Tag Archives: Peter Clarke

09.26.26
by

Temple football: It’s Getting Late Early

Here we are about to play the fifth game of the season, and the theme of K.C. Keeler’s post-game press conferences the last two weeks were that the Temple kids battled.

The truth is that the Owls of a year ago got pushed around for a closing 10-minute drive a year ago at Army and, on Friday, they allowed a killer six-minute drive for the win when they went up 17-14, and a lot of those plays were with eight men in the box. (It might have been an eight-minute drive if the Owls didn’t wisely their timeouts on defense.)

Evan Simon had a knack of finding secondary receivers if his initial target was covered. The Owls’ current QBs appear to lock on the primary receiver.

Yet they lost both games.

At some point, battling will not be enough and we’re about to reach that point when the Owls go on the road for their next game in South Florida.

Yes, the same South Florida team that not only “battled” Army but beat them. How come they can battle and win and we battle and lose?

I’d rather fight a skillful retreat and win than battle hard and lose but maybe that’s me.

The Owls had one job after losing a pair of one-point games to Army and Navy last year and that was to turn those one-point losses into wins, preferably by more than one point. From roster construction to game planning, they needed to figure out a way to turn those 3-to-4 yard gains Army and Navy live by to 1 and 2 yard gains. They didn’t figure that out.

Instead, they turned one half of that two-headed monster into a four-point loss to Army.

Keeler has said the roster is better, the team is deeper than last year but if the results are the same 5-7 does it really matter?

Death by a thousand paper cuts a year ago and death by a thousand paper cuts this year are pretty much the same.

Hard to see the improvement when the ledger at this point says 1-3. Just to get to 5-7–which I would consider unacceptable–the Owls have to split the last eight games of the season.

That’s why it’s getting late early. Pretty soon the math won’t be there for a winning season.

Last year the team started 5-2 and faltered late. Maybe this year’s team is built to finish 5-2 after faltering early.

You’ve got to hope so but there are several concerning signs out there.

One, they no longer appear to have a quarterback with the savvy of Evan Simon, a guy who was able to toss 25 touchdown passes against only two interceptions. Simon was particularly adept at finding mismatches in the secondary, often to secondary receivers, and a reliable safety valve was Peter Clarke. Simon was the Steve Carlton of the Owls and Clarke was the Tim McCarver, Simon’s personal catcher.

Now you might as well put Clarke’s face on a milk carton that’s how MIA he has been this season through no fault of his own. On the final drive of the game, Clarke was wide open over the middle at the 10 and Ajani Sheppard forced the ball into the end zone to JoJo Bermudez, where he was covered by three Army guys. If I had to choose one Temple All-American I’d rather not see play, it would be punter Dante Atton over Peter Clarke. Instead, we see too much of Atton (no offense, literally) and not enough of Clarke.

Two, the much-praised defensive line, which Keeler called 10 deep, was pushed around in the same fashion last year’s lesser praised defensive line of guys like Sekou Kromah, Khalil Poteat and Cameron Stewart were.

Maybe it’s better but the proof is in the pudding. Or the putting of the bad guy’s quarterback on his ass, which we haven’t seen much of so far.

Three, the Owls were supposed to have a reliable field goal kicker in Carl Hardin and the stats back that up because Hardin went 11-for-14 last year. Yet two of the misses came in one-point losses to the academies, one from 45 and the other from 38. On Saturday, he hit the crossbar from 42 yards out. Had he hit that one early, he would have lined up for another makeable game-winner. Rather have him miss the 52-yarder at Georgia Tech last year in a 42-24 loss and hit the 38-yarder in a 31-30 loss to Navy last year.

They say the best predictor of future success is past success and, judging the 2026 Owls so far, the future doesn’t appear to be all too bright.

Battling is OK but winning is better. The winning needs to start now because it’s later than most would think.

Monday: The Breakdown

07.09.26
by

Temple telegraphing its leaders with Media Day docket

Not much mid-July news for Temple football but a couple of clues came out today about the leadership group.

Both past and present.

Head coach K.C. Keeler calls it his leadership council and designated for assignment tight end Peter Clarke and linebacker Eric Stuart. That assignment was accompanying Keeler to the American Conference Media Day sessions.

Those choices said a lot, considering that last year quarterback Evan Simon and defensive end Sekou Kromah were the guys.

Simon at the time was in a knock-down, drag-out battle with Gevani McCoy for the quarterback job. That went down opening day at UMass, where Simon grabbed the job by throwing six touchdown passes. McCoy became the good soldier backup ready to save the season if Simon went down.

Kromah was who we’d thought he’d be, one of the two best pass-rushers on the team, and a solid run-defender. He made life miserable for UTSA quarterback Owen McCown in the Owls’ most impressive win of the season, 26-21, at Lincoln Financial Field.

For some reason, Kromah entered the portal. There were no takers because his eligibility was in question. Today, he filed a federal lawsuit applying for emergency relief, meaning eligibility to play this season. Kromah’s lawyers cited a case in Ohio that was similar to his where a federal judge granted that eligibility and it seems like he has a good chance to play.

Will it be at Temple?

A lot of that is on the other three guys mentioned at the top of this story–Keeler, Clarke and Stuart–because, in cases like this, if a player wants to come back Keeler leans on his leadership council.

Clarke was the glue that kept the team together, staying himself and lobbying every single other returning starter to stay. As a result, Temple was the only G5 team to return every “eligible” starter. Stuart, their best linebacker, was one of them.

Do you think he wants to play behind Kromah again? Certainly the comfort level would be there but Keeler would have to sign off.

Who knows, but an area of need for the Owls seems to be pass-rushers who can also defend the run and Kromah qualifies on both counts. His 4.5 tackles for loss led the Owls and his three sacks were second on the team. A player like that doesn’t drop out of the sky often and, even though the Owls have all their roster spots filled. a little tinkering here and there could restore his scholarship. Even if Kromah is granted injunctive relief, he really isn’t in position to demand NIL money and the restoration of another season gives him another chance to impress the NFL and that’s a good outcome for him.

K.C. seems to be saying “now, Sekou, don’t enter that transfer portal, OK?”

From Temple’s perspective, it’s a trade that could help both parties. They get that proven guy on the defensive line and Kromah gets his scholarship back.

Shawn Pastor, the Editor of Owlsdaily.com, when asked if Temple would have any interest in taking him back, said: “Absolutely” in a post on June 13.

That would give Temple three guys who repped on Media Days and that’s one more than they could have expected a few days ago and you can never have enough of those.

Monday: Best of TFF (vacation week)

05.08.26
by

Don’t bet against a team with two All-Americans

Temple punter Dante Atton (laughing, No. 7) is a preseason first-team All-American. Peter Clarke may join him.

(Photo courtesy of Zamani Feelings)

On most betting markets, the Temple football “over/under” is 5.5.

That means, if Temple wins six or more, you win and “The Man” (the house) loses.

Fortunately, I jumped on future College Hall of Fame coach K.C. Keeler and the Temple Owls when the man gifted me a ridiculously low 3.5 last year.

Going to do the same this year at the 5.5 number.

The reasoning is simple.

It’s hard to beat a G5 team with one All-American. It’s even more difficult to beat one with two.

Yeah, I know the No. 1 concern is a quarterback position where the Owls don’t have a single guy who ever started a college football game, but anyone who watched the Cherry and White game (raising my hand here) was more than satisfied with the performance of Penn State transfer quarterback Jaxon Smolik.

He’s got a little bit of Joel Embiid in him in that his career is injury plagued but there’s a chance he’s past that.

He certainly will have two All-Americans to work with if things play out the way we expect.

When I watched the Cherry and White game on April 11 (and got a $100 ticket for “speeding” on Broad Steet going 41mph), I was aware the Owls already had one certified consensus pre-season All-American in punter Dante Atton.

This week, the realization hit home they have another: Tight End Peter Clarke.

Clarke was named one of the five “tight ends to watch” this week and Mel Kiper had Clarke as one of the top 10 tight ends on the entire board had he come out for the 2026 draft.

Instead, Clarke made the gamble to return to Temple to move closer to the No. 1 tight end of the 2027 class and the gamble seems to be working because people have been watching his film in the offseason and noticed.

Add to that the fact that Clarke’s character is off the charts and that’s something every NFL team likes.

Clarke was the glue who kept an entire G5 roster together. Keeler gave him the credit for not only retaining the current roster (“we were the only G5 team not to lose a single starter”) and recruiting the No. 1 transfer portal group in the entire G5.

Catches in traffic mean a lot, YAC (yards after catch), too, but add on character and that’s an unbeatable combination.

To be a first-round NFL pick, Clarke won’t have to match Bruce Francis’ 2008 season with the Owls (15 TDs) but just reach 10 TDs and 1,000 yards.

That’s about the number for every past first- or second-round NFL draft choice in the past.

Winning will raise his profile even more so maybe that’s why Clarke worked so hard to build the roster.

Ironically, Clarke’s main goal is to lead an offense that keeps the other All-American (Atton) off the field.

My guess is Atton won’t mind if the Owls score touchdowns and kick field goals and never punt. (I know that sounds crazy but Temple went two straight games without punting in the 2023 season, led by quarterback E.J. Warner. Going 10 more may be a stretch, but it’s a goal worth striving for.)

If that happens, the Owls blow way past that 5.5 number and make a lot of their fans happy.

And maybe their wallets much thicker.

It still won’t pay my Cherry and White speeding ticket, which is due May 23, but the ROI on the Owls should pay dividends come December.