into the game. Last week, we wrote that “No. 24 needed a shot” because none of the other backs displayed the ability to make a tackler miss in the opener against Akron.

He got his chance and proved that he was so much better than the upperclassmen options Temple has.

If Stan Drayton learns a couple of lessons here, it will be one step back and two steps forward for Temple.

If he trots out Edward Saydee as his feature back and brings Quincy Patterson in only for short-yardage runs at the goal line again next week, it will be three steps backward. One step for the blowout and two steps for not recognizing Joquez can run and Quincy can throw.

Three steps in the opposite direction Temple cannot afford to make.

E.J. Warner is a good college quarterback. He is not a great one. At least not yet.

He needs to develop a sense of urgency and having Patterson clicking at his heels gives Temple the kind of run/pass option most of the other good college teams have. You can’t allow any college quarterback that many three-and-outs.

Zero points in the first half should have been enough to pull the trigger on Warner and give Patterson a shot.

Drayton deserves some props for putting Smith in the game. He is the future.

If Warner keeps getting shut out in subsequent first halves, he will have to make similar hard and necessary decisions.

That’s the only way Temple takes two steps forward from this big step back.

Monday: This Is The Week

09.08.23
by

Here’s a Thought: Have Quincy Patterson pass

Go through just about every single thread on the Rutgers’ fan base board and you will find a lot of predictions.

I found three to be particularly amusing:

Rutgers, 69-0. Rutgers 51-3 and, lastly but by no means least, Rutgers, 92-3. Not a single one picked Temple to win.

Rutgers’ fans full of themselves?

Shocked I tell ya. Shocked.

It’s pretty much the Mets’ fanbase of college football. They think their team is a whole lot better than it is.

Always have. Always will.

I do remember a game where I had a transistor radio in one hand and my program in the other walking into Rutgers Stadium in the otherwise regrettable Bobby Wallace Error.

Listening to the pre-game show, I heard the Rutgers’ color guy tell the Rutgers’ play-by-play guy this: “Let’s face it: Rutgers should never lose to Temple.”

“Who the hell do they think they are?” I thought, almost tossing my radio along the road.

Temple won that game, 48-14, and the quarterback for the Owls, Mike Frost, became a successful bartender on campus and later head manager of the Draught Horse.

A couple of years later, Temple was kicked out of the Big East for “non-competitiveness” but a less competitive team, Rutgers–who the Owls had beaten four-straight years–was allowed to stay.

After that announcement, Temple beat Rutgers 20-17, on a Cap Poklemba field goal in the rain and that was a night when a terrific back named Tanardo Sharps ran 48 times for 246 yards. Once that game was over, the entire 55-man Owl traveling team went over and danced on the Rutgers’ Big East logo and sang “T for Temple U.” Joe Klecko and I tailgated with a small group of our friends before and after.

The beers never tasted better.

Now Temple plays Rutgers tomorrow (7:30 p.m., Big 10 Network) and a lot of those same assumptions are still in place.

Temple should never beat Rutgers (according to RU fans) despite the fact that Temple hung with two teams arguably better than RU in the final games of last season, Houston (42-35) and ECU (49-46). Owls lost both games in the last 1:22 but probably should have won both. At the same time, Rutgers was being beaten up by Penn State (55-10) and Maryland (37-0).

Yes, the same Penn State program that lost, 27-10, to Temple in 2015 and the same Maryland program that lost to Temple in consecutive pre-Covid seasons, 35-14 (in College Park) and 20-17. That last Temple win over the Terps came in the same year Maryland beat RU, 48-7.

But Rutgers should never lose to Temple. Right.

Beginning our official picks this week against the spread. Really like a Cincy team that put up 66 on Eastern Kentucky over a Pitt team that scored 45 on a worse Wofford team.

We do know two more things: Both Temple and Rutgers have highly paid professional coaches who have studied the tendencies of the opposite team so much that they are ready.

The team that throws a wrench into those preparations by showing the bad guys something they haven’t seen is probably the one that will win.

Throws being the operative word and Temple being that team.

If there has been one predictable pattern about the Owls for the last two years, it has been whenever backup quarterback Quincy Patterson comes into the game it’s almost always on short yardage situations and it pretty much is a run on every play call. Patterson always comes in about four plays a game and those four plays are always short-yardage runs.

That hasn’t fooled many people.

The one time Temple was courageous enough to break that pattern, Quincy threw a jump pass to the tight end for a touchdown in a 49-46 loss to bowl-bound East Carolina in the final game of last season. Temple head coach Stan Drayton has praised Patterson for the last nine months by saying his passing game has improved substantially. It’s time to let that baby exit the birth canal and for Stan to put his -8.5 money where his mouth is.

In order to beat a team like RU, Temple is going to have to show Greg Schiano what he hasn’t seen on film and what he has seen so far is a Patterson run. He hasn’t seen Patterson put that ball in the belly of a running back, pull it out and toss it downfield for six.

In a game where the line is single digits, a simple thing like a couple of well-timed Patterson passes in short yardage could be enough to put Temple over the top.

Any other surprises will have to be cooked up by the Temple coaches. They know what they’ve shown Schiano on tape so far. The more new wrinkles they show the better their chances will be.

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.04.23
by

Know Your Opponent: Rutgers

There are a couple of ways to look at the puzzling line released about an hour after Rutgers handed fellow Big 10 foe Northwestern a 24-7 defeat on Sunday.

The Week Two line showed Rutgers ONLY a 10-point favorite over visiting Temple (Saturday night, 7:30, Big 10 Network).

You could take the Mike Missanelli approach or the Occam’s Razor approach.

Missanelli was a fixture in Philadelphia on the radio with the best sports talk show for about 20 years straight. When a puzzling line came out, Mike would say “that line is telling me something” and go the other way.

More often than not, when Mike took that line of reasoning, he cashed in with a winning ticket.

Or there is the other way, the Occam’s Razor Theory. Simply stated, if the line seems too good to be true go for the simpler explanation and jump on it.

I’m going with Occam’s Razor and taking Cincy getting 7, Tulsa getting 30 and Memphis laying 21.

It doesn’t make any sense that a Big 10 team that won by double digits over another Big 10 team is ONLY favored by a touchdown and a field goal to beat an AAC team that struggled to beat a MAC team.

Easy money, right?

Missanelli would probably disagree.

One, that same Rutgers’ team struggled to win at Temple last year, 16-14, as a 17-point favorite and Vegas was fooled once by this matchup and probably doesn’t want to be fooled again.

Two, Temple has a quarterback with the “it” factor in E.J. Warner and Rutgers, in Gavin Wimsatt, does not have a guy who has proven to be capable taking over a game like Warner has a few times.

Yes, we know Warner just had an “OK” game against Akron but we also know he is capable of doing much better.

Three, the line is and NEVER has been meant to “predict” games but ensure that pretty much an even number of money is wagered on both teams. If more money is bet on RU in the next two days than TU, expect that line to go up a bit.

Who wins?

The next few days will show if the Occam method or the Missanelli method has been adopted by the betting public.

Saturday night will be the true test to show which theory is right.

Friday: Predictable Patterns

09.02.23
by

5 Takeaways From Opening Day

Watched the complete post-game press conference from Stan Drayton and will say one thing about the guy.

He was a lot happier with a 24-21 win than I would have been if I was a head coach.

Pretty hard for me to stomach that freaking Rod Carey, with inferior talent, can beat Akron, 45-24, and Drayton can’t.

Win and advance, I guess that’s the philosophy but I will say this: IF I’m Rutgers (and thank God I’ve never been Rutgers), I would not be concerned with Temple right now.

Hell, if I’m Temple–and I’ve been Temple all my life–I am so unconvinced that Temple will win this next game that I’ve canceled my trip to Piscataway next week.

Prove me wrong, Stan and the Owls.

The logic simply is this: If you can only beat a 2-10 MAC team, 24-21, you are not going to beat a Big 10 team no matter what kind of Big 10 team that is.

Five other takeaways:

The Edward Saydee wearing No. 2 looked a lot like the Edward Saydee wearing No. 23.

One, where was Edward Saydee? All offseason, we heard that Saydee improved so much that he could be a dominant back for the Owls. What we saw was what we saw last year. He had a hard time getting past the first guy who hit him. Darvon Hubbard did just a little better. Let’s see what No. 24 (Joquez Smith) can do next game. The kid deserves a shot.

Two, E.J. Warner was the Lafayette Warner not the ECU one . If you thought Warner was going to resume what he did in the last game (574 yards, 5TDs) against East Carolina, think again. He was closer to the game manager he turned out to be in his first extended duty against Lafayette and not the confident difference-maker he was against ECU. He needs to be that difference-maker at RU, throwing the ball deep to set up the intermediate stuff. He did not throw it deep nearly enough. The way to fix E.J.? Throw the bomb. Put some fear in the defense. Temple tried zero bombs against Akron.

Three, the longest line since Notre Dame turned into a dud. _ Plenty of Temple fans in the parking lot but my friend Mark correctly said: “They aren’t going into the game.” Must have been only one open window because I remarked to former Temple bowl-winning quarterback Chris Coyer “this is the longest line I’ve seen going into the game since Notre Dame.” Disgraceful crowd of 12,456. Winning cures everything and one win over Akron isn’t going to hit that sweet spot.

A win is a win but the Owls need to throw some bombs to open up the offense enough to beat Rutgers. There will be no short passing game without that threat.

Four, Layton Jordan showed up when he needed to _ Jordan, who in my mind is the best football player on the team, got the key sack of a 14-0 Temple second half. Shocked he didn’t get a single digit. If he makes plays to beat Rutgers, he deserves one.

Five, nobody expected to beat Akron by 30 _ One of my comments pre-game was that “I’d settle for a 30-24 win.” Why? Like Temple, the light turned on for Akron in the last two games of 2022. One was a 44-12 win over perennial MAC power Northern Illinois. The other was a one-point loss to a bowl team, Buffalo, 23-22.

This wasn’t Wagner or Bucknell or Delaware State or Stony Brook. This was a real team with a great head coach and the good guys won while, at the same time, lowering the expectations for Temple fans down the road.

Rutgers will walk into next week expecting an easy win. If what the Owls did today sets the trap better than a 55-13 win over Akron would have, I will sign for it.

Not expecting it, but someone hand me a pen.

Monday: Know Your Foe

    09.01.23
    by

    T Minus One Day: Temple Owls Take the Field

    The full Gary Segars video can only be seen through by clicking on the link below. Well worth a watch.

    One of the greatest calls in Temple football history occurred just short of seven years and a month ago when the ESPN announcer said: “The Owls have their first lead of the night … and the only one they’ll need.”

    No nicer day for football than tomorrow.

    That was after Keith Kirkwood made a great catch off a fake spike from P.J. Walker with 0:01 on the clock, giving Temple a 26-25 win at UCF.

    Those were the days for Temple. Without that catch, there is no appearance in the AAC title game for the Owls and no championship.

    As it was, the Owls got both.

    All the Owls needed that day was that Kirkwood catch. All you need tomorrow to enjoy the game is this depth chart below.

    No need to spend $10 on a program tomorrow. Print this out and bring it to the game.

    The season starts tomorrow (2 p.m., ESPN+, Lincoln Financial Field) against an Akron team that is more than capable of beating Temple. Owl Nation have always been believers. The “regular nation” over the last three years has not and with good reason.

    One, Rod Carey came to Philadelphia with a Midwestern arrogance and a “my-way-or-the-highway” approach and some of the best Temple players chose the highway.

    That gutted the program for more than the three years Carey was here.

    Two, Stan Drayton needed a full year to clean up that poisoned culture and what he did in a 3-9 season convinced many of the outsiders that he has changed it enough so that the Owls will be bowling.

    For starters, Gary Segars of “Winning Cures Everything” has gone on record that the Owls will go 6-6 and be bowling (see above video). Segars, Parker Fleming and Kyle Hunter are able to take a step back and look at what is happening at Temple now and are impressed at the direction of the program. It is one of the best college Youtube channels on the internet. Most of the other channels still trot out that tired trope of Temple sucking.

    Another, Bud Elliott, of CBS Sports has said “I think Temple can go bowling this year.”

    From their lips to God’s ears.

    Head coach Stan Drayton has said the goal is championships but did not say this year although that would be a welcome early development.

    There are concerns but one is not the most important position on the field, quarterback. E.J. Warner has that “it” factor and, when you have that factor, “it” can carry the team a long way. If the unthinkable happens and E.J. goes down, backup Quincy Patterson can win a lot of games in the AAC. Hell, when he was with Virginia Tech, Patterson beat a UNC team that beat Temple, 55-13.

    Are there concerns?

    Sure.

    You worry about a thin defensive line and cross your fingers that nobody on that unit goes down. Ironically, one of the guys who could have helped–Darian Varner–transferred to Wisconsin, where he currently is a backup DE. Ugh. When will these Temple players learn that the grass is never greener outside the Edberg-Olson Complex fence? Varner could be playing and helping at Temple right now. At Wisconsin, there is a very real chance he doesn’t get on the field.

    Nobody expects Temple to go 12-0, though, and the players on the above chart should be able to deliver a winning season against a 127th-ranked schedule in the country. That won’t happen without a win over Akron tomorrow so the Owls would appreciate any hometown fan support on one of the nicest days of the year.

    As that announcer said seven years ago, their only lead is the only one they will need. That applies if the the Owls take a 7-0 lead and add on to eventually send everyone home happy tomorrow.

    It could be the start of something big.

    Sunday: Game Analysis