Tag Archives: E.J. Warner

09.11.23
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This is the week to avoid the trap

Down only 13-7 in the fourth quarter, Temple TUFF means grabbing this game and taking it away. That didn’t happen. Stan Drayton has to diagnose why and provide a pill to cure the Owls this week.

Most doctors will be able to diagnose a simple problem by asking you what the symptoms are, when did they happen and what changes in the diet might have caused the sickness.

Changing the lifestyle or a simple pill usually–not always–solves the problem.

Staying the course of a bad diet or habit usually exacerbates it.

The big temptation Temple head coach Stan Drayton has is to stick to the plan he brought into the season and make it work or determine if a 36-7 loss to a team that got shut out, 37-0, by Maryland two games ago is acceptable.

From this perspective, it isn’t. I’m not a doctor but I watched Wayne Hardin, Bruce Arians, Al Golden annd Matt Rhule work on some pretty sick teams so I’m confident that a change is needed right away. Watching Hardin coach all by himself was better than a 13-year stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

The symptoms are pretty clear, Temple has not been able to establish a running game and E.J. Warner subsequently has been under intense pressure.

The Owls have run out of offensive line pills but half the battle there was not having a running back with the ability to 1) Make people miss and 2) break tackles.

Temple has that pill in Joquez Smith. He separated himself from the other Temple backs on Saturday night. Take one Joquez and call me in the morning. That should cure the headache of a bad running game. This kid has the unique ability to get lost behind the offensive line and come out the other end. No other Temple back is that slippery. Put him in the game and give him 20 carries.

My guess is that he goes for over 100 yards against Norfolk State and gives Miami something to think about in two weeks.

The other “pill” is fixing the passing game.

Smith being in there certainly would open the lanes for Warner to throw deeper and that’s what he needs to do. Once Smith gets rolling, Warner can fake it into his belly and pull it out, freeze the linebackers and throw over the defense. Receivers like Dante Wright, Zae Baines and Amad Anderson need to get the ball in space downfield and work their magic. Five-yard outs ain’t doing it.

Temple has too many talented edge players to come away with just seven points against any team, even Big 10 ones.

If Warner can’t get these guys the ball with an improved running game, Quincy Patterson deserves a shot. Defenses will be looking for Patterson to run and with that threat, more lanes to throw will be open. If you can live with the stomach ache of five-yard outs all year, keep E.J. in the game. If you want a multi-dimensional offense, try a Quincy Patterson pill. It might be a placebo and it might not, but you will never know until you try.

Smith’s running will keep the defense off the field and nothing helps a defense that gave up 23 fourth-quarter points than an offense that controls the clock and moves the sticks.

Norfolk State will be the perfect game to make these changes. You can beat NS with Edward Saydee and doing the things you did to beat Akron but you can’t win an AAC title sticking to that plan.

It might be a bitter pill to take now but holding your nose and talking it gives your team the best chance to get over the malaise of a 36-7 loss that should have never happened. Bold changes are needed now, not next Tuesday.

Otherwise you fall into a trap that could lead to another 3-9 season.

Friday: The Biggest Worry of The Season

09.04.23
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Know Your Opponent: Rutgers

There are a couple of ways to look at the puzzling line released about an hour after Rutgers handed fellow Big 10 foe Northwestern a 24-7 defeat on Sunday.

The Week Two line showed Rutgers ONLY a 10-point favorite over visiting Temple (Saturday night, 7:30, Big 10 Network).

You could take the Mike Missanelli approach or the Occam’s Razor approach.

Missanelli was a fixture in Philadelphia on the radio with the best sports talk show for about 20 years straight. When a puzzling line came out, Mike would say “that line is telling me something” and go the other way.

More often than not, when Mike took that line of reasoning, he cashed in with a winning ticket.

Or there is the other way, the Occam’s Razor Theory. Simply stated, if the line seems too good to be true go for the simpler explanation and jump on it.

I’m going with Occam’s Razor and taking Cincy getting 7, Tulsa getting 30 and Memphis laying 21.

It doesn’t make any sense that a Big 10 team that won by double digits over another Big 10 team is ONLY favored by a touchdown and a field goal to beat an AAC team that struggled to beat a MAC team.

Easy money, right?

Missanelli would probably disagree.

One, that same Rutgers’ team struggled to win at Temple last year, 16-14, as a 17-point favorite and Vegas was fooled once by this matchup and probably doesn’t want to be fooled again.

Two, Temple has a quarterback with the “it” factor in E.J. Warner and Rutgers, in Gavin Wimsatt, does not have a guy who has proven to be capable taking over a game like Warner has a few times.

Yes, we know Warner just had an “OK” game against Akron but we also know he is capable of doing much better.

Three, the line is and NEVER has been meant to “predict” games but ensure that pretty much an even number of money is wagered on both teams. If more money is bet on RU in the next two days than TU, expect that line to go up a bit.

Who wins?

The next few days will show if the Occam method or the Missanelli method has been adopted by the betting public.

Saturday night will be the true test to show which theory is right.

Friday: Predictable Patterns

09.02.23
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5 Takeaways From Opening Day

Watched the complete post-game press conference from Stan Drayton and will say one thing about the guy.

He was a lot happier with a 24-21 win than I would have been if I was a head coach.

Pretty hard for me to stomach that freaking Rod Carey, with inferior talent, can beat Akron, 45-24, and Drayton can’t.

Win and advance, I guess that’s the philosophy but I will say this: IF I’m Rutgers (and thank God I’ve never been Rutgers), I would not be concerned with Temple right now.

Hell, if I’m Temple–and I’ve been Temple all my life–I am so unconvinced that Temple will win this next game that I’ve canceled my trip to Piscataway next week.

Prove me wrong, Stan and the Owls.

The logic simply is this: If you can only beat a 2-10 MAC team, 24-21, you are not going to beat a Big 10 team no matter what kind of Big 10 team that is.

Five other takeaways:

The Edward Saydee wearing No. 2 looked a lot like the Edward Saydee wearing No. 23.

One, where was Edward Saydee? All offseason, we heard that Saydee improved so much that he could be a dominant back for the Owls. What we saw was what we saw last year. He had a hard time getting past the first guy who hit him. Darvon Hubbard did just a little better. Let’s see what No. 24 (Joquez Smith) can do next game. The kid deserves a shot.

Two, E.J. Warner was the Lafayette Warner not the ECU one . If you thought Warner was going to resume what he did in the last game (574 yards, 5TDs) against East Carolina, think again. He was closer to the game manager he turned out to be in his first extended duty against Lafayette and not the confident difference-maker he was against ECU. He needs to be that difference-maker at RU, throwing the ball deep to set up the intermediate stuff. He did not throw it deep nearly enough. The way to fix E.J.? Throw the bomb. Put some fear in the defense. Temple tried zero bombs against Akron.

Three, the longest line since Notre Dame turned into a dud. _ Plenty of Temple fans in the parking lot but my friend Mark correctly said: “They aren’t going into the game.” Must have been only one open window because I remarked to former Temple bowl-winning quarterback Chris Coyer “this is the longest line I’ve seen going into the game since Notre Dame.” Disgraceful crowd of 12,456. Winning cures everything and one win over Akron isn’t going to hit that sweet spot.

A win is a win but the Owls need to throw some bombs to open up the offense enough to beat Rutgers. There will be no short passing game without that threat.

Four, Layton Jordan showed up when he needed to _ Jordan, who in my mind is the best football player on the team, got the key sack of a 14-0 Temple second half. Shocked he didn’t get a single digit. If he makes plays to beat Rutgers, he deserves one.

Five, nobody expected to beat Akron by 30 _ One of my comments pre-game was that “I’d settle for a 30-24 win.” Why? Like Temple, the light turned on for Akron in the last two games of 2022. One was a 44-12 win over perennial MAC power Northern Illinois. The other was a one-point loss to a bowl team, Buffalo, 23-22.

This wasn’t Wagner or Bucknell or Delaware State or Stony Brook. This was a real team with a great head coach and the good guys won while, at the same time, lowering the expectations for Temple fans down the road.

Rutgers will walk into next week expecting an easy win. If what the Owls did today sets the trap better than a 55-13 win over Akron would have, I will sign for it.

Not expecting it, but someone hand me a pen.

Monday: Know Your Foe

    08.28.23
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    Game Week: Know your opponent (Akron)

    This is what happened the last time Temple played Akron.
    Got to love the great Temple single digits of the past watching this ceremony on the screen via Zoom.

    For how Week One of the college football season goes, there were plenty of clues left by what happened in Week Zero.

    Vegas pretty much got every game right with only Notre Dame significantly exceeding expectations from a line perspective (although it should have known that Navy getting rid of a great coach like Ken Niumatalolo would have a deleterious effect on that program).

    What does that mean for Temple’s opening game against Akron (2 p.m., Lincoln Financial Field)?

    Give or take just a few points, the Owls SHOULD win by about 10.

    Should and that’s only if both teams play up to their potential.

    The only question is what kind of 10-point win: 17-7, 24-14, 35-25 or 45-35.

    Take the over.

    What do we know about Akron?

    Joe Moorhead’s team went out with a bang last year, winning at Northern Illinois, 44-12, and losing by a point at a good Buffalo team, 23-22. Akron quarterback D.J. Irons was an All-MAC player, joined on that team by his No. 1 target, receiver Alex Adams.

    Moorhead’s teams usually score a lot of points and Everett Withers’ defenses usually give up a lot of points, so that’s certainly has to be Temple’s biggest concern going into the game.

    The good news for the Owls is that they have a quarterback with the “it” factor in E.J. Warner. The “it” factor is simply this: He has total command of the offense, abundant talent and a knack for getting the ball in the right spots at the right times. In Amad Anderson and Dante Wright, he has explosive perimeter receivers. In tight ends Jordan Smith and David Martin-Robinson, two dependable receivers although one is more of a reliable stick-mover and the other is a threat to take it to the house.

    They complement each other well.

    The running game has improved so much that its No. 1 protagonist, Edward Saydee, earned a single digit. We’ll believe it when we see it. (Not the single digit, but the improvement.)

    The Owls have nine returning starters on defense and if Withers is able to put that kind of talent in the right places at the right times, tackles for losses could ensue.

    This opener is no Wagner or Bucknell for the Owls, a gimmie tuneup. There is a real threat the Owls could lose this game and that should have them on their toes.

    Yet this is the kind of team Temple must beat if it has any designs on a bowl game because all but one of the teams on the Owls’ schedule is better than Akron.

    Still, Akron must be respected or the Owls will lose.

    Consider this: The Northern Illinois team that Akron beat, 44-12, was the same NIU team that lost at Tulsa, 38-35. Tulsa turned around two weeks later and beat Temple in Philadelphia, 29-16.

    If that’s not a sobering enough fact, Moorhead already took a less talented team into Philly and won a decade ago.

    In Temple’s defense, the ECU and Houston teams the Owls should have finished off at the end of last season were much better than anyone Akron played all of last year.

    Maybe Vegas didn’t input all of the available data. Maybe it did. Let’s hope they nail the TU outcome the way they nailed most of their picks over Week Zero.

    Friday: Game Preview

    Sunday: Game Analysis

    08.18.23
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    Two weeks and five stats to look for

    Nice to see an OL guy get a single digit but don’t think Victor Stoffel will be wearing No. 4 this year.

    Tomorrow marks two weeks until Temple kicks off the season at home against Akron.

    Those two weeks are important in the micro sense because I really believe that the key to winning the opener is new defensive coordinator Everett Withers charting and having his guys ready for every possible play that Akron ran during last season.

    When guys like Jordan Magee and Layton Jordan recognize what’s coming and start pointing to who might have the ball on pre-snap reads and tackle the guy you know Withers will have done the requisite film room study.

    What I don’t want to hear is the things we’ve heard before Temple opening day losses to teams like Duke and Army in the past.

    “We’re not concerned about what anyone else does. We’re concerned about what Temple does.”

    All that gets you is a big fat L.

    The Zips aren’t a mystery. They are on film and it’s Temple’s job to know what’s coming.

    That’s the micro picture.

    The macro one is five stats we think are the difference between Temple going 6-6 and 8-4 this year.

    1-E.J. Warner _ Not too much to ask Warner to up his touchdown passes from 18 to 30 this year. The guy is a film room freak and he will not suffer a sophomore slump. But if he only improves from 18 to 23 or 25 touchdown passes, the Owls will only improve 1-2-3 wins and that’s not enough in my mind.

    2- Edward Saydee _ Somewhat shocked to hear that Saydee–who only gained 629 yards last year–has looked good enough to earn a single digit. If he hits the magical 1,000-yard mark, the Owls are in business. Saydee gained 257 yards in a 54-28 win over USF but did not gain more than 70 yards in any other game. We would gladly trade that one 200-plus game for six 100-plus games and, if he gets that, the sky’s the limit for this team.

    3-Double Tight Ends _ If the Owls employ double tight ends (and by that we mean Jordan Smith and David Martin-Robinson), watch out. Those two are as good as any pair of tight ends that ever played at Temple and having both in the game at the same time poses double trouble for any defense. One, it gives the running game at extra blocker and, two, playmakers at positions where playmakers don’t usually line up. If DMR and Smith combine for 10 TDs, and we think they will, the Owls are in good shape. When the Owls went to double TEs at Maryland (2018) and put one in motion as essentially a blocking fullback, they came away with a 35-14 win over a Big 10 team.

    4- Tackles for losses _ Layton Jordan had 13 TFLs, including a strip and falling on the ball in the end zone at Navy. If he and Jordan Magee combine for 20TFLs, the Owls will have a winning season.

    5- Jalen McMurray interceptions _ McMurray, who had the most pass breakups on the team last year, had only one INT. He’s quick enough and confident enough as a sophomore to pick off a few of those passes. We’re only asking for five and we think he can do that.

    Micro, lock everything down from on the defensive end in Game One.

    Macro, improved stats for the key players.

    Those are the ingredients for success once the Owls come out of the tunnel in a couple of weeks.

    Monday: Credit Where It’s Due

    07.28.23
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    Thoughts from Temple’s AAC Media Day

    Talk to any football expert not named Kurt Warner and the evaluation about Temple quarterback E.J. Warner is something like this:

    “He’s going to be a great college quarterback but he’s probably not going to make it in the league (NFL) because he’s only about 6-foot.”

    That’s the one thing that stood out (or up) about E.J. to me watching him at the recent AAC Media Day.

    He’s not 6-0 anymore.

    Counting his hair, he’s at least 6-3, maybe 6-4.

    Try getting that hair in a helmet.

    Seriously, though, as Warner goes so go the Owls this season.

    Let’s compare first years between the last significant true freshman starter at Temple, P.J. Walker, and Warner.

    Walker, who was only 5-11, had 20 touchdown passes, and eight interceptions in his first year as the Owls went 2-10. Then he slumped to 13 TDs and 15 INTs the next.

    Is it just me or was the word “win” noticeably absent from this evaluation by Stan Drayton?

    That is what is known as a sophomore slump but still the Owls improved to a six-win season the next year before Walker was setting all kinds of records as a junior and senior in consecutive 10-win seasons.

    No one is more aware of that than the younger Warner, who is putting in the time in the film room to make sure he avoids the sophomore slump this season. Bump those numbers up to, say, 30TDs and no more than 11 INTs and the Owls are in business.

    Just from his on- and off-field coaching, I think he will.

    Walker played in nine games his true freshman year and Warner played in 11, throwing for 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Yet his yardage (3,028) set a Temple freshman record and was better than any of the first three seasons of Walker.

    Supposedly, according to OwlsDaily.com, Warner improved his weightlifting numbers and has grown from 190 to 200 pounds to that will help him better absorb hits. That site also noted that Warner improved his speed by about two miles an hour, although we’re not sure what that translates to in the all-important metric of 40-yard dash speed.

    The idea is that the mere threat of Warner being able to run–something he did not do last year–will make him a more effective downfield passer.

    That’s the theory.

    The practice is that a good running game will probably benefit him more.

    I no more want Warner out there keeping the ball on read-options than I want new Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper diving into camera wells next to dugouts to make great catches on foul balls.

    Like Harper is to the Phils, Warner is to the Owls.

    They are The Franchise. At least this season.

    Keeping them healthy and productive is the best indicator of future success for their teams.

    At least in Warner’s case, AAC Media Day confirmed he was a hair above the rest of the Owls.

    Maybe even more than one hair.

    Monday: Other Takeaways

    07.10.23
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    Cheat sheet: Some law and order restored

    Sometime between the end of last year and a couple of months ago a lot of Group of Five football fans must have come to this conclusion.

    E.J. Warner (third from left) at his dad’s Hall of Fame induction. Above, he throws a touchdown against Rutgers nine years later. Maybe Temple wins that game this year.

    “Why don’t we cheat? The NCAA won’t enforce its rules anyway.”

    There was some logic to that opinion but a couple of things happened in the last week to counter that argument.

    As Blazeman pointed out in an earlier comment, the NCAA now has the power to crack down on some of the NIL (NLI?) nonsense and that should help–above all–the G5 teams who have unfairly been placed in a position where they cannot compete with the P5.

    How much?

    Doubtful it will make that much of a difference but unregulated cheating is never a good thing.

    Another instance of the NCAA influence is the recent Northwestern hazing scandal.

    Head coach Pat Fitzgerald was suspended due to an independent investigation. Had the NCAA not had the power to enforce its rules, a lot of universities would never hold similar investigations and policed themselves. (In 1986, Temple policed itself by voluntarily forfeiting all 11 games due to one of its players signing with an agent but there was no evidence the NCAA would have handed down such a harsh penalty. The Owls would have probably gotten a year bowl ban.)

    Baby steps, but steps forward and not backward like we’ve seen since the portal and NIL came into play.

    The next step for the G5 in general and Temple, in particular, is to win. The Owls have something no other G5 team can offer the P5: A Top 10 TV market. If the Owls win, they go a long way toward filling seats. If they fill seats, the only available top 10 market in the FBS becomes an appealing carrot that the Temple administration can dangle to a potential P5 suitor.

    A big market with an empty stadium does not have much appeal but a big market with proven TV ratings (which Temple already has) makes Temple a viable P5 commodity.

    A strong NCAA oversight of this new Wild Wild West makes both possible for Temple and recent evidence seems to suggest that rumors of the NCAA’s enforcement demise may be premature.

    Friday: The Ultimate X and O’s vs. Jimmy and Joe’s Game

    Monday: What if “they” are right?

    07.07.23
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    Numbers crunching: Hope and Change

    By Mike Gibson

    Not for nothing, some numbers could mean big things for Temple football fans.

    Hopefully sooner for some than later.

    The Powerball for Saturday night is $610 million. I’m playing a lot of numbers pretty close together because they are the most important ones for Temple football this season.

    I will take 15-6-10-7-24 with 13 as the Powerball and take my chances tomorrow night.

    The reason is that I think those are the five most important numbers of players for the 2023 Temple football Owls. (Unfortunately, a lot of Owls who are just as good including tight ends David Martin-Robinson and Jordan Smith have numbers too high to qualify as Powerball numbers.)

    If they don’t come through with the $610 million, my fervent hope is that even a slight improvement of their 2022 numbers will mean the Owls’ bottom line will be the best since 2019 when the number on the left was greater than the number on the right.

    Let’s go through it and, for the record, I’m predicting the production for every single one of these players improves the Owls’ chances of winning.

    You heard it here first: Layton Jordan will be the AAC Defensive Player of the Year.

    15-WR Amad Anderson. The Purdue transfer had his best season for the Owls a year ago when he caught 38 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns.

    My hope: He gets that number up to 60 catches, 700 yards and 8 touchdowns. My prediction: 514 yards, 6 touchdowns.

    6-LB Jordan Magee. Last year’s stats: 86 tackles. My hope: 123 tackles. My prediction: 100 tackles.

    10-WR Dante Wright. Called by one non-Temple person as “the steal of the portal” this guy is the most explosive wide receiver Temple has had since All-Pros Steve Watson and Leslie Shephard. He was a first-team freshman All-American at Colorado State where he caught 57 passes for 805 yards and four touchdowns. My hope: 1,000 yards and 10+ touchdowns. My prediction: 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns.

    7-CB Jalen McMurray. The sophomore-to-be is easily the most talented CB to play at Temple since Rock Ya-Sin transferred from FCS Presbyterian. He already owns a Pick 6. My hope: He gets another Pick 6 and raises his interception level to his number (7). My prediction. He leads the team in pass breakups with 10 or more and picks off four passes.

    24-RB Joquez Smith. Smith is the most heralded incoming running back at Temple since Al Golden signed state indoor 100-meter track champion Bernard Pierce out of Glen Mills. Pierce proved himself right away at Temple, getting over 1,000 yards freshman year, including a 268-yard, two-touchdown game in a 2009 27-24 win at 10-win Navy. Smith has a much higher ceiling than returning starter Edward Saydee and, if he wins the job, it will be a good sign. His best season was his junior year at high school when he went for 1,883 and 27 touchdowns for unbeaten Florida 6A state champion Tampa Jesuit. My hope: 1,500 yards, 15 touchdowns in his first season at Temple. My prediction: 943 yards, 11 touchdowns. Either way, it’s an upgrade over Saydee’s 639 yards and six touchdowns.

    Temple’s Powerball: 13: E.J. Warner and Layton Jordan

    For the first time in 15 or so years, Temple’s two best players are not wearing single digits (yet) but are wearing the same lucky number: 13.

    If you live in Pennsylvania and your house rep is a Republican, dash off an email urging for them to vote to release these funds. Martina White, I’m looking at you.

    A lot of people are predicting a sophomore slump for quarterback Warner. I’m not one of them. The simple reason is that this guy lives in the film room at 10th and Diamond and is getting great coaching not only from inside that building but from an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback. Joe Burrow from LSU went from 16 touchdown passes his junior year to 60 his senior one. Do I think Warner can go from 18 true freshman touchdown passes to 60? Not this year but it’s not out of the question he could hit 40. My hope: 40 touchdown passes, 10 or fewer interceptions. My prediction: A Temple season record 30 TD passes with the same number of interceptions he had last year (12).

    Jordan is a remarkable playmaker with 18.5 tackles for losses, including a TFL that resulted in a touchdown in the checkered end zone at Navy. He had nine sacks and three defensive touchdowns. The grad student will earn his football Ph.D. at Temple with double-digit sacks, 20 TFLs and five defensive touchdowns. If he does all that–and I think he will–he will be a first-round NFL draft choice, joining former Temple Owls Haasan Riddick and Mo Wilkerson. He will also be the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, joining former Owls Tyler Matakevich and Quincy Roche in earning that honor.

    That’s both a hope and prediction. Hitting all of those numbers tomorrow night would but a nice bonus but I will gladly setting for hitting the numbers associated with those numbers no later than the AAC title game.

    If the hope outperforms the prediction, Temple will be one of the teams in that game.

    Monday: Cheat Sheet

    07.03.23
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    What could go right: Uttering a three-letter word

    This headline caught my attention last week. Temple football should have the same sense of urgency.

    My buying the paper routine has changed in the last 15 or so years, ever since the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News downsized on both quality and quantity of local coverage.

    Usually, I’ll page through the paper and if there’s something that interests me, I will pluck down the three bucks.

    It might be once a month.

    The other day I saw a major Temple head coach utter a word I haven’t seen a major Temple head coach say in about eight years.

    “Win.”

    I immediately purchased the paper.

    It was new basketball coach Adam Fisher and he put the word win out there and it was right away, not three years down the road. I like the way this guy thinks and maybe the leaders of the other major sport at Temple should incorporate that level of urgency.

    Win is a three-letter word but, to hear recent major Temple head coaches speak, you would think it’s a four-letter one.

    Temple has to get back to those days when others expected the Owls to win and they went out and did.

    Stan Drayton had a press conference in December of 2021 and the closest he came to mentioning the word win or winning was this quote: “And we will develop a trust that will form an unbreakable brotherhood and once we develop that, we’ve got championships coming to Temple.”

    No timeline just an abstract promise of championships to come. He didn’t say 2022 or 2023 but “to come.” There was a lot of “we want to be tough” and “we want to compete” but the word win was noticeably absent.

    Understandable in that Drayton didn’t want to promise too much too soon but this year should be different. The facts are that the Owls came close to beating Rutgers, East Carolina, and Houston exactly one year after not coming close against any of those three teams the prior year.

    Now the goal has to be holding serve on the three wins they got the last couple of years and breaking serve by turning those three losses into wins. Maybe picking up one or two more. (They don’t play Houston this year but beating a similarly good team like UTSA at home would suffice.)

    Right away, not next year or two years down the road.

    They have a playmaker at the most important position on the field in quarterback E.J. Warner and seven starters back on defense. They’ve given Warner an important weapon in wide receiver Dante Wright and that’s with the second-half improvement of receivers like Amad Anderson and Zae Baines.

    It’s OK to expect to win and raising expectations to win should be one three-letter word that the Owls should no longer treat like a four-letter one.

    Friday: Numbers crunching

    06.23.23
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    Owls ready for Prime Time?

    In exactly one month and a day from now, the AAC will be holding its Media Day in Arlington, Texas.

    I’ve seen the Temple football Owls picked anywhere from fourth in the league to eight and the anticipation for the season is the highest since the 2019 Owls finished 8-5.

    Great interview with E.J. Warner here.

    That’s a tip of the hat to the way Stan Drayton had the Owls competing in games for the first time since then. It might be at least one of the reasons that Temple already has three prime-time games lined up for television.

    The folks at the networks do not want to be burned by a non-competitive game under the lights and the way Temple played bowl teams East Carolina and Houston late in the season was enough to convince them that Temple was a pretty good risk for that hour.

    If the Owls beat Akron and Rutgers and play Miami tough, more moveable prime-time games are sure to follow.

    Right now, they have all the ingredients for success in that they have a quarterback with the “it” factor in E.J. Warner. The “it” factor simply is this: You look at a quarterback and know he can make positive plays regularly. That’s a rare factor and only about 10 percent (or less) of college football quarterbacks have it. Warner, particularly over the last few games, showed he can do that. It also helps that he is the son of a Super Bowl-winning NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and gives play-by-play and color guys another talking point to hype the game.

    Plus, Drayton has done one of the better jobs in the Group of Five holding a team together. Of the 20 players who left for the portal, only three have landed at FBS schools. The other 17 dropped down a level and that’s an indication that, overall, the Owls have a better roster. Meanwhile, those 20 have been replaced largely by P5 and FBS players.

    The first of the three-night games currently on the schedule is at Rutgers at 7:30 on the Big 10 Network. The Owls lost that game last year, 16-14, but that was Warner’s first full game as a college quarterback and, although he battled through it, he was 10x a better quarterback five games later than he was then.

    The next two are at Tulsa Sept. 28 and home to SMU on Friday, Oct. 20.

    If Temple is able to field a competitive team, the ratings should follow. The highest-rated prime-time college football game in the history of Philadelphia involved Temple (Notre Dame, Oct. 31, 2015).

    Considering the fact that three prior Penn State vs. Notre Dame games were also on prime-time TV in Philadelphia since 1986, that’s an indication that Temple, when competitive, is the best draw in the nation’s fourth-largest market.

    There is only one top 10 TV market not having a Power 5 team and that’s the fourth-largest one. The fact that Temple was the X factor in a game against Notre Dame proves that only Temple can deliver huge numbers in that market.

    Winning a championship is, of course the goal, if not this season but next. Still, getting national folks used to the notion that Temple football is back is the first step toward that. Winning in prime time would certainly help

    That’s a big reason why the TV people are gambling on Temple to be good again. From their lips to God’s ears.

    Monday: The most optimistic projection so far