Tag Archives: college football

05.08.26
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Don’t bet against a team with two All-Americans

Temple punter Dante Atton (laughing, No. 7) is a preseason first-team All-American. Peter Clarke may join him.

(Photo courtesy of Zamani Feelings)

On most betting markets, the Temple football “over/under” is 5.5.

That means, if Temple wins six or more, you win and “The Man” (the house) loses.

Fortunately, I jumped on future College Hall of Fame coach K.C. Keeler and the Temple Owls when the man gifted me a ridiculously low 3.5 last year.

Going to do the same this year at the 5.5 number.

The reasoning is simple.

It’s hard to beat a G5 team with one All-American. It’s even more difficult to beat one with two.

Yeah, I know the No. 1 concern is a quarterback position where the Owls don’t have a single guy who ever started a college football game, but anyone who watched the Cherry and White game (raising my hand here) was more than satisfied with the performance of Penn State transfer quarterback Jaxon Smolik.

He’s got a little bit of Joel Embiid in him in that his career is injury plagued but there’s a chance he’s past that.

He certainly will have two All-Americans to work with if things play out the way we expect.

When I watched the Cherry and White game on April 11 (and got a $100 ticket for “speeding” on Broad Steet going 41mph), I was aware the Owls already had one certified consensus pre-season All-American in punter Dante Atton.

This week, the realization hit home they have another: Tight End Peter Clarke.

Clarke was named one of the five “tight ends to watch” this week and Mel Kiper had Clarke as one of the top 10 tight ends on the entire board had he come out for the 2026 draft.

Instead, Clarke made the gamble to return to Temple to move closer to the No. 1 tight end of the 2027 class and the gamble seems to be working because people have been watching his film in the offseason and noticed.

Add to that the fact that Clarke’s character is off the charts and that’s something every NFL team likes.

Clarke was the glue who kept an entire G5 roster together. Keeler gave him the credit for not only retaining the current roster (“we were the only G5 team not to lose a single starter”) and recruiting the No. 1 transfer portal group in the entire G5.

Catches in traffic mean a lot, YAC (yards after catch), too, but add on character and that’s an unbeatable combination.

To be a first-round NFL pick, Clarke won’t have to match Bruce Francis’ 2008 season with the Owls (15 TDs) but just reach 10 TDs and 1,000 yards.

That’s about the number for every past first- or second-round NFL draft choice in the past.

Winning will raise his profile even more so maybe that’s why Clarke worked so hard to build the roster.

Ironically, Clarke’s main goal is to lead an offense that keeps the other All-American (Atton) off the field.

My guess is Atton won’t mind if the Owls score touchdowns and kick field goals and never punt. (I know that sounds crazy but Temple went two straight games without punting in the 2023 season, led by quarterback E.J. Warner. Going 10 more may be a stretch, but it’s a goal worth striving for.)

If that happens, the Owls blow way past that 5.5 number and make a lot of their fans happy.

And maybe their wallets much thicker.

It still won’t pay my Cherry and White speeding ticket, which is due May 23, but the ROI on the Owls should pay dividends come December.

05.03.26
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A fluid situation: Temple’s home schedule

Up until a few days ago, the last weekend of September was already planned.

Tailgate on Saturday morning, a game on Saturday afternoon.

Then the schedule makers changed things up by moving the Saturday afternoon home game against Army to a Friday night game.

There are good and bad things about that Friday night (9/25) date.

First the good.

Temple gets a chance to open some eyes on national TV against a respected opponent.

Then the bad.

From Temple’s perspective, an extra practice day against Army is always a good thing especially considering that the Owls have to travel to Toledo on Sept. 19, which is exactly one week after the home Penn State game.

Not an ideal situation, so maybe head coach K.C. Keeler will set aside a practice day per week to install defensive principles against Army and Navy.

Whatever problems Temple had against Army were offensive-related, not defensive, in a 14-13 loss. You limit Army to 14 and you should be able to win the game. My feeling last year was Temple didn’t take advantage of its passing game and played into Army’s hands.

Maybe that approach changes this year. We’ll see.

Evan Simon threw for over 300 yards against Navy but didn’t get that same chance because Army capitalized on the time of possession. He uncharacteristically overthrew tight end Peter Clarke in the end zone and that would have given the Owls the win.

Also problematic in the Army game a year ago was a 45-yard field goal miss by Carl Hardin. You get so few scoring opportunities against Army, you have to cash it and Temple missed two big chances there.

The realization in this day and ago is that the schedule is so fluid fans will have to rearrange any plans they have given the time of games and day of games. That’s all due to TV controlling things.

It’s not ideal but it’s all part of the imperfect college football world we live in today.

Friday: A Second All-American

Monday: Legacy Pecking Order

04.30.26
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Regrets, some ex-Temple football coaches have a few

How did college football get into this mess a lot of us more traditional fans see clear as day now?

Well, it started way back in 1869 as a true amateur sport where students could get some exercise competing in “interesting” athletic competitions with rival schools.

The perfect rivalry in those days was Princeton and another school up the road, Rutgers.

So they started one with a “football” game in 1869.

Nobody was paid. Nobody was expected to be paid.

Then, for the next century or so, the sport lived on under the “amateur” umbrella with as close to a level playing field as possible with every football player getting the same thing–room, board and tuition.

That’s the best way to level the playing field.

That’s how the 1979 Temple team led by Steve Conjar, Brian Broomell and Mark Bright–and an offensive line Joe Paterno called the “best in college football”–came 16 points short of 12-0 and a would-be national championship.

I would have given anything to have witnessed that in real time.

Instead, I lived to see that team go 10-2 and become the first Temple team to win a bowl game, destroying a California team that gave both USC and UCLA a much more competitive game than they did Temple.

That was in Giants Stadium where 52,233 seats were sold but 40,000 Temple fans made it through the turnstiles on a 40-degree day that felt like 20. There might have been 300 California fans there, but I seriously doubt it.

Consolation prize because I know I will exit this world with the most imperfect college football system since 1869.

The most compelling argument for what happened after 1987–when SMU got the “death penalty” for doing what every school does now–has always been, “Well, if coaches can break their contracts to go to other schools without having to sit out a year, so should players.”

$100 bucks that I don’t have for providing coverage for this website. I’m sorry, 41mph on Broad Street is not speeding. Today would be a good day to contribute whatever you can to help me cover this monstrosity via the paypal link on the sidebar. Thanks in advance.

My counterpoint was that a contract is a contract and should be honored by both parties until the end of the contract. In other words, BOTH players and coaches should have to sit out a year if they “transfer” and that would end a lot of this current instability we have now.

That probably wouldn’t have withstood the legal system, unfortunately.

Now, everyone–players, coaches, water boys–can move on without consequences.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t regrets on both coaches and players sides.

Collins always had Temple practicing outside in the snow. He said it was part of the “Temple TUFF” culture and fullback Nick Sharga (left), who, in my mind was the MVP of the 2016 championship team (great fullback and linebacker), is now a Catholic Priest.

The biggest Temple football news this week was that Geoff Collins, who holds the unique distinction of being the only Temple coach to NOT have a losing season, said on a national podcast that his “biggest regret was leaving Temple.” The funny thing is that Collins, had he continued those 7- and 8- win type seasons at Temple, would have had a job for life.

Moving up always comes with some risks and Collins found that out the hard way. My feeling was I didn’t like Collins’ OC (Dave Patenaude) but felt he could have done just enough to win and get to bowl games, which should be the goal at Temple.

Still, it’s obvious he had regrets leaving good money at Temple for better money elsewhere.

My guess is that some players have had the same regret, especially Jadan Blue who, after an 81-catch season at Temple, left for a 10-catch season at Virginia Tech. Had Blue duplicated his numbers as a senior there that he did as a junior here, he would have no doubt been an NFL draft choice. Instead, he fell into oblivion.

It’s a cautionary tale for current Temple players who might be thinking the grass is greener outside 10th and Diamond.

Fortunately, the group in the building now seems to have bought into K.C. Keeler’s philosophy. He’s not looking to go anywhere and the players aren’t either. That’s not a culture every other school has right now.

That’s a formula for winning that Temple fans might appreciate come December.

Monday: A Fluid Situation

04.16.26
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5 Biggest Surprises of Temple spring ball

North Allegheny is a great football school and Kolin Dinkins earned his scholarship to Penn State there.

The saying that applies here is that “to beat the man you’ve got to be the man” and it applies to at least three of the surprises from Temple spring football.

Thanks to the loyal followers of our site who put us at the top of all Word Press Blogs today for stats.

Yeah, I know the most important goal is to win the American Conference football championship and I’m onboard with that but a secondary goal that would wake up this entire region is to duplicate the feat of 2015 and beat Penn State.

For a lot of casual football (and not even college) fans, Penn State is The Man. Temple football would move Heaven and Earth (and many of the Joe Football Philadelphia fans) to boost attendance with a win in the second game of the season. (Yeah, I know beating Rhode Island is the focus now but let’s be real.)

Never believed it before, but three Penn State transfers did some convincing for me that it could be a rallying cry for the 2026 Temple Owls. They were not “The Man” at Penn State but they all could play a part in beating the man.

My hesitance has always been this: Temple is asking the third-string Penn State quarterback to beat the second-team Penn State quarterback behind him and that’s never a good plan. Now Penn State did what Temple wasn’t able to do and grab a big-time Iowa State transfer, Rocco Becht, that former Iowa State and current PSU head coach Matt Campbell brought with him for big bucks. Ethan Grunkemeyer, who stepped in as PSU starter (making Smolik a backup) when Allar went down, followed James Franklin to Virgina Tech.

According to our research, Jaxon Smolik will be the first player from Iowa in the 134-yard football history of Temple to play here. Might as well get the first-team All-State QB.

How delicious would it be for an Iowa native, Jaxon Smolik, to beat the big-time Iowa State star of last year? Hell, Smolik, a 2023 grad, was a bigger “person” on campus at Dowling Catholic High than Caitlin Clark, who was ahead of him for a year.

Smolik had an outstanding spring for Temple and tossed three touchdown passes in the Cherry and White game. As of now, he is way ahead of Washington State backup Ajani Sheppard and a bunch of guys who participated in spring ball. This blog is a big fan of Lamar Best and I hope he gets a chance to beat out Smolik for the No. 1 job when summer camp begins on June 1.

If, however, Smolik hold onto the job because of what he does against Best from June 1 to Sept. 1, there will be no bigger Jaxon Smolik fan than me.

That’s where the other two surprises come into play, other Penn State transfers safety/LB (Viper) Colin Dinkins, and tight end Joey Schlaffer. Dinkins is from a great Western Pennsylvania football school (North Allegheny) and Schlaffer is from a great soccer school (Exeter) in District 11.

Dinkins got on the field way more than Smolik (500 snaps, mostly on special teams) at Penn State and Schlaffer caught a touchdown pass in a 52-6 Penn State win over Villanova.

Now the Temple coaching staff found the sweet spot for Dinkins, a hybrid LB/safety position and Dinkins has proven virtually unblockable on QB blitzes. This is what head coach K.C. Keeler has said about Dinkins:

“He’s so damn dynamic, he’s making plays maybe shouldn’t be made,” Keeler said after the scrimmage. “He has a knack of blitzing and being disruptive.”

You think the winningest active Division I head coach (Keeler) isn’t going to find a way for Dinkins to be disruptive?

That leaves the other two big surprises of camp, Illinois transfer portal safety transfer Saboor Karriem and Temple holdover Luke Watson (OT).

Karriem made all of the plays in the first two weeks of camp and that should not have been surprising. He led Illinois with 10 tackles (seven solos) in a win over then No. 21 USC just seven months ago.

Watson was forced into a starting OT tackle role as a true freshman when Stan Drayton forgot to recruit enough tackles three years ago. Keeler with one of his few shots at Drayton: “Watson should have never started as a true freshman but he’s come into his own now.”

Watson will anchor an experienced and talented offensive line that went toe-to-toe with some great talent Keeler brought into Philadelphia.

Surprises?

Sure.

But to beat the man, you’ve got to get the men and Temple has done enough to make any game a toss-up and that’s all fans can ask for at this point.

To be sure, by the second game, there will be at least three Owls as motivated to beat Penn State as the 40,000 Temple fans in attendance will be.

Monday: Slogan

04.09.26
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Cherry and White Game: Back to the Future?

This is the kind of Cherry and White Day that led to an upset of Penn State five months later. No white helmets in sight.
Bright and breezy, which means we might see a Carl Hardin 60-yard field goal on Saturday.

After the Super Bowl and March Madness, there is a dead spot in sports for me that doesn’t get filled in until Temple football’s Cherry and White game.

I mean, after baseball’s opening day, there are about 161 more games, most boring until something big happens.

So, being the movie buff I am, I thought which cultural movie icon did I miss that I need to see to fill the void? That was an easy answer in the wake of the death of probably the best Youtuber I have ever followed, Adam The Woo (real name David Adam Williams).

Adam was a big fan of Back to the Future. Having never seen that trilogy, I absorbed the first two over the weekend.

In one of them, BTF travels to the year 2015.

They saw flying cars, which didn’t happen, but missed out on Temple beating Penn State in football, which did happen. Robert Zemeckis didn’t know specifics, just generalities so he gets a pass.

Cherry and White game three years ago was cloudy, windy and in the mid-40s. We all froze our asses off. That won’t be the case this year.

Temple fans who travel to 10th and Diamond for this year’s Cherry and White game might experience a little back to the future on their own because now, like then, Penn State is coming to town and now, like then, Temple has a chance to put itself on the national map with an upset win.

There are other factors even Zemeckis couldn’t see back in 1985 when he made BTF (like the transfer portal and NIL) working against the Owls’ chances but there are others that are similar. Now, like then, Temple has a great head coach (Matt Rhule, K.C. Keeler) who had some experience as Owls’ head coaches under their belts. Now, like then, Penn State has a first-year head coach (James Franklin, Matt Campbell), who is coming over from Iowa State but feeling his way around in a new job for the first time.

Now, like then, Temple players have bought into their head coach. The thing I remember most from a fan perspective is that Rhule made a point of hitting all of the major tailgates to interact with the fans in the hours before kickoff and I hope Keeler does the same kind of networking. That was a contributing factor, albeit small, to Temple having a big homefield advantage on 9/5/15, where 2/3s of the 70,000 in attendance were wearing Cherry and White. If I had to ask Keeler one question it would not be who the quarterback is going to be or why the pass rush is going to be better, but why the hell does he approve White helmets?

Answer: There is no good reason.

White helmets have been Bad Karma for Temple football since 1884 and they need to go in the trash heap of history. Football-wise, the only thing we will learn is if the players have the same kind of urgency that 2015 group seemed to have. That group was coming off a 6-6 season. This one is coming off a 5-7 season that could just has easily been a 7-5 one except for one-point losses to the service academies.

Now, like then, the current players understand the quality of the opponent ahead and the urgency between April 11 and September that it takes to compete with them.

We got a sense for that urgency in April of 2015 and will eagerly see if we get the same vibe at 2 p.m. on Saturday that punched us in the gut a little over a decade ago.

Monday: Cherry and White Recap

04.05.26
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The Best Solution: A one-transfer rule

Lost in a lot of news involving war and Easter was an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Friday limiting college sports transfers to a one-and-done basis.

If one guy from one party does something in this politically charged environment, usually the Pavlovian response from the other party is to oppose it.

However, this is something I can get behind as a college football fan. Heck, as a college sports fan.

It should be a bipartisan issue.

There are three starters on both Michigan and UConn in Monday night’s championship basketball game who have played not at one, not at two, but at three schools. That’s ridiculous on its face value.

While the Executive Order probably won’t survive a court challenge, a codified version of the order through legistlation might and that’s probably the only way to save college football now.

At least for schools like Temple.

That’s something both Democrats and Republicans can get behind.

Say, if this gets passed as legislation, one transfer per five years can end a lot of this craziness. Back in the “old days” the fact that athletes had to sit out a year if they transferred pretty much made that kind of thing a rarity.

Under this proposal, a second transfer would be allowed after earning a four-year degree and that would be OK with me. This transferring every year should stop. It won’t end the other crazy element of college football–play-for-pay–but it will stop the musical chairs aspect of college sports we see every transfer portal season.

Also, Incarnate Word has a starting quarterback, T.J. Finley, who will be in his seventh year this season with his seventh team. Finley is giving a middle finger to the NCAA rules as is now, meaning there are no rules.

Everybody who plays or played any sport knows that there should be rules and they should be followed. That means both off the field and on the field.

We’ve always had on-the-field rules. For the last decade, we’ve had very few off-the-field ones.

That needs to be fixed or we risk losing all of the fans from half of the 134 FBS football schools.

Friday: Cherry and White Preview

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