Tag Archives: Reece Poffenbarger

01.07.24
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Temple football: Too much hesitation

The playwright Joseph Addison first penned the phrase: “He who hesitates is lost.”

That wasn’t last year or two years ago but way back in 1713 in his play “Cato.”

True then. True today.

If Temple football has done anything over the last two years, it’s a lot of hesitation followed by a lot of losing.

The Owls needed a running back last season, didn’t get one worth a damn in the portal (although Liberty’s 1,000-yard back, Dae Dae Hunter, slipped through the cracks and ended up nowhere) and repeated their 130th-ranked running game in the 2023 season by going with the same backs that produced those same numbers.

It only figures that a 1,000-yard back would make your running game twice as good.

Apples to apples.

Albany quarterback Reece Poffenbarger has been in the portal since Dec. 13. That’s almost a month. This is the type of guy Temple should have swooped in on and shown love to no later than, say, Dec. 14th.

Temple needs to replace E.J. Warner and his 23 touchdown passes and Poffenbarger would bring 36 touchdown passes from this year to next year’s table.

Not very many names left in the portal, but Temple can offer an immediate starting job four upgrades from E.J. Warner and should.

That’s how you get better.

Touchdown passes are some pretty nice apples.

Instead, there is no indication that Temple went after either one of those guys and there has been a lot of hesitation and that’s a recipe for a lot of losing to follow.

Poffenbarger had not been linked to any school before last week when Miami swooped in and is pursuing him after getting turned down by Cam Ward, Kyle McCord and other P5 transfers. At Miami, Poffenbarger would have to compete with one 4* and two 3* QBs.

At Temple, all he would have to do is beat the Rutgers’ backup.

Had Stan Drayton come and and used the last 27 days to get Poffenbarger’s name on the dotted line instead of hesitating we might have our upgrade.

A couple of weeks ago we floated the idea in this space that Arthur Johnson bringing in Geoff Collins to be DC and “head coach in waiting” to upgrade the worst defense in all of college football and, instead of jumping on that idea, Temple appears to be set to go with the same DC in 2024 who produced putrid numbers in 2023, Everett Withers.

There is also an apples-to-apples comparison between those two.

Both of those guys had a one-year stint at the same place, Florida International. In Withers’ year as DC at FIU (2021), the Panthers gave up 39 points a game. That year the “lowest” point total Withers’ defense gave up to a FBS squad was 31 points in a loss at Central Michigan.

Collins is not only the best DC in FIU history (and Withers the worst), but he knows his way around the Edberg-Olson Complex. Happy Birthday to Nadia Harvin, by the way.

In Collins’ year as a DC at the same school (2010), the Panthers gave up 27.3 points per game and allowed a season-low 10 points in a 34-10 win over North Texas. At the same place, in the same job, Collins’ numbers were significantly better than Withers.

Now Collins is becoming the DC at North Carolina.

Temple might not have been able to woo Collins but getting in on him first and offering him the head coaching job in waiting might have been helpful to upgrading the overall defense and forced UNC to look in another direction.

Last year, Temple did a lot of hesitating in the offseason followed by a lot of losing in the real season. What were seeing (or not seeing) now appears to be a repeat of last offseason.

“He who hesitates is lost.”

If Joe Addison’s ghost could float into the E-0 today, he might say “I told you so” to Stan Drayton.

Friday: The two best portal decisions (so far)

01.01.24
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TU’s New Year’s Resolution: Extreme urgency

TU can’t compete with Ole Miss to get P5 portal players but it certainly can get its share of FCS players.

About halfway through the disappointing 2023 football season for the Temple Owls, I found a way to drown my sorrows that did not involve alcohol.

Bet against the home team.

My reasoning was that if I was going to suffer–and, believe me, watching Temple football lose, 45-13 and 55-0 in consecutive weeks was extreme torture–I was going to get paid for it.

After the college football season ended, I adopted that philosophy for my hometown NFL team.

With Temple going 3-9 and the Eagles 1-4 after that, needless to say, it’s been a profitable few months at the betting window.

All things considered, though, I would rather lose the bets and see my teams win.

The Temple losses stung hardest, though, because no matter what happens, the Philadelphia Eagles will never go out of business. That can’t be said for the other tenant in the same stadium. Since the end of the season, the Owls have lost their best quarterback, best offensive lineman and best cornerback via the portal.

They have not accounted for any of those personnel losses and that doesn’t bode well for the bottom line in 2024.

Gotta think if Temple brought in a couple of experienced FCS pass blockers a year ago, E.J. Warner would not have had been out for two games with a concussion.

With each Temple football loss, though, the bean counters in Sullivan Hall get more ammunition to ask the question: “Are we getting any return on a significant investment?”

(Hell, does Temple have a larger investment not including the hospital than the football program? I doubt it.)

The answer for the last three years has been a resounding no. Three-straight lousy, stinking, 3-9 seasons and this last one might have been the smelliest of a rotten trifecta. This coaching staff had all last year to get a big-time running back via the portal and to load up on both lines.

They did neither.

Instead, they left three scholarships on the table when there were experienced pass protectors and pass rushers still in the portal who could have helped them better than the two freshmen starters they had. It wasn’t as though they weren’t warned. On the day Darian Varner left, we wrote in this space that this was a time to get two FCS starters better than Varner via the portal.

Being forced to play offensive linemen who weren’t ready got their franchise quarterback concussed and caused him to look elsewhere.

Their leading rusher, Edward Saydee, only had 629 yards last year. We wrote in this space that the priority was to get a 1,000-yard rusher. What did they do? Get a 247-yard rusher from FIU.

Everything they did from a personnel standpoint screamed half-measures when they needed double measures.

The No. 1 New Year’s resolution now for this coaching staff has to be extreme urgency and it has to start today because what they did last month was just not good enough.

They need to bring in established FCS stars starting with the quarterback position. They went 3-9 with E.J. Warner last year. To go 6-6, they need someone twice as good as Warner and, in Albany’s Reece Poffenbarger, that option is still available in the portal. (Hell, Matt Sluka is still in the portal and he may be better.) Both are better than anyone Temple has on the current roster by a good bit. They haven’t had a big-time running back since Ray Davis played for Geoff Collins and Rod Carey.

They need to get one and a JUCO doesn’t cut it.

Plenty of really good FCS players are in the portal now and there won’t be FBS scholarships for all of them. Temple needs to scour the portal for the best of those players and show them some love.

Does this coaching staff understand that?

Do they even care?

They didn’t last offseason judging from the results.

Right now, even extreme urgency might not be enough, but it is worth a try. The football franchise depends upon it.

Friday: At Least We Had This

Monday: Comparing Apples to Apples

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

12.08.23
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Temple needs to game the system

You know how to get Temple fans excited? Bring in a better QB than E.J. Warner.

Evolution is a pretty good teacher only to students eager to learn.

College football has evolved.

In 10 months, we will find out if Temple’s coaching staff has learned anything from Darwin’s New Football Theory.

The No. 1 lesson should be that to succeed as a G5 college football program the answer is to forget the old model. The “old model” was recruit high school guys, redshirt them for a year, have them back up for another year and finally start around the third.

That doesn’t work anymore.

The first G5 coaching staffs to learn that lesson will survive. The others will become extinct.

Both the Albany and Holy Cross quarterbacks would be significant upgrades for Temple over E.J. Warner.

If your true freshman starts, you are lucky to have him for one more year. If your true freshman becomes a sophomore and draws attention, he’s gone before he gets to the third year.

Do Temple coaches either a) realize that fact or b) have a plan to counter it?

Quite frankly, early indications are that they have not but it’s never too late.

All we’ve heard so far is that the Owls signed a couple of JUCOs and are in the process of recruiting a third-team linebacker from North Carolina State.

Not good enough.

Holy Cross’ quarterback, Matt Sluka, is also better than E.J. Warner. Get him on the next train to 10th and Diamond.

The model the Owls have to follow is the one that made teams like Liberty, Troy and New Mexico State national stories this season.

Neither Liberty, New Mexico State nor Troy–all teams with similar or worse NIL resources as Temple–put together double-digit win seasons by grabbing third-team P5ers or JUCOs, which seems to be Temple’s approach. They put together very good G5 teams by ignoring the high school and the JUCO route and going straight to FCS football, which is a significantly higher level than both. They grabbed top players from very good FCS programs and those players had enough of a chip on their shoulders to thrive at a tick higher level.

The only way to fix this, Stan, is to get me a better quarterback than E.J. Warner. When I posted this on Facebook, OwlsDaily editor Shawn Pastor correctly pointed out that including last year’s Duke game, the tally without Warner is 130-14. Ugh. Tough job, but that’s why we are paying you the $2.5 million.

If Temple head coach Stan Drayton was smart, he’d make a special trip to the Temple vs. Albany basketball game on Sunday night and grab both their quarterback and defensive ends, three guys who are better than anyone the Owls had this season. Albany beat Villanova, 31-10, this season and there is no bigger Temple lover and Villanova hater than me but even I have to take the Cherry and White-colored glasses off and admit Villanova would have destroyed Temple this year given the roster and coaching makeup of both teams.

The Great Danes are led by QB Reese Poffenbarger, who threw for a pair of TDs and ran for two scores in a win over Richmond. Poffenbarger leads the FCS with 33 passing TDs and ranks seventh with 3,030 yards passing on the season. He’s a big reason why Albany averages 30.5 points per game this year. Albany’s defensive pressure has also helped produce an FCS-best 27 turnovers. What did Temple do worse than any other FBS team this year? Get turnovers. On defense, edge linemen Anton Juncaj and AJ Simon have combined for 26.5 sacks this year. The Great Danes lead all FCS teams with 47 sacks and they only give up 16.8 points per game.

Having all three be the same kind of package deal both P.J. Walker and Jahad Thomas were out of Elizabeth High would be a recruiting home run for Temple.

Our bowl picks. We played them both separately and in a parlay. If this 12-team parlay hits, a $10 bet returns $23,456.50 from Parx Casino.

Would Poffenbarger be an upgrade over E.J. Warner?

Most definitely.

Would he come to Temple?

Way more likely than, say, Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, who would probably give Temple a hometown discount.

Poffenbarger’s edge rushing teammates on the other side of the ball also could make an immediate impact on a Temple team starving for turnovers.

Getting guys who destroyed a team that would destroy Temple moves the Owls up the food chain by quite a bit.

Also, the Owls got Diwan Black from Florida last year and Florida has a number of highly rated recruits in the portal now. Use that resource of Black to develop a pipeline to Temple. Have Diwan recruit those guys. Diwan was a backup at Florida. He didn’t need a big NIL deal to sign at Temple.

It only figures that if Temple has Florida talent it has a better chance against Oklahoma on Aug. 31 than it does by wasting precious scholarships on JUCOs and high school talent.

Everybody says there is no shot a quarterback like McCord comes to Temple but McCord’s dad is loaded the family doesn’t need a big NIL deal. Would it hurt to reach out? No. Temple should at least TRY to upgrade from E.J. Warner’s departure. At least give the McCords a call. I’d grab the Albany quarterback first. If not him, then go after the Toledo quarterback or the Holy Cross quarterback.

Right now, by signing JUCOs and third-string NC State guys, it looks like they are mailing it in and, if that’s so, they are sealing their own severance paychecks.

Although we don’t know everything going on behind the scenes, the Owls need to aim for some P5 players who can make an impact or proven FCS guys.

Forget the high school and JUCOs. There is no time to gamble and Temple needs to reach for the stars. They don’t need to grab 25 but at least a dozen accomplished players would upgrade a roster that needs significant upgrading.

Monday: The Single Bullet Theory