Tag Archives: college football

04.03.26
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One week to C and W: Maybe K.C. is onto something

If Jaxon Smolik or Ajani Sheppard turn into Evan Simon 2.0, start casting this statue for just inside the E-O gates,

Call me crazy but I don’t think I was the only Temple fan who went into this spring football camp concerned about the quarterback room and the defensive line room, but head coach K.C. Keeler might be onto something.

Unlike me and SOME of my fellow Temple fans, he’s not concerned.

That’s encouraging.

Why?

Because I’m not the current winningest active head coach in Division I college football and nobody I tailgate with is. I will see a lot of these folks when I return to campus on Saturday (April 11) for the Cherry and White game at the E-O and we will have a good time. We always do.

What we won’t know for sure is can we sack the bad guy’s quarterback enough or throw enough touchdown passes to approach a double-digit win season.

If I had to leave the answer for that question to anyone else, it would be for the current winningest active head coach in Division I college football.

Fortunately, he’s not in Texas, Alabama or Florida.

He’s right here and he will be right there on the same day I will be.

Keeler answered a couple of questions I wanted answered in his Tuesday presser. A couple really stood out.

On Temple’s defensive line: “It’s tough to bring in starters in the transfer portal. It really is and we’ve brought in not just starters but some really good players.”

The Cherry and White game was once played at Lincoln Financial Field. One thousand people in a 70,000-seat stadium was the worst atmosphere ever. However, 3,500 people tripping all over themselves at the E-O is a great atmosphere.

Keeler added he felt the team was 10-deep at the defensive line position and upgraded in the talent area from what he had last season. Since he had Sultan Badmas, Khalif Poteat and Sekou Kromah, that’s a good upgrade.

Or he’s lying.

Since he had no reason to lie, I believe him.

My biggest bone of contention with the QB spot is that you are expecting Penn State’s third string quarterback to beat Penn State’s first team quarterback if Jaxon Smolik turns out to be the starter. My contention since the end of last season was to bring in someone better than Evan Simon. Even though Smolik threw three touchdown passes in Saturday’s live scrimmage, I don’t see the same talent level.

Maybe Keeler does. Last August, Simon threw six touchdown passes in his first game. I saw it coming because he threw five touchdown passes the year before against Utah State.

Do I see a similar thing happening with Smolik? Man, I’m going to have to order some expensive Cherry and White glasses from Amazon to see that now.

Maybe Keeler does.

One of the most disappointing things about last season was that JoJo Bermudez had two long punt returns called back due to penalties and the 57-yard return against Georgia Tech was something the CW announcers felt should not have been called. Will Blackman, the booth analyst, said: “The Temple guy raised his hands before even trying to execute the block. Most officials will see that and allow the play to continue. For some reason, that guy threw the flag. I disagree with that call.”

Keeler might have addressed the issue on Tuesday by saying a lot of starters will be on special teams.

“We’ve got the best punt returner in the country (JoJo Bermudez),” he said.
“If we don’t put a really good unit out there to give JoJo a chance, that’s on us.”

The losingest head coach in the country might have let that slide. The winningest one told us that’s a problem he’s going to solve.

That makes me confident he’s going to address any other issues that might arrive between now and the opener.

No backseat driving here, just enjoying the ride for now.

Monday: The Best Solution

03.30.26
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Hunter Smith: Temple’s home run hitter

Hunter Smith never played baseball but had a knack for the long ball going back to his high school days here.

Almost lost in the pages of notes on Temple’s official website was the fact that last year’s Mr. Outside was being left out of contact drills this spring.

Not to worry, though. There’s no injury involved just a preservation of talent, a decision made by head coach K.C. Keeler.

Hunter Smith almost took this to the house against Tulsa. Radical idea: Let’s wear these uniforms every game. At least these same helmets.

Hunter Smith, who led the Sun Belt Conference in rushing in the 2023 season, was the Glenn Davis to Jay Ducker’s Doc Blanchard (that’s a 1940s reference) and gave Temple an effective 1-2 punch … but he wasn’t the home run hitter for the offense last year.

Evan Simon, who threw 24 touchdowns against two interceptions, was.

Given Temple’s quarterback history and the inexperience of the current QB room, it’s unrealistic to give that moniker to the new quarterbacks.

First of all, Simon’s season was historic and bettered anything at least from a stats standpoint that P.J. Walker, Adam DiMichele, Anthony Russo, E.J. Warner or even Maxwell Award-winning quarterback Steve Joachim did.

To get that kind of season two years in a row is unrealistic when it never happened before.

However, it is realistic to expect more from Smith because his role should be expanded. He won’t have to share carries with Jay Ducker so his chance to hit more “home runs” and, as an RB, finding that crease and taking it to the house.

Temple fans saw glimpses of that last year when he had a 65-yard touchdown against Howard and a 54-yard touchdown against UTSA. His 74-yard run at Tulsa set the Owls up with a first-and-goal at the 1 and that’s when OC Tyler Walker got away from the plan (give the tough inside carries to Ducker) and tried to “reward” Smith with the TD by giving it to him the next three times. (Keeler denied that but Ducker was ready and available but not used.) Put it this way: Why give the ball to a guy who had to be gassed after a 72-yard run? Ducker had to be scratching his head.

Now the Owls have to find a guy to fill the inside role that Ducker had and they have plenty of candidates for that. As far as Smith’s role, though, he’s healthy and ready for a great final season and Keeler is wise not to take any chances with spring contact for his version of Kyle Schwarber.

Nobody wanted Schwarbs to pull a hammy in Clearwater and if Smith is going to get any contact, it should come in summer camp.

Friday: One Week to Cherry and White

03.15.26
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March Madness: Knocking Temple football

The best part about this are the fans coming to the defense of Temple football in the comments.

At about this time every year, there is usually a post-mortem on the Temple basketball season and there will always be some wise guy basketball fan who blames Temple football for the basketball team’s woes.

Newsflash: Nobody on the Temple football team plays on the Temple basketball team anymore and the two teams are separate entities with separate revenue streams.

The failure of Temple basketball rests solely on Temple basketball. Temple football can take care of its own business.

The latest “wise guy” is a basketball expert named Aaron Bracy who said “basketball” was the school’s brand and that somehow football was hurting it.

One, who says “basketball” is the school’s brand?

Two, how is football “hurting” basketball?

John Chaney is from a generation ago and even he–as great a coach as he was–wouldn’t within get a sniff of the NCAA tournament if he had to coach with the transfer portal and NIL as a handicap.

So basketball might have been the brand then, but it certainly is not the brand now.

What has the Temple football program done since Chaney coached his last game?

Qualified for a bowl game nine times in a period of 10 years.

Appeared in two AAC title games, winning one.

Hosted College Football’s Game Day.

Nobody is stopping Temple basketball from hiring the winningest active Division I head coach in that sport.

Attracted the largest TV audience ever to watch a prime-time college football game in the Philadelphia market and that’s including regular and post-season games and that’s a record Temple still holds.

Played and won a league championship game 121 miles away from Philadelphia and attracted a crowd of 10,000 of the 22,232 for that game, making Temple’s 34-10 win essentially a home game.

What are the chances of Temple basketball playing a game 100 miles away and enticing 10,000 Temple fans to make the trip?

Zero.

I like Temple basketball as much as the next guy (but, admittedly nowhere near as much as I like Temple football) but never once did I ever consider blaming the football program for basketball’s woes.

They both play in the same league and they both can win the same league.

The football Owls brought home an AAC championship trophy on the team bus in 2016. Admittedly, that was a decade ago but it’s also something Temple basketball has never done. Hell, the basketball practice facility cost twice as much to build as the football practice facility, and both were built this century.

They have the same chance to do what football did and it’s time for them to do it.

On their own, without pointing the finger anywhere else.

03.12.26
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If K.C.’s history is a guide, TU is in for a good season

They say the best predictor of future success is past success and, if that’s true, Temple football is in for a very good 2026 season.

Head coach K.C. Keeler has had a very good history in all of the jobs he had previously of assessing the situation, adapting to the environment in the first season and improving it the next.

Look at it this way.

Spring ball in Philadelphia: 80 degrees on Wednesday, snowing and 34 on Thursday. Owls are getting prepared for games in early September and late November on consecutive days.

In his second year at Rowan College, Keeler went 6-3.

In his second year at Delaware, he went 15-1 and won the FCS national championship.

In his second year at Sam Houston State, he went 11-4 and made the FCS quarterfinals.

All but the Rowan job–his first–represented a significant improvement on the first season. That may have been in part to Keeler learning how to be a head coach on the job after replacing former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker John Bunting.

Keeler proved he was a fast learner.

Temple finished 5-7 in Keeler’s first season at Temple which was particularly impressive in that the program was coming off four-consecutive 3-9 seasons.

When you look at it, though, it should have been 7-5 because normally reliable place-kicker Carl Hardin missed 38- and 45-yard field goals in 32-31 and 14-13 losses. Take the Navy game, for instance. If Hardin had made that first-half 38-yarder, the Owls would have had a 27-24 lead with 1:16 left on the Navy 1 and that touchdown Jay Ducker scored would have made it 34-24 and rendered Blake Horvath’s heroics meaningless.

Ironically, those were two of the only three misses Hardin had in an 11-for-14 season that included a game-winning extra point and a late 51-yard FG at Tulsa.

So there. Maybe Hardin hits all 14 FGs this season.

The goal this year is not to take games down to field goals and instead score enough early touchdowns for those 34-24 leads. To that end, Keeler has not only recruited the No. 1 incoming freshman class in the American Conference but also brought in the No. 1 transfer portal class in that league. On top of that, he retained all of the starters who did not graduate.

That’s not an accident. That is the product of someone who knows what he’s doing.

Monday: Under Attack

03.08.26
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5 Things We’d Like to See From Spring Ball

If the Owls beat Penn State this season, expect the drums to start beating for their own stadium like this one on the river

When you spend every March in Philadelphia, as I have (except for the few March months I covered the Phillies), there are certain signs of spring.

One, Rita’s Water Ice opens every March 1.

Two, there is a first sunset after 7 p.m. (Sunday).

Three, Temple starts spring football practice.

Can Phillies opening day be far behind? (Spoiler alert: It will be on us in a flash.)

Temple’s spring practice begins on Tuesday and ends with Cherry and White Day a month from now and we can tell you right now that the only significant outcome will be dibs on first- and second-team spots on the depth chart.

To say that you can determine what the Owls will do in the regular season based on that is really premature but there are some position battles that should be interesting.

Quarterback

Evan Simon set the bar high for the next QB.

We should see separation between Jaxon Smolik and Ajani Sheppard by Cherry and White Day. Expect one to quarterback the Cherry team and one to quarterback the White team. Right now, it’s a 50/50 shot who starts the opener against Rhode Island. Will it be that way in August? Something tells me one of the guys coming in during the summer, Lamar Best, balls out. If he does, it will be hard to keep that “it factor” off the field.

Pass rushers

Plenty of prospects to replace the reliable group of Cam’ron Stewart, Sultan Badmus, Khalil Poteat and Sekou Kromah but just as many suspects. To me, the key to winning in college football is keeping your quarterback’s jersey clean and getting the bad guy’s quarterback dirty and Temple did that in its most significant win, a 26-21 job over a UTSA team destroyed league champion Tulane, 48-26. Getting the guys who replicate that feat on a MORE consistent basis than that one game will be the difference between another 5-7 season and a 7-5 one.

Tight End

1,000 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns should be enough to get Peter Clarke drafted in the first round.

Temple has the best tight end in the country returning in Peter Clarke (IMHO) and he has a chance to become the next Owl drafted in the NFL’s first round. Still, as good as Clarke is, he wasn’t the starter in the opening game last season (spring sensation Ryder Kusch was). Does Temple go two tight ends to jumpstart the running game? That’s an option for the Owls to work on this spring.

Kick returner

Temple had one of the best punt returners in the country in JoJo Bermudez last season. Question is do you use your best wide receiver on punt returns again or find someone else? I think redshirt freshman Tylik Mitchell is one of the many who can fit that role. He ran a 10.7, 100 meters in high school. How fast is that? Former Temple superstar running back Bernard Pierce WON the PIAA state indoor 100 meters as a high school senior at Glen Mills with a 10.8. Mitchell was an elusive running back in North Carolina, so he’s got the same “twitch” to his return game that Bermudez has.

Secondary

The Owls have always had transfers come in to take up key spots and this year is no exception. Purdue transfer Earl Culp should be able to compete for a starting spot as should Asa Locks. There’s always room for a wild card to impress.

Friday: Second Seasons

Monday: Under Attack

03.05.26
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Now’s the time to predict 2026: A one-game improvement

I can’t believe Parker Navarro is still in the portal but I know Temple is the perfect place for him.

Going into this transfer portal season we outlined the “type” of quarterback Temple needed to get in order to compete for the American Conference championship.

That quarterback was an FCS superstar or a capable “star” FBS quarterback looking for a tick up in competition.

Temple, for all of its transfer portal successes, failed to get that guy. Instead, they got a couple of guys who only proved that they couldn’t get on the field for P4-type teams. Not only didn’t they get a proven FBS starter, but in terms of receipts, they didn’t get someone with the pedigree of Evan Simon (starter at Rutgers) nor Gevani McCoy (starter at Oregon State), last year’s 1-2 punch.

So while they improved at a lot of positions they regressed at the most important position on the field.

Not good.

So, sadly, I don’t see the Owls competing for an American Conference title but there is room for improvement and I do see the Owls improving incrementally.

At my age, that isn’t fast enough but I will take the small wins when I can get them.

Why are we not waiting until May? It looks like all the players are in place now and they will compete only against themselves between now and Cherry and White Day.

Parker Navarro, a quarterback who does fit all the qualifications of an AAC championship quarterback, is still in the portal.

It doesn’t have to be Navarro, whose eligibility issue is up in the air but someone like him.

We can only hope but I think Temple is done at QB. I hope I’m wrong.

We predict 6-6 without Navarro or someone like him.

With an inexperienced starter, or someone like him, I see the Owls winning 9-10 games and getting into the AAC championship game.

I have this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that Temple is done and going with six quarterbacks. None to me have the “it” factor with the possible exception of Lamar Best, who arrives in July.

So we’re going under the assumption that Temple is done at the quarterback position.

I see the Owls beating Rhode Island (55-10), losing to Penn State (35-14), beating Toledo (17-13), losing to Army (24-21), losing at South Florida (55-24), beating UConn (17-10), beating Charlotte (48-23), losing at East Carolina (36-19), losing at Navy (17-14), beating UAB (21-14), beating Rice (28-17) and losing at Memphis (35-21).

That’s 6-6 and the very definition of mediocrity. As Wayne Hardin once said, “mediocrity is not my cup of tea.”

Nor mine.

An experienced guy is out there. With him, I see a more competitive game against Penn State, wins at USF at home vs. Army and at Navy and a possible win at Memphis. That’s not 6-6 nor mediocrity.

Go get him or expect meh when “yeah” should have been the Year Two goal all along.

Monday: 5 Things We’d Like to See From Spring Ball

Friday: The New Bowl System and Temple

03.01.26
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One area Owls are in good hands: Feet

While there are some concerns about gameday experience on the quarterback level, there is at least one area where the Owls are in good hands.

Feet.

With both starting kicker Carl Hardin coming back and starting punter Dante Atton as well, the Owls have plenty of gameday experience and clutch plays under their belts at least in that part of special teams.

Hardin, a redshirt junior from Raleigh, N.C., only missed three field goals–a 61-yarder at Georgia Tech, a 45-yarder at Army and a 38-yarder against Navy.

Ironically, had he hit two of those field goals in games against the service academies, the Owls would have been in a pretty nice bowl game somewhere and would have at least had a better chance to finish 7-5 in the regular season.

So even good players have things to work on but, conversely, his successful 51-yarder at Tulsa was the reason the Owls were able to pull that game out.

Hardin’s performance wasn’t a surprise to anyone who watched the Owls in practice and former kicker Maddox Trujillo told K.C. Keeler on his way out that Hardin was not only the second-best kicker on the Owls, but the second-best kicker in the entire league. Hard to argue with Maddox on those points as Hardin finished the year 11-for14 on field goals and 40 for 40 on extra points. Plus, he solved one of the most maddening problems of the Stan Drayton Era–kicking the ball out of bounds.

That used to happen multiple times a game under Drayton but last year happened only once in 2025.

As far as depth, backup kicker Lucas Glassburn–who made his only XP attempt for the Owls in 2025–hit the portal and transferred to New Hampshire, where he will be the starter and Darren Wu moves into Glassburn’s spot at Temple. Wu was Lafayette’s top kicker before transferring to Temple last season.

The punter, Atton, is even more well-known as he is the only returning first-team All-American at any position in Temple football history (not even Paul Palmer and Joe Klecko were first-team All-Americans as underclassmen). Atton pinned opponents inside the 20 a record 27 times.

If things work out the way head coach K.C. Keeler wants, the stats from both Hardin and Atton won’t be as gaudy this year as the goal is to score touchdowns, not field goals nor even punt the ball. (When E.J. Warner was quarterback in 2023, the Owls went two consecutive games without punting.)

It’s nice to know, though, the Owls can milk a clock down to 20 or so seconds in a tie game and win it on a short field goal if needed.

Friday: Now’s The Time

Monday: 5 Things We’d Like to See in Spring Ball

02.26.26
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The 2026 Temple schedule: Some takeaways

At some point, both Temple fans and the ones of the outside are going to have to come to some sort of conclusion on the way the 2026 season is going to play out.

Today is not that day.

Soon, but not today.

Today is the day to look at the schedule released on Thursday and decide whether it is a favorable one or not.

It is only if one priority is set today: The Army game.

Yeah, I know take it one game at a time and take care of Rhode Island first but put that aside for now because Rhode Island beat Hampton, 38-10, in 2025 and that was almost the same exact score (34-7) Howard beat Hampton by two weeks after Howard lost to Temple.

Freaking 55-7. That doesn’t mean Temple should beat Rhode Island by 38 more points than 55 (that’s 93) but it will be closer to 55-7 than anything else.

Rhode Island and Temple aren’t in the same stratosphere, so I think that’s something we can all agree on and move forward with a more realistic evaluation of the schedule.

Why is Army so important?

The Owls host Penn State the week between those two games and are at Toledo after that. Everyone who follows college football would say PSU is a so-called “trap” game because beating Penn State is so important to Temple fans.

The guy who needs to figure out how to put in a game plan to beat Army figured out a way to recruit the No. 1 class in the AAC. Temple fans should sleep well over that fact.

From the Temple football perspective, it shouldn’t be. While it would be great to have a 2015 redux, the reality of the college football world is that Penn State has 200x the money to build a roster than Temple does. Back in 2015, it was way closer to 2-1.

Winning the AAC championship is the only goal. So, while you try to win Penn State and Toledo, you go light on the game plans in those games and heavy on the game plan against Jeff Monken.

Because the Army preparation is only a week–ideally playing a service academy should be two weeks–a lot of the prep time for the triple option should be imbedded not only into summer camp but into spring football that begins in a couple of weeks.

That usually means Brian L. Smith’s defense but Smith did fine against Army last year (limiting them to just 14 points) so the offense should be involved as well. Two weeks after Temple lost, 14-13, to Army, Tulsa (which lost to Temple) was able to score 26 points in a 26-25 win at West Point.

So Tyler Walker’s offense was unacceptable against a team vulnerable to the pass. So, I don’t know, maybe put in a game plan that throws the ball more, stopping the clock on (hopefully) rare incompletions and attacking the most vulnerable part of the Army defense (defending more athletic receivers like JoJo Bermudez and Colin Chase). Last year’s game plan was Jay Ducker right, Jay Ducker up the middle and Jay Ducker left.

That’s a great game plan against the 11th-ranked RUN defense in the AAC (North Texas) but a terrible game plan against (let’s be honest) slow white cornerbacks. Giving the ball to Ducker last year (or even my favorite player this year, Hunter Smith) is not the answer.

The good news is that the Owls have nine months to work on that. The better news is that the current winningest active college football head coach is on the case and probably sees the same things I do.

Monday: That’s the kicker

Friday: Now’s The Time

Monday: 5 Things We’d Like to See in Spring Practice

02.22.26
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Solving some of the little problems with college football

Usually, in a nondescript week in February, nothing happens in college football.

This is not that week as the NCAA rules committee meets to discuss a couple of significant changes that will probably be implemented. (They’ll also discuss a few things that won’t.)

One, the targeting rule where a player from the second half of one game is penalized by sitting out the first half of the next game. That rule never made much sense since the next game could come after a bye week or even a month of bowl preparation. That begs another question, though: Is targeting only going to be enforced in the first half? That’s something the committee will have to deal with.

Me?

Get rid of any rule that involves a half and just kick a player out of the game where the infraction occurs.

That would involve some King Solomon-like judgment so we will see what happens.

The second rule likely to be addressed is the non-enforcement of wearing shorts instead of pants. That rule is in the books and hasn’t been enforced. The penalty is likely to be 15 yards. Seems to be an easy rule to follow because equipment guys can hang out only long pants.

Duh?

Unfortunately, when it comes to college football only the minor issues are addressed.

To me, the biggest impediment to fair play hasn’t been addressed and probably won’t: 1) Why the largest schools with the largest fan followings can buy a championship leaving the poorer schools behind and 2) there is no two.

Failing a return to room, board and tuition, a more equitable way of solving this problem would also be a King Solomon-type solution: Split the baby in half.

In other words, pool all of the TV money from all of the contracts and all of the leagues into one pile, give half to the schools and the other half to a fund that equally spreads the NIL money over 136 schools so that Kent State, the bottom team, has a fighting chance against Indiana, the top team. That would lift up everyone for the benefit of the college game. Yet you won’t ever get the Big 10 or the SEC to agree to that.

Until that happens, if you want to see a team win on any given day you have to wait until Sunday for the NFL. The days of G5 teams upsetting P4 teams are probably over, and we are all poorer for it.

Friday: Under construction

02.02.26
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The day K.C. Keeler beat Curt Cignetti

Buried in a covid season that forced the FCS to schedule spring ball was one of the few losses national championship Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti had in the last five years.

Buried in a covid season that forced the FCS to schedule spring ball was one of the few losses national championship Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti had in the last five years.
K.C. Keeler beat Curt Cignetti in the FCS semifinals and went on to win the natty in 2021 at SHS.

K.C. Keeler got the 2021 win, coaching his Sam Houston State team to a 38-35 triumph in a FCS playoff semifinal against Cignetti’s James Madison team despite being down, 24-3, at halftime.

That’s a lot of halftime adjustments.

What does it mean for Temple moving forward?

Keeler showed that given his ability to improvise and adjust, once he gets “his guys” here, the future is bright for the Owls.

Put it this way: Temple outscored a lot of good teams in the second half (North Texas, Georgia Tech and UTSA) but got wins in only one of them: UTSA.

That was Keeler working with Stan Drayton’s guys.

The only “Keeler guy” brought in with him was Jay Ducker, who nearly became Temple’s first 1,000-yard back since Ray Davis in 2019.

Cignetti talks with Oregon coach Dan Lanning, who was a former Keeler assistant at Sam Houston State.

Now Keeler is identifying more talent to fit what schemes he, OC Tyler Walker and DC Brian Smith want to run and some improvement from Year One to Year Two can be expected. For example, he’s brought in for the first time all of his quarterbacks and they all have a proven level of mobility at least better than last year’s starter Evan Simon. Walker always wanted to use the quarterbacks’ legs as a weapon, and he will have that option this year. He had to scale back on that part of the playbook in 2025.

If any of them display Simon’s accuracy and leadership abilities to go with that mobility, that is the guy who will win the job.

That’s really when halftime adjustments kick into play, getting your Jimmies closer in ability to their Joes and having a coach like Keeler who has matched wits with the best in the business, including Cignetti.

Ironically, Cignetti–a former Temple QB coach–could never dream during that postgame handshake five years ago that Keeler would one day work at the same school.

Maybe the next time they meet, if they ever do, they can trade 10th and Diamond and 12th and Norris War stories.

For now, though, Keeler has won the last battle and that should be impressive enough for Temple fans.

Friday: Closer to Spring Ball