Tag Archives: football

09.05.13
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That missing bag of tricks

"P.J., I asked coach Foley what he did with those trick plays and he said he left them home. Damn."

“P.J., I asked coach Foley what he did with that sheet of trick plays I had and he said he left it at the hotel.”

As a rule, I’m not a big proponent of so-called trick plays.

This year, though, with this Temple team, I will make an exception.

The Tarps are down at Lincoln Financial Field.

The Tarps are down at Lincoln Financial Field.

You have two guys on offense who have a history passing the ball and passing it exceptionally who now have other responsibilities, Chris Coyer and Jalen Fitzpatrick. Coyer was an MVP quarterback in a bowl game. Fitzpatrick was the starting quarterback for the Big 33 team against Ohio. Coyer is now the H-Back. Fitzpatrick is now the wide receiver.

I expected to see Coyer take a simple pitchout from Connor Reilly and at least TRY to throw the ball downfield against Notre Dame last week. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Jalen Fitzpatrick threw off a reverse like he did for a first down against Louisville last year.

Neither happened.

My feeling is that you use the whole bag of tricks, if needed, and I thought that was needed against Notre Dame.

It might not be needed against Houston, but one or two trick (I prefer to call them extra imaginative) plays might result in the score that turns a one-score game into Temple’s favor.

Villanova would have scored one less touchdown against Boston College if it didn’t try this play:

I love this play. Fortunately, Andy Talley didn’t listen when someone told him it might not work.

Sadly, we did not see those plays last week against Notre Dame.  Some people say that’s because Brian Kelly would have been ready for it. We don’t really know, though, because they weren’t tried. Temple moved the ball well between the 20s. Would they have scored on one of these plays? What would have been the harm in trying?

That’s sort of like Edison telling someone he wants to experiment with this thing called electricity.  “You don’t want to do that because Brian Kelly’s gas lamp lights work just fine.” Edison: “Yeah, OK. That’s a bad idea. I’m sorry I thought of it. What was I thinking?”

Now because head coach Matt Rhule didn’t use any of these type plays against Notre Dame doesn’t mean that he won’t. Remember, except for one of these plays below, Matt was the offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach for these plays:

Joey Jones

Joey Jones

THE JOEY JONES DOUBLE-REVERSE PASS:  Unquestionably, the best spiral thrown during a season when Chester Stewart was the starting quarterback. Jones got the ball on a double-reverse at Army and found Michael Campbell in the end zone for a touchdown. Temple won the game, 42-35. Thank God Matt Rhule (or Al Golden) had the guts to call it.  Joey Jones’ birthday is a week from today. When you wish him a happy one, thank him for that pass.

That piece of athletic equipment on the field is the jock that Jalen Fitzpatrick faked this Maryland defender out of on the way to a TD.

That piece of athletic equipment on the field is the jock that Jalen Fitzpatrick faked this Maryland defender out of on the way to a TD.

THE ADAM DIMICHELE FAKE KNEELDOWN: At Navy in 2008, Temple was running out the clock near midfield. After a couple of runs into the line, the clock wound down to 21 seconds. DiMichele walked to the line in victory formation, feigned a knee, and before his knee touched the ground, he lifted up and found Bruce Francis (now open by 30 yards) for a score. As we learned later, ADM told the line judge he was going to do it so there would not be a quick whistle. Smart quarterback, that ADM.

THE TIM BROWN FLEA-FLICKER: After Tim Brown established himself as Temple’s top offensive weapon against Bowling Green, the Falcons were keying on him. Offensive coordinator George DeLeone took advantage of that (Rhule was an assistant at the time) by calling a quick handoff to Brown, who then pitched the ball back to DiMichele, who found 4.3 sprinter Travis Sheldon all alone behind the defense for six. (This was also used twice in Bruce Arians’ last game as a Temple coach, as Mike Palys caught two flea-flickers for long touchowns in a 45-28 win over Boston College.)

THE JALEN FITZPATRICK THROWBACK: This is a play I called for in TFF on June 4, 2012. It wasn’t used until the Nov. 8 game at Louisville. Who knew Daz read TFF, but he used it exactly like I drew it up: Fitzpatrick got the ball on a reverse, ran to one side of the field. With the Louisville defense over pursuing to his side, Fitzpatrick threw a pass across the field to Coyer, who had to come back a yard for it but still gained 15 yards and a first down. Had Coyer been able to catch it in stride, it’s six points. Against a team like Louisville, you’ve got to get your six points anyway you can get them.

Tomorrow: Game Preview

09.04.13
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Temple people supporting Temple

The greatest 18-second video ever … 12K Temple students singing T for Temple U.

They are going to honor former Temple football coach Wayne Hardin on Saturday for his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. The players will be wearing the same uniforms, and hopefully helmets, that the Owls wore when Temple seemingly won all the time.

Coach said a lot of interesting things to me over the years, but maybe the most interesting had to do with Temple attendance.

“If you have just Temple people supporting Temple, you’d have no attendance problem,” he said. “Between the students and alumni and employees, you have enough people to fill the stadium.”

This should be on every floor of every dorm on campus.

This should be on every floor of every dorm on campus.

That makes sense.

So how many people will be there when Temple makes its home debut in the American Athletic Conference?
I’m not good at a lot of things, but this unfortunately is one of them.
22,807.
Or thereabouts.
Sadly.
Unless I’m pleasantly surprised about Temple attendance, which is rarely.
The problem is two-fold: Students and alumni.
Students now have little excuse. There are about 14,000 living on campus. Plenty of free buses are available if they can’t get a ride and there is a subway stop out the front door of their dorm that ends right at the stadium. So they can even fall asleep on the subway and not fear they’ll miss their stop.


Matt Rhule, more than any Temple coach
I’ve ever seen, has done his level
best to reverse it. He’s given spirit
pep talks in every dorm, including
the new Morgan Hall. He’s even had
the football players help the kids
move in at every dorm everywhere.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s there
at 7 a.m. with a bullhorn and physically
dragging kids out of their beds and onto
the subway. That might be what it takes

There was a lot of great student momentum two years ago. Over 10,000 students attended the Villanova game and made a lot of noise (see video above). Then there was the Penn State game and there were 14,000 students making more noise. To me, there should be 14,000 students at every game (10K of the 14K living on campus and 4K of the remaining 25K commuters is not too much to ask). Maybe that’s just me, though. I haven’t missed a home game in 30 years and even that was job-related.
Last year, though, was another story.
The first home game against Maryland there were only about 2,000 students.
It was worse against Rutgers, despite the Owls taking a 2-0 Big East record into the game. Maybe 1,000 students attended.
Don’t exactly know what happened there, but it’s not a good trend.
Matt Rhule, more than any Temple coach I’ve ever seen, has done his level best to reverse it. He’s given spirit pep talks in every dorm, including the new Morgan Hall. He’s even had the football players help the kids move in at every dorm everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s there at 7 a.m. with a bullhorn and physically dragging kids out of their beds and onto the subway. That might be what it takes.

Coach Rhule pumping up the students at Morgan Hall. I wonder if that was named for former Diamond Gem Roxie Morgan?

Coach Rhule pumping up the students at Morgan Hall. I wonder if that was named for former Diamond Gem Roxie Morgan?

Temple people supporting Temple.
There are 139,000 alumni living within one hour’s drive of Lincoln Financial Field. Asking for at least 10 percent of them to attend is not too much to ask.

Way too many alumni, though, sit at home and watch the games on TV (Temple is a TV powerhouse; when the games are on local TV, the Owls outdraws other college games on a regular basis, so the evidence of coach-potato-itis is there).

Yet we have one grad who owns a bar down the shore who didn’t attend the Eagle Bank Bowl, despite it being the first bowl the school played in for 30 years. The Atlantic City press did a story on him. He and his bartender were just about the only people in the bar watching the game. You think he could have let the bartender run things for one day and made the trip to D.C.? You think? Then there was another Temple person who missed that game because it was “too cold.” Get that man a coat and some mittens, get the other guy to  take a day off from work and get the coach potato alumni off the couches and into the stadium and the attendance “problem” is solved.

There you have it, a 30K baseline at every Temple game. At least. Then you can build it up from there.

Temple people supporting Temple. Maybe someday. Maybe Saturday.

These girls have caught Temple Smallpox. It’s the best kind.

Tomorrow: That lost bag of tricks

09.03.13
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Houston Might Have a Problem

levine

Last year, was a very blurry and fuzzy year for Houston fans.

Houston’s program is a lot like Temple’s in that it suffered a misstep last year after running a solid string of seasons before that.
However, the Cougars come to Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday a three-point favorite and it’s really hard to figure out why.


From the Eastern Michigan game in 2009
through the entire 2011 season,
Temple was 16-3 in a span of 19 home games,
one of the best home records
in all of college football.
Maybe it was the Cherry helmets

From the Eastern Michigan game in 2009 through the entire 2011 season, Temple was 16-3 in a span of 19 home games, one of the best home records in all of college football. Maybe it was the Cherry helmets. The Owls need to get that kind of home domination back.
Temple opened up against the Notre Dame, which played in the National Championship game a few months ago,  and put up more yards and first downs against the Irish than any team not named Alabama over the last 12 months. Notre Dame played a considerably more impressive schedule than Houston did.
Houston opened this season with a 62-point effort against Southern, one of the worst FCS teams in the nation. Last year, New Mexico opened the season with a 62-point effort against Southern and New Mexico finished the season one of the worst teams in FBS football.
So if you think scoring 62 points against Southern is impressive, think again.

According to this, there are only 763 tickets "available" so you better get them while they last.

According to this, there are only 763 tickets “available.”

Last year, Houston lost to Texas State, 30-13. That’s right, Texas State, playing its first year of FBS football. Not Texas or Texas A&M or even Texas Christian.
Texas … Freaking … State.
Last year, Temple dropped 62 points of its own on a foe in a game and that was against Army. Yes, the same Army team that beat Boston College. Temple, despite having its worst season in five years, went on the road and beat UConn and UConn went on the road and beat Louisville. Yeah, the same Louisville team that beat Florida.  Houston gave up 72 points to SMU and the last time I checked SMU did not play in a BCS bowl last year.


After playing Southern, Houston will likely be shocked
by the size and speed and skill set of Temple.
After playing Notre Dame, Temple will not likely
be shocked by the size and speed
and skill set of Houston.

While transitive property doesn’t mean anything in a one-game comparison, when you lump three or four games together you get a GENERAL idea of where the two programs are.
After playing Southern, Houston will likely be shocked by the size and speed and skill set of Temple. After playing Notre Dame, Temple will not likely be shocked by the size and speed and skill set of Houston.
Notre Dame recruits in a different stratosphere than both Houston and Temple yet the Owls more than held their own on both sides of the line against the Irish.
When the Owls come out of the tunnel on Saturday to the sound of D.J. Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” you will know that the swag is back at the Linc. The swag won’t mean anything, though, unless players like Sean Daniels, Kamal Johnson, Shahbaz Ahmed and Levi Brown get into the Houston backfield on a regular basis.
If Texas State can get into the Cougars’ backfield, though, so should they.
Texas … Freaking … State.
Houston also lost to Marshall and East Carolina last season. Badly.
Temple has a new coach almost everyone here considers a gigantic upgrade over the last one. Houston has the same coach who suffered all of those embarrassing losses a year ago.
Take the three points because the Owls win this by a touchdown or two.

Tomorrow: We’re All in This Together

Thursday: Five Trick Plays I’d Like to See

Friday: Game Preview

Saturday: Game Analysis

09.01.13
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Here’s The Kicker: Relax

Don Bitterlich, who now plays the best rendition of Fight Temple Fight, never missed a FG inside the 40 in his 3 years as Temple's kicker.

Don Bitterlich, who now plays the best rendition of Fight Temple Fight I’ve ever heard, never missed a FG inside the 40 in his 3 years as Temple’s kicker.

Cap Poklemba after winning indoor football league title for Harrisburg pro team this season (with his rugrat).

Cap Poklemba after winning indoor football league title for Harrisburg pro team this season (with his rugrat).

One of the great things about HDTV is that you can see the expression on guys’ faces during the game.
One of the worst things about HDTV is that you can see the expression on guys’ faces during the game.
When I saw Jim Cooper Jr.’s face before he lined up for the  first kick of his collegiate career against Notre Dame, I said to the person sitting next to me: “Geez, the poor kid looks scared to death.”
Wouldn’t you?
Wouldn’t anyone?
Well, not really.
Cap Poklemba, in my mind, would have embraced the moment. So would have Brandon McManus. So would have Don Bitterlich.
In a way, so would have Jim Cooper Sr.
Jim Cooper Jr.’s dad missed a big kick early in a game against West Virginia. A few minutes later, he kicked the game-winner.
Maybe Jim should talk to his dad about it. Maybe they already have.
Or maybe he should talk Cap or Don. There’s something about kickers. Both Cap and Don have remained loyal to the school after all these years and will be in Lot K on Saturday.  I’m sure Brandon will, too. For years, another kicker, Wes Sornisky, ran the tailgate in the Jethro Lot. Ron Fiorvante, who kicked the game-winning field goal in a 34-31 win at Hawaii in 1979, will be there Saturday, as will former kicker and punter Jake Brownell, who made the trip with the team to the Eagle Bank Bowl in 1979.

There have been no more loyal group of ex-Temple players than the kickers and punters.

Click on the photo of Don Bitterlich kicking to read my story on him that appeared in a suburban newspaper.

Click on the photo of Don Bitterlich kicking to read my story on him that appeared in a suburban newspaper.

I was at Rutgers’ Stadium the night Poklemba was being heckled by Rutgers’  fans. He turned around and said to them, “You better hope this doesn’t come down to a kick because I’M WINNING THIS GAME!” It came down to a kick and Poklemba nailed it and led the Owls over to the Big East Logo and they danced on the logo and sung T for Temple U in a pouring rain. That was a few months after Temple was kicked out of the Big East for being “non-competitive.” It was also the Owls’ fourth-straight win over “competitive” Rutgers. That was the loudest I’ve ever heard the team sing T for Temple U. They carried five Rutgers’ players off the field that night on stretchers. It was Temple’s version of the body bag game. Thank God the “targeting” penalty wasn’t in effect that night.


Before the game, I wrote the key number
for Temple was getting double-digit sacks.
I know that’s a lot to ask for,
but really that’s what needed to happen.
It didn’t. Temple got 1/10th the number
of sacks it needed to tilt the playing field.
Temple needed to buzz around Tommy Rees
like a bunch of crazed hornets.
When the Owls never got close to Rees,
I knew this gig was up

Someday, Jim Cooper Jr. will have that kind of attitude.
The good news for Jim Cooper Jr. is one day he will laugh about his first game and that he did not miss the kick that would have cost Temple, say, a 29-28 win.
Before the game, I wrote the key number for Temple was getting double-digit sacks.  I know that’s a lot to ask for, but really that’s what needed to happen. It didn’t. Temple got 1/10th the number of sacks it needed to get to tilt the playing field. Temple needed to buzz around Tommy Rees like a bunch of crazed hornets. When the Owls never got close to Rees, I knew this gig was up. The lack of pass rush was the No. 1 reason why Temple lost. The placekicking game was about eighth on the list.
The interesting thing about Bitterlich was that he kicked for three years at Temple and NEVER missed a field goal within 40 yards DESPITE never having kicked a field goal UNTIL he got to Temple.

Click over logo for an excellent story in the New York Times on the game by an AP reporter. Note Kelly's "dink and dunk" comment near the end.

Click over logo for an excellent story in the New York Times on the game by an AP reporter. Note Kelly’s “dink and dunk” comment near the middle.

Don, who plays a mean accordion and the best rendition of Fight Temple Fight (which is kind of like T for Temple U, just a better beat and you can dance to it), will be hosting a tailgate party of his own in Lot K. It’s a private party, but I’m sure you can walk over and say hello.
Bitterlich not only kicked a 56-yarder for Temple, but he held the school’s single-season point-scoring record until 2009 (when Bernard Pierce and Brandon McManus scored 95 points).
At least Cooper The Younger won’t have to chase Bitterlich’s record for perfect games.
Even McManus missed key field goals (Bowling Green, 2011). He shook it off well.
I’m sure Jim will, too, and learn to embrace the moment with the strange mixture of determination and relaxation. I think the kids call it “being in a zone.”
He’ll just have to develop a meaner game face.

08.31.13
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Temple: Not bad, but Not Good

How did the Owls allow this to happen and not be able to do it themselves, with a more athletic tight end like Romond DeLoatch? Good question.

As you can see in the comments in one of the posts below, I was having a little back and forth with a well-known TV news anchor who also happens to be a fellow Temple grad.
We both interpreted Matt Rhule’s “I won’t coach tight” comment the same way:  That Rhule would use everything in his bag of tricks to beat Notre Dame on Saturday.
I didn’t see a bag of tricks.
I didn’t even see a trick.
TO ME, if you have a former quarterback on your team who was good enough to be a bowl game MVP at the position playing H back now, you’ve got to use his unique talent to try at least how many halfback passes or flea flickers?
I’d say three.

Ryan Alderman caught everything thrown his way ... unfortunately, the same cannot be said for all other TU receivers Saturday.

Ryan Alderman caught everything thrown his way … unfortunately, the same cannot be said for all other TU receivers Saturday.

Otherwise, you are letting Brian Kelly off the hook.

Who knows if Chris Coyer could have thrown one, two or three touchdown passes off pitch outs or quick outs behind the line of scrimmage from Connor Reilly? I would have liked to have seen him try, at least I know that. I wish I could give all of our receivers Ryan Alderman’s hands and Khalif Herbin’s speed and Deon Miller’s size, too.

AT least three trick plays early of some kind would have shown Notre Dame you came to win, not just play. How many trick plays did Toledo hit on to beat Temple in 2011? If you guessed three, you’d be correct.

If you have a wide receiver who was the starting QUARTERBACK in the BIG 33 game, you’d try at least how many throwback passes?
I’d say one, maybe two, but I’ll settle for one. Notre Dame has a lot of great athletes, but it also has an over pursuing defense and the way to score against those kinds of defenses is to catch the pursuit going the other way.

WE all have to realize who Temple played on Saturday, but that’s also why the game plan thinking should have been outside the box. This team that Temple played might be good enough to beat Michigan next week, a team that hung 59 points on Central Michigan today.
Still, you play the game to win as Herman Edwards says, not to keep it close. I guess if you are a gambler who bet on Temple you are more than satisfied with a 28-6 loss. Closer-than-expected losses do nothing for me. Nothing.

I'd rather have no first downs and win.

I’d rather have no first downs and win.

As far as Connor Reilly goes, I liked what I saw as far as poise, but not points.  To me,  the most impressive stat a quarterback can produce, other than wins, is touchdown passes. I want to see a lot of touchdown passes from Connor Reilly going forward. Don’t care that much about yards between the 20s. If the Notre Dame quarterback can do it, so should the Temple quarterback.
On defense, kudos to Phil Snow for keeping Notre Dame to under 38 points _ that was Snow’s average yield per game for two of the last three years as defensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan. If Snow was brought here to clean up Temple’s penchant for giving up the big  play, he failed three times on Saturday.  THAT just can’t happen against Houston. It just can’t. How the heck was a 275-pound tight end able to outrun faster Temple safeties and cornerbacks for a touchdown?
While Temple covered the spread, I’m not a happy Owl camper (I never bet on a Temple game and I never will because covering these large point spreads bring me no satisfaction). This was a big chance for a marquee win on a national stage and I would have just like to see the Owls pull out all the stops.
That they didn’t pull out any stop was confusing, perplexing and bewildering.
There are 11 more games left and many stops left to be pulled. I don’t want to have to pull them, but when you have to pull them, they need to be pulled.
TODAY, above all days, they needed to be pulled.

 

08.31.13
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Top 5 Temple-Notre Dame Tweets

This should be on every floor of every dorm all fall.

This should be on every floor of every dorm all fall.

5. Oakland Raiders’ Rod Streater:

4. John Ziegler:

3. Manti Te’o Gate:

2. Brandon McManus, College Football’s Specialist of the Year, 2012:

1. Tony Clark:

08.30.13
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Temple: Playing with House Money

The key to the game might be players like Sean Daniels and Shahbaz Ahmed getting into the backfield and causing havoc with turnover-prone Notre Dame QB Tommy Rees.

The key to the game might be players like Sean Daniels and Shahbaz Ahmed getting into the backfield and causing havoc with turnover-prone ND QB Tommy Rees.

The largest on-campus watch party will be held at the Performing Arts Center (Mitten Hall for us older grads). Click on the photo for a complete list of parties from coast to coast and abroad. Must admit I'm disappointed in the number of Philadelphia-area parties on this list (two).

The largest on-campus watch party will be held at the Performing Arts Center (Mitten Hall for us older grads). Click on the photo for a complete list of parties from coast to coast and abroad. Must admit I’m disappointed in the number of Philadelphia-area parties on this list (two). For specific addresses of parties, click over the name of the town.

“Have fun.”

Those were the last words Temple head football coach Matt Rhule told his team before they boarded a flight to Notre Dame this week.

Those will probably be the  words Rhule uses before the Owls take the field tomorrow (3:30 p.m., NBC-TV, Channel 10, 97.5 The Fanatic).

If there’s one advantage the Owls have, that’s it.

They will be the team playing fast and loose with nothing to lose. Notre Dame has everything to lose.  The Irish are 29 1/2-point favorites.  That line is probably skewed by Notre Dame’s national reputation on one hand and Temple’s 20-year-long college football nightmare prior to Al Golden’s revival of the program on the other.

The Owls are playing with house money. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Ask the Towson University kids. The Tigers were facing a similar situation Thursday night at UConn. No one expected them to win or come close against the Huskies, yet they won, 33-18.

Click on Daily News logo for its story on Matt Rhule's first game.

Click on Daily News logo for its story on Matt Rhule’s first game.

A packed Rentschler Field at the beginning of the game had about 100 fans there over the last five minutes when UConn attempted a feeble comeback. This was the same UConn program (if not team) that won at Louisville last year.

Anything can happen in college football.

It’s football, not rocket science. The keys to winning against Notre Dame are the same keys to Temple beating, say, South Florida:  Limit turnovers , protect your quarterback and put the other guy on his backside.  In those areas, there is some promise for Temple. The Owls have made a priority out of fixing their offensive and defensive lines in the offseason are in good shape there. If they can get pressure on turnover-prone Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees, they can even the playing field in a hurry.

The task facing the Owls is daunting. Notre Dame gets four- and five-star recruits that it can pick and chose from. Temple has to recruit out of its mind to get three-star recruits.

With Rhule that’s changing but it’s an evolving process.

Still, everybody has the same amount of stars when they take the field and that’s the approach the Owls will have to take. The Fighting Irish are 57-12-1 against teams making their first visits to Notre Dame Stadium but three of those victories have come in the past four seasons: Connecticut in 2009, Tulsa in 2010 and South Florida in 2011.

Notre Dame fans had to feel just as confident leading up to those games as they do now.

Click on the logo to get to the best of several good Notre Dame blogs I've found.

Click on the logo to get to the best of several good Notre Dame blogs I’ve found.

Notre Dame has two first-round draft choices on its defensive line. Temple’s strength is its offensive line, which averages 300 pounds across the front. One of those Irish  players the new OL has to contend with is DE Stephon Tuitt, who was slowed by a sports hernia for the second half of last season, started practice in August about 15 pounds heavier than last season. Tuitt had a team-high 12 sacks last year but he might not be moving as well now as he did then.  The other first-round pick is nose guard Louis Nix, but he’s going up against Temple sophomore center Kyle Friend who Rhule calls “probably the toughest guy I’ve ever coached.” Rhule coached first-round pick Muhammad Wilkerson, who is now a star with the New York Jets, so that’s high praise.
The thinking here is that there is a talent gap between Temple and Notre Dame right now that’s pretty wide (duh?), not quite as wide as the talent gap between Fordham and Temple, but, say, Temple and Wyoming.
Temple is going to try just as hard as those Wyoming kids tried in the New Mexico Bowl.
To beat Temple, Wyoming needed a few bounces to go its way.
The Cowboys didn’t get them and Temple won, 37-15. Unless Ahmed and Daniels meet at the quarterback on a regular basis, that’s the score I’m picking. If Ahmed, Daniels, Levi Brown, Kamal Johnson and Averee Robinson all get chances to help Rees off the ground, that changes the whole dynamic.
The ball is pointed and not round and sometimes takes funny bounces.
Ask Towson.
Prediction: Notre Dame, 37-15
Related:
Some good film footage here:
Tomorrow: Complete analysis of the game
Sunday: The Road Ahead
08.29.13
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Saturday’s Helmet Surprise

Helmet change now would be Golden Rhule

The reason this helmet is the greatest ever is that it leaves no doubt who we are. Plenty of schools have a T on their helmets. Few spell out the name.

My first conversation with Matt Rhule after he became Temple head football coach came as something of a surprise.
I sent him a short email congratulating him on being a head coach the day he was hired.
His emailed reply was short: “Thanks, Mike. Give me a call.”

And he left his cell number.

This is the plain Matte helmet. Rhule could use this because it reminds him of Penn State, but I think it's more likely they slap a T on one of these helmets before Saturday's game.

This is the plain Matte helmet. Rhule could use this because it reminds him of Penn State, but I think it’s more likely they slap a T on one of these helmets before Saturday’s game.

So I did. I tracked him down in a hotel room and we talked as if we had known each other for years when, in fact, the only conversation I ever had with him came one spring afternoon when he jogged one way and I jogged another at Mondauk Commons in Upper Dublin Township. He was an assistant to Al Golden then, but I knew who he was. We were both wearing “Temple football” T-shirts and that was a chance meeting, with few words, mostly about the April NFL draft that weekend.
This conversation was longer.
“Mike, I just want to tell you, that one of the ways I kept up on Temple football the year I was away was reading Temple Football Forever,” he said.
(He really knew how to get on my good side. I can now see why he’s the best recruiter Temple has had since Bruce Arians.)
Then he asked me for some ideas. We spoke for the next 34 minutes (I could tell by looking at my phone afterward).
For at least 29 minutes, we talked about the Temple helmet. (The other five minutes were asking his thoughts on a 3-4 defense and I gave him Bruce Arians’ cell phone number and a ringing endorsement of Nick Rapone as a potential defensive coordinator.)

In short, I asked him to go back to the TEMPLE helmet from the ‘][‘ and he said “I don’t know if it’s my call.”

I'll never forgive baldy here for a long list of things, but among those is putting his grimy hands on my helmet.

I’ll never forgive baldy here for a long list of things, but among those is putting his grimy hands on my helmet.

I told him it certainly was his call, because it was Wayne Hardin’s call to go from one cartoon Owl to the TEMPLE helmet in the first place and Jerry Berndt’s call to go to the ‘][‘ and Bobby Wallace’s call to go to a Gosh-awful Owl cartoon again and then Al Golden’s call to go back to the TEMPLE helmet. He said he was never in favor of changing the TEMPLE helmet to the ‘][‘ and advised Steve Addazio against it, but that Daz didn’t listen to him.
I suggested that if he didn’t want to make the complete conversion back to Golden’s TEMPLE helmet to “split the baby” (ala King Solomon) and put TEMPLE on one side and ‘][‘ on the other. I told him that would be the most distinctive helmet in the country and maybe the best.

Another reason to think the T will make some sort of return: This ad with a T helmet on top of Billy Penn. I wish I could say they dropped it by helicopter, but it was probably photoshopped.

Another reason to think the T will make some sort of return: This ad with a T helmet on top of Billy Penn. I wish I could say they dropped it by helicopter, but it was probably photoshopped.

Since that call, I have neither seen the TEMPLE helmet nor the ‘][‘ around the E-O, so I’m convinced we are in for some kind of “helmet surprise” on Saturday.
Here’s what we have seen: A foam cover over a Matte plain Cherry helmet (to guard against concussions). We have not seen the ‘][‘ nor have we seen the TEMPLE helmet.
Maybe they are working right now behind the scenes to put one on one side and one on the other. To me, that would be the perfect surprise.
Or they could leave it the way it is and that would be no surprise at all.
Something is up with the helmets and, since Matt said he never wanted to get rid of TEMPLE in the first place, I hope there is at least a spot on one side of the helmet for that tradition to be re-established.
I think it’s going to be a surprise of some sort.
Like that first call to Matt, I hope this surprise is going to be a pleasant one, too.

Temple Helmet Records

Temple T
Cartoon Owl
TEMPLE
One year Golden=1-11
7 years Wallace=19-60
Hardin (13 years)=80-52-3
One year Wallace=0-11
Arians (5 years)=27-39
Berndt and Dickerson=19-80
Golden=26-23
Two years Addazio=13-11
Total=33 wins, 113 losses
Total=19 wins, 60 losses
Total=107 wins, 91 losses, 3 ties

Tomorrow: Notre Dame Preview

Saturday night (late): Complete Game Analysis

08.28.13
by

Cheers for Boo

booharry

Paul and Harry are already in the booth at ND stadium doing a sound check. Just kidding, photoshop courtesy of Matt Morgis.

When is being second better than being first?
When you are talking about the Heisman Trophy vs. the Maxwell Award, that is.
The Maxwell has always been a poor man’s Heisman, but Temple has one Maxwell Award-winner, Steve Joachim (1974). That was a remarkable achievement, but it wasn’t the Heisman (it went to Archie Griffin that year). Joachim has been the Owls’ color analyst alongside Harry Donahue for the past 17 years and did a good job.

Paul Palmer politely applauds for Vinny Testaverde. (We all know who SHOULD have won.)

Paul Palmer politely applauds for Vinny Testaverde. (We all know who SHOULD have won. Even Testaverde and Bosworth were wearing Temple Cherry ties that day.)

The Heisman, though, is a whole different animal. When Paul Palmer sat down with eventual winner Vinny Testaverde (Miami), third-place finisher Jim Harbaugh Jr. (Michigan) and fourth-place finisher Brian Bosworth (Oklahoma), he put Temple in the national spotlight that the Maxwell could not have provided.


Temple Radio Fun Fact:
Owls have had a Heisman winner
(Joe Bellino), a Heisman runner up
(Paul Palmer) and a Maxwell Award
winner (Steve Joachim) as radio
color guys

I think Palmer, the Heisman Trophy runner up (1986), will do a great job as Harry Donahue’s new analyst and I’m happy to see him on the radio team this season, beginning Saturday (3:30 p.m., 97.5 The Fanatic).
How do I know that?
Paul, or Boo-Boo as he’s called by his friends (now mostly shortened to Boo), had a gig as a sideline reporter for the Owls. In those days, I brought a transistor radio to the games (to hear mostly about the injuries) and HAD to listen to the radio for the road games because the Owls were rarely on TV.

Paul with Bob Hope, who lived to 100 accepting his first-team All-American Award on live NBC TV.

Paul, holding the greatest helmet in college football history, with Bob Hope, accepting his first-team All-American Award on live NBC TV.

In a game at the Vet against Virginia Tech, the Owls were having trouble kicking extra points and field goals. They already had missed two field goals and an extra point, but if Virginia Tech proved one thing that day it was they could not stop Big East Offensive Player of the Year Walter Washington, the Temple quarterback. On several plays, Washington could be seen literally dragging two or three Hokies on his back for 10 or so extra yards. Washington was 6-4, 250 and an Abrams’ Tank out there. VT players were infantrymen by comparison.  He could not be stopped on any potential two-point conversion. Temple knew it and VT knew it.
Washington scored in overtime. An extra point would have tied the game. A two-point conversion would have won it. Normally, the “football play” would have been to kick the extra point, but this was no normal day. The Owls didn’t have a kicker, but they had a guy VT couldn’t stop. Harry threw it down to Paul, who suggested, very strongly, that the Owls give the ball to Washington to end the game here.
“Somebody’s got to grow a pair,” Paul said, referring to Bobby Wallace.
Paul said what every Temple fan was thinking and he suggested exactly what Wallace should have done.
Wallace didn’t grow a pair, went for the tie, and missed the extra point.
My admiration for Paul, already high, went through the roof that day.
Temple fans will love listening to him on the radio this fall.
I’m bringing the transistor along again.

Tomorrow: The Helmet Surprise

Thanks to the NCAA suspending Johnny Manziel, his bowl game against Temple is still in play ...

Thanks to the NCAA suspending Johnny Manziel for only one half of the first game, his bowl game against Temple is still in play …

08.27.13
by

The greatest TU football trivia answer ever (maybe)

This is a sample of what could come at Notre Dame’s Tommy Rees this Saturday.

Come December, maybe January, Kamal Johnson could become the answer to probably the best Temple football trivia question ever:

Who was the ONLY Temple player to play in three bowl games?

Answer: Kamal Johnson.

Johnson, who wore No. 93 as a starter in the 2009 Eagle Bank Bowl, the same number he wore as a starter in the 2011 New Mexico Bowl, has regained his starting position on the depth chart for this season at defensive tackle.

That comes as EXPECTED news, which pretty much describes most of the depth chart, released on Monday.

You really have to tip your hat, hopefully TEMPLE football helmet, to Marc Tyson and Shahbaz Ahmed, though.

Every year, there are one or two kids who come out of nowhere to make an impact for the Temple University football team.
I know there are a few awards for given out for most spirited and most improved in the spring, but I’m not aware of any for the summer players who made the most impact.
There should be.

Marc Tyson is justifiably proud to be a Temple starter.

Marc Tyson is justifiably proud to be a Temple starter.

This year, though, two stand out from looking at the depth chart released on Monday: Tyson on offense and  Ahmed on defense.
Those two guys must have put in the work because they got the award of being named to the first team.
Tyson is a junior transfer from Appalachian State and will be the starting fullback. Ahmed will be one of the starting defensive ends.
Tyson is one of the few members of “Local 215” to earn a starting spot. Local 215 was Al Golden’s term for walk-on and current head coach Matt Rhule is adopting most of the Golden Protocols. Tyson won’t be the most famous walk-on to make the team. Someone named Matt Brown earned a starting spot as a walk-on and later earned a scholarship. When the coaching staff finally figured he wasn’t a slot receiver, Brown went on to become Temple’s third-leading all-time rusher.
Ahmed, a redshirt freshman, is not a walk-on and actually has a pretty impressive recruiting film (above). If he can make plays like the ones in that film, the Owls should be in good shape.
Not many other surprises, though. The Owls have three starting wide receivers, including two “possession-type” receivers in John Christopher and Ryan Alderman. Jalen Fitzpatrick is not only the starting slot receiver, but he is listed as first-team punt and kickoff returner.

If Kamal Johnson (celebrating a sack in the New Mexico Bowl) becomes the answer to a trivia question, this will be a very successful season for the Owls.

If Kamal Johnson (celebrating a sack in the New Mexico Bowl) becomes the answer to a trivia question, this will be a very successful season for the Owls.

Got to love the size of the Owls’ offensive line, as it goes 6-5, 285 (Cody Booth), 6-2, 305 (Jeff Whittingham), 6-2, 305 (Kyle Friend), 6-4, 330 (Pete White) and 6-2, 300 (Zach Hooks).
I think the Owls’ defensive line could be the strength of this team.  Johnson (6-4, 310), who didn’t play last year due to a discipline issue, has come in with a new attitude and earned the starting job at one defensive tackle position.  Sean Daniels, who in my mind is every bit as talented as Philadelphia Eagle (and former Owl) Adrian Robinson, earned a single digit number as a “tough guy.” All that separated Daniels from Robinson was Robinson’s motor, so maybe Daniels figured out a way to get that in the offseason. If so, expect Daniels to be putting down a few quarterbacks this season on a regular basis. Averee Robinson, Adrian’s brother, is Johnson’s backup at DT. Levi Brown (6-2, 300), a former All-Big East preseason pick, is the starting nose guard.
The right corner is all Norristown, as Anthony Robey is backed up by former Norristown Eagle teammate Brandon Shippen. The left corner will be Tavon Young, who picked up an interception in the Rutgers’ game.
The linebackers are well-established and deep and it looks like freshman Jared Alwan might have a chance to break into the starting lineup over Nate D. Smith, who had a fine redshirt freshman year last season.

All in all, this is a much deeper and more talented team than last year’s was and hopefully that will be reflected in the record.

If Kamal Johnson becomes the answer to a trivia question, it will be.

Tomorrow: The New Radio Team

Thursday:  The Helmet Surprise