Tag Archives: football

05.29.25
by

USF site: Keeler could be a home run hire

Temple being No. 1 in the new hire department only bodes well for the 2025 Owls.

There’s an old saying among a group of hikers who encounter a bear on a trail.

Since bears can run between 30-40 mph and the fastest humans only 15mph, the math doesn’t math for the two-legged mammals.

The saying simply is this:

The USF website “Green, Gold and Bold” gives the highest mark for football hires to Temple.

“You don’t have to outrun a bear. All you have to do is outrun the slowest hiker.”

When it comes to the AAC, the football foes are humans. Reach up to the P4 and most of those are bears.

So it was important the other day to scour one of the fellow “human” websites and find out what others are thinking of Temple football.

Most of them are positive that Keeler can push one or two of the other new head coaches into the path of any AAC bears and make a legitimate run toward respectability.

Here’s what the USF site, Green Gold and Bold, had to say about the Keeler hire: “Keeler is 271-112-1. The cupboard may be bare at Temple, but it probably won’t be for long. Give Temple an “A” for this hire.”

A couple of things here.

One, the cupboard WAS bare but Keeler and his staff made so many key offseason acquisitions that cannot be said now. He got the leading rusher from three schools–Memphis, Northern Illinois and Sam Houston–to come to Temple and assume that same role. He was able to keep Temple’s best rusher, Terrez Worthy, from last year to remain at Temple after he flirted with Tarleton State. The Jay Ducker/Worthy battle will be one to watch. No cupboard bare at the RB position.

Two, he upgraded the quarterback position by enticing the starting quarterback from last year at Oregon State to come to Temple. He also upgraded depth in the position by keeping Temple’s only good quarterback from last year, Evan Simon. (My prediction here is that Evan wins the job outright from Gevani McCoy because Keeler is a fair man who will realize that on his own when that battle is played out at 10th and Diamond in August.) There are at least two tasty choices in the cupboard at the most important position on the field. I won’t be mad if either McCoy or Simon start for the Owls. I was mad that the worst quarterback in football history, Forrest Brock, started for the Owls last season.

Three, the Owls’ best interior defensive lineman, Demerick Morris, transferred to Oklahoma State (presumably for NIL money) before having second thoughts and returning to Temple.

Morris is the only single-digit Owl to leave for another school and return to Temple. That is history in the making.

Playing for a Hall of Fame coach must have had a lot to do with it because I can’t imagine Temple had a bag of money to throw his way.

Saying Temple got an A for the hire and an F for roster implies that the hire has nothing to do with improving the roster. Inheriting a bad roster without an alternative was what new coaches did a decade ago in the pre-transfer portal era.

Improvising and adjusting that roster upward is what good new coaches do now. South Florida noticed what a lot of Temple fans did last December in the coaching department, while, at the same time, ignoring what he did after he was hired.

A for the former, F for the latter.

Monday: Networking

05.25.25
by

Tush Push Could Return to Temple

Not quite the tush push, but a reminder of the days when “Temple TUFF” was more than a phrase.

Something that got plenty of attention here, but little elsewhere, was the story of the tush push staying in the NFL.

It’s always been legal in college football.

Temple’s last head coach, Stan Drayton, dabbled in it with mixed results in the last two seasons. When he tried it with a big tight end, David Martin-Robinson, it worked pretty well two years ago. When he tried it with a 160-pound backup quarterback a year ago at UConn, the play went viral for being laughable.

Temple TUFF dictates that the play return under the former framework, not the ladder.

The Owls are deep with big tight ends who can do the pushing. They have a big defensive lineman, Colin Greene, a former quarterback, who can do the tushing. The great thing about having Greene take the snap is that there can be a lot run off the tush push, like a quick pass or a fake tush push and a toss to the running back.

It’s a play perfect for new head coach K.C. Keeler to run because he understands the dynamics involved and how he can make it play to his advantage.

K.C. Keeler tush pushes his way through the Eagles’ victory parade.

Nobody that we can recall asked Keeler what he thinks of the play but he’s a big Eagles’ fan who attended the victory parade so he might dictate that show up in the playbook at some time in the future.

Former Temple DC Fran Brown already said he’s going to run the play at Syracuse and it makes sense.

For a team that rebuilt the offensive line over the offseason and is deep at tight end, no play makes more sense at Temple than the tush push.

It’s already popular in Philadelphia.

05.23.25
by

Way too early 2025 Temple football predictions

K.C. Keeler might have this pose after the Owls beat North Carolina in the Military Bowl.

Our “way-too-early” 2024 predictions appeared in this space on May 19, 2024.

Only four days and a year later, we’re going to swing and hopefully hit on a lot of these but first a review.

We predicted the 2024 Temple Owls to go 2-10 and they went 3-9 (again). We pretty much nailed the Tulsa game on the head, predicting the Owls to win by 11 (they won by 10). Also nailed the UConn game predicting the Owls would lose, 17-14 (they lost 29-20).

Our biggest miss was Utah State, where we predicted the Owls to lose, 34-7 (they won, 45-29). We predicted a 77-6 loss to Oklahoma (they lost 51-3) and a win over Coastal Carolina (they lost that one, 28-20). Also lost FAU as we predicted Temple would lose to Tom Herman. Owls won, 18-15 and Stan Drayton was fired the next day.

The football is a strange shape and it takes funny bounces but we’ll give it the old college try in this spot:

Temple 24, UMass 10 _ The fact that Temple was able to steal UMass’ best linebacker tells you all you need to know about this one. Temple has a seasoned head coach in K.C. Keeler. UMass has a first-time head coach in a former Rutgers’ assistant. Evan Simon throws for two touchdown passes, Gevani McCoy adds another on the ground and Carl Hardin kicks a field goal. Temple is unbeaten (1-0).

Temple 48, Howard 7 _ Howard shocked the world a few years ago when it went to UNLV and came away with a win as a 37-point underdog against an FBS team. That’s not happening. Simon plays the first half and throws for three touchdown passes and McCoy does the same in the second half. Jay Ducker runs for 176 yards but no touchdowns as he is caught from behind twice. Temple is 2-0.

Oklahoma 34, Temple 14 _ Not completely sold on the Owls, the Temple fans are outnumbered in the stands by the visitors from 1,600 miles away. Crowd of 52,333 is heavily pro-Sooner and that makes the difference. Temple is now 2-1.

Georgia Tech 38, Temple 7 _ Plenty of talk about Georgia Tech’s 24-2 loss to Temple in 2019 before the game. Yellowjackets are primed for revenge and get it. Temple is now 2-2.

Owls to face both Bill Belichick and any distractions Jordan Hudson can provide in the Military Bowl.

Temple 24, UTSA 21 _ Carl Hardin nails a 48-yarder with 2:53 left to give Temple a lead and Temple’s defense stops the Roadrunners at midfield to end the game. Temple is 3-2.

Navy 31, Temple 21 _ The Midshipmen, which lost to Temple, 32-16, in 2023, get some revenge for that one. Temple, though, shows improvement over its 38-11 loss to Navy last year. Still not good enough. Temple is 3-3.

Make that 99 as of today.

Temple 34, Tulsa 21 _ Jay Ducker runs for 142 yards and sets up two short touchdown passes from Simon to Antonio Jones and Temple comes away with a comfortable win in Oklahoma. Many of the Oklahoma fans who made the trip to Philadelphia show up rooting for the Owls. Crowd is generously announced at 6,234. Temple is 4-3.

Temple 28, Charlotte 14 _ Owls go into the 20,111-seat Jerry Richardson Stadium and come away with a comfortable win. McCoy starts, throws two TDs and runs for one. Simon comes in to close out the game in the fourth quarter. Terrez Worthy scores a 56-yard touchdown and wins the starting RB job from Ducker. Temple is 5-3.

Temple 28, East Carolina 20 _ The last time ECU visited Lincoln Financial Field, the Pirates escaped with a 49-46 win because the Owls couldn’t convert a third-and-1 at midfield (trying a pass instead of a run) and kicked the ball away with a lead. This time, the Temple defense has a much better day, getting two picks. Temple is now 6-3.

Army 31, Temple 28 _ Temple leads the whole game but Army, in a game similar to the 2017 game, wins on a last-second bomb from a backup quarterback. Afterward, K.C. Keeler shakes Jeff Monken’s hand and says, “You are the best coach in the country.” Monken returns the favor, saying, “K.C. you are not so bad yourself.” Temple is 6-4.

Tulane 28, Temple 17 _ Keeler spends the entire off week showing the Owls film of their 52-6 loss at Tulane last year. It helps only a little. Brian Smith’s defense contains but does not stop the Green Wave. Temple is 6-5.

North Texas 31, Temple 17 _ The late November temperature in Denton, Texas is 82 degrees. Owls, who have practiced all week in 30-degree temperatures in Philadelphia can’t hang. Temple finishes 6-6 and accepts a bid to the Military Bowl to play North Carolina afterward.

Keeler laughs.

“I have a lot of respect for coach Belichick but I don’t have the off-field distractions he has,” Keeler says. “We’re going to be focused on winning. I told the kids anybody who opts out of the bowl game is no longer a Temple Owl. Kids said they are all in and so am I.”

There you have it. Temple finishes 6-6 in the regular season.

I had them at 2-10 a year ago. I won’t be mad if they win one more game than predicted this season.

Again.

Monday: The Temple Push


05.15.25
by

Temple football: We’re No. 4

Nobody is predicting that in a league with 14 teams Temple finishes No. 4.

Yet in that same league, Temple has a coach ranked No. 4.

A couple of days ago, the popular college football site Yardbarker ranked the top four coaches in the American Athletic Conference and new Temple coach K.C. Keeler was in the group.

Not surprising considering Keeler is the all-time winningest FCS coach and a lock to be the third Temple Owl ever inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame when he hangs up the clipboard.

What does this mean for the 2025 Temple football Owls?

Both a lot and a little.

Everyone knows in these terrible days of college football when money talks and bullshit walks, money means a lot.

Yet it doesn’t mean everything.

As a lifelong football fan, particularly of high schools and colleges, I’ve seen a lot of remarkable stories and wrote many of them.

As a sportswriter for The Doylestown Intelligencer in the 1980s, I covered perhaps the greatest high school football program of all time in Central Bucks West. The coach there, Mike Pettine Sr., a Villanova grad out of the same Conshohocken high school as legendary Temple baseball coach Skip Wilson, took a team of mostly 5-10, 170-pound white kids to multiple state championships. First, “mythical” ones when the PIAA did not conduct postseason playoffs and then reaffirming those in real state championship games in large school football playoffs. Pettine’s lifetime record: 364 wins, 42 losses and three ties, including 10 unbeaten seasons.

Amazing.

Mostly done with only about 700 boys in a school district split in half when Central Bucks East came onboard. I arranged a series between CB West and a big-time Catholic League power, Archbishop Ryan, and West won those games, 22-14 and 14-7. At the time, Ryan had 2,500 boys and West had 700.

“Hey, Mike, can you imagine how good we’d be with 2,500 boys?” assistant head coach Mike Carey said to Pettine as they walked off the field after the second win.

A few years earlier than that, watched as Wayne Hardin took the Temple Owls from a small school schedule to three consecutive close losses against a national championship contender in Penn State. Hardin was the real deal, having proven himself as the head coach at Navy, leaving the Middies to the No. 2 ranking in the country in the 1960s with a program that required a five-year service commitment after graduation.

I know what good coaches can do against insurmountable odds.

These guys aren’t Temple fans but they see what the college football world sees.

Maybe the NIL and transfer portal odds facing Keeler today are tougher than those facing Pettine and Hardin but I doubt it.

Hat tip to Finland for its support of TFF.

Unlike Stan Drayton and Rod Carey, Keeler has dipped into the portal and filled a lot of needs of this program by bringing in good players.

No doubt in my mind–like Pettine and Hardin–he can coach them up.

Others are noticing what a good hire this is for Temple.

Keeler doesn’t have to finish in the top four in the league but a top six finish isn’t out of the question.

That’s why this season is the most exciting one in at least half a decade. There is no sport where a great head coach makes an impact more than football on any level and we are witnessing it now.

Somewhere up there, Pettine and Hardin are looking down and nodding.

05.11.25
by

A King Solomon-like solution to Temple QB controversy

Gevani McCoy highlights at Oregon State last season.

Whatever happens in the summer camp when Gevani McCoy arrives to do battle with Evan Simon, Temple appears headed for a quarterback controversy.

While this happened a half-century of so ago at Temple, new head coach K.C. Keeler might need to pull out a more ancient solution, about 2,900 years earlier. When two women claimed to be the mother of a baby and wanted custody, they went to King Solomon. When Solomon suggested they split the baby and give one half to each, the real mother said give to the other one.

Marty Ginestra’s stats in Temple’s 1973 season were better (9 TDs, 0INTs) than newcomer Steve Joachim’s (11 TDs to 10 INTs) below. Interesting that as a PSU backup in 1971, Steve tossed 7 TDs vs. 3 INTs for Joe Paterno.

Solomon, in his wisdom, figured that gesture indicated who the real mother was and awarded the baby to the one who didn’t want it killed.

Or at least that’s the story.

Splitting the baby in the Simon/McCoy battle could be the way to go considering what happened a year ago.

Temple once split the baby, playing two QBs in the 8-2 season of 1973.

Through summer practices, then head coach Stan Drayton screamed up and down that the battle was even and he would announce the starter on the day of the Oklahoma opener. Drayton (wrongly) went with Forrest Brock, who must have been the greatest practice quarterback of all time because when he appeared in actual games, he looked like the worst QB in college football history.

On the other hand, in real games, Simon was pretty good–hitting his high-water mark in an 45-29 win over Utah State. Simon threw four touchdown passes in that one–all under pressure and into tight windows–while adding another one on the ground.

In hindsight, Drayton, if he was really torn, would have been better served by the King Solomon solution. Play each quarterback a few series in real games under real fire and then go with the hot hand.

Pretty sure that was Henry Hynoski.

Temple fans of a certain age might remember this kind of approach served the Owls well a half-century ago when another Hall of Fame coach, Wayne Hardin, welcomed a big-time transfer in from Penn State (Steve Joachim) to battle with a fairly good Simon-like holdover in Marty Ginestra.

Ginestra was the fan favorite in 1973, throwing nine touchdown passes, while Joachim tossed 10 TDs that same year. Temple wasn’t hurt by the shuffling as the Owls won eight games.

The real benefit wasn’t felt until a year later when Joachim tossed 20 touchdown passes and won the Maxwell Award as the best college football player in the nation for the 1974 Owls, who finished 9-1.

If the Owls get an eight-win season in a two-quarterback system and a Maxwell winner and 9-1 or better next year, Keeler would probably sign for that now.

This King Solomon guy evidently had a lot of wisdom. So did King Hardin.

05.04.25
by

Executive Order could level the playing field

Hell might have frozen over.

There is an issue out there where the Democrats and Republicans might come to an agreement.

This is probably the best-case scenario for G5 teams like Temple.

A talk at the University of Alabama commencement between President Trump, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville could produce something needed in college football.

An even playing field, which would be something both Democrats and Republicans–and basically all fans of college football–can agree on right now.

If nothing changes, the playing field Temple plays on next year against Penn State will be tilted heavily in the Lions’ direction. That probably would have happened anyway. Hell, it happened since the 1975 renewal of the series but, unlike those first days, we have a situation now where Penn State can steal Temple’s one or two best players from this year–if it wanted to–and Temple could steal no one from Penn State and that field would be so far uphill the Owls would never have a chance.

There are no details of what such an executive order would entail but both Saban and Tuberville stressed in their conversations with the President that the “playing field needed to be leveled.”

They didn’t say how.

My guess is that it refers to an even playing field among the P4 powers, not including the G5 schools. That would probably mean no transfers allowed between P4 schools and an even distribution of NIL money among the power conference schools.

However, an executive order distributing an even amount of NIL money over the 130 schools would certainly help Temple and that’s what we have to hope for even if it’s a pipe dream.

Certainly an EO would face a strenuous court test but it might move a Congress that had no prior interest in college football to move to help the have-nots. Can’t imagine Congress would get behind the 20 or so schools who want to take all of the money so this probably is a bipartisan issue.

That’s a move Democrats would get behind and certainly Tuberville and Saban understand the inequity that currently exists.

What we do know is the status quo isn’t helping Temple or any other G5 schools so a shakeup is positive news.

My vote: A 145 percent tariff on the P4 to help the G5. Not gonna happen, but we can always dream.

05.01.25
by

Getting a little ahead of ourselves here but …

Under a great coach like Bruce Arians, Temple lost to PSU by scores of 27-25 and 23-18.

Getting a little ahead of ourselves here because the focus should always be on the next game but new Temple head coach K.C. Keeler is building a team of guys with chips on their shoulders.

Good, talented, guys, who have played a lower level of football but finally have a chance to get on a larger stage at Temple.

Question: Can you beat a team like Penn State with a group of guys who have a chip on their shoulders?

As one of The Three Stooges would say, “Certainly.” It definitely happened in 2015.

The next game with that same team is 2026. This is 2025.

We know. We know.

Colin Chase’s most recent film. He is now an Owl.

The focus should be on UMass but Keeler is faced with the task of playing a big-time P4 team in one year and he is putting together a group of talented guys.

Since the Cherry and White game, Keeler has signed a dozen transfer portal guys who can make a difference both now and a year from now.

The latest included a pair of wide receivers, including Jo Jo Bermudez and Colin Chase.

Bermudez is the third big-time player who eschewed Delaware for Temple, including the Blue Hens’ top running back recruit and best linebacker and, now, best wide receiver. Temple football doesn’t lose players to a program like Delaware but compare and contrast that to Temple losing a Penn State transfer guard in basketball to Delaware.

Bermudez’s high school coach once called him “the best football player in the state of New Jersey.” That was at a time when the Philadelphia Eagles’ first-round draft choice, Jihaad Campbell, was playing for a high school less than 20 miles away.

Ugh.

If that isn’t the best illustration for the job K.C. Keeler is doing at Temple visa ve Adam Fisher, I don’t know what is.

I don’t think $75 is low but that’s life on a fixed income.

Above is a screenshot of an article I wrote for Calkins Newspapers in 1986. At the time, those three newspapers (Bucks County Courier Times, Burlington County Times and Doylestown Intelligencer) had a combined daily circulation of 170,000 subscribers (better than the 2025 Philadelphia Inquirer).

Those were the halcyon days of daily newspapers.

Now people get their news other ways.

The big news at Temple these days is football is hot and basketball not so much.

We’d like to see both thrive but this says more for a good A.J. Johnson hire vs. a bad one.

Beating Penn State is a pipe dream in today’s current monetary environment, but a group of motivated guys with chips on their shoulders can move mountains.

We saw a mountain move once a decade ago. Keeler might be hooking another mountain up to a tow truck.

It should be fun to watch in two years and maybe more fun this one.

04.27.25
by

Ground Game: New pieces stand out

Hunter Smith’s high school recruiting film.

Recruiting guru Lou Adler is credited for saying it first:

“The best predictor of future performance is past performance.”

Adler said it in his capacity of recruiting business talent, but it also applies to football talent.

Last week, the Temple football Owls probably grabbed their starting quarterback in Gevani McCoy, although Evan Simon might have something to say about that.

Around the same time, the Owls appeared to have fixed their run game depth by adding Hunter Smith.

This is where the past performance comes into play.

With the addition of Smith, this is what Temple’s running back room looks like: Jay Ducker, the one-time leading rusher in the MAC is pairing with the one-time Louisiana-Monroe rushing leader in Smith.

Smith led the Warhawks with 507 rushing yards in 2023 before suffering an ACL injury. Ducker led the MAC in rushing two years earlier (2021) with 1,184 yards.

Temple head coach K.C. Keeler said Ducker had a “good camp” for the Owls in the spring but said Ducker needs to turn a lot of those yards he got into touchdowns and improve his closing speed. That opens the door for holdover Torrez Worthy to grab the job as he is the fastest back (4.49-40) since Ray Davis in the 2019 season. Davis now plays for the Buffalo Bills.

A red flag for both newcomers is that speed, as both scored just three touchdowns. Worthy outran the entire Tulane team for Temple’s only highlight in a 52-6 loss last year so if he wins the job, it will be by speed alone. A dark horse to win the job is another speedster, De’Carlos Young. Joquez Smith also had a 142-yard game for Temple two years ago so he’s in the mix as well.

At a number of positions, Keeler has brought in more significant transfer portal talent since Cherry and White Day than both Rod Carey and Stan Drayton did in the past six years.

The running back room is a perfect example of that.

Still, Worthy, Young (who hasn’t had a chance yet) and Joquez Smith have not produced the same kind of numbers at the FBS level as Ducker and Smith so the Owls appear to be in capable hands with those two.

At least past performance says so.

Friday: Getting a handle

04.20.25
by

The flip side of the portal: Getting a P4 recruit

For a school like Temple, there are always two sides to the transfer portal.

One side, the bad one, is recruiting and developing talent for another team to steal.

The good side of this coin–often ignored–is that the transfer portal opens the Owls to acquire football talent they might not otherwise have a chance to get out of high school.

Take Cedar Creek’s Jo Jo Bermudez for instance. Temple has expressed an interest in him and he has expressed an interest in Temple.

It’s a trade that would benefit both since the Owls seem thin at wide receiver and Bermudez has a good chance of earning a starting job.

He set a South Jersey receiving record for yardage with 1,992 in his senior year of high school. His recruiting was down to the Big 10 (Rutgers) and the Big 12 (Cincinnati) and ultimately chose the Bearcats. While he didn’t play for the Bearcats, he transferred to Delaware and became their best wide receiver and caught a touchdown pass against Villanova in November.

Temple used to win recruiting battles with P4 schools but that was a long time ago and in a different era of college football. Al Golden’s first recruit was to beat out Boston College and Rutgers for the services of Kee-Ayre Griffin, who became both a starting running back and a starting quarterback for Golden. Matt Rhule beat out LSU and Rutgers for the services of Anthony Russo. Golden also stole Adrian Robinson from Pitt, among others.

Temple really hasn’t gotten that type of guy since Rhule left, although the transfer portal has sent players from Texas A&M, Florida, Penn State and other places to Temple. Most of them were backups who never made an impact at Temple but a player like Diwan Black was an exception last year.

Maybe Bermudez could fit into that category this year.

Now, if the Owls are able to land Bermudez, they would upgrade the talent in the room and competition only makes the team better.

Kajiya Hollawayne, Xavier Irvin and Tyler Stewart were running with the first team in the spring and that’s a little surprising because John Adams and Antonio Jones made the most big plays in actual games last year.

Right now, my starters are Adams and Jones at wide receiver and Ryder Kusch at tight end but with most teams playing three receivers, there is plenty of room for Bermudez to make an impact.

It’s the flip side of the transfer portal coin and could bring in a talent that the Owls would have had little chance of landing coming out of high school.

04.17.25
by

What most people don’t understand about college sports

After reading this, tell me where Temple gets the money to pay football or basketball players who are already getting scholarships worth almost $100,000?

The response never fails.

Every time I write something about the evils of the NIL and the transfer portal, I invariably get this response either on twitter, the comments below or facebook:

“These colleges make millions off the backs of the players. They deserve to be paid.”

Err, no.

The Ohio States and the Penn States make millions.

The Temples, the Kent States, the Georgia States, the Troys, the Sam Houstons, etc. don’t.

There are plenty more of the latter group than the former one.

Temple has to sell its ability to put players in the NFL and it has a strong history of that.

As many of 100 (or more) of the FBS schools LOSE money on football. Should those players be forced to pay back the schools who employ them?

No.

But to say these players deserve millions because universities makes millions is a misnomer because there is no bounty.

Look at Temple.

This week Temple president John Fry wrote a university-wide email (see above) about how Temple is strapped for cash and how the school is going to have to tighten that belt even more.

Temple isn’t the only school in that boat.

Ryder Kusch shows Reece Clark how playing tight end is done.

Maybe Memphis and Boise State make money on football.

I doubt that any other G5 schools do.

Temple did a lot of hard work recruiting a quarterback who was set to visit the school today. He canceled the visit and committed to Ole Miss on Tuesday. Temple lost a tight end (Reece Clark) today who entered the portal. Good for him. I don’t think he’s going to find any real money elsewhere. Let’s be real here. Clark is a nice player. He was outplayed in the spring by Ryder Kusch. Clark is a tweener. Not big enough to play tight end or fast enough to play wide receiver. He’s like a 6-3 forward in high school basketball. He didn’t light up the stat sheet for a 3-9 team. Doubt that any 9-3 teams are going to offer him money. He’s got to be realistic about his own ability. Instead, he’s probably listening to an agent.

He’s more likely to drop to FCS than continue to play at the highest level.

Better for Temple because head coach K.C. Keeler said that you are either all in or all out and Clark is all out. Now Keeler is building a team that is all in and that can only benefit Temple.

Although this number changes every day, there were only 1,452 FBS scholarships available as of 10 p.m. Thursday night. The math ain’t mathing for 90+ percent of these kids but don’t expect an “agent” to tell them that.

Ole Miss has money to pay football players.

Temple doesn’t.

Neither does almost every other G5 school yet a lot of G5 schools find a way to compete. One of those schools was Sam Houston, which won 9 games and a bowl game.

Its head coach?

K.C. Keeler.

It’s a lot tougher to win with players who are getting paid the old-fashioned way but there’s a lot to be said about building a culture where everyone is pretty much getting the same thing and there’s no locker room bickering why this one guy gets this and this other guy doesn’t get that.

Maybe that isn’t all of the Keeler winning formula, but it certainly is a big part of it.

Until some multi-billionaire Saudi horse racing aficionado wants to see what kind of havoc his disposable income can wreak on college football by backing Temple, spare me on the “kids deserve to get paid” angle.

Monday: An Intriguing Prospect