Tag Archives: sports

11.07.24
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Temple-Tulane comes down to a question of trust

This could have been at 12th and Norris had Lewis Katz had not gone way too soon.

Back in 2014 when Temple was beating Vanderbilt on the road, 37-7, fellow AAC member Tulane was opening Yulman Stadium.

It was a 30K on-campus stadium for a school used to playing in a big NFL stadium and it revitalized campus life and the football component.

In Philadelphia at the same time, Temple’s Board of Trustees was going in the same direction, approving a 35K on-campus stadium that had all the same intentions of Yulman Stadium, only bigger and better. Yulman was a big-time donor.

On Memorial Day of that same year, Lewis Katz died in a private jet crash.

What Yulman was to Tulane, Katz was to Temple.

Who knows?

Jon Sumrall is a great head coach. Stan Drayton is not. Temple needs a guy like this.

Maybe the Temple Stadium would have been named Katz Stadium and maybe Temple’s upward trajectory would have continued well past the Matt Rhule years.

Now Katz is gone Temple plays Tulane on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPNU). Katz had a lot to do with both the hiring of Steve Addazio (bowl winner) and Matt Rhule (AAC conference champion) as the head of the athletics committee at Temple both times.

Had Katz lived, do you think he would have hired guys like Geoff Collins, Manny Diaz, Rod Carey and Stan Drayton?

I don’t think so but we will never know.

Saturday’s game comes down to a matter of trust.

Do you trust Temple with Drayton and his sieve-like DC Everett Withers or do you trust a guy who made Troy a national power (Jon Sumrall)?

Not a betting man when it comes to the school I love but, if I was, I would lay the 25.5 points on the Green Wave and not blink an eye.

At Troy, Sumrall was a guy like current Temple OL coach Chris Wiesehan–an assistant who had the blueprint of success at that school drawn up by current West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. Wiesehan has all the secrets of Geoff Collins and Matt Rhule, two guys he worked under, at Temple.

When Brown went to the Moutaineers, Troy said, hey, we have a diamond in our own backyard in Sumrall. We don’t need to go elsewhere.

Sumrall took those receipts and made Troy better.

Now he parlayed that into a better job at Tulane, bringing with him his DC and OC and faces a RB head coach in Drayton and a DC who hasn’t been able to stop anyone in the last two decades. It’s Homecoming there. In a packed on-campus stadium that revitalized Tulane football from a few thousand fans rattling around the New Orleans Superdome to a college experience students will remember the rest of their lives.

Tulane went out and hired a head coach who proved he could get it done.

As a head coach, not a running back coach.

Who would you take?

I’ll be rooting hard for my team but I don’t trust my coaches. Have no doubt that my kids will play hard but I don’t see a DC who has ever believed in putting the other quarterback on his ass to my satisfaction. In fact, he lets every QB Temple faces pick his defense apart. Bruce Arians famously said while head coach at Temple that the best pass defense is putting the other quarterback on his ass. Everett Withers’ philosophy is to drop way to many guys into pass coverage and never risk sending way too many guys to force sacks and fumbles.

That’s a passive defensive philosophy and definitely not Temple TUFF.

Hate to say this, I trust the bad guys’ coaches a lot more.

Tulane 48, Temple 10 is about the right prediction. Praying for Temple to win, 24-23, but God might be saying: “Mike, hey, I’m God, but I can only do so much.”

Late Saturday Night: Tulane game analysis

11.03.24
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Will Temple have a press conference if it finishes 2-10?

Stan talks about the American Conference here but doesn’t make any promises about the bottom line.

Even though Temple football didn’t play over the weekend, the results on the field elsewhere in the American Conference don’t paint a rosy picture for the bottom line.

Tulsa, a team Temple beat, was manhandled by a bad UAB team. UTSA, a team that some thought was a possible win down the line, beat Memphis in the same stadium the Owls have to visit.

So the Tulsa win may have been overvalued and, while the team might have had thoughts of a win at UTSA, that becomes less likely by the way the Roadrunners looked against Memphis.

Two and 10 is a definitely possibility now and you’ve got to wonder if Temple will even do what “normal” schools do when a coach goes 3-9, 3-9, and 2-10: Hold a press conference and bring in another head coach.

That’s not a given.

Drayton was optimistic going into the season as the above video shows but the results are the results.

“I’m excited about this football team,” Drayton said three months ago. “This off-season we were able to put together a roster that enhanced our football team.”

That may be so, but the bottom line is the bottom line. You have to win. Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.

Why is Temple 2-6 if the roster is enhanced? Doesn’t that seem to imply it is the coaching?

“We had some major voids in the defensive line and the offensive line,” Drayton said back in July. “We’ve gotten bigger. We’re not trying to find excuses. We’re setting some standards that are really high.”

The Owls head to Tulane, which has only lost to Oklahoma and Kansas State, as 25.5-point underdogs. Tulane probably is the most physically talented team the Owls will have faced all season, with the possible exception of Oklahoma.

IF … and this is a big IF … the Owls have one win left in them, it looks like maybe a home win against FAU but Tom Herman also is thinking the same thing about Temple.

Drayton can avoid that departing press conference by beating FAU, UTSA and North Texas but now that seems as likely as those teams beating Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

The gap appears to be that large.

A normal school would have a press conference to say something to the effect that Drayton is a great guy but the number on the left hand side of the win column never exceeded the number on the right side and that’s why we have to move on.

It will be impossible to sell any season tickets coming off 1-6, 3-9, 3-9, 3-9, and 2-10 years. The crowds have eroded from respectable to nearly non-existent over those years. This is a fan base that got used to going to bowls on a regular basis between 2009 and 2019. These fans can take one or two years of building, but not five consecutive ones.

You know that. I know that. The question is, “Does Temple know that?”

Or does Temple even care?

While that press conference three months ago was nice, the one at the end of the year appears to be a necessity now.

Friday: Tulane Preview

10.31.24
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After nine years, what went wrong?

Nine years ago today, Temple was on the top of the college football world.

The Owls were 7-0 and ranked No. 21 and gameday was in town for a prime-time matchup with No. 9 Notre Dame.

Only because Will Hayes decided not to put up his hand and deflect away what would have been an easy play to make, Will Fuller caught the game-winning touchdown pass and the Irish hung on for a 24-20 win. The game still ranks as the No. 1-rated TV college game ever watched in the Philadelphia market, which is still the No. 4-ranked TV market. Better than any Penn State-Ohio State game. Better than any Penn State-Notre Dame game.

Lincoln Financial Field was packed with mostly Temple fans to see the No. 21 Owls play the No. 9 Irish nine years ago today.

Temple was the draw, not Notre Dame. Probably no college football game will ever attract more eyes in the Philly market, including a national title game that might include Penn State.

Who knows where the Owls would have been ranked if Hayes knocked away that pass and Temple went to 8-0.

My guess is no lower than 12th.

Now the Owls are ranked No. 19.

From the bottom.

That’s falling over 100 floors faster than a broken elevator in a horror movie.

So the question has to be asked: What went wrong?

Sitting in my seat dejected by the loss and comforted by classy Notre Dame fans walking by and patting me on the back (“you guys have a helluva team”), the thought occurred to me that this might have been the Zenith of Temple football.

What never occurred to me was that the Owls would fall this far and this fast.

While I never thought 7-0 and ESPN gameday would be the norm, I thought it was possible, maybe even likely, that Temple would be the kind of job that would attract good enough coaches to compete for a bowl game every year.

Temple still remains a big TV draw because of its market. Imagine if the Owls won consistently.

It has not.

It would be easy to blame the NIL and the transfer portal for this mess and certainly it’s a contributing element but it’s not the full story.

Temple’s fall is attributable to mostly Temple decisions. The Board of Trustees approved a plan to build a stadium on Temple’s own property but let no more than 20 or so neighbors bully them out of that decision.

My feeling then as it is now is that Temple has as much right to build anything on its property as I do putting up a white picket fence around my house. That goes for every university in the country.

If a bunch of neighbors came up to me and objected to my fencing plans, I would politely say, “Geez, it’s my property and I think it improves the value so thanks for your input but I’m still putting the fence up.”

That’s one mistake.

The others were hiring ADs who felt that it was more important to hire buddies than it was to follow the formula that got Temple to the top in the first place.

Temple has now suffered through 1-6, 3-9, 3-9 and 3-9 seasons.

If it is lucky, it might get to a fourth-straight 3-9 season.

The only hope for Temple to fix that elevator and start climbing to the top is to follow the formula that got Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins here. Get the best person. Get someone who the AD never worked with but has impeccable credentials on his own.

Or it can chose not to fix the elevator, which would be the nuclear option no one wants.

Monday: A Dream Press Conference

10.27.24
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Temple should make a big splash with new hire

Jon Gruden wants to coach a G5 team and his familiarity with Philly and Temple would benefit both.

Good Temple showed up against Tulsa on Homecoming but “same old Temple” showed up on Saturday at East Carolina.

The same old Temple that we saw for the last six years under Rod Carey and Stan Drayton, that is.

Buffalo Bills’ running back Ray Davis called Gabe Infante the best coach on the Temple staff when he was here.

The good Temple comes out once or twice a year and that’s not enough.

Carey was fired after a 12-20 record and three years. Drayton is 8-24. If Temple is going to intellectually consistent, it also has to fire Drayton.

There’s no bigger Temple football fan than me–it’s my favorite sports team by far–yet I’m not going to another game this season. It breaks my heart too much to watch this train wreck.

So we’ve moved on and so should Temple. ECU moved on last week by firing Mike Houston. Rice moved on Sunday by firing Mike Blomgren.

If Temple wants to hire an assistant, Chris Wiesehan would be a great fit since he was successful here under two bowl coaches, Geoff Collins and Matt Rhule and knows what it takes to win here.

Got to wonder why Temple is sitting on its hands while other schools read and react. Maybe the administration is waiting for Drayton to change his first name to Mike.

Should Temple go big splash or local ties?

Better to do both.

After bringing in a successful head coach from the Midwest and an assistant coach from Texas, the priority should be to bring someone who has been a successful head coach here at some level.

Or at least understands the Philadelphia and Temple culture.

Geoff Collins wants to come back. Any coach who is 2-for-2 in winning seasons at Temple should be welcomed back like a Prodigal Son.

That means no more assistant coaches because hiring an assistant coach is a crapshoot and Temple needs a sure thing.

That’s why we’ve eliminated all assistant coaches from our list, including esteemed Fran Brown assistant head coach Elijah Robinson at Syracuse.

Brown was perfect for here, Robinson doesn’t have Brown’s effusive energy. They are two different personalities. One is extroverted. One is introverted. While they complement each other perfectly at Syracuse, only one type would succeed at Temple.

Temple needs an extrovert.

Do you go for a big splash like Jon Gruden, who knows Philadelphia and Temple from being here as a long-time assistant coach with the Eagles or do you go the Manny Diaz direction and pluck his Duke assistant head coach Gabe Infante, who was a big-time successful state champion head coach at nearby St. Joseph’s Prep?

To me, you can’t go wrong with either hire.

Temple has the I-95 and I-76 billboards ready just in case Gabe Infante says yes.

Infante isn’t going to make “learning on the job” mistakes like Drayton does nor is he going to be a “my way or the highway” guy like Carey was. Manny Diaz, with assistant head coach Infante’s help, is pulling at miracle at Duke this season.

Gruden said in a story published in August he was open to taking a Group of Five head football job and wanted to make that school a winner.

Temple is a G5 coaching job that Gruden is very familiar with.

Down the line, Geoff Collins also falls into the “sure thing” category for what Temple is looking for now because he knows how to win here, loves it here and his kids played hard for him.

Geoff Collins had the Owls practicing 365 days a year, including this one in the snow on 2/17/17. Stan Drayton took a two-week vacation in Houston the middle of this summer. Wonder why there are so many illegal formations, shifts and false starts? You can start with practice, practice, practice.

In Collins’ first season at Temple, he went 7-6 and won a bowl game. In his second, he went 8-5 and handed ranked Cincinnati an overtime loss. Collins has sent messages through back channels saying he wants to come back.

After three years of Carey and three years of Drayton, I will take the Capri pants and Mayhem every Saturday.

Hell, Troy football became real good for a couple of years when it hired Neal Brown’s assistant coach, Jon Sumrall, because Sumrall had the Neal Brown blueprint of success. If Temple is going to go the assistant coaching route, then Chris Wiesehan, who was a successful assistant here, has all of the Temple success secrets of both Collins and Matt Rhule.

Another possibility with head coaching experience include Sam Houston State’s K.C. Keeler, who knows Philadelphia and is a winner.

Me?

Go for Gruden and the big splash or get a guy like Gabe Infante who is a proven winning head coach and has all the local connections he needs to win here, just like he’s won everywhere.

Let Rice and ECU pick a running back guru for those jobs.

Temple should get a proven winning head coach.

10.24.24
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Can Temple football make a historic run?

People a long way away from Broad and Montgomery are noticing TU plays hard for Drayton.

Something is definitely happening with Temple football in the past few games.

The trend is definitely upward but there are still areas of concern like penalties and, more importantly, the ability to run the football.

Our master plan of turning $7 into $570 is two down and 10 to go and we don’t have to throw one ball out of bounds against UAB to do it.

The Owls seemed to have cleared up their turnover problem when they inserted Evan Simon as the starting quarterback for both Coastal Carolina and the Utah State games and Simon, despite playing three less games than E.J. Warner, has proven to be an upgrade over the son of the NFL Hall of Famer.

There’s no doubt that they play hard for Stan Drayton and others seemed to have noticed (see the above video).

Simon has 10 touchdown passes to three interceptions, while Warner has the same number of TD passes but nine interceptions–two that went for touchdowns. Simon’s passer rating is also double that of Warner.

Going into the season, nobody thought Temple upgraded the QB position, but the sample is large enough to now believe that Simon is a better quarterback than E.J. Warner. He is certainly better than Forrest Brock.

Now the question that begs to be asked: Does Temple go on a historic run starting on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+) at East Carolina?

To me, unlike the above video, a historic run would be one of two things: One, win them all or, two, win all of the rest with the exception of at Tulane.

5-7 has no particular appeal to me nor would it be historic.

A 6-6 or 7-5 record would.

Winning Drayton’s first road game as a Temple head coach would go a long way to answering that question.

Certainly, Vegas doesn’t believe in the Owls but that’s nothing new. Temple was a 6.5-point underdog but beat Utah State, 45-29.

These Owls are 7.5 dogs but are on the road and the nation doesn’t believe Drayton can win a road game.

Maybe this might be the time. It’s a tough environment but Temple teams have won there before.

ECU’s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Would be nice to have this at 12th and Norris.

I’m not making any predictions, but I think this is no more than a field goal either way and Temple in 2024 has the best field goal kicker in the country, just like it did it 2012.

ECU has a new head coach and a lot of people think this will infuse energy into the Pirates. Maybe it will but maybe there will be a “Temple effect” with that hire. For the past three years, Temple has suffered Drayton learning to be a head coach on the job and maybe this is ECU’s turn as its head coach has never been a head coach on any level before.

Let the bad guys have a coach who makes first-time mistakes for a change.

That’s the hope.

Temple is only one of two ESPN+ games in the 2 p.m. window. Win, and get a great home crowd for FAU. That’s 8 a.m. Hawaii time. 🙂 Click over above image for a more readable view.

The Owls may have found their feature running back in Torrez Worthy. Feed the beast the ball and, even if he gets a lot of 2- and 3-yard carries, he’s eventually going to break one.

When he does, the offensive game plan should be to fake it into his belly and hit guys like Antonio Jones, Zae Baines and Dante Wright on the run.

Defensively, get after the passer and trust technique on pass defense. No face guarding and go after the ball, not the man, in the air.

None of that has been done to any Temple fan’s satisfaction so far but the Owls have fought and that’s the first step.

The next one is to get Drayton his first road win, run over to the Temple fans in the stands and sing T for Temple U after the game.

Only then make the move for the locker room and the larger celebration that will ensue.

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

10.13.24
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Temple-Tulsa: Some reason for optimism

For about six weeks, give or take a bye week, the nation hated the Temple Owls.

We’re seeing something new this week.

The nation doesn’t hate Temple anymore.

They are neutral.

Baby steps.

For the first time this season, Temple is not an underdog in a football game. It is not a favorite, but it is not an underdog.

As you can see by the above graphic, Temple opened as a “pick-em” against Tulsa in Saturday’s 2 p.m. Homecoming Game. Tulsa might get a -1 in the next day or so, but I’m expecting Temple to settle in as a 1- or 2-point favorite by kickoff.

There are a couple of reasons for that.

Temple is notoriously good in Homecoming Games over the last 15 years or so. The Owls beat a ranked Memphis team twice on Homecoming, including in Rod Carey’s Farewell tour. Two years ago, Temple extended an unbeaten Rutgers team to the end, falling, 16-14, before a crowd of 34,654 mostly Temple fans.

Some past Temple Homecoming Crowds .. .

Homecoming is the one time of the year where the “Prodigal Son” Temple fan returns for a game. They might not even like football, but it’s the No. 1 thing Temple does to network its 360,000 Temple alumni. They can’t get that kind of a crowd at a basketball game or a chemistry class or a Temple Hall of Fame ceremony.

They do get a big crowd at Homecoming.

The other element is that the Owls do look better. They hung with a UConn team that destroyed Buffalo, 47-3, and Buffalo beat MAC powerhouse Toledo, 30-15, on Saturday. They gave Army a much better game than Tulsa did, trailing by “only” 28-14 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Does it mean they will beat Tulsa? Err, no. But should they beat Tulsa?

Hell yes for their sake and for everybody who works at the E-O’s sakes.

Temple was 0-6 in Matt Rhule’s first season but did draw this significant pre-game tailgate crowd. They beat Army that day.

There is no new President at Buffalo or Toledo examining the future of the sport nor should it.

Temple, on the other hand, for its 45-29 win over Utah State and competing with UConn is still 1-5 and the bottom line has to get better.

Saturday in front of a lot of Temple eyes is a good place to start.

Now is the time for Stan Drayton and the Owls to win back a good portion of those fans. If they are sufficiently entertained, and get to enjoy a win, that will carry a lot of weight with the new President who comes aboard on Nov. 1.

If the Owls lose, though, those Prodigal Sons and Daughters won’t be looking back on the most recent Homecoming as a fond memory.

Friday: Tulsa Preview

10.10.24
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5 Guys Earning Their Paychecks

Saturday’s college football TV schedule

Watched the Coastal Carolina game on Thursday night at James Madison and a backup quarterback entered the game for Coastal down, 36-7.

His name was Noah Kim.

“Where did I hear that name before?” I thought.

Looked it up and found out that Kim was once the starting quarterback for Michigan State in five games and yet is now the BACKUP at Coastal.

Geez.

Do you think Kim would rather start at Temple than backup at Coastal?

I do.

Tim Beck, the head coach at Coastal, is doing his job because he had his quarterback room prepared for every eventuality.

Beck is making less than half ($1 million) of what Stan Drayton makes at Temple.

Despite the loss to James Madison on Thursday night, Coastal will probably make a bowl game.

Temple will probably not.

The reason is that Beck did a lot of offseason work in getting his quarterback room in order and, at least the way we see it, Drayton did not.

Drayton had to replace the fourth-leading Temple passer in history and “settled” for an unproven JUCO and a Rutgers’ backup who had four TD passes against seven interceptions in what has been so far an unremarkable FBS career. Temple beats UConn, 28-14, with Warner at QB and maybe Kim and a few others who don’t start for other G5 teams.

Beck has earned his million. Drayton has not earned his $2.5 million.

Here are four other Group of Five Guys who earned their pay this season (taking both the Army and Navy coaches out of the equation since Temple would never run the triple option):

Bryant Vincent, UL-Monroe _ At a paltry $365K per year, Vincent was able to recruit the quarterback we had been screaming in this space for Drayton to go after all winter, spring and summer (General Booty). Booty has had his moments for the Warhawks but is splitting time at the QB spot. Vincent served as the UAB interim head coach in 2022 but that school passed on him to go after Trent Dilfer. Bad move. Vincent beat Dilfer, 32-6, earlier this season with ULM talent. He also beat JMU last week, 21-16.

K.C. Keeler coached at both Delaware and Rowan, knows the Philadelphia area like the back of his hand, but was passed over twice when he applied for the Temple head coaching job. His brother, Kevin, was a longtime basketball coach at nearby Quakertown High (at the same time former Temple great Doug Shobert was the head football coach there).

Bob Chesney, JMU _ After leading Holy Cross on a remarkable FCS run, Chesney probably would have accepted the Temple job that Drayton got three years ago, bringing with him quarterback Matt Sluka. Instead, Chesney waited and took a worse job from a purely pay standpoint (JMU). He hung 70 points on UNC defensive coordinator Geoff Collins. He is only making $550K there.

Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky _ At $800K per season, Helton would not even have to ask the $2.5-million Drayton to pick up the check for any lunch those two would have. Yet the Hilltoppers are 3-2, having beaten Toledo and losing by only a point at Power 4 Boston College.

K.C. Keeler, Sam Houston _ More than once a candidate for the Temple job, Keeler knows the Philadelphia area like the back of his hand having coached successfully at both Delaware and Rowan (N.J.). One story last week said that Sam Houston had the “lowest NIL money by far” in the FBS and yet the Bearcats are 5-1 with a rout of E.J. Warner’s Rice team and a win over a good Texas State team to their credit. Keeler made $600K in total pay in 2023.

Temple is paying Drayton $2.5 million to have a soaking wet 160-pound redshirt freshman backup quarterback try to do a tush push with the game, and a season, on the line.

The question everyone at Temple, from the newest fan to the newest President, has to ask now is why.

That kind of decision-making is not worth two cents, let alone $2.5 million, and a university that wants to get a return on investment has to look at guys who are doing more with a whole lot less.

10.05.24
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These kids deserve better coaches

This was one of those games where, after watching, had to get into the car and go for a drive to let off some steam.

By some miracle, nobody was killed or even injured by my driving but plenty of thoughts of the train wreck I had just witnessed caused the windows to steam up.

Temple losing to UConn, 29-20, (really, 23-20) on the last play of the game was bad enough but the way was much worse.

Temple was the better team for 59 minutes and 57 seconds and that was because of the kids.

It finished as the second-best team because of the coaches.

The coaches started their bumbling and stumbling early when they didn’t notice a punt went off a UConn helmet in the first quarter and Temple recovered. Any other professional coaching staff has someone watching for that, getting on the headset and telling head coach Stan Drayton to throw the challenge flag.

The nation noticed and so did the CBS Sports TV announcers.

Temple did none of that and gave up early points that would have made the ending moot.

Now what should have been moot but wasn’t. Second-and-goal inside the 1 with two more chances to punch across the win in the last minute and UConn having no time outs.

Should have been easy peasy for any coaching staff in America but the one employed by Temple.

First of all, running back Torrez Worthy was the guy who put you in a spot to win the game getting a second and less than a yard at the goal line. You ride or die with him. You don’t dick around giving the ball to anyone else. At worst, you fake it to him and then do a simple pitch and catch for the winning touchdown to a wide-open receiver in the end zone.

UConn was selling out for the run. It would have been an easy score.

Second, every single time backup quarterback Tyler Douglas came in the game he ran the football. You do not telegraph plays like that on the college level. You don’t do it in the pros. You don’t do it in high school. You don’t do it even do it in Pop Warner Football.

Stan Drayton was essentially telling the Huskies: “Hey guys, heads up, we’re going to run the ball.”

Piece of cake but the Temple coaching staff would rather eat a turd, and that’s exactly what they did.

Is he working for Temple or UConn?

If you are going to have Douglas come into the game, have him make a few throws to cause the defense to think.

There was no thinking involved on Saturday.

There really hasn’t been all season.

Or any of the last three years for that matter.

No doubt in my mind this was the most heartbreaking Temple loss since the Hail Mary that ended the game at Buffalo in 2007.

The difference between that time and this one was that those coaches led by Al Golden put the Owls in a position to win the game and a freak play ended it.

This was the game where the kids put the Owls in position to win and some Rick James-like super freaky play-calling by the coaches robbed them of a deserved celebration.

Inexcusable.

These kids deserve better coaches.

Whether they get them or not is a question only Temple decision-makers at the highest level can answer now.

Monday: Waiting for the Temple administration to do something

10.03.24
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Talking myself into a Temple win

For the better part of a week, you’ve heard all of the reasons why Temple should lose at UConn on Saturday.

The Huskies hammered fellow AAC member FAU, 48-14 and are coming off a 47-3 win over a relatively good Buffalo team.

They also hung with an unbeaten Duke team.

Bleep that.

Stan Drayton owes it to all of these ex-Temple players who owned UConn to deliver with a win on Saturday. Rather roll out Evan Simon with a bad shoulder than Forrest Brock with two good ones.

Trying to talk myself into a Temple win on Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS Sports TV), there are a few reasons to come to the conclusion that Temple might win this game.

One, Temple beat Utah State, 45-29, a team that traveled to Connecticut and won last year. Two, Temple hung with Coastal Carolina in a 28-20 loss and there’s is no doubt in my mind that Coastal is a better team than UConn and probably a better team than Duke.

Three, UConn lost to Maryland, 50-7, and Maryland “only” beat Temple’s Philadelphia FCS crosstown rival Villanova, 38-20. Got to believe Temple, even with all of its problems, is better than Villanova. In Dante Wright, Antonio Jones and Zae Baines, Temple has three playmaking wide receivers who have NFL skills.

In running back Antwain Littleton, Temple has a guy who can break out at any time if the pass sets up the run. He’s Mr. Inside and Torrez Worthy is Mr. Outside.

In a 17-14 overtime win at 5.5-point favorite UConn in 2012, current ESPN analyst and then Temple head coach Steve Addazio said: “Our intention was to get the ball in the middle of the field for the best kicker in the country to win the game and that’s what happened.”

The “best kicker in the country” then was Brandon McManus and he did just that.

A dozen years later, Temple might again have the best kicker in the country in Maddux Trujillo. It might have to come down to that, maybe in overtime.

Our $10 bet will return $236 if all of the above happens. Looks like we are on our way to two wins so far. Would stay away from the Temple game with a 10-foot pole if the Owls are stupid enough to roll Forrest Brock out there.

Fingers crossed.

All offseason we’ve been told by Temple coaches that this team is a far better team than the 3-9 team Temple fielded last year and there were plenty of reasons to believe them.

Matchup-wise, Temple has a better chance against UConn than it did against Army in that the Huskies like to throw the ball and Temple has good edge pass rushers in Diwan Black and Tre Thomas. Andreas Keaton is a great safety and Torrey Richardson and Jaylen Lewis are good cover corners.

The Owls upgraded not only their depth but arguably 21 of the 22 starters. The one area they failed was quarterback but Evan Simon’s six-touchdown performance against Utah State caused many (raising my hand here) to believe he’s an upgrade over E.J. Warner.

If he plays, and as of right now there is a 50/50 shot, Temple has a good chance to get its first road win under Stan Drayton.

Ever.

If he doesn’t, no shot.

The flip side of this argument is the Temple coaching staff.

Quarterback Forrest Brock and running back E.J. Wilson must be the greatest practice players in history, but they don’t pass the eye test in actual games and the fact that Temple coaches have given both so much playing time in an indictment of their player evaluation skills.

It does cause one to pause over other possible evaluations. Is Tyler Douglas better than first-game starter Brock? Probably. Is Worthy better than Wilson? Definitely.

We need to see more of Worthy, who is definitely a gamer.

My feeling is that if you are going to run all of the RPO stuff offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf wants to run, Douglas is the better quarterback than all three. Put it this way. John Harbaugh wouldn’t run RPO with the Ravens if he had Tom Brady at quarterback. His offense is perfect for Lamar Jackson.

Temple has done a piss/poor job of scheming to the talents of their players so maybe put players in there who fit the scheme.

Better late than never and if Temple figures all of this out in the next 24 hours, it could be a terrific bus ride back from Storrs.

And set up the Owls for a sensational Homecoming.

If not, it’s a Bataan Death March to the end of Stan Drayton’s head coaching career.

He’s too good a guy to deserve that fate and the players love him so it’s time for the coaches to play the right players and those right players to do right by the coaches.

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

09.29.24
by

Begging to differ: This is not fixable

This was 10-on-11 blocking but looked like 42-on-11. Things like illegal shifts, too many men in the backfield, offsides, illegal formations are fixable but how is this fixable?

For three of the last four games, really three of the last dozen, Temple head coach Stan Drayton looked the assembled media in the eye and said what ailed his team in losses was “fixable.”

We beg to differ.

Maybe the penalties are fixable but what we have seen too much this season doesn’t appear to be.

Army pushed the Owls’ defense aside like they were bowling pins. At times, it looked like Army had 42 guys blocking 11 guys and not 11-on-11.

How is that fixable?

It would be one thing if that was the only time the Owls looked like that, but they also looked that way against Navy and also looked that way against Oklahoma. Yes, they stopped Oklahoma on 11 of 12 third-down opportunities but whenever the Sooners needed a first down on fourth down, they got it.

Oklahoma is a Power 4 team and that can be excused.

Looking the same way against two Group of Five teams is inexcusable.

Next up is at UConn on Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS Sports).

UConn just finished beating Buffalo, 47-3, in the same stadium and an argument can be made that Buffalo, not just UConn, is clearly a better team than Temple.

Buffalo beat NIU, which beat Notre Dame. That was not just a one-off as NIU lost by only a touchdown at North Carolina State on Saturday. Buffalo played Missouri, another SEC team, a lot more competitively than the Owls did Oklahoma.

Has Temple done anything as impressive as Buffalo, which came into Storrs with a 3-1 record?

No.

Other than all of the above, everything is just peachy at 10th and Diamond.

For its part, UConn hung with Duke in a 26-21 loss. (It also lost to Maryland, 50-7.) UConn also beat FAU, 48-14. (For comparison, Army “only” beat FAU, 24-7.)

It has a professional head coach in Jim Mora, Jr. who was a winner as a head coach before coming to UConn.

Temple cannot make the same claim.

That’s not to say that UConn is going to ramrod Temple, 47-3, but the general public is not believing in the Owls right now. At noon on Sunday, the line opened with the Huskies favored by 11 and jumped up to 13.5 just two hours.

That’s a lot of money riding on the Huskies.

Can you blame the betting public?

Army outgained the Owls, 417 to minus -5.

Temple is a team that cannot run the football, cannot stop the run and can’t protect the quarterback. In the rare cases they have protected the quarterback, he can do damage but those cases and too few and far between.

None of those things appear fixable now, no matter what Drayton says in post-game press conferences.

He has one chance to prove himself right and the public wrong and it’s coming up on Saturday.

Friday: UConn Preview