Tag Archives: Oklahoma football

09.14.25
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Keeler: Owls didn’t meet the moment

This Cherry helmet is the best in college football. Let’s stick with that going forward.

In the grand scheme of things, this is about the 147th-most important thing that happened on Saturday but seeing Temple football come out in those God-awful-looking white helmets certainly didn’t meet the moment.

Not when you have the best helmet in college football sitting back home in the equipment room at 10th and Diamond.

Georgia Tech’s stadium with Atlanta as the backdrop is one of the best homefield advantages in the country.

When you look sharp, you play sharp and the Owls certainly didn’t look sharp.

Then the game started and it wasn’t long before first-year Temple head coach K.C. Keeler made the most perspicacious statement of the day.

Doing a first-quarter interview on ESPN2, Keeler said: “I thought we didn’t meet the moment.”

This time, he wasn’t talking about the equipment room.

There were plenty of moments the Owls didn’t meet but a few of them came on defense early when they hit Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer early and didn’t bring him down. Other times they touched him and he spun away.

A decent crowd on Saturday at the Linc would have looked way more impressive if Temple had an on-campus stadium like GT has.

A lot of that is traced to Mateer’s talent but when the Owls were touching quarterbacks–good quarterbacks with FBS starts under their belts in the first two games–they were bringing them down.

That was meeting the moment. Albeit the moment became bigger against better players on Saturday getting to Mateer and not putting him down didn’t meet the moment. He’s human. If hit hard enough, he goes down, too.

The Owls had a minus-6 deficit in the turnover battle in last year’s game and lost, 51-3. They stopped Oklahoma on third downs 13 of 14 times in that game and still lost by 48.

The Owls cleaned things up this year to have no turnovers and still lost by almost the same margin. That does not compute except that they didn’t do as good a job getting off the field defensively as last year’s team.

The formula to win wasn’t there against Oklahoma but the formula to stay in the game certainly was and the Owls didn’t have the right mix. Limit turnovers. Check. Repeat last year’s performance on third down. Not check.

Throw some trick plays in there to keep Oklahoma off-balance.

Definitely not check. Would have loved to seen Evan Simon toss a throwback pass to Hollawayne and have the former UCLA QB hit JoJo Bermudez for six on that first series. That would have fired everyone up. Instead, a couple of boring handoffs to Jay Ducker got nowhere.

OC Tyler Walker–who had a fantastic first two games–didn’t meet the moment, either.

You won 55-7 with these home helmets. Don’t mess with Karma. (Photo Courtesy Zamani Feelings)

A lot of national type guys–Chip Patterson of CBS sports and Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN–thought the Owls had a chance to stay in the game against the Sooners. Now that those national guys saw what happened, they are off the Owls. The Owls showed in the first two games that they are deep and talented along both lines but allowed themselves to get bullied by the Sooners.

I didn’t see that happening. Maybe neither Patterson nor Herbstreit did.

Maybe that’s what Keeler meant by not meeting the moment but they really have one more big-time moment to meet on Saturday at Georgia Tech.

Like Oklahoma, the Yellowjackets have a big-time quarterback in Haynes King. The lesson of Saturday is when they get their hands on him, they have to put him down.

That’s meeting the moment on the field.

Off the field, leaving the White helmets home might not help, but it certainly couldn’t hurt.

Friday: Georgia Tech Preview

09.07.25
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5 Trick Plays that could fool Oklahoma

Nice call on this fake field goal for Temple at Houston a couple of years ago.

Usually in this space on Monday after a Temple football game we’d slot it for reviewing some things from the past game.

Our predictions for the first three games way back on May 23d. If anything, we sold Temple short in the first two games.

Bleep that.

That was Howard the Owls were playing and there is not much to learn from that game. Our May 23d post predicted the score of every single Temple game and, if the result of the first two games are any indication, we sold Temple a little bit short.

We had the Owls beating UMass (24-10) and Howard (48-7) and the Owls beat our expectations by 18 points in the first game and seven points in the second. We also had Oklahoma beating the Owls, 34-14, so if the Owls split the difference and are, say, a dozen points better that game finishes 34-26.

The trick now is to shave even more points off that differential and if the TU offense shows the Sooners wrinkles it hasn’t shown so far that could do it. Temple has been pretty vanilla on offense so far but what new OC Tyler Walker has done that is so impressive is a lot of pre-snap reads that cause the defense confusion.

Emphasis on trick.

Here are 5 plays that could fool Oklahoma:

Kajiya Hollawayne, like former Big 33 MVP quarterback Jalen Fitzpatrick, is a Temple WR who can also throw the ball, having committed to UCLA as a QB.

One, the throwback pass _ WR Kajiya Hollawayne is a former top-rated QB recruit at UCLA. We assume he can still throw the ball. Simon throws backward to Hollawayne who finds a streaking JoJo Bermudez down the sideline for six. The Sooners are an over pursuing defense and the pass to Hollawayne suckers the other corner just enough that Bermudez can get behind him. (We gave this suggestion to Matt Rhule before the SMU game one year when we mentioned to him that he has a Big 33 MVP QB who had not thrown the ball in his career up to that point. Rhule had WR Jalen Fitzpatrick throw a 95-yard touchdown pass on a double-reverse in that game.)

Two, the shovel pass _ One of Wayne Hardin’s staples was the shovel pass, faking a handoff usually to a fullback (Henry Hynoski, Mark Bright), then dropping back to pass and then shoveling the ball ahead on a pass against a defense going for the QB. Temple doesn’t have a fullback but does have an effective between-the-tackles runner in Jay Ducker and a shovel pass to him might earn him a touchdown.

Three, the tight end jump pass _ Al Golden pulled this one out at the Fake Miami (Ohio) with Chester Stewart dropping back and jumping while throwing a TD pass to Evan Rodriguez.

Four, the fake field goal _ If you are Temple playing a P4 like Oklahoma, at least once you have to roll the dice for six instead of setting for three. Temple had a successful one at Houston (see video above).

The Fake QB sneak_ Facing a 3d and 1 at midfield in the 2008 Navy game, QB Adam DiMichele feigned a QB sneak and deftly hit Bruce Francis for a touchdown pass. Obviously, this is a 3d and 1 type call or maybe even more ballsy as a 4th and 1 call.

Friday: Oklahoma Preview

Late Saturday Night: TU-Oklahoma Analysis

08.29.24
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The nation kinda likes Temple Friday night

When it comes to prognosticating, it helps to know something about your subject.

Oklahoma has about 20 Youtube channels devoted to its fandom–20 more than Temple–and only one of them were even remotely interested in learning anything about Temple.

With big-time money on the line, though, it appears that the nation is doing its research. From June 21st until Wednesday afternoon, Oklahoma remained a solid 43.5-point favorite.

The last two days, though, saw a trend in the opposite direction as a full 1.5 points dropped off the line and, as of this writing (10:26 p.m. on Thursday night), the line is resting at 42.

To Vegas, that represents a lot of money.

Only one of the 20 Oklahoma Youtube channels had any interest in learning about the Owls and that one interviewed Temple radio play-by-play guy Kevin Copp.

All this site has done the last nine months is devour every tidbit of information available about the Temple Owls.

From this perspective, both lines have bulked up in talent and depth and some of the appalling things we saw the last two seasons won’t be on display Friday night (7 p.m., ESPN). They will put up a good fight and won’t be run over.

Two College Football Hall of Famers meet in a bar on Thursday night, Paul Palmer of Temple (left) and Tom Brahaney of Oklahoma (no joke). Photo courtesy of Zamani Feelings

I’m thinking more like 37-7 than 66-7.

If that happens, it could still be a good season for Temple because the Owls will face nothing like Oklahoma in its last 11 games.

If it’s 66-7, which I thought it could be a couple of months ago, it’s more of the same old Temple.

Put it this way: Western Carolina gave No. 24 North Carolina State a great game on Thursday night and Western Carolina’s best defensive player last year, Andreas Keaton, is playing safety for Temple on Friday night.

The Owls brought in players like Keaton and UTEP cornerback starter Torrey Richardson to cured what ailed them the most–get turnovers.

With only five turnovers on defense, the Owls ranked No. 136 and last in the nation.

With an improved pass rush and ballhawking defensive backs like Keaton and Richardson, that number has nowhere to go but up.

Maybe 60 or so ticks up.

Chance of thunderstorms Friday night in Norman.

If so, the wins should at least double.

On the other side of the ball, Temple brought in a bonafide Big 10 level running back in Antwain Littleton II and the best junior college running back in the country, Torrez Worthy. Two years ago, Joquez Smith was the best high school running back in the talent-rich state of Florida and he has come into his own since the spring game. Littleton isn’t a guy who transferred to Temple because he couldn’t make it in the Big 10. He had the most touchdowns of any running back at Maryland going all the way back to 2005 and the Terps were ranked in the top 25 in the nation twice in the last eight years.

He came to Temple to be the No. 1 guy, not a guy sharing the No. 1 duties. We shall see but Smith had a great spring and summer.

Maybe, just maybe, the running game takes so much pressure off the quarterbacks that they become game managers and are able to move the offense.

That’s the rub.

I don’t think Temple head coach Stan Drayton put enough emphasis on getting a big-time quarterback in here and that’s why you can’t expect more than seven points out of the Owls on Friday night.

Otherwise, they will compete and scratch and claw more than they have since 2019 and even if it’s not enough on Friday night, it will show in the more important games down the road.

Saturday: Game Analysis

Monday: The Road Forward

08.08.24
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Why this season is different from any other

I’ve seen three scores of simulated games so far: 80-7 bad guys, 14-10 good guys and this one, 31-8. I think it’s going to be closer than 80-7 but would not be surprised if it was 66-7.

In three weeks, we will be watching the Temple Owls play one of the storied teams in the history of college football.

The Oklahoma Sooners.

On national TV.

The Friday night of Labor Day weekend on the TVs of every bar “down the shore” which is where the City of Philadelphia traditionally empties on that weekend.

Winning the AAC would be much more important than beating Oklahoma but I will take both if possible.

Tell me about it.

I’ve lived in Philadelphia for all my life and, in my 20s, lived in a shore house in both Avalon and Stone Harbor. The rest of my life I stayed home in Philly and saw how empty the streets were that weekend compared with every other weekend of the year.

Between going to see the Grease Band on Saturday nights at the Bongo Room and having a few beers at the Princeton Tavern on Fridays, it was a pretty good time.

Always there was a game of some sort–baseball or football–on the TV and we were pretty glued to it while enjoying our last big weekend of a summer that always goes way too fast.

Now Temple takes center stage.

It could be something wonderful for my school or the embarrassment it’s been for the last four seasons.

Not going to bet the game but if I did my money would not be on the hometown squad.

Just watched a Barry Switzer-Era Oklahoma opener, a 38-3 win over visiting UCLA in the 1980s on Youtube, and that was pretty ugly for the fans of a school from a major city.

This has the potential to uglier as the rest of the nation is laying money on a 40.5 favorite.

Will a 40-0 loss make me happy?

No.

You play to win but, whatever the outcome, this is one game you have to throw away because the opponents become more similar to Temple in talent in the next few weeks.

This season is different from any other in the sense that this has to be treated–not by the Temple coaches and players but the Temple fans–as an NFL exhibition game. The result shouldn’t mean as much as getting the players ready for the rest of the season.

I don’t have to like it because it sucks but that’s the reality. One team is being paid millions to beat the other team that is getting paid minimum wage.

I’ll watch with one hand over one eye and hope for a few fortuitous bounces of the oddly-shaped ball and hope the Owls can take something like a 14-7 deficit into the second half before getting blown out.

That’s the best we can hope for until the NCAA or Congress or someone–anyone–restores sanity to the game I once loved a lot more than I do now.

Monday: The QB Battle

Friday: Translations

06.27.24
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Temple beating Oklahoma is a habit about to be broken

There is also a town named Temple in Pennsylvania.

If you need a reason to believe Temple might come up with a victory in late August at Oklahoma, providing some historical perspective might help.

Or not.

In the 1940s, a one-win Temple team beat the Sooners, 14-7, at Temple Stadium as a defensive back named Woodhouse made the decisive play, an interception.

After the victory over Penn State, national defensive player of the year Tyler Matakevich and his teammates made a pilgrimage to an old folks home in Blue Bell to present the late Mr. Woodhouse with the game ball.

Woodhouse was also the last living Temple player to participate in the 1941 win over Penn State, which was the last time the Owls beat the Nittany Lions.

Almost a generation later, in the middle of the John Chaney basketball era, Temple beat Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament in Florida.

The difference between those times and these times is what will be the ruination of college sports.

Then, there was such a thing called “student/athletes” and everyone–from the No. 1-ranked team in college football to the last-ranked team in college basketball–could only “pay” their players with room, board, books and tuition.

The playing field was completely level.

On that the last Friday night in August, please do not adjust your TV screens.

What you will be seeing is real.

Every time the Sooners get the ball, the field will be tilted down.

Every time the Owls get the ball, they will be playing upfield.

Welcome to the world of the NIL and transfer portal.

Oklahoma gets the all-star transfers from the P5 and G5, already proven players.

Temple gets the hopefuls from the JUCO ranks, guys who want to prove themselves.

The nation has noticed.

In May, the line opened at 39.5.

Now, it’s up to 40.5.

There is no reason to believe it will move downward, only upward, as Temple refuses to recruit any of the five big-time quarterbacks remaining in the portal.

Don’t ask me why Temple has refused to dip into the portal after picking up Evan Simon from Rutgers and Clifton McDowell from Montana. Maybe after McDowell left for the obscurity of McNeese State, Temple head coach Stan Drayton promised Simon the Owls were not interested in anyone else.

Temple fans should take no solace in the fact that the Owls were 36.5 underdogs to 1998 and beat Virginia Tech, 28-24, on the road.

Back then, the Tech players and the Temple players were getting paid the same.

The NIL isn’t dropping $4 million dollars on the Okie players to lose to a Temple team that might be getting a couple of players getting 100k at best.

If that.

Although that would be a delicious way to open the season, not only for Temple fans but for fans of every underdog team.

My prediction remains the same: 66-7, Okie, though nothing would please me more than to write an apologetic post on the first Saturday of September saying I was off by 60 points in the Temple direction.

Pretty hard for the new anti-football Temple President to drop football after a win over Oklahoma.

Monday: Screwed, blued and tattooed

06.03.16
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Oklahoma at Temple Announcement Could Come Sooner Than Later

oklahoma

There are few athletic directors more engaging to fans out there than Temple’s own Dr. Pat Kraft, who joined a conversation I was having with former head coach Wayne Hardin during one tailgate last fall.

Coach and I were talking about past Temple opponents, and why we could not get some of those familiar schools on the schedule. I then threw a few names out to Kraft, including Indiana, which I thought might be a school the Temple administration might be interested in playing.

rubber

Rubber match?

“I asked,” Kraft said, “they won’t play us. We’ve gotten too good.”

(Getting too good is a good problem to have.)

Kraft later said that the days of Temple playing “2 for 1s” are over, so the news earlier this week that Temple is about to schedule a “big name” opponent that wants to come to Philadelphia and doesn’t mind whether it is at Lincoln Financial Field or the new stadium is big.

woodside

Mr. Woodside puts away the last meeting.

Temple head coach Matt Rhule indicated as much on 97.5 on Tuesday, saying that the Owls will be playing Maryland, Rutgers, “possibly” Duke and a “big name” opponent he could not divulge just yet.

It is a Big 12 school and, while West Virginia makes the most sense, it certainly doesn’t fit the kind of big national name criteria Rhule outlined.

All indications are that the opponent will be Oklahoma. That’s good news because it shows that Kraft never gave up trying to get someone and that the Owls are moving away from the Stony Brooks and the Villanovas of the world. For the Owls to get into big bowl games, they are going to have to not only win AAC titles but combine that with wins over big-name opponents. Even Houston, which beat a P5 opponent in the Peach Bowl, Florida State, did not get a Final Four invite despite a 12-1 record.

The parameters of national success are pretty clear for an AAC school. Win the league, but also beat a big name school. Oklahoma is a big name, if that is the team Temple schedules. Heck, Oklahoma might help the Owls get into the Big 12 some day.

Once the Oklahoma shoe drops in a couple of weeks, it should be big news. Maybe the Owls can schedule a road trip that includes Tulsa and Oklahoma back-to-back and stay out there and practice for a week.

Monday: Power 5 Health Care

Wednesday: A Look At Some Early Signees