A couple of days ago, the Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey ended his press conference with the statement: “Game Seven is going to be a war and, if I had to go to war, these are the guys I want to go to war with.”

Yeah, it was a war only if the one you were thinking about was Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939. Like the Sixers on Sunday, that war lasted about 39 minutes.

Miami vs. Temple football might be a war and it might not. Let’s hope it’s more like Japan vs. the U.S. for four quarters, err, years, in the 1940s. I’ll sign for Temple being the one to drop the Atom Bomb. Now just so Miami fans don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying Temple WILL be the one to drop the bomb. Hell, Miami could blow the Owls out but it would be a nuclear-type “jawn” for Temple to beat Miami so let’s hope Stan Drayton is working on his own Manhattan Project.

Unlike that war with Japan, no sneak attack is necessary.

Already a little border dispute has flared up with one Miami Youtuber firing back at Temple Football Forever.

The ORIGINAL headline was misleading in that he said TFF claimed Miami should “fear” Temple. If you can find a single sentence or even phrase proving we wrote Miami should “fear” Temple, then you win 100 bucks. (Credit to Coop for changing that headline yesterday to “called out” instead of feared.)

Nowhere did we ever say that but reading comprehension evidently isn’t a strongsuit for Miami fans.

For a game between a Group of Five team and a Power 5 team, though, there are enough storylines for two weeks of pre-game stories.

Not only did Miami hire (and fire) two ex-Temple coaches, Temple passed on the current Miami coach, Mario Cristobal, who finished second in a two-man race to current Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule for the Temple head coaching job in 2012.

At that time, Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw was said to be leaning to hire Cristobal but had an Ephinay when Cristobal called Bradshaw from Philadelphia International Airport asking for directions to Temple.

At the press conference introducing Rhule as the Temple head coach, Bradshaw said one of the candidates called for directions to Temple from the airport. He didn’t say who during the actual Rhule press conference but when pressed by a couple of writers afterward he said it was Cristobal asking for directions to Temple from the airport. “I figured if the guy didn’t care enough to research this for himself, he wasn’t our guy. Matt was the guy who wanted the job the most.”

Rhule was the guy who got Temple consecutive 10-win seasons, a blowout win over Penn State and a college football game day in Philadelphia so Bradshaw made the right call.

As far as Miami “outclassing” Temple, the same thing could have been thought by teams from Vanderbilt in 2014 (a 37-7 Temple win) or Penn State the next year (a 27-10 Temple win) or Maryland in back-to-back years (Temple by 35-14 and 20-17) or Georgia Tech in 2019 (a 24-2 Temple win) or even Maryland in 2011 at Maryland (a 38-7 win for Temple).

Who did Georgia Tech beat the same year it lost to Temple, 24-2?

None other than the Miami Hurricanes, 28-21.

The same year Temple beat Maryland 38-7 who did Maryland beat 32-24 two weeks prior?

Also the Miami Hurricanes.

I’m sure the vloggers for all of those schools–if they had any back then–put those games in the win category for Vandy, PSU and Maryland. Never count your chickens before they are hatched or your wars before they are won.

If Temple-Miami is more of a war than a skirmish, Stan Drayton would have proven to be an even better choice than Rhule was.

Conversely, leaving Cristobal at the Philadelphia airport could even look better now than it did back then.

Friday: Temple in the press

Monday: The G5 Magna Carta

Friday: Temple Cleanup Day