03.03.23
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Other schedule storylines: Why not us?

Not a whole lot of respect for Temple from this Miami fan. He didn’t have much respect for MTSU either

Posted the other day on Facebook this simple thought.

“If Middle Tennessee State can beat them in Coral Gables, Temple can beat them in Philadelphia.”

Obviously, I was referring to MTSU’s demolishing Miami, 44-21, in one of the more shocking college football results of 2022.

Was it really, though?

One of my Facebook friends, who shall remain nameless, immediately tried to temper my thought with this response:

“Yeah, but they are a much different team this year.”

Perhaps the most perfect spiral ever in the history of football was thrown by E.J. Warner here in an otherwise routine practice on March 2, 2023. Zamani Feelings captured this image.

I took the bait and turned it into a 360:

“Absolutely right, Temple is a much better team with E.J. having one year under his belt.”

There is a significant defeatist part of the Temple football fan base that we need to defeat this year along with our opponents.

Obviously, my friend was referring to Miami being “different” and “better” but why can’t those adjectives refer to Temple as well as Miami?

Why not us?

Why indeed?

The same people who set the bar as low as 6-6 for Temple in 2023 are already counting games like Miami and Rutgers as losses.

That type of thinking has to end now.

MTSU didn’t think going into spring practice a year ago it would lose to Miami because the Hurricanes were “better” or “different” than the 2021 season due to Mario Cristobal replacing Manny Diaz.

Nor should Temple now.

Cristobal was the guy who applied for the Temple job and was considered the leading front-runner until he called then-athletic director Bill Bradshaw from the airport and asked for directions to Temple. Bradshaw then told other Temple people that was the moment he heard Al Shrier’s voice in his head, “Bill, listen to me. Hire Matt Rhule.”

Bradshaw told Cristobal to cross the Platt Bridge, find Broad Street and head north. In those 45 minutes, he decided to do what Shrier told him to do.

Hire Matt Rhule.

It was a key moment for Temple football.

Nobody thought going into the 2014 season (at least among the Temple fan base) that the Owls were going to win at Vanderbilt. Fortunately, Matt Rhule didn’t let those Owls think that way and Temple came away with a 37-7 road win over an SEC team.

Guaranteed Stan Drayton is taking that same kind of mindset into spring practice currently going on at 10th and Diamond.

One game at a time means Akron is the most important game of the season as it should be.

That’s the job of the coaches and players.

Peaking ahead to the other teams left on the schedule is the job of the fans and not a single Temple fan should be thinking there is not a single Temple opponent the Owls can’t beat.

Not true last year, but certainly this one.

Monday: Spring Practice Thoughts

02.27.23
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How Temple’s offense looks like the Super Bowl winner

The Kansas City passing offense and Temple’s are so similar it’s uncanny.

Everyone has a blind spot.

For me, it’s the rear-view mirror on the driver’s side. There’s about a four-foot gap where I can’t see anything coming up on the left.

I’ve learned to deal with it by not getting into the left lane on a super highway.

For Stan Drayton and Temple football, though, that blind spot apparently is the running game.

The Owls didn’t put a premium on getting a big-time back in here and it MAY cost them at least one game, maybe more, in 2023.

Everyone remembers the 3d-and-1 call at midfield against ECU, which was a pass.

Obviously, Drayton and company had no confidence in a running back getting the first down and the “tush push” quarterback sneak that the Eagles do so well is not in the Temple playbook.

Had the Owls gotten the first down there late in the fourth quarter, they might not have scored–although after scoring 46 points that’s not a given–but they almost certainly would have been able to run out the clock and win the game.

No worries.

Temple and Kansas City don’t run similar passing games, they pretty much run the exact same offense.

We thought Drayton would go out and get a big-time back in the transfer portal and that just hasn’t happened.

With only one open portal window left (after spring football), it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. You are not going to get anyone better than Edward Saydee or Joquez Smith at this point. Let’s hope Saydee takes a leap forward. If Owl fans noticed one thing about recent running backs like Bernard Pierce and Jahad Thomas, they never let the first guy tackle them. Hell, that goes all the way back to Paul Palmer and even before him.

Notice how Paul Palmer never lets the first tackler bring him down in this game against Alabama

Too many times, Saydee let the first guy tackle him.

That needs to change this season if the Owls are going to double their win total.

Imagine if the Owls had the quarterback “tush push” in this playbook with someone like 330-pound Freddy Booth-Lloyd pushing E.J. Warner ahead for a yard.

Obviously, Drayton will go into the 2023 season rolling the dice on the same offense that (mostly) worked in the second half of the 2022 season.

That’s great if you want to put up points but not so great if you need to get a yard on 3d and 1.

We’ll see.

What we do know is that the Temple offense we saw in the second half very much resembled from a schematic standpoint the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense that baffled the Eagles so much in the Super Bowl.

Simply, it’s a short passing game that neutralizes the pass rush.

That was enough to win the Super Bowl.

Will it be enough to get a 3d and 1 at midfield next year at ECU? Or at Rutgers in Game Two? Or really any other game?

That’s a question that will probably be the difference between six and eight wins for the Owls this season.

Friday: Other Schedule Storylines

02.24.23
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A couple of telling storylines in Temple football schedule

The complete AAC schedule

Hard to find a Temple football schedule in recent memory with the number of storylines this recently released one has.

We’ll just cover a couple with this post. There are many more to talk about latter.

For now, we’ll concentrate on the opener–which we hope Stan Drayton’s staff is doing.

Joe Moorhead, the Akron coach, was one of those names floated for in the search for a Temple head coach after Rod Carey was fired.

We don’t know how much interest Temple had in him or Moorhead had in Temple, but we do know this:

Moorhead has experience taking a less talented team and beating a more talented Temple team. He did so in 2013 as head coach at Fordham, which probably was the most disappointing Temple football single outcome in the last 20 years.

On the other hand, a worse Temple coach–Carey–was able to beat a better Akron team, 44-24, on the road with a worse Temple quarterback (Justin Lynch) than the one the Owls have now.

This Akron team, despite last year’s 2-10, is no slouch.

It finished strong, beating a decent Northern Illinois team, 44-12, and losing, 24-22, to a Buffalo team that made a bowl game.

Temple SHOULD win, but we’ve seen too many Temple games in the last few years where Temple hasn’t won the winnable games.

That’s just one storyline.

The next week, at Rutgers, provides another.

E.J. Warner was starting his first game as a college quarterback and looked decent. He was 19-for-32 with 215 yards, adding a touchdown and an interception.

After that game, Temple head coach Stan Drayton said:

“Back in fall camp, I knew he had the potential to be a leader and a really good quarterback.

“He studies the game, he understands the game. He came into our program already knowing our offense. I knew it would be a matter of time, I didn’t know it was going to be this soon. He really earned our trust in fall camp.”

There can be no doubt, though, that Warner improved significantly in every subsequent game and against two arguably better teams than Rutgers (really, inarguably in my mind), Houston and ECU.

Look what Warner did in both of those games:

Warner had the Owls on the precipice of a big win at Houston, grabbing a 36-35 lead with 1:22 left on a touchdown pass to Zae Baines. For the day, he had 42 completions in 59 attempts for 486 yards and three touchdowns.

Against East Carolina two weeks later, he was much better throwing for five touchdowns and 527 yards in a 49-46 loss.

Both of those games, although the outcomes Temple didn’t want, provide a glimpse into the future.

Both of those teams–Houston and ECU–would have blown the doors off of Rutgers in November.

He was a much more poised, confident, quarterback in those games than he was against Rutgers.

The fact that Warner has that year under his belt and that the great majority of the Temple team returns is a clue that the Owls can get off to a 2-0 start.

If they do, the sky’s the limit for this team.

This won’t be the team that opened the season walking on eggshells in a 30-0 loss at Duke and that is the best reason why Temple fans should be excited about the schedule just released.

Monday: Temple’s offensive concepts

02.20.23
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A Temple favorite for Eagles’ DC

Now that the Philadelphia Eagles have hired an offensive coordinator, the second-biggest hire of this offseason could occur this week.

If they are smart, a Temple Owl could fill the position.

Sean Desai, who spent five years coaching at Temple, is rumored to be one of the top five candidates for the job.

Currently at Seattle, Desai coached at Temple under current Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden and was the Temple special teams’ coach before the legendary Ed Foley took over the same position.

Desai would be a good fit and not just because he’s an Owl.

He is a disciple of Vic Fangio, who probably would have gotten the job had he not accepted the same position with the Miami Dolphins recently. Fangio is generally considered the best defensive mind in the NFL and Desai would bring all of those principles to the Eagles with the added benefit of youth.

Sean Desai did a good job with the Bears and with the Eagles talent on defense he probably would be an upgrade over Jonathan Gannon.

Desai was back at Temple less than a year ago, serving at the Commencement Speaker for the College of Education and Human Development in May.

Not only was he a coach at Temple, but he served as an adjunct professor in the College of Education in 2009 and 2010, teaching a master’s and doctoral program in education administration.

In the NFL, he has plenty of experience as a DC having served as the Chicago Bears’ DC in 2021. With the Seahawks this past season, he was “associate head coach for defense” under Pete Carroll.

Desai earned his doctorate in educational administration, with an emphasis in higher education in the College of Education and Human Development in May 2008. He served as an adjunct professor in the College of Education in 2009 and 2010, teaching in the master’s and doctoral programs in education administration.

While Desai never got a chance to coach current Eagles’ defenders Shaun Bradley and Haason Reddick, he has connections with those who recruited both and probably knows both well.

At Temple, Desai was the special teams’ coach in 2008 when the Owls averaged 26.6 points per return (tying for second in the nation) and had two kickoff returns for touchdowns.

The Owls haven’t had a kickoff return for a touchdown since Desai left.

With the current putrid state of the Eagles’ special teams, having Desai close by can only help Nick Siranni.

Let’s hope he comes to the same conclusion.

Friday: Some Great Storylines in the Temple schedule

Monday: Pre-camp Game by Game Analysis

Friday (March 3): How the Temple offense compares with a champion

02.17.23
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Interview: Joe Klecko doesn’t forget his Temple roots

Radio Hall of Famer Mike Francesa brings up Temple football to Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Klecko here.

In about only five months, there will be a sea of Green and White and maybe a small lake of Cherry and White in Canton, Ohio for the induction of former Temple and New York Jet football star Joe Klecko into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Perhaps that’s not the way we’d like it to be on this Cherry and White site but that’s the way it will be. My druthers are Ocean of Cherry and White and sea of Green and White but I’m a realist and not necessarily an optimist.

Hell, maybe that’s the way it should be because it is, after all, the “Pro Football Hall of Fame” and not the college one.

Still, it’s only been a week or so and Klecko has seen double twice as far as Hall of Famers go.

He learned that he got into the hall with a knock on the door from fellow New York Jets’ Hall of Famer Joe Namath.

Two days later, he was interviewed by radio Hall of Famer Mike Francesa.

That’s a lot of Hall of Fame to consume in a couple of days and Klecko handled it like a pro.

Francesa, though, has to be the one given the credit for bringing up Temple football for the first time with a reference to Wayne Hardin.

Dan Klecko wearing his dad’s pro number at Temple.

Klecko handled the question like Larry Bowa usually handled a line drive backhand deep into the shortstop hole. Smoothly with a solid throw to first base.

Klecko gave credit to Hardin for preparing him for what was to come. You can hear the complete interview at the top of this post with the Temple part at the 7:37 time stamp but what struck me was Joe didn’t refer to himself as much as his Temple teammates for what Hardin did.

It was a short reference and kind of gave a preview of his acceptance speech, which will be about 92 percent New York Jet oriented.

Up the percentage for the presentation speech because there is no doubt in my mind that son Dan Klecko will give it. If Joe talks mostly about the Jets, we hope Dan will work in the mutual Temple football experience both shared. Hopefully, at least 14 percent of Dan’s speech will be about Joe’s Temple days.

Like Joe, Dan played football at Temple.

Joe was an honorable mention All-American at Temple but it could be argued from a receipts standpoint that Dan had the better college career, as Dan was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year for the Owls and Joe played an independent schedule.

Having seen Joe post 11 sacks in one game at Delaware (before sacks were an official NCAA stat) there was no doubt that Joe was a better college player. That’s no slight on Dan, who might have been the second-best Temple lineman I’ve ever seen. Remember, Temple had 10 sacks AS A TEAM in the 27-10 win over Penn State in 2015 and that was the biggest story coming out of that game.

With the kind of left jab to the helmet that made Joe Klecko the two-time NCAA boxing champion at Temple, he made life miserable for future Detroit Lions’ quarterback Brian Komlo, getting on him no more than one or seconds after the snap. Most of those 11 times, Joe only had to touch him and Komlo was on the ground.

The late great Chuck Newman, who covered Temple football for The Inquirer then, took the microphone in the U. of D. press box that day and announced, “Is there a doctor in the house? The Blue Hens’ center needs one now.”

Everybody laughed, even the guys at the Wilmington News-Journal who hated Temple.

Delaware then was a national championship contender at the FCS level, and Klecko’s sacks came in a 31-8 win before what is still to this day the largest home crowd in Delaware history. Klecko also dominated Pitt All-American center Mike Carey who entered the post-game press conference after the close win over the Owls and simply said this: “Joe was the best player I’ve ever gone against.”

Later, Cincinnati Bengals’ all-pro Anthony Munoz said the same thing at the pro level.

No one has ever been more deserving to get into the Hall than Joe but, from Temple’s perspective, Owl Nation turns its lonely eyes to Dan to work some Temple references into the second most important speech of the day.

Monday: A Most Interesting Candidate

Friday: The AAC Schedule

02.13.23
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A football end and a possible new beginning

Back then, the NFL champ played a college football all-star team in August. Fixing the pro bowl would make it a game between college all-stars and pro all-stars.

For those who aren’t into basketball as much as football, the sports season is over until April.

Tough loss for the Eagles, but the future is bright for any team that wins a conference championship and still has two No. 1 picks in their back pocket.

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1624400361413922817
Diplomatic answer but if it was me I would have said, “No, it’s a football school.”

To me, my No. 1 sports team is the Temple football Owls.

A very distant second is the Temple basketball Owls, only because I don’t find basketball nearly as compelling a sport as football.

The other teams in town,, the Phillies and the Eagles, are tied for a not-so-close third.

The Sixers are fourth and I really couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the Flyers.

(Sorry, Flyers’ fans)

So, at least to me, the next big sports day is April 8, the date of the Cherry and White football game.

If that game is anything like the past few Cherry and White games, there won’t be much hitting involved.

It is what it is. You don’t have to like it but that’s football in 2023.

Consider yourself lucky, though. I tuned in for the Pro Bowl last week and saw a bunch of drills that reminded me of some of the Rod Carey Cherry and White Days.

Ugh.

Time to tweak a tradition.

I say bring back the College All-Stars vs. an All-Pro team.

One, it would be a “real game” and not a bunch of drills. Two, the pride factor for both the college kids and the pros wanting to teach them a lesson will make it the most competitive all-star game since Pete Rose knocked over Ray Fosse to help the National League win a cage match with the American League in baseball.

It’s worth trying. Hell, it would make that week between the NFL conference championships something to look forward to and not to dread.

I blame the people running these games, not the players,
The way all-star games are set up now, it’s not to simulate real football in the NFL or colleges.



I have proposed a trade that would benefit both organizations.
Play a combined group of the best college all-stars (an East-West Shrine and Senior Bowl combined team, if you will) against a REAL all-pro team (minus Super Bowl participants, of course).
Ditch the pro bowl.
Ditch the East-West Shrine game.
Ditch the Senior Bowl.
A similar game was played up to and including 1977 and the pros dominated, winning 31 and losing nine. There were two ties. The college team won enough games to make it interesting enough to attract viewers, a ratings bonanza in the early days of television.
One of the differences was that most of those games were in August against the defending NFL champs.
Another, more important, one was both teams were actually TRYING to win.
That’s really the name of any game and something that has been lost in recent all-star football years.
My late father and guys from his generation said that the college vs. pro-all-star game was one of the highlights of the football season in those days, right up with big games in college football and NFL playoff games.

The perfect time to do it is the week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. Get the Pro Bowl guys together and get a bunch of college guys who want to up their value in the draft (obviously not the first- and round-round players) and play a real game instead of a bunch of guys trying to throw through tires.
I know the college kids would play hard and I suspect pride alone would make the pros play a real game as well.
I can’t think of a better way for the NFL to break out of its Sunday-before-Super Bowl malaise and  it would certainly be a booster shot for college football.
A win-win for all fans of this wonderful game.

The next football any of us will see is April 8. Let’s hope it’s a slobber knocker but there’s no hope involved if the pro all-stars faced the college ones.

You know it will be.

That’s the way football is made to be played.

Friday: The Klecko Interview

Monday: The AAC schedule

02.10.23
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Other Temple Owls in the Super Bowl

One of the greatest Temple football videos ever. Not only narrated by the legendary Harry Kalas, but features great plays by two Temple Super Bowl players, Anthony Anderson and Steve Watson. On top of that, a father of a current Temple player, Bobby Salla, shows the form that made him the all-time leader in pass interceptions for a time at Temple. Love Temple beating Rutgers, Delaware and Villanova in the same year. Temple ends Rutgers’ six-game winning streak, 24-14. Great pass from Temple punter Casey Murphy to Watson and a Wes Sornisky cameo (RIP, Wes).

The last time I saw Joe Klecko we had this exchange after Dan Klecko’s last game.

“Now, Joe, just because Dan is graduating, that doesn’t mean you can’t stop tailgating with us next year,” I said.

“No, Mike, I will definitely be back for a couple of games,” Joe said.

Life must have gotten in the way because Joe–to the best of my knowledge–never made a Temple game again.

The next time I will see Joe is on Aug. 6, 2023, the day the first ex-Temple football player ever will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I plan on going to his induction ceremony in Canton (God-willing) as he was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame Thursday night. Preliminary plans for a bus trip are in the works.

Hopefully, I can push my way to the front of the line and shake his hand.

I probably will not mention our last exchange but tell him the tailgate is still going strong.

Joe Klecko as an Owl.

Me and Joe go back a long way. I was in Norm Kaner’s Sports in America Class at Temple sitting behind Joe. To my left was Steve Joachim, who won the Maxwell Award as the best College Football Player in the country in 1974. Steve was a senior. Joe and I were sophomores.

That was a fun class. We had a lot of laughs.

Norm would always say Temple is Harvard on the Delaware.

Joe was drafted in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL draft by the New York Jets. Steve was drafted in the seventh round by the Colts.

It was one of the electives you took to skate through school. That’s why half the football team was there. Hell, that’s why I was there.

I thought about Joe last night not only because of his induction into the Hall of Fame but because of the many great ex-Temple players who never got the chance to do what Haason Reddick and Shaun Bradley are doing now.

Playing in a Super Bowl.

To me, the GOAT of Temple football is Paul Palmer and even he never got a chance to play in a Super Bowl.

In fact, according to the NFL Network, 94.3 percent of the players who logged time in the league never played in the Super Bowl.

So we hope Haason and Shaun make the most of their opportunity.

We know they will like both Steve Watson did for the Broncos and Anthony Anderson did for the Steelers. Anderson’s one-time teammate, former Temple wide receiver Randy Grossman, has four Super Bowl rings after being converted to a tight end by Chuck Knoll.

This is how great Wayne Hardin was. Temple was 18 points away from an unbeaten untied season in 1978 and 17 points away from an unbeaten untied season in 1979. Can you imagine if Temple went 11-0 in back-to-back football seasons? Anderson and Watson were stars of the 77-78 squads and Steve Conjar and Mark Bright led the No. 17-ranked 1979 team.

Many years later, Reddick and Bradley continued their legacy.

They are like so many other ex-Temple players, a special kind of tough.

Temple TUFF.

Monday: Tweaking a Tradition

02.06.23
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An Ad for Temple Football Money Can’t Buy

A nice nugget of information for Fox TV to mention is that Reddick wore No. 7 with both hometown teams.

Today’s Jeopardy Question: What is $7 million?

For Temple, the answer is “How much does Temple get annually from the American Conference?”

It also pertains to the Owls and this Sunday’s Super Bowl game because that’s what it costs to purchase a 30-second spot during the Eagles-Chiefs game.

Kurt Warner mentioned Reddick was from Temple several times on the Westwood One broadcast. Now it’s time for the Fox TV guys to do the same.

The bad news is Temple doesn’t have $7 million to purchase such an ad. The good news is that it may not have to lay out the cash.

Every time Haason Reddick’s name gets mentioned (and is associated with Temple), it’s an ad for Temple football that money can’t buy. That could be worth $7 million, maybe more, depending on how many times the school gets mentioned.

The broadcast team is Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen and they swung and missed during the NFC championship game. Oh, they mentioned Reddick’s name plenty of times–he was the single most influential player in the game–but they never once mentioned he played his college football in the same town on the same home field wearing the same number.

That’s an unforgivable sin.

How cool would it have been for Olsen or Burkhardt to say, “On the same field Reddick played his college football for the Temple Owls, he is wrecking any chances for the 49ers to win the NFC title on this field.”

Pretty damn cool.

Every kid who plays football in the nation will be watching the game. Temple getting mentioned several times or even once plants the thought of good football in the heads of high school players and coaches everywhere.

Maybe Burkhardt and Olsen didn’t know Reddick played for Temple football then but we’re sure as heck going to let them know he played for Temple now.

At this broadcasting level, there is a research team responsible for feeding the color and the play-by-play guy factoids that might be of interest to the fans watching or listening. Certainly, Reddick’s hometown connections–and those of both Temple and Eagles’ teammate Shaun Bradley–were worthy of mentioning but slipped through the cracks.

Sunday’s game represents a chance for a needed do-over. The more people tweet this information to @kevinburkhardt or @gregolsen88 the better that broadcast will be.

Not only for those two guys but for Temple University and Philadelphia as a whole.

Friday: Other Temple Super Bowl Connections

02.03.23
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Second Signing Day: Geraldo’s Vault

A lot of old guys in this photo.

Google “famous duds” and you get only a lot of “famous duos.”

Not quite what I was looking for.

I can think of only a handful of duds, but Geraldo Rivera hosting a two-hour prime-time special in 1986 to open an Al Capone vault was probably the best example.

It was empty.

Geraldo had to do a lot of filler.

Same for Temple head football coach Stan Drayton hosting some Owl Club members at a Wednesday Temple signing day ceremony.

The Temple football Twitter web site posted a photo.

A lot of old guys, presumably moneyed supporters, looking at a screen.

One reaction made me laugh out loud.

“They look old, Rob,” Joe Morgan said.

(Loved Joe when he played for the Phillies but don’t think it’s that Joe Morgan.)

Nothing would please me more than to report here that Drayton went out and got the big-time running back Temple needs, but anyone who has read this site over the last 19 years knows it is not a “rah-rah Temple” one but one who calls balls and strikes as we see them.

There is good news and bad news here. The good news was the December Signing Day when Drayton and company not only brought in a lot of talent but fixed all but one area of need.

The more important December signing day was a triple that caromed off the left-center field scoreboard.

This more traditional February one?

Kind of like a called strike three down the middle of the plate.

A Home Run in recruiting was to get a 1,000-yard proven FBS level back and Temple did not do this.

In December, Temple strengthened the offensive and defensive lines and added some elite speed to the secondary in addition to depth at wide receiver.

In my mind, the Feb. signing day was a time to sign a big-time running back.

The saving grace is that Drayton told Owls Daily.com that he is not done. If he signs just one guy between now and Cherry and White Day, it’s got to be the projected starter at running back.

Or else hire Geraldo to host the next signing day. They will need another guy who has experience with filler.

Monday: An Ad Money Can’t Buy

Friday: Temple Super Bowl Connections

Monday (2/13): A Needed Football Fix

01.30.23
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Back to the Future: A win for perception

Our story in September might have had something to do with Temple’s latest move.

Sometimes we swear the powers that be at Temple University read this website.

The other day we got a receipt in the form of a letter sent to every season ticket holder.

I might be one of the few season ticket holders who have two seats and only need one.

Doesn’t matter.

Arthur Johnson follows us. It was his call to move back to the good side of the field.

I felt that if Temple could pony up the money to buy out a failed contract–something it has seldom done in my lifetime–I could do the same for an extra ticket. (The dilemma only came up because of a new requirement that people with a seat at the end of a row had to buy the seat next to it. Dumb rule but I wanted to keep my 40-year seat and looked at Temple’s commitment to fire Rod Carey and reluctantly thought if Temple could come up with the cash so could I.)

Back to the initial claim.

Back in September, after coming back from a game I attended and watching the TV cameras shoot the visiting side, I wrote it was time for Temple to move back to the side where the cameras shoot at the fans.

Now Temple has seen the light.

I never went back to the other side when Carey made the change–ostensibly because he didn’t like looking into the sun–because I always sat in 121 and was perfectly content with those seats. When my long-time seatmates from the beautiful town of Palmerton told me they were also staying put, I decided to stay.

That caused me to sit in the middle of (mostly) obnoxious Rutgers fans who make Mets fans look like choir boys. It did gave me a better look at the great Temple Homecoming crowd that day, though, so it was one plus.

Temporary inconvenience for permanent improvement.

That’s because Temple has seen the light.

The Owls have had trouble drawing fans since the eight-win season in 2019. Partly because of the Pandemic but mostly because the Owls went from 76-54 over the previous seasons to 6-25 over the last three.

Once you’ve been to Heaven, as Owls fans were, you can’t go back to Hell. Owl fans who suffered through 20 years of losing before that good run, were not having it.

I don’t blame a single fan for rejecting that product.

Not only did the Owls have trouble drawing fans in the 6-25 years, Carey compounded the problem he created by adding to the perception that the product was a failed one by forcing TV cameras to show an empty side of the field.

Now, by putting the fans in front of the camera instead of behind it, the nation will know that Temple does have fans. Probably many more in 2023 than from 20-22.

Now things are in place for the Owls to get back to Heaven From Hell.

Moving the fans to the right side of the field when more are coming is a logical way to go.

If this site had anything to do with that move, we have to thank the powers that be for another terrific decision.

Friday: Signing Day Reaction

Monday: An Ad Money Can’t Buy