Tag Archives: Pitt football

08.10.20
by

A sliver of a silver lining

Throwback Thursday: TU beats No. 4-ranked Pitt

Penn State might not need a foe, but Pitt does

When we last left this episode of “As the Pandemic Turns” the Owls’ former conference, the MAC, dropped football (for at least a year) and rumblings were the Big 10 presidents were leaning in the same direction.

Hard to believe, Harry, but the AAC and the rest of the, err, “P6” forge ahead.

Temple is holding its preseason camp and plans are for a full season so far. The SEC, Big 12, PAC-12 and ACC also seem committed to forging ahead with a limited schedule.

If there is a season, fans are not likely to attend and this will be a studio season only.

Where’s the silver lining?

Penn State v Temple

Nothing more satisfying than beating a P5 school as Robby Anderson and fans here celebrate after PSU win.

Since there is no incentive for six or seven home games, the Owls can (and probably should) go on the road to fill out less attractive home dates (Idaho, Rutgers for example) with more attractive opponents.

There are two camps of Temple fans when playing P5 schools. One group who feel the Owls can no longer compete against those opponents (bolstered by arguments supplied in the last two bowl games) and another group who feel that the only way for the Owls to join the big boys is to compete and beat them.

I’m in the latter group.

The Owls were 3.5-point favorites over Duke and probably lost that game largely due to the staff leaving for Georgia Tech. (I know many of them stayed to coach the game but a lot of time paid for by Temple was spent recruiting for Georgia Tech.)

There was no excuse for a thumping last year to North Carolina so these Owls should get another chance to play with a chip on their collective shoulders. Pitt is one of those schools that lost a game on a date the Owls did and could be looking for a home opponent. There are several other P5s, plus BYU, which is a G5 school with a high profile, under similar scheduling dilemmas. Since this season is largely a TV production, networks who pay the freight like ESPN could be looking to pair high-profile G5 schools, like Temple, against other P5 schools who might have refused to play the Owls in the past.

Yet this was a team with the talent to beat Georgia Tech and Maryland during the regular season and has done well against Power 5 teams during recent past regular seasons, including a 37-7 win at Vanderbilt and a 27-10 win over Penn State. If there was ever a season to schedule four Power 5 teams and break up the Pat Kraft scheduling formula of playing two patsies and two P5s, this is such a season. Interim athletic director Fran Dunphy said the Owls are actively looking for non-conference replacements. Since the patsies aren’t playing this year, that points to the Power 5s.

It would be great to see the Owls find four P5s needing a home game and giving these players an opportunity for four wins.

If there’s a silver lining for this season, that’s it.

Even if it’s a sliver of one.

Friday: The Next Big Announcement

12.07.19
by

Possible Dream Bowl Matchup for Temple

Screenshot 2019-12-06 at 11.25.26 PM

Temple QB Chris Coyer runs against Pitt in Temple’s last matchup.

About 3:29 p.m. today, I will roll up in front of the television and my attention will be on the Cincinnati at Memphis AAC championship game.

It will not be, as Rod Carey likes to say, “full attention.”

Half of the attention will be thinking about, “that should have been us.”

At some point, though, you’ve got to let it go and people who read this space will be able to tell you when it comes to Temple, it’s hard for me to let anything go.

That should have been us.

To me, Temple should have beaten Cincinnati in Cincy and it should not have been close. With Ray Davis and Jager Gardner and a good offensive line, the game plan should have been 26 runs in the first 34 plays and not the other way around.

Maybe … just maybe .. things change in the bowl game which brings us to tomorrow’s announcement. The scuttlebutt I’ve been hearing is Temple against Pitt in the Military Bowl and, to me, that’s the dream matchup. That’s what the uni is pushing for but since Mike Aresco and the AAC office assigns bowls, there’s been some pushback so I’m not getting my hopes completely up.

Since Miami (Fla.) is also available, some might say a Manny Diaz-Rod Carey matchup would be the dream matchup but I’m not thinking that right now because we will have that matchup early next year.

Temple may never get to play Pitt again so I say go for it.

The two teams have only one common opponent and that was Georgia Tech and the Owls won that game, 24-2. Pitt also beat GT, 20-10.

ticket

Tickets will probably set Temple fans back a little more than $1.14.

This would be a very competitive game and feature a number of interesting storylines. One of them would be at quarterback where Pitt is led by Kenny Pickett, who originally committed to Temple out of Ocean Township (N.J.), then reneged on that commitment to sign at Pitt. Temple also has a quarterback who reneged, Anthony Russo, who backed out of a Rutgers’ commitment to sign at Temple. Pitt has a player named Temple (Nate, a DE) and one of Temple’s greatest all-time receivers was named Pitt. (Err, Pitts, as in Wiley Pitts. Close enough). Temple has a transfer from Pitt (TE Tyler Sear).


Now watch the AAC
put the Owls in some
God-forsaken Florida
matchup vs. someone
like Marshall

Those are interesting storylines of varying degrees.

Another is the Pitt was player who helped Temple get kicked out of the Big East in 2003 and set the Owls on the path for football redemption.

Temple has been at least a good a program as Pitt over the last decade, maybe better. Pitt has had one 10-win season since 1981; Temple has had two 10-win seasons in the last five years and two eight-win ones.

Temple coach Rod Carey is smarting from his 0-6 bowl record and even mentioned it in his hiring press conference saying, “we’re going to have to find a way to do something about that.” The same day Carey met with team leader Shaun Bradley and got a promise from Bradley that no seniors will sit out a bowl game this season like two did last year, so that’s one thing.

The other thing is the in-state rivalry.

If the two should meet in a bowl game where several thousand Temple fans can make the short trip, the Owls could not ask for anything more. Now watch the AAC put the Owls in some God-forsaken Florida matchup vs. someone like Marshall, but we’re hearing the university is pushing for this dream pairing.

Manny Diaz can wait.

Monday: Fizzy on The Post-Fran Brown Era

Wednesday: Thoughts on the Bowl Matchup

03.10.15
by

Jennings Should Sue If Not Granted Hardship

Adonis Jennings, Temple football, Pitt football,

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

There are plenty of double-standards that make college football less appealing to the average fan, but none more unfair than the double-standard involving players and coaches and that is why the case of Temple’s Adonis Jennings is particularly interesting.

Jennings officially committed to Temple on Monday with this tweet:

A coach can sign a contract with one FBS school and then “transfer” by taking a job at another without sitting out a year, while in most cases, a player trying to transfer and, in effect, take a job playing football at another FBS school has to sit out a year.

Jennings should be able to do the same thing head coach Paul Chryst did when he jumped from Pittsburgh to Wisconsin for the same job. Jennings was recruited to Pitt by Chryst in good faith and was one of the main reasons why he accepted a scholarship offer there. Chryst, in turn, burned Jennings’ red-shirt in a few late November games. Now that Chryst had a change of heart with Pitt, the NCAA should give player Jennings the same opportunity it did with coach Chryst. Jennings signed to play both at Pitt and for Jennings; now that those circumstances have changed, Jennings should be allowed to move just as freely.

A player like Jennings, a four-star wide receiver recruit who initially committed to Rutgers and then changed his commitment to Pittsburgh, should not have to go through the red tape he is now by reversing field and coming home to Temple. Philadelphia is just 15 minutes across the river from Jennings’ home in Timber Creek, NJ, and that will be the crux of his hardship waiver appeal, saying he wanted to be closer to his family. Temple is the closest FBS program to Timber Creek and that could be enough for his waiver appeal to be approved.

Still, if Chryst doesn’t have to sit out a year before taking over at Wisconsin neither should Jennings nor any other player caught up in those kind of coaching staff changes. If the NCAA balks, Jennings has what appears to be a great case for a class-action suit.