09.05.18
by

Impact of Villanova Loss

badolddays

The crowd won’t be this bad but it won’t be good on Saturday.

If it seems extra roomy in the stands on Saturday, it won’t be by accident.

Nothing chases away the fragile mostly soft-core Temple fan base faster than a home-opening loss and there’s nothing worse than losing to a hated rival by playing a brand of football Temple fans hate even more.

Geoff Collins’ coaching staff made their beds with a terrible game plan that eschewed the fullback and the running game in favor of a scatterbrained offensive approach that lacked any semblance of an identity. The bed is topped by a mattress of an even more traditional rival for Temple football than Villanova, Rutgers and Penn State put together:

Apathy.

weather

At least the weather should be OK.

Now they will have to sleep in it for the rest of the season.

Beating Penn State to open the 2015 season opened the gates for the largest single season of attendance in Temple history. One of the next home games, against Tulane, drew over 35,000 fans.

None of them were from Tulane.

Perhaps that was the largest single gathering of Temple fans in history other than the 55,000 who made the trip up the turnpike to see the Owls thrash California at Giants’ Stadium in 1979.


After a loss to Delaware,
Bruce Arians fired his
offensive coordinator and
called for a full-contact
6  a.m. Sunday practice
(less than 24 hours after
the game) on the cement
turf at Geasey Field.
The Owls got the message
and played well the
rest of that season.
Did you see Collins
do anything similar
this week? I didn’t think so

In 2016, losing at home in the opener against Army, the Owls struggled at the gate the rest of the year even though they were champions of a very good league. The fans suspected the team was going to be good that year but, after laying an egg in the home opener, the belief system never materialized. Army wasn’t even a hated foe so the disgust this time could be more impactful at the turnstiles.  There is plenty of hate against a school playing at a supposed lower level of football that intentionally sabotaged every advancement Temple athletics tried to make over the past 20 years. Still, the Army game had 35,004 mostly Temple fans who left muttering “same old Temple” and “I won’t be back” and, the next game, the Owls were lucky to have an announced 22,233 (which looked more like 10K).

Expect a similar non-turnout on Saturday (3:30) for Buffalo.

To lose is one thing, but to lose the way Temple did is another. Matt Rhule said it best after capturing the AAC title.

“For the first two years I was at Temple, I was talked into the spread and we didn’t win until I went with my gut which was Power I and run the football.  That’s what we did under Al (Golden). That’s what makes Temple TUFF. How do we differentiate ourselves? How do we make ourselves hard to prepare for? Put two backs on the field. Put two tight ends on the field. This is what your roots are. These kids have made themselves really tough. And that’s the only way Temple will ever win–by being a really, really tough football team and establishing that identity.”

Temple fans expect no less than that kind of football and they are getting a kind of Coastal Carolina soft from the current coaches they don’t like it one bit. It is time for the current CEO to put his foot down like the former CEO did and return to the Temple TUFF brand so perfectly described by Rhule above. If not, he’s lost the program already.

No doubt about it, losing to any FCS team is an embarrassment but TEMPLE … Temple … losing to Villanova is worse. Villanova has 30 less scholarship football players, pays its head coach 10 percent of what Temple does and has a practice facility worth $1.7 million (Temple built its practice facility for $10 million in 2001 and added a $7 million annex in 2010). How is it possible that Temple could have all of these advantages and lose to a school that lost to Elon and Rhode Island last year? Temple fans have to be asking just what are they paying for. Damn good questions with few answers. Shouldn’t Temple have been able to recruit the kinds of athletes who could just pound the rock down Villanova’s throats?

bickeringtwo

So attendance will be the first visible impact of this debacle.

“The season has been permanently tainted by the loss to Villanova,” one of our esteemed posters wrote. “They could go 11-1 and it would still be ruined by that loss.”

Truer words were never penned. If by some miracle, the Owls win the AAC and qualify for a NY6 bowl, do you see any NY6 bowl taking a team that lost to Villanova over the champs of the Mountain West or even the MAC?

I certainly don’t.

Another poster, a guy named John Whiteside, wrote this one Facebook: “After the disgrace last week, ask me to follow you next year. Best of luck saving this season. A disgusted alumni.”

Pretty much that sums up the feeling of a large portion of the Temple fan base and I don’t blame them one bit.

The next negative effect might be recruiting where several recruits have to be asking if this is the coaching staff they want to take them to the next level. A third could be the belief system among the current players, who have way more talent than Villanova but were coached into a loss.

You can love the kids to death and implement all the swag and money downs you want, but it is all a downright mockery if you can’t win on Saturdays. Forget the hash tags about filling the Linc, which seems downright silly in light of the Villanova loss that effectively emptied the Linc for the remainder of the season. Right now, some of these kids have to be wondering if a John Chaney-type 5 a.m. practice where the coach yells at them for two hours would be something they need more than swag. After a loss to Delaware, Bruce Arians fired his offensive coordinator and called for a full-contact 6  a.m. Sunday practice (less than 24 hours after the game) on the cement turf at Geasey Field. The Owls got the message and played well the rest of that season.

Did you see Collins do anything similar this week? I didn’t think so.

This thing has already gone pretty far south with one loss. Add a loss to Buffalo and the whole season can implode in a hurry. Everybody better buckle up the chin straps, forget the hashtags, swag and money downs and just play (and, more importantly, coach) fundamentally sound Temple Owl football.

Friday: Buffalo Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.03.18
by

Fizzy’s Corner: Breaking Down A Bad Loss

Adventures in Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Land

 

Editor’s Note: Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub is a former Temple player and later a coach and educator. His recaps are a staple during the season.

                                            By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Well, it’s the day after… and I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am with the Temple coaching staff.  But first, kudos to the excellently coached Villanova team, and especially their offensive line, which kicked the crap out of our defense.

weinraub

Part of the reason their offensive line was so effective is that, once again, we didn’t adjust or do anything different than mostly stay in the basic four-man down line, that we always do.  Their traps and mis-direction plays consistently killed us. Our guys were always positioned exactly where Villanova knew they’d be.

As far as our offense is concerned, I could take any write-up I did last year, and plug it directly into yesterday’s game. The 2018 version of the 2017, junior high, “Broad-Street Offense,” was exactly the same. No mis-direction, no reverses, no bootlegs, no throw-backs to the QB, no halfback passes, and no screens. It was straight down Broad Street crap.

Oh yeah, I know you’ll say if Frankie didn’t throw the interceptions, we’d have won. Maybe so, but that’s not the problem. The coaching staff is the problem.  With all our talent, just the same old vanilla nonsense – never inventive plays to put the ball in the hands of our big play guys.  Let’s give just one lack of recognition on either side of the ball.

On defense, the giant Villanova left tackle (No. 73), would be the only protector when Nova would go strong right.  All we had to do to get to the QB, was put our defensive tackle head-up, and take an inside route.  Out linebacker to that side could then just loop around.  Didn’t our coaches see that?

On offense in the first quarter, Frankie handed off a sweep to Armstead and carried out the fake to the left side.  There was absolutely no Nova defenders on that side of the field.  So I figured they saw that upstairs, and would come back with a bootleg sometime soon.  Wrong!  The last true bootleg was when Joe Morelli ran it in 1960.

How about the lack of guts of the offensive coordinator.  In the beginning of the second quarter, we moved the ball out to our forty-two, where we had a third and three situation.  Of all the plays in all the gin joints in the world, we ran that deceptive Armstead up-the-gut for a one yard gain.  Now it’s fourth and two.  You know we punted the ball.

In the last quarter with another fourth and two, but at their thirty-something, again a chicken-out and a field goal try.  OMG, should we take a chance and see if we can ignite the offense and put the game out of reach?

Now we get to the timeouts at the end of the game.  With two minutes and thirty-two seconds left in the game, Nova has a third and ten around our forty.  I’m going nuts screaming timeout (we had two left), but it didn’t happen.  Collins let seventy (70) seconds run off before we got the ball back.  May I remind everyone, the offense can stop the clock whenever they want, but not the defense.  He then so muddled the timeout calls after that, I didn’t know what he did.

Well sports fans, this kind of muddled coaching is now into it’s second year.  I’m pissed beyond description.  I was going to hire an airplane to fly a trailer over the Eagles game on September 23, which read, “JEFF – LOWER TEMPLE RENT.”  It’s going to cost $1750, and I was going to ask everyone to contribute what they can.  Now, I don’t know.  Is anyone a shrink?  How do I get over this depression?  This coaching staff is stealing money on game day.

Wednesday: Ancillary Impact 

Friday: Buffalo Preview

09.02.18
by

TU Offense and Geoff Collins: Sockless

 

Someone needs to show this film to Geoff Collins

The routine practice here is not to post about a game until a full day has passed so as not to let emotion get in the way of calm and rational thinking.

It usually works.

Not this time.

performance

It’s one thing to put up ugly numbers against USF; it’s quite another to fail against a team that lost to Rhode Island and Elon … that’s right, Elon… last season

No matter how many hours pass, nothing will change what we witnessed on Saturday, an Epic Coaching Fail that will rank with some of the worst days of The Unholy Trinity of Temple head coaches (Jerry Berndt, Ron Dickerson and Bobby Wallace). Don’t blame offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude or defensive Andrew Thacker, either.

This one falls squarely at the sockless feet of Geoff Collins, who is the CEO of this football operation and the buck clearly stops on his desk. He certainly either does not know how to utilize the talents of his best tailback or simply refuses to do so. Rob Ritrovato can pick up where Nick Sharga left off and lead the way for a successful running game, which will be the key to opening everything else up.

Collins hired Patenaude to run an offense ill-suited to the personnel recruited by Matt Rhule, the previous coach. Rhule said that the Owls did not experience the kind of success he envisioned until he went with his instincts, which were power I with a fullback to clear the way for a running back, bring the safeties and linebackers up to the line of scrimmage, and use play-action fakes to pass over their heads. In that kind of offense, Temple wide receivers were so open that quarterback P.J. Walker often had a hard time choosing which one would be on the receiving ends of his passes. In this offense, nobody fears the run and, as a consequence, nobody gets open in the passing lanes.

Clearly, Patenaude stubbornly wants to force this square peg into a round hole and it’s not working nor probably ever will.

This is what we said in our preview two weeks ago:

tome

Yesterday, guess how many opportunities Ryquell Armstead—a downhill back recruited to run behind a fullback—got to run the ball behind a fullback?

Zero.

As in none.

Instead, Armstead got limited chances in an empty backfield and that’s a recipe for disaster.

Someone—maybe Ed Foley, maybe Adam DiMichele—who understands the meaning of Temple TUFF and how it applies to offensive football, should take the film at the top of this post into Collins’ office this week.

Defensively, this is what we wrote about the Villanova game plan on Aug. 8, meaning roughly that the Owls had one full month (really, nine full months) to get ready for this:

“Villanova is going to throw to the tight end—a lot—and going to try to throw crossing underneath patterns to backs coming out of the backfield” _ TFF, Aug. 8

What did Villanova do?

Throw the ball to the tight end a lot and also gained the majority of its 405 yards total offense on crossing patterns to the running backs.

Then there is the matter of defensive ends or lack of them. That stuck out like a sore thumb when the “above the line” depth chart was released a few days ago. It’s not that the Owls lack defensive ends, it’s just that they have two really good ones—Dan Archibong and Karamo Dioubate—playing on the interior of the line where they are already set with tackles Michael Dogbe and Freddy Booth-Lloyd.

nitro

Nitro, Temple Nation Turns its lonely eyes to you (but as an every-down fullback, not as a tailback).

The Owls got pressure from only one end, Quincy Roche, when they could have both Roche and Dioubate meeting at the quarterback on a regular basis. So to get to the quarterback, they had to blitz, which resulted in a game-winning touchdown on 4th and 9.

When you don’t have to blitz, you can move your other defensive resources elsewhere and stop some of that crossing pattern bleeding. Plenty of questions, very few answers, on that backbreaking play. The first is what idiot  forced a lefty quarterback to run to his left–and most comfortable–side, when the rush could have been set up to flush him to his right make the more difficult throw across his body? Could that have been none other than The Minister of Mayhem?

If that all of those errors weren’t grievous enough, Collins proved that he was very bad at math.

With Temple up, 17-13, with 6:52 left and a 4th and 2, he went for a field goal that was missed. Forget the fact that it was missed. Remember that, up four, a field goal does you absolutely no good because a Villanova touchdown wins the game either way because it sends a deflated Temple into overtime in a game the Owls knew they frittered away. Conversely, a Temple touchdown there probably wins the game. A FG missed or made does zero good. Simple math. People in the stands were saying that before the kick. If Joe Blow knows it, a guy who is paid $2 million per year to make those decisions should know it, too.

Steve Addazio

“At least I beat Nova 42-7 and 41-10”

Collins needs to get better in a whole lot of areas but going back to Temple TUFF power football with a fullback and a tailback would be a good place to start. If Patenaude doesn’t like it, he can go back to Coastal Carolina. We hear they like that brand of football there.

Rhule did not have success here until he had that kind of an Epiphany. Collins won’t until he does the same.

Monday: Fizzy’s Corner

Wednesday: Ancillary Impact of the Villanova Loss

Friday: Buffalo Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

08.31.18
by

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

atlphoto

Move Archibong or Dioubate to DE and you’ve solved this problem.

For a program that prides itself on “position flexibility” it boggles the mind that one position in particular sticks out like a sore thumb on the “above the line” so-called depth chart:

Defensive end.

footballseason

The weird thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way and there is a fix right under the coach’s noses. You’ve got to wonder if they are so close to the trees they can’t see the forest.

Or vice-versa.

What’s that, you say? “Mike, the coaches are around these guys all the time. They know what they are doing.”

Err, you mean the same guys who said at this time last year that Nick Sharga was “the best fullback in the country” and did not use Nick Sharga as a fullback? Those guys? The same guys who thought Logan Marchi was the best quarterback on the team for the first seven games when every fan who watched the Army game would tell you Frank Nutile was 10x better? Those guys? Yeah, I thought so. Not buying the excuse by the Collins’ apologists that Sharga was “hurt” because the same guy led the nation in special teams’ tackles in 2017. You don’t lead the nation in special teams’ tackles by being a cripple.

But back to this year’s sore thumb problem, though.

The Owls have only one proven defensive end—last  year’s sack leader, Quincy Roche—but an overabundance of flexible above the line talent in the interior of the defensive line.

All they have to do is move an All-American defensive end (that’s right, defensive end)  in high school, Karamo Dioubate, to one end and the problem is solved. Dan Archibong, another outstanding tackle, can also play end. Meanwhile, Michael Dogbe and Freddy Booth-Lloyd are two of the better interior tackles in the American Athletic Conference. There simply just aren’t enough snaps to get all of those guys the reps they need inside but there is plenty of opportunity outside the tackles.

If I was Dioubate or Archibong, I’d walk into Geoff Collins’ office today and tell him I think I can help the team better by rushing the passer and stringing out running plays from sideline to sideline.

Meanwhile, I can’t believe the defensive coaches don’t see that for themselves.

If there is a subplot to watch in tomorrow’s opener against Villanova (noon, Lincoln Financial Field), it is finding out whether the coaches are as flexible in their thinking as they hope the players are in their positioning.

Putting players in the best position to win is the definition of good coaching. In less than 24 hours, we will find out a lot about both.

Sunday: Game Analysis

Tuesday: What We’ve Learned After Week One

Thursday: Buffalo Preview

 

08.29.18
by

Playing Villanova: Coach Hardin Had The Right Idea

dogsofwar

Temple appears to have the talent to put a hurting on Villanova

On or about the time Temple was flirting with the Top 10 in the 1979 season, a reporter once asked Wayne Hardin why the Owls were still playing teams like Delaware and Villanova.

“I believe in playing Delaware and Villanova and beating the crap out of them,” Hardin said.

It wasn’t very politically correct and probably didn’t play well with large groups of local fans, but it was his mantra and it was Temple-centric.

Usually, he did.

clouds

Hopefully, the shower part will be after 3 p.m.

It helped having a Mensa IQ of 159 that translated to outsmarting just about every coach he ever played, but having the talent advantage helped even more.

Hardin won seven of his last nine games against legendary Delaware coach Tubby Raymond—father of the first Phillie Phanatic—and beat Villanova, 42-10, that year on the Main Line.

I thought about coach Hardin when reading a large sentiment on social media of current Temple fans’ opinions on this series.

“We have nothing to gain and everything to lose by playing Villanova.”

“It’s a no-win situation.”

“If you win, meh, but, if you lose, it’s a disaster.”

Around and around that goes and where it stops defeatism knows.


Last year’s 16-13 game
was a complete disgrace
and hopefully put as bad
a taste in the players’
and coaches’ mouths as
it did with the Temple fans

 

Coach Hardin was right. Temple SHOULD be playing Villanova and Temple SHOULD be beating the crap out of them. First, even though Villanova has contributed only about 2-3,000 fans to the last three games (all over 30,000), the game does get Temple fans motivated to put down the remote and potato chips and get to a game in person. Temple should never be “scared” to play Villanova in football.

If you are scared get a dog.

Fortunately, head coach Geoff Collins—who is a little more politically correct than Hardin was—has the dogs of war to beat the crap out of this team.

Do you think Villanova basketball goes around worried about playing Temple?

No. Villanova basketball is, for all intents and purposes, a Power 5 team now playing Temple, a mid-major basketball name.

They just go out and beat the crap out of them.

The roles are reversed in football with Temple being the FBS school and Villanova a FCS school.

It is high time Temple football fans got the same level of satisfaction out of this meeting the Villanova basketball fans routinely get. They got that during Hardin’s years and during the two Daz years (42-7 and 41-10). Last year’s 16-13 game was a complete disgrace and hopefully put as bad a taste in the players’ and coaches’ mouths as it did with the fans.

Now it’s just a matter of restoring the normal order of things.

Friday: Seeing The Forest Through The Trees

Sunday: Game Analysis

08.27.18
by

Camp Phenoms: Russo, Mack, Jennings, Mason

russo

Sometimes camp phenoms work out and sometimes they don’t.

When I was a cub reporter covering the Philadelphia Phillies, they had a kid named Jeff Stone who was hitting line drives all over the place for the entire month of March.

Nice kid, but not the brightest bulb on the ceiling. After a 4-for-4 night at Clearwater, Stone looked up into a full moon and said:

“Look at that moon. Would that be the same moon we have back in Missouri?”

True story. The reporters cracked up.

Stone did not last long, but this group of Temple tough guys are smart enough to get admitted to Harvard on the Delaware (what my Sports in America professor Norm Kaner called Temple) so they should make an impact:

(Disclaimer: These are not the only so-called phenoms, but the ones who have had the most mention in preseason practice reports.)


“I cannot stress enough
how much better Anthony Russo
looks this preseason and how
well that reflects on the
entire offense.”
_ Shawn Pastor, Editor, OwlsDaily.com

Ty Mason, cornerback

The true freshman has been perhaps … perhaps .. the most impressive corner of the spring, breaking everything up coming his way but will be second team because Rock Ya-Sin earned a single-digit and has locked up one corner and Linwood Crump Jr. is one of the three fastest guys on the team and has the other corner down. Still, Mason’s play has head coach Geoff Collins gushing that “we have five corners who can start for a lot of teams in this league.”

Jeremy Jennings, running back

Jennings—currently behind Ryquell Armstead and Jager Gardner—is THE fastest guy on the team with a 4.3 40 and a legitimate home run threat. It’s interesting that he’s faster than Armstead, whose. 10.8 in the 100 meters in his senior year in high school was the fastest in New Jersey during his senior year down the shore. Injuries at that position could place Jennings, from Downingtown, in the spotlight sooner than expected.

Branden Mack, Cheltenham

Temple has an interesting history with Cheltenham players.  Sid Morse (who announcer Don Henderson pronounced the name as “Morris” for four years) was a great running back. He was perhaps the best of several great players the Panthers sent to North Broad Street. Now Mack, who has caught everything in sight this summer, moves to the top of the list. He’s forced his way into a rotation that includes Isaiah “Touchdown Waiting to Happen” Wright and Ventell Bryant. If he frees Wright up to play some more snaps at running back, the Owls are that much more of a dangerous team.

Anthony Russo, Quarterback

Shawn Pastor, editor of OwlsDaily.com, tweeted: “I cannot stress enough how much better Russo looks this preseason and how well that reflects on the entire offense.” Pastorini is almost always right and Russo’s improvement gives Temple an insurance policy and competition at the most important position on the field.

Wednesday: What They’re Saying About Nova

Friday: Seeing The Forest Through The Trees

Sunday: Game Analysis

08.24.18
by

Coalescing A Depth Chart

nohelmet

It’s hard to get a bunch of guys who played for Temple over different eras to agree on one thing.

There is a big tailgate hosted by arguably the greatest (or second) best linebacker in Temple history, Steve Conjar, and the big topic of the home opener a year ago was Geoff Collins’ abstract “Above The Line” Concept.

There were about 50 ex-Owls there.

No one liked it.

These guys disagree on a lot of things from politics to fashion to music but they all agreed on one thing.

junior

Should be starting against Villanova

Traditional depth charts were a good thing, not a bad one.

Another ex-Temple linebacker who was good enough to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, probably put it best.

“I was a walk-on,” he said. “Seeing my name third on the depth chart did nothing but motivate me to get better. This above the line thing is garbage.”

There are 127 teams that play FBS football and 126 of them have traditional depth charts with at least a projected first and second team. Temple is the only one with an “above the line” concept. It’s an abstract thing, like The Deep State, but Collins is stubbornly sticking with it for a second-straight season.

That makes it hard for us to follow the team closely to get a handle on important things like depth, but to coalesce a depth chart is an important exercise a week before the opener.

spouses

From interviews, we can tell you this much:

On offense, Frank Nutile will be the starter at quarterback and Anthony Russo is No. 2. Ryquell Armstead will be the tailback, followed by Jager Gardner. The starting wide receivers will be Isaiah Wright and Ventell Bryant with another veteran, Brodrick Yancy, getting a lot of playing time along with camp phenom Brandon Mack (Cheltenham).

The center is Rimington Watch List candidate Matt Henessey

According to offensive line coach Chris Wiesenhan, the other starters are LT Isaac Moore, LG Jovahn Fair, RG James McHale and RT Jaelin Robinson. Vince Picozzi, a starter at guard last year from Lansdale Catholic, is banged up but should play. Moore, a true freshman, is the surprise.

On defense, the line starters look like last year’s sack leader, Quincy Roche, with Dan Archibong at the other end and Michael Dogbe, Karaomo Diaboute and Freddy Booth-Lloyd in the middle.

The linebackers look like Shaun Bradley, Chapelle Russell and Todd Jones and the safeties are Rodney Williams (a transfer from Syracuse) and Delvon Randall, a potential first-round draft choice.

Lynwood Crump Jr. has nailed down one corner spot with a single-digit guy, Rock Ya-Sin, getting the other corner. Collins said the corners and safeties are “five deep each” with three guys at each spot who could start “for a lot of teams in this league.”

If he’s right, and he sees a lot more of the Owls than we do, this could be a ridiculously good team.

One of these days, though, we and a lot of ex-Owls, would like to see a true depth chart. If we see an nuclear-type spanking of Villanova, though, we’re fine with above the line for now.

My guess is that the rest of the ex-players who hated it a year ago almost to the day would probably grudgingly agree.

08.22.18
by

Collins: “I truly love this university”

collinslove

While Temple dodged a bullet in keeping its athletic director and receiving help in jettisoning the one arguably failed football coach of the last decade, the same cannot be said of the universities investing in Owl coaches not named Geoff Collins.

Collins got up at the season-ticket holder party exactly a week ago today and said “I truly love this university” and you had to hope that he finally was talking a little about Karma.

For no matter how much money Al Golden and Matt Rhule—who also professed love for the university—made from their Temple experiences elsewhere, you’ve got to wonder if they are truly happy now.

The ironic thing is that both knew they were headed into sanctions at Miami (Fla.) and Baylor, but took those jobs anyway when they probably could have parked themselves a year or two more at Temple and received better ones down the road. Worse yet, the sanctions when they signed on the dotted line turned out to be worse when they got at their new homes.

nitro

Hopefully, Collins has been taking mental notes.

It looks right now that Rhule might never win on the Art Briles’ level at Baylor and Golden, stuck as the tight ends coach with the lowly Detroit Lions, can only talk so much about the intricacies of seal blocking and pass catching before being bored to tears.

Tears not of happiness, either.

If anything those two guys proved, it is that you can win football games at Temple and $2 million-per-year for that kind of happiness might beat the uncertainty of double that losing elsewhere. If Collins does leave, Temple could do a whole lot worse than Golden (probably available) or Rhule (probably not) replacing him. For what it’s worth, I think Collins was sincere when he said “I truly love this university” on Wednesday.

An ancillary benefit for Temple is that these Power 5 schools might think twice before coming after a winning coach here. At least that’s the thought.

Whatever it is, Temple’s kids deserve the kind of loyalty of a head coach who does not have one eye on the exit door. What Collins said a week ago today gives us hope he  grasps what others preceding him have not.

Friday: Coalescing A Depth Chart

Monday: Summer Phenoms

Wednesday (8/29): Neighborhood’s Fastest Humans

Friday (8/31): Villanova Preview

Sunday (9/2): Game Review

08.20.18
by

Temple Dodges Bullets, Artillery and Hand Grenades

kraft

Pat Kraft just might take a team to Maryland and beat that squad, like his predecessor, Bill Bradshaw, did.

 

Watching Temple athletic director Pat Kraft address the crowd at the football season ticket-holder party, one thought popped up in my head.

“Boy, did he dodge a bullet.”

At least that’s what I leaned over and told my long-time tailgate friend, Nick (we go way back to Veterans Stadium) when Kraft had the microphone.

Instead of talking about 3.0 GPAs and possible 13.0 football records, Kraft could have had his hands in the Maryland dumpster helping to clean out the stink around that program.

Kraft finished second in the contest with the ultimate prize being Maryland athletic director. That brings to mind the old joke about Cleveland. First prize is an all-expense-paid week’s vacation in Cleveland; second prize is two weeks in Cleveland.

All things considered, Kraft probably would prefer to be in Philadelphia now.

departure

BC did Temple a huge favor by taking Steve Addazio off its hands

 

Of course, Kraft did not know the depth of the problem when he applied but the details released after he did not get the job were surly enough. Strength coach was fired for circumstances involving the death of a player and head football coach D.J. Durkin might not survive an internal review.

That was not the first time Temple dodged military ordinance as Jerry Sandusky was once considered for a post that went to another Jerry (Berndt) instead after Bruce Arians was wrongly fired. That was a nuclear-type bomb that would have destroyed the program if he had been hired. Jerry Berndt was just a bad coach. Jerry Sandusky was a very bad person. Big difference.

Temple football dodged some other ordinance when Steve Addazio left after a 4-7 season on his own. By then, Temple fans knew the deal. Daz would pass only on third downs after getting about four yards running on first- and second-down running plays. It got so bad that season that late in the first half of this agonizing play-calling pattern in a home loss to Maryland, over 24,000 Temple fans chanted in loud unison: “Throw the ball. .. Throw the ball. … “

zachary

I had never seen that at a Temple game before. They say Philadelphia football fans are knowledgeable and that Saturday afternoon helped prove it. Four and seven wasn’t going to get Daz fired at Temple if 1-11 seasons didn’t get Bobby Wallace, Ron Dickerson and Berndt fired before him so BC did the Owls a favor by taking Daz off their hands.

One of Daz’s assistants was Zach Smith (right photo), who left Temple the year prior for a job at Ohio State. Smith, an alleged wife-beater, is in the process of bringing that Big 10 program down.

That could have been us. Seeing Kraft up there on Wednesday night reminds us of how lucky both he and we are.

Wednesday: Taking A Bullet

Friday: Coalescing a Depth Chart

Monday: Camp Phenoms

 

08.17.18
by

A special bonding night with players

darkside

(Mostly) linebackers at the season-ticket holders event Wednesday night.  (photo by Ted DeLapp)

A little bonding between a fan base and a team is always a good thing.

On Wednesday night, at the beautiful Aramark Center—the indoor home of the Temple football Owls—there was a lot of it.

Out of the blue (well, mostly black uniforms), Temple linebacker Chapelle Russell reached out and approached me and shook my hand.

Now I have never met Russell before nor him me, nor do I even know if he knows who I am, but I appreciated the gesture. He honed in on me like I hope he does the Villanova quarterback on 9/1, reached out his hand and shook mine and said this:

“Hey, thanks for coming.”

“I can’t believe we have some Temple fans say this is a seven-win team,” I said. “This is a nine-win team at worst.”

“We all know it,” Chapelle said.

 


To me, it all depends
on whether Temple does
what it did in 2015 and
2016—get back to its Temple
TUFF offensive philosophy
of an elite running back
following an extra offensive
lineman (fullback) through
the hole to establish the
run and then explosive
downfield plays in the
play-action-faking passing game

“Yeah, we’re going for more than that,” he said. “Everything is looking really good. I mean, really, really good on both sides of the ball.”

Then we shook hands again and parted. I will never forget his amiability to a total stranger.

That was just a small part of what went on that night, with Temple fans and Temple players mingling and mind-melding. The good vibes were all around.

“You guys are the best fans in the country,” Temple quarterback Frank Nutile said in that deep New York accent. “You’re going to see a lot of great plays with a lot of great players on offense.”

On defense, tackle Michael Dogbe said: “We’re ready to go up against any offense in the country.”

Nutile might have been right on both counts. Temple fans make up more in quality than they make up in quantity and the last decade or so has rewarded them for sitting through a 20-game losing streak and 20 years of unmatched futility. On his other point, he has an AAC championship tailback to hand the ball off to (Ryquell Armstead) and plenty of athletic touchdown-makers to throw to, including Ventell Bryant (who caught a TD pass in the title game) and “touchdown waiting to happen” Isaiah Wright.

Dogbe and safety Delvon Randall have a chance … chance … of being first-round NFL draft choices. This is at least the equal of the two 10-win Temple teams in 2015 and 2016 seasons and the talent level just might be better.

To me, it all depends on whether Temple does what it did in 2015 and 2016—get back to its Temple TUFF offensive philosophy of an elite running back following an extra offensive lineman (fullback) through the hole to establish the run and then explosive downfield plays in the play-action-faking passing game. That’s the kind of offense that has a defensive coordinator’s head spinning, not an ill-advised spread that features an empty backfield that invites both blitzes and sacks. Matt Rhule said 2014 was a wasted season because he allowed his OC then to talk him into the spread.

These kids, and these fans, deserve head coach Geoff Collins to put his foot down and get the most out of this talent and not allow the current OC to make the same mistakes the one in 2014 made or that the current guy did for the first half of 2017.

Meanwhile, at least on this night, the fans, coaches and players were all on the same page. It was a beautiful thing to see.

For me, at least, I can’t wait to see Ryquell Armstead and Jager Gardner putting hands on the back of Rob Ritrovato and finding big holes to run through. Then, watching the bad guys’ safeties and linebackers inching closer to the line of scrimmage to stop that run and Owl quarterbacks deftly faking to the tailbacks and finding receivers running so open through the secondary they won’t know which one to throw to. … at least that’s the plan.

That’s Temple TUFF.

We haven’t seen it since 2016.

If we see it in a couple of weeks, nine wins might not even be the ceiling.