Click over the photo of a great head coach, Ball State’s Pete Lembo, for five possible upsets this weekend. We’re already 1-0 with Iowa State covering the 9 against Texas. If you win any money this weekend, please throw one percent this way via a pay pal donation. Thanks.

Teddy or Brewskis?
Or both.
Or just stay home.
That’s the dilemma Temple fans are facing this weekend.

Come to the game, have a few brewskis, then watch a very bad matchup for Temple, Teddy Bridgewater vs. a secondary who could not cover a fat guy at a picnic. Or stay at home and have a few brewskis and watch on TV.
For years, I’ve cajoled and pleaded with Temple fans on this site to come to the games and support the Owls. Based on the results of the first four games, I cannot do that anymore.
Although I will be there because I haven’t missed a home game except for work in the last 30 years, I would not blame a single Owl fan for not attending. We’ve already been through one rebuilding cycle, eight years of total misery. It’s really too much to ask this fan base to go through another, even for a year or two. I’ve got an idea: After Saturday’s game, let’s win now. Let’s face it, unless God himself intervenes and has the pigeons knock down Bridgewater’s passes, Temple isn’t winning this Saturday but that doesn’t mean it can’t win a lot of the ensuing Saturdays.

I’ve been hearing too many “we can wait, we’re not Alabama” and “we’re rebuilding” comments lately from the Matt Rhule Apologists (the MRAs).
Please stop. We’re not rebuilding, at least not when it comes to talent, and we can’t wait, not with Board of Trustees’ decisions on stadiums and leases due within a year or two. Nothing says no to a building a stadium on campus or extending the Linc lease better than an 0-12 or 2-10 season.
The rebuilding was supposed to stop with Al Golden’s “I’m building a house of brick, not straw.” Golden kept his part of the bargain, recruiting five straight No. 1 classes in the MAC. One of Steve Addazio’s recruiting classes was No. 55 in the country, putting him No. 1 in the MAC and ahead of any of the Golden classes, which never got rated any better than 55th in the nation.

Well, where did all this talent go? Did they transfer out?
No.
There’s enough talent here to beat Fordham, 51-14, and Idaho, 36-6.
If this talent was coached properly, those would have been the scores but those were not the scores and this talent has not been coached properly.
Run the ball against the 247-pound-average Fordham defensive line and the Owls might have gotten 500 yards on the ground alone. Heck, one St. Francis of Loretto back got 293 on his own against that vaunted defense.  Commit to a short passing game, like North Texas did in a 40-6 win over Idaho, and Temple wins like North Texas did. Instead the Owls attempt what only seemed like a hundred 50-yard bombs to slow-footed receivers that are overthrown by 10 yards each time. That’s not Carl Lewis running under those passes, they are midget versions of Riley Cooper. (Unless Nate Hairston and Khalif Herbin are allowed to run under those throws and, except for a couple of Nate cameos against Idaho, it seems like both of those guys have been in Witness Protection.)
Did that look like smart game-planning to you?
We’re not asking for Temple to be like Alabama here. We’re asking for Temple to be like North Texas. North Freaking Texas.

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Teddy Bridgewater vs. a Phil Snow-coached defense is perhaps the biggest mismatch I’ve ever seen in a Temple game in the last 30 years. I’m hoping Temple shocks the world and wins but I wish I had more than hope.
I don’t.
Hope and pigeons is all I’ve got.