Tag Archives: jesus

01.05.26
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Our predictions the last 2 years: One off, both ways

They should be breaking out the balls for winter workouts very soon.

One year we sold the Owls short. The next we oversold them.

By one game each year.

So close but so far away.

That’s the prediction business in a nutshell.

Having watched the final preseason of Stan Drayton’s Temple career, we wrote in this space that the Owls would finish 2-10 in May of 2024. We based that on Forrest Brock winning the job. When Evan Simon took over, the Owls got better but still not good enough.

They finished 3-9.

On May 23, 2025 we mapped out how each game would go and this was shockingly close to how the first few games turned out.

This year we saw what new head coach K.C. Keeler was doing (upgraded key areas like the DL, RB and backup QB), and upped that win total to six. The justification not only was the roster upgrade, but the fact that an established head coach and coordinators would eliminate the pre-snap penalties that killed Drayton, OC Danny Langsdorf and DC Everett Withers.

That largely happened and two single-point losses to the academies ruined the Owls’ chances of finishing 7-5.

On Memorial Day Weekend, we wrote the Owls would finish 6-6.

They finished 5-7.

We predicted a 24-10 win at UMass (it was 42-10) and a 48-7 win over Howard (it was 55-7). We also predicted a 34-14 loss to Oklahoma (42-3) and a 38-7 loss to Georgia Tech (it was 42-24).

Geoff Collins had the Owls practicing in the snow (2017). Fortunately, Keeler has a state-of-the-art indoor facility at 15th and Montgomery to weather any storms.

We predicted Temple would beat UTSA, 24-21 (remarkably close because the Owls won, 27-21), a 31-21 loss to Navy (Owls lost a game that will live in ignominy, 32-31).

We predicted Temple would beat Tulsa, 34-21 (Owls won, 31-30) and Charlotte, 28-14 (it was 48-14).

The one game we got really wrong was the East Carolina game. We thought the Owls would win that one, 28-20, but they lost, 45-14.

We predicted Army would beat Temple by three (it was by one), Tulane would beat Temple by 11 (it was 23) and North Texas would beat Temple by 14 (it was 27).

Not bad, except for a couple of outliers, Keeler and his staff outperformed the scores we expected. The bottom line is the number of wins.

We will be watching the offseason acquisitions, then attending Cherry and White and coming up with game-by-game predictions around Memorial Day. They need to find a proven starting quarterback in the transfer portal and then slowly work the future (Lamar Best) into the lineup as the season goes along.

By then, we should have a good handle on how things should play out.

Friday: Is it sustainable?

Monday: Temple’s Secret Weapon

Friday (1/15): Best Available

12.14.25
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The Temple Bowl Quote We All Need

After almost a full week since Temple got gift-wrapped a bowl bid and hemmed and hawed and fumbled it away, fans deserve an answer.

No, not the scripted answer released by the university but at least a comment from the CEO of the football operation, head coach K.C. Keeler.

It’s not only the quote we want, but also the quote we need.

Reading between the lines, here’s what probably happened: The Birmingham Bowl went down the Rolodex of eligible teams and asked each one for a “yes” or a “no” and moved on from on from the ones who gave a “no” and a “maybe” until they could get to a yes.

Two of the Owls’ best players were interested, as was probably the whole team.

Temple probably was one of the maybes.

As soon as Appalachian State said yes, all of the maybes were moot and they get to play Georgia Southern. Now Temple fans who do dial into that game get to point at the TV and said, “that should have been us.”

Until we get clarification, we have to assume the bowl got in contact with athletic director Arthur Johnson, who said the Owls needed time to talk to other parties within the school.

Birmingham didn’t have that kind of time.

That leaves us to the quote we need.

Keeler strikes me as the kind of person who is a straight-enough shooter to NOT cover for Johnson. If asked, my guess is that he would say: “I would have said yes but nobody asked me.”

This notion that because Temple was 5-7 it didn’t deserve a bowl is ridiculous. App State is also 5-7 and played a significantly easier schedule. Temple was two points from being 7-5.

It would have been great to see Evan Simon hoist that bowl trophy in one hand and maybe an MVP trophy in the other.

The fact that nobody in the media has even asked Keeler for his version of events is an indictment of the Philadelphia media and its interest in even covering Temple football.

Do you think this happens in other cities that have college football teams?

No.

I’m sure we’ll hear Keeler address the issue honestly at some point but Temple fans should not have had to wait a day or even a week to hear what he had to say.

It’s just one quote, but it would clear up a lot.

Friday: Key Commitment Coming

09.11.25
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Huge Temple crowd expected Saturday

Everyone please subscribe to Gary’s website. This is the best college football prediction website.

By now, everyone should know that artificial intelligence is pretty much ahead of the crowd.

In Temple’s case, literally.

KJ predicts Okie 31-3. This was his prediction two days before Temple beat Penn State, 27-10. Sorry KJ.

Without knowing anyone in the Temple ticket office or the Philadelphia Eagles ticket office, I took to chat GPT and Grok and asked how many tickets were left for Temple hosting Oklahoma (high noon, ESPN2).

Here’s what they were able to tell us.

One, there are only a couple of thousand tickets left in a 70K-seat stadium. Two, only five percent of the tickets sold are from outside the tri-state (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware) area.

What AI didn’t say was how many sections were open for sale but, given the demand, it only makes sense to open as many sections as possible.

We won’t find out until Saturday but what we do know is that given the proximity of the ticket sales to Lincoln Financial Field and the unlikelihood of Oklahoma fans living in the nation’s fourth-largest TV market, it will be a heavily pro-Temple crowd. Lot K–the largest Philadelphia Eagles’ parking lot–sold out by Wednesday. Even for the 2016 opener against Army, which drew 34,271, that didn’t happen until the day of that night game. Lots M and O are open for now. Since the Phillies are playing a night game on Saturday, CBP lots should be open also.

Now it might be 60K or it might be 35K, but we do know it will be loud and proud.

No one expected this result, either.

We don’t know if that’s enough to push this team across the finish line but it can’t hurt. There are many things that make me like Temple’s chances but one indicator is that Temple’s defense–with the worst head coach in history–was able to limit Oklahoma to 1-for-13 on third downs last year.

Another is that the Temple quarterback responsible for five of the six turnovers in last year’s game between the teams is on the trash heap of history and the guy who was denied that chance, Evan Simon, will get a chance to make history.

Who knows?

Desmond Ridder blaming Cincy’s first loss of the 2017 season on the loud Temple crowd.

They might even let him conduct the world-famous Temple University Diamond Marching Band again if he’s able to do it.

Temple is two-deep in quality along the defensive line and, yet, K.C. Keeler called his offensive line the most improved unit on his team.

These lines won’t be bullied.

No predictions but I will not be surprised if Temple wins outright because Oklahoma is expecting to play in a high school-like atmosphere and has no idea that a 7-0 Cincinnati team in 2017 came into LFF and came out with an overtime loss because it couldn’t hear its signals.

This stadium can be very loud and unfriendly for visitors and it needs to be on Saturday afternoon.

After that, let the chips fall where they may.

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

07.17.25
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Keeler: An A in Marketing 101

Jon Gruden has always been a big-time supporter of Temple football.

Until somebody proves that this was someone else’s idea, I’m going to give new Temple head football coach K.C. Keeler his first grade in a known Temple University course.

Marketing 101, which used to exist in the Temple School of Communications when I was at 13th and Norris in the last century, would have handed him an A for his special project this week:

Sending a box of swag to Jon Gruden, who is now working for Barstool Sports.

If Keeler didn’t send that box, I’m almost certain he would have signed off on the deal and, to me, that’s as good as walking down to the post office, weighing the damn thing, and sending it off.

Since I was a Journalism major and not a Marketing one, did not see too much benefit in adding Marketing 101 to my electives. Instead, I took Economics 101, where I met and became great friends with one of the best Temple professors of all time, Sam Wilson.

Don’t know how I got an A in that class but maybe understanding what Wilson was telling me and being able to communicate those concepts in a paper made a difference.

Whatever, Keeler’s box of swag to Gruden deserves the same grade.

In fact, everything from the transfer portal to the recruiting of 2026 high school kids he deserves an A.

Keeler isn’t riding from the seat of his pants here. He’s done his homework, much like I did in the Wilson economics class.

Keeler has been a “home run” hire for Temple IMHO. The proof of the pudding will be on Saturdays in the fall. I don’t require that proof to be 12 wins but I do require that proof to be 4-6.

What he has done so far for Temple is to shock me in a positive manner and getting to that 6 or above would be par for this course.

That said, I never wrote here that Keeler was the “only” guy who could perform CPR on Temple football. In this space, after Stan Drayton was fired, we campaigned for Jon Gruden to get the job.

My point was that there was no one person who could do the job that both Drayton and Rod Carey were incapable of doing, but many persons.

Gruden was one.

Keeler is another.

Plenty of other guys could have done it, too.

If, after watching the video in this post, you can’t say Gruden would have done a great job on selling Temple to recruits, you are not paying attention.

That said, Keeler reaching out to him proves Keeler has the right stuff. In fact, everything he has done so far has proven the same thing. Maybe Keeler brings some things to the table that Gruden would not have. From this perspective, he’s passed the eye test in every single endeavor.

At this point, as a Temple fan, that’s all you can ask for.

Monday: The AAC Reacts

09.26.24
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Everett Withers strikes again

Any good vibes after Utah State were destroyed by a terrible defensive game plan.

When Stan Drayton gets fired by new Temple president John Fry at the end of this season, one major CEO decision will be the only reason why he was sent packing.

Undeserved loyalty.

After his second unacceptable 3-9 season in 2023, Drayton promised to review the entire operation “including the coaches” and, instead of getting rid of the guy who was responsible for the worst Temple defense in history, DC Everett Withers, decided to jettison a couple of lower-level assistant coaches.

After a 42-14 loss to Army on Thursday night, a third-straight embarrassment on ESPN in front of the entire nation (coming off 55-0 to SMU and 51-3 to what turning out is a not-as-good-as-expected Oklahoma team), it’s clear that being a buddy of Drayton is good for Withers and terrible for Temple.

Hiring your buddy is the No. 1 thing that has ailed Temple football since Matt Rhule left in 2016 and nobody is a bigger buddy than Withers. Athletic director Pat Kraft, who played football at Indiana, hired his buddy Rod Carey, who also played football at Indiana at roughly the same time.

New Temple AD Arthur Johnson, the Texas football director of operations, hired buddy Stan Drayton, who was the Texas RB coach when he was there. Drayton hired longtime buddy Withers to be his DC despite Withers giving up 40 ppg as a DC at FIU in 2021.

Ugh.

The beat goes on and those black eyes belong to Temple fans who deserve better.

We can now compare Withers to another former Temple DC in Phil Snow.

In the opening game against Army in 2016, Snow stubbornly kept his base 4-3 defense and the Owls fell, 29-16.

Before the AAC title game against a better triple-option team, Navy, Snow studied the Army film and came to the conclusion that the reason the Owls lost that opener was because he left the “A gap” uncovered.

Before the Owls faced Navy in the title game, he also noticed that SMU left the same middle uncovered and Navy won in Dallas, 75-31, a couple of weeks before the title game against Temple. Snow decided the secret sauce for Temple to win was to alternate Averee Robinson and Freddy Booth-Lloyd at nose tackle, take away the fullback dive, and force the triple option from sideline to sideline.

Mostly, Robinson, a three-time Pennsylvania state heavyweight wrestling champion who not only destroyed the Navy center but stopped the Navy fullback every time for no gain. That left superior athletes like Haasan Reddick and Sean Chandler chasing the pitchman and forcing him out of bounds or, better yet, punching the ball free for Temple turnovers.

That’s what I’m talking about Willis.

That worked for a 34-10 championship win.

Withers?

Played the same base defense against Army on Thursday night that he played a couple of weeks ago in a 38-11 loss to Navy.

My only bet on this game was that the over would be accomplished because Withers likes to clock in a 9 a.m. and clock out at 5 p.m. and won’t do anything to change his base defense to scheme against the strength of the opponent.

This guy doesn’t give a shit about Temple, only the paycheck he gets from it.

Drayton, on the other hand loves Temple, but is also blinded by his love for mentor Withers.

It will be his downfall.

I was right once again. I wish to hell I was wrong.

What’s the definition of insanity?

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

What Drayton should have done at the end of last season is sever his relationship with Withers and gone out and replaced him with the best FCS defensive coordinator in the country.

Drayton might be more comfortable shooting the shit with Withers on Friday morning over the office copier than some stranger who might have shut down Army but Temple fans are the ones squirming now.

Unless Drayton does something drastic like replace Withers with linebacker coach Chris Woods next week, the new Temple president will notice and decide to do something about it. Woods was a successful DC in the USFL. Withers hasn’t been a successful DC since one game in the 1980s.

Unfortunately, Drayton is too nice a guy and we all know what Leo Durocher said about nice guys.

They finish last.

Monday: Avoiding the inevitable

12.22.23
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Postgame Show: Temple’s Final Hail Mary

The most impressive thing about this video is Kevin Copp being at the E-O on 7 p.m. Wednesday night and in Hawaii by 2 p.m. Eastern time the next afternoon. Call him the Padre Pio of the Owls.

Unless something changes, it’s not hard to envision the final 30 seconds of Temple’s opening half at Oklahoma roughly nine months from now including a meaningless Hail Mary.

Evan Simon goes back to pass at midfield and before he gets a chance to throw, is swarmed under by a host of Oklahoma Sooners.

Temple runs off the field in Norman, down, 43-0, with the announcers saying the clock will run continuously in the second half.

Temple fans turn off the TV in disgust and head for a run or a bike ride on a beautiful August afternoon.

A couple of things COULD happen between now and then to make that halftime score more respectable–say, 28-13 instead of 43-0–but Wednesday night’s signing day show gave no indication that would be the case.

Just from watching Stan Drayton, I got the distinct impression this whole signing day was one big recruiting Hail Mary.

If this one falls incomplete, and Temple finishes with another three-win season, I could see the Temple Board of Trustees saying we don’t like the way college football is going and we’re not going to compete in it anymore. We don’t like paying a coach $2.5 million-a-year who got beat by 12 coaches over the last TWO seasons making LESS money.

Signing Darian Varner and Reece Poffenbarger would probably put Temple in the middle of this pack.

The ROI doesn’t make sense.

I’m somewhat surprised they haven’t come to that conclusion now but Drayton and the program have been given a stay of execution.

They don’t have good appeal lawyers judging from this recruiting class.

While all over the AAC teams were bringing in five to 10 Power 5 recruits and supplementing those by more FCS players and only one or two JUCOs, Temple signed more JUCOs than any other team in the conference.

It’s just not logical that JUCOs can beat guys who were recruited to win national championships but this is the logic Drayton and staff are going with right now.

There is a reason why the Alabamas and Georgias and Washingtons and Michigans have recruiting classes ranked near the top of the top 10 every year and finish in the same place on the football field. The highly ranked recruits produce on the field and the coaches who don’t give up 39.8 points-per-game in their last two stops–which Everett Withers has–tend to stop the teams they are playing.

So by going with JUCOs and sticking with Withers, Temple is throwing a Hail Mary pass.

A high wobbly dying quail and not the kind of tight spirals we’ve been used to seeing E.J. Warner tossing.

A couple of things can change that dynamic. Temple can get Darian Varner back because he has entered the portal and Temple’s biggest defensive need is putting the bad guys’ quarterback on his ass. Temple can also upgrade the quarterback position from Simon to Albany’s Reece Poffenbarger.

Unlike Simon, Poffenbarger can make big-time plays, avoid the rush and hurt teams with his feet. He entered the portal yesterday and probably the first team that shows him love will be shown love in return.

Does Danny Langsdorf even know that? Does Drayton?

We will soon find out if they can add a starting quarterback LIKE Poffenbarger or a pass-rusher Prodigal Son like Warner.

If they don’t, these great Temple fans will have to figure on doing something else on Saturday afternoons for the next 20 or so years. That’s probably how long it will take for college football to return to the old transfer and money rules.

By then, Temple could be NYU or The University of Chicago. A great school that once had a great football program.

Don’t let that happen, Stan and Danny.

Monday: Off for Christmas

Friday: From One Owl To Another