Bye week has arrived for Temple football and, frankly, it could not have come at a better time.

An intervention is needed and someone needs to slap both Dave Patenaude and Geoff Collins upside the head. Not enough to hurt them or put them into the hospital, mind you, but just enough to slap them out of this soft Coastal Carolina poison they have fed as the antidote to Temple TUFF.

They need to get Patenaude and Collins into the conference room at the Edberg-Olson Complex. Maybe Matt Rhule and Al Golden can explain what Temple TUFF means to them in terms that only a fellow football coach understands. In the back of the room, Ed Foley and Adam DiMichele need to be nodding their heads in agreement.

Saturday’s excruatingly painful 31-28 loss at Army—easily the most painful of many painful losses I can remember in over 40 years as a Temple fan—wasn’t decided on Boomer’s two missed field goals nor the unexplainable final drive as much it was much with 3:16 left in the third when Isaiah Wright was tripped up on the Army 1.

The former Temple coaches who built this thing and do not want to see it collapse like a house of, err, straw, cannot explain to Patenaude and Collins what Temple football is as much as what is is not. This is the message that Rhule, Golden, Foley and DiMichele should deliver to Collins and Patenaude.

That other stuff, running Frank Nutile out of a shotgun on first-and-goal, is not Temple TUFF. That’s Coastal Carolina Soft.

Run Ryquell Armstead three times, four if you have to, behind Nick Sharga and get the seven right there and the game is over. Hell, my money is that Armstead and Sharga get the job done the first time, not the second or third–just like the two did here a year ago against Cincinnati. That time, Sharga pushed Armstead into the end zone. He does even better lead blocking. That’s Temple TUFF. I’m not sure these coaches understand that. As Harry Donahue might say, check that. I AM sure they don’t.

Temple got no points out of that possession when it should have gotten an easy seven. Get those seven points and the Owls are sitting on a  14-point lead, not a seven-point one and the Owls didn’t have to worry about any other sins that they committed. Playing a prevent defense against a team that is just not comfortable with throwing the football makes that team comfortable. Putting the quarterback on his ass, especially with his team having no timeouts, is the best pass defense that has ever been devised by man. If you can’t get there with four, send five. If you can’t get there with five, send six.

Just get there.

That’s Temple TUFF, too.

It’s one thing to lose, but it’s quite another to lose by tearing apart what has been the very fabric of this program for the last decade. This is not on the kids, it’s on the coaches. It’s been on the coaches all season.

Whatever happens in the remainder of the season, an intervention is needed now.

Tuesday: 5 Quick Patches

Temple stacked the box and made Navy pass. It should follow the same blueprint against Army

A college football game runs about three hours in real time, maybe three hours and 15 minutes.

When Temple visits Army at high noon on CBS Sports Network (94 on Verizon Fios, 221 on Direct TV and 734 on Xfinity Comcast), fans should be able to find out whether Temple will win or lose within about the first five minutes.

If the Owls come out in their usual 4-3-4 defense with the A gaps uncovered and no nose guard, Temple fans should probably find something better to do than torture themselves for the next three hours.

In fact, Army is hoping for that to happen because they run their fullback through the A gaps—the spot to the left or right of the center—to set up everything else.

Most teams fall for it and that’s why an undermanned Army can beat these more talented teams who recruit players with NFL aspirations.

A 5-2 defense, though, with the A gaps plugged is Kryptonite for even the best triple-option offenses.

There are some teams that go out of their way and change their defenses up to stop the triple option, though. Three years ago, Duke plugged the A gaps but going to a 5-2 and using two tackles and came away with a 34-3 win over Army. Last year, North Texas did the same in a 31-19 win at West Point.

A year ago, then Temple head coach Matt Rhule—given nine months to prepare for the Army triple-option—said he wouldn’t do anything out of the ordinary that he “we don’t worry about the other team does. We do what we do and concentrate on that process.”

That kind of stubborness led to a 28-13 loss against Army before 34,005 fans at Lincoln Financial Field and many of those same fans did not come back for the rest of the season.

Months later, both Rhule and defensive coordinator Phil Snow were able to turn that season-opener into a learning experience that resulted in a 34-10 win over Navy. Snow put Averee Robinson and Freddy Booth-Lloyd over the Navy center and started Michael Dogbe and Greg Webb alongside those guys as the starting tackles. Without a hole to run the fullback through, the triple option was plugged up and the Owls had maybe the most important win of their history. The Owls sold out and swarmed to the ball and that’s just the approach they should use these next two weeks. Eight in the box and let Sean Chandler, Artrel Foster and Mike Jones deal with any passes these teams attempt. Football is not rocket science.

Fast forward to today and Rhule’s successor, Geoff Collins, has reached the point of no return this season. Win, and there’s a chance to salvage something. Lose, and the Owls can kiss any outside hope of a bowl goodbye and they are staring at a three-or-four win season.

Let’s hope he studied film of the two service academy games the Owls played a year ago and applies the Kryptonite that keeps hope alive for the Owls and their fans.

Either way, the outcome could be decided in the first five minutes.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

The key will be avoiding the letdowns that ailed TU last year.

In the closing months of a losing battle, Democratic primary contender Bernie Sanders told supporters that he was “good at math” but assured them that he still saw “a narrow path” to the nomination. Due to circumstances beyond his control (super delegates), that narrow path turned out to be as small as the eye of a needle.

So, too, it is for Temple’s path to the national championship game. Even folks who are good at math can see it’s a narrow path for Temple, but it’s a path nonetheless and it might be larger than the eye of a needle. The reality is that if both Houston and the Owls go 12-0 during the regular season, and Temple beats the Cougars in the title game, it would be extremely difficult to keep Temple out of a four-team playoff—especially if Penn State beats Pitt and has an upper-tier season in the Big 10.

Biggest depth chart surprises:

1. Adrian Sullivan beating out last year’s starter, Brian Carter, at RG; Logan Marchi earning a second team QB tie with Frank Nutile; Marshall Ellick beating out Ventell Bryant at WR and Brodrick Yancy earning a No. 1 at WR; On defense, freshman and special teams star William Kwenkeu earning a backup LB spot and true freshman Benny Walls doing the same at SS.

In that scenario, Houston would own a win over a team picked to win the Big 12 title and Temple would hold a road win against a Big 10 contender. If Penn State does the impossible and wins the Big 10, then the Owls would be shoe-ins for a four-team playoff but that’s probably asking for a bit much.

On this perfect day to open the season, maybe the Owls will finish perfect but that’s a lot of gravy to ask for because they had their head-scratching moments a year ago (USF, SMU in a win, Toledo) and lost four of their last seven. That’s been the pattern for long-time Temple football fans, even in good seasons, since 1982.

After Wayne Hardin’s tenure, even good Temple football seasons have gone like this: Beat someone you are not supposed to beat (Wisconsin, 1990) and lose to someone who are not supposed to lose to (Wyoming, 1990). The pattern repeated itself under Al Golden (UConn win and Ohio loss, 2010), Steve Addazio (Maryland win, Bowling Green loss, 2011) and Matt Rhule (Memphis win, Idaho and Fordham losses, 2013).

That pattern did not exist in Wayne Hardin’s best years, especially 1979 when the Owls only lost to two ranked teams, Pitt and Penn State, and the average margin of those two losses was eight points. No one on the current schedule, including Penn State, will probably be ranked and there is no reason why Temple has to repeat that pattern this season.

The key, of course, to break it and we have not seen it done in 30 years. I’ve said a few months ago that this team is more than capable of breaking the school record of 10 wins with 11, and that’s the minimum acceptable benchmark.

Anything else will be gravy and I like gravy.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

Monday: What’s New?