I hope the fans who came to this game keep coming back.

On a day when Al Golden got the first signature win of his coaching career, the players who lobbied so hard for an ex-assistant of Golden to be hired as a head coach failed to deliver one for him.

It’ll be awhile now before Matt Rhule gets his first signature win because wins in the next two are merely holding serve.

Click on photo for my story on game that appeared on Rantsports.com

A three-point underdog at home has got to beat a Houston team that went 5-7 a year ago and lost (big) to Marshall, SMU and East Carolina. Heck, beating Houston should not be considered a signature win, just a must one. This team allowed 72 points to a 6-6 SMU team. Seventy-two. They didn’t bring a whole new group of players to Philadelphia. These were the same guys. The … same …  guys (minus an NFL player, who graduated).

The Temple offense has to score more than two touchdowns against that team.

Whether it was Rhule’s fault or the players’ fault is immaterial by now, but there were a number of curious developments or non-developments I felt contributed to the loss:

• This team reminds me of the Phillies: A lot of singles’ hitters and no home run hitters. The Owls have a lot of guys who can catch an 11-yard out and fall down. They have a lot of possession receivers, but no “home run” threat, a guy who can take a bubble screen to the house (unless you are counting 4.34 sprinter Khalif Herbin, who must be in witness protection somewhere or Zaire Williams, who they never throw a screen pass to).
• I’m not as fixated on the kicking situation as everyone else because this team should be scoring touchdowns, not field goals. Does Temple ever throw the ball INTO the end zone? I haven’t seen much evidence of that. You can’t score touchdowns if you don’t throw the ball INTO the end zone on a more regular basis than Temple currently does. Who knows? You might even get a pass interference call.
  

  According to Mike Jensen’s story in Sunday’s Inquirer, he writes “it sounds as if it might be Nick Visco” as the starting kicker against Fordham.

• Speaking of the kicking game, we heard all summer that Jim Cooper Jr. was locked in a neck-and-neck battle with fellow true freshman Nick Visco for the kicking job. In the scrimmage at Neshaminy, only one kicker nailed two of three from beyond the 50, including one against the rush without a tee in six-inch grass and he wasn’t named Paul Layton or Jim Cooper Jr. Yet we didn’t see that kicker on Saturday.   Only one kicker in the history of Pennsylvania football has hit extra-point attempts at a 96 percent rate (minimum attempts 100) and he is not named Jim Cooper Jr. or Paul Layton. We haven’t seen him kick in a real game yet. They must be saving his red shirt.
• Does it concern you that Temple didn’t score a point in the second half? Doesn’t bode well for the offensive adjustments being made by the Temple OC Marcus Satterfield at halftime. Just for giggles, I went back over Nick Rolovich’s  record while OC at Nevada. As I guessed, he was never shut out in any second half. Rolovich accepted, then turned down, the TU OC job, leaving the door open for Satterfield.
• While on the subject of Nicks (Visco and Rolovich), add in Nick Rapone. No Temple defense has ever given up 524 yards of total offense when Rapone was DC. Now Nick is in Arizona working as DB coach with two Temple guys, Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles. Something tells me the Cardinals’ defense is in good hands. By the way, Rapone was “very interested” in the DC job before it was awarded to Phil Snow. Since Rapone, who was FCS defensive coordinator of the year at Delaware, has a daughter who currently attends Temple, he likely would not have accepted the NFL job in Arizona had he got the TU job first.
• If you are going to try a wide receiver pass, why have John Christopher do it when you have two accomplished passers who already play the position (Chris Coyer and Jalen Fitzpatrick)? Just a thought.
• Why on third-and-nine with Juice Granger coming in cold off the bench do you have him throwing a 40-yard bomb? How about an 11-yard pass just to move the sticks? Just a thought.
• Now that Cody Booth, who owns the best pair of hands on the team, is a tackle, how come Temple never uses the tackle eligible play?
• Now that Richie Leone hit 5 for 5 field goals against Temple, maybe recruiting somebody like Devonte Watson to block kicks wasn’t such a crazy April Fool’s Joke after all. 
• How come we haven’t seen Coyer throw one halfback (or H-back) pass off a simple quick toss from Connor Reilly? Are they saving that for Fordham?
• Zaire Williams should get the ball 20 times a game just one game to see how many yards he racks up. I’m willing to bet it’s over 100.
• I really like everything I see from Connor Reilly expect the dearth of touchdown passes. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think part of the job requirement of being a FBS college quarterback is to throw a lot of  touchdown passes.   I remember going to a game once and seeing a Temple quarterback throw five touchdown passes against a conference foe.  One game, five touchdown passes. Geez, I hope I see something like that soon. Maybe Saturday. Maybe.

It’s been a long time since Adam DiMichele played here. Or Bruce Francis.

John Chaney used to talk about the known and unknown. The all-time Temple great basketball coach became an all-time great because he took care of the known and improvised and adjusted on the unknown.
There is a lot of both out there as Temple hosts Houston (noon Saturday) in the first-ever American Athletic Conference football game.

Thanks to David Murphy of 6ABC for putting the Temple T in here. Should be great weather for a Temple game.

Taking care of the known, the strength of the Temple team is both the offensive and defensive lines.
The strength of Houston is a sophisticated passing attack.
That said, Temple controlling the rock and giving future NFL back Zaire Williams the first of his many 100-plus yard games on the ground is ALMOST as important as the Temple defensive line creating havoc in the Houston backfield.
Almost.
We all know that the Temple defensive line more than held its own against the vaunted Notre Dame running attack, so it should be able to the same against any running back the Cougars throw at them.
What was really alarming, though, was that the Temple pass rush only got to quarterback Tommy Rees for one sack. This was the same Temple pass rush that produced nine sacks in the spring game against the same offensive line that handled two first-team All-Americans (Louis Nix and Stephon Tuitt) last week.
So it comes down to this: Pass rush.

Temple signs home and home deal with a Big 10 school not named Penn State or Rutgers. Click on logo for details.

When you look at the box score this time, don’t look at first downs (Temple had 25 to Notre Dame’s 21 last week) or time of possession, look at sacks.
Hurries are important, too, because that forces the quarterback to put the ball up earlier than expected and allows someone like Tavon Young to step in front of a pass and get a pick-six.
The best pass defense, though, is putting the quarterback on his ass. So sacks, though, are the most important stat in this game.
If Temple gets five or more, Temple wins going away. Four and it comes down to a field goal. Three or less, Temple loses. You don’t want just four.
Guys like Sean Daniels, Levi Brown, Averee Robinson, Kamal Johnson and Shahbaz Ahmed are going to have to regularly meet at the Houston quarterback in order to do it, maybe punching the ball out while bringing him down.
We all know they are capable, but we all know they didn’t do it last week. Robinson is the brother of former MAC Player of the Year (and current Denver Bronco) Adrian Robinson, who made his reputation having quarterbacks for lunch. Robinson is also a three-time Pennsylvania heavyweight wrestling champ and that kind of ability allows for tremendous gap leverage. Brown is a former preseason All-Big East pick. Daniels is the team’s best pass-rusher. Johnson had sacks in both the Eagle Bank Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl. Ahmed came from nowhere to earn a starting spot at one end. A sub on the line, Shadid Paulhill, had the big sack that clinched the win over South Florida last year. Another sub, Matt Ioannidis, had the sack against ND. Brandon Chudnoff, a pass-rushing specialist who didn’t play against ND, got the clearance to play this week. He had two fumble recoveries against UConn last year.
This is the same defensive line that shut out UConn in the second half last year.
This is a formidable defensive line. It’s time they played like it.
If they do,  the Owls win by a touchdown or two. I think they will.
Prediction: Temple, 27-17.
Last week’s prediction: Notre Dame, 37-15
Last week’s result: Notre Dame, 28-6.

Tomorrow: An early tailgate, a lot of cheering in the middle, and a very late game analysis

Sunday: The road ahead

“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.

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

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.

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

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. 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.”

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.

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