Tag Archives: Temple

01.05.25
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When your best offer is Tarleton State

One word of caution for Temple players looking to jump into the transfer portal.

Don’t.

By all indications, most especially the eye test, Terrez Worthy was a pretty good player for Temple football this past fall.

Maybe the best from a pure production standpoint.

This is the Tarleton State practice facility (note that tiny building is where the locker room and weight room is).

But he’s getting pretty bad advice from who knows where?

That’s because he’s been in the portal for a few weeks now and the best (only?) offer he has is from Tarleton State.

We had to look up where Tarleton State was and it is in Stephenville, Texas. Its practice facility is a couple of storage lockers and a grass field, while Temple has a $17 million practice facility at 10th and Diamond.

On the field, Tarleton State doesn’t have a TV contract and plays pretty obscure opponents in Drake, West Georgia, Eastern Kentucky, Utah Tech (not regular Utah or Temple opponent Utah State) and Austin Peay. (Worthy also has a scheduled visit to UTEP but that is also a worse program than Temple by any measurement.)

Can’t imagine there’s a whole lot of NIL money available at a school that can barely afford pads and jerseys but there are always players at Temple and pretty much every G5 school who believe the grass is greener on the other side of the 10th and Diamond fence.

It almost never is.

According to a fan post on OwlsDaily.com, these players are among the many who have current Temple offers.

If Worthy’s tale should be anything, it should be a cautionary one. He would be welcome back to Temple if he chose to return and would have the benefit of playing in an NFL stadium in a big-time league with a big-time TV contract and a Hall of Fame head coach.

The point here is that, after three-straight 3-9 seasons, not a whole lot of suitors are going to come after Temple players so those who have scholarships would be wise to keep them and not lose them.

There are plenty of good players in the portal who would love to have a Temple scholarship and a number of them have reached out to new head coach K.C. Keeler first.

The great majority of players who have entered the transfer portal over the last three years–not just at Temple–have not only become homeless but lost a valuable scholarship at a school whose degree unlocks a lot of doors to a promising future.

Cooper Blomstrom, one of the top-rated edge rushers, just posted he has a Temple offer.

Plus, they would be on TV in the fourth-largest market in the nation with a lot more eyeballs on them than they would at a FCS school or a lower-tier FBS one. Many of those eyeballs are NFL scouts.

Got to feel for Worthy in the sense that the past Temple staff didn’t recognize his talent until midway through the season. To have a back like E.J. Wilson starting ahead of him in the first few games was borderline criminal.

That’s also the same kind of talent evaluation that put Forrest Brock as the starting QB ahead of a clear better choice, Evan Simon.

With K.C. Keeler, those days are over and any player lucky enough to have a Temple scholarship would be wise to keep it.

11.30.24
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The most painful error of TU football is over

When the history of Temple football is written, the period between 2021 and 2024 will be forever known as “The 3-9 Era.”

You can’t go from 9 bowl games in 10 years to four-straight 3-9 seasons. That’s unacceptable, even in the NIL/transfer portal era.

That’s because in the long and often painful history of the sport at Temple there is arguably no worse era. You can’t go 3-9 four years in a row after teasing your fans with nine bowl games between 2009-2019.

Here’s my argument: I suffered through a 20-game losing streak and 30 years between bowl games only to see that losing streak end when Adam DiMichele threw a flea-flicker touchdown pass to Travis Sheldon to beat Bowling Green. Sheldon was the hero that day, also taking a kickoff return to the house.

After a rough first start against Layton Jordan and Temple for Rutgers in 2022, Evan Simon has proven to be if not a great Temple Owl a very good one. I would be happy if this kid is K.C. Keeler’s starting quarterback next year.

The coach that day, Al Golden, got an ice bucket bath.

It was onward and upward after that.

Three years later, Temple was in its first bowl game in 30 years.

Two years after that, Temple won its first bowl game in 32 years.

Four years after that, Temple was the major story in the nation with a Prime Time Game on ABC-TV that broke all kinds of ratings records. To this day, that was the No. 1-rated college football TV game in the nation’s fourth-largest market.

Any college football game. Ever, including Penn State-Notre Dame games, college football championship games. From the time Philo Farnsworth invented the TV set in the 1930s until 2024 and probably way beyond.

Unless Temple gets a prime-time game again, I doubt that record will ever be broken. (For the record, I doubt Temple will ever have a prime-time game again. Unless a Saudi billionaire wants to make a statement by backing the Temple NIL fund. Shoutout to MBS, who reads this website occasionally.)

Did I think Temple could sustain that kind of success?

Hell no. (I was just happy I lived long enough to see it.)

Did I think Temple could be a regular visitor to great bowl games and win its share?

Hell yes.

What happened?

Two buddy hires (Pat Kraft/Rod Carey and Arthur Johnson/Stan Drayton) poisoned the well of success we’ve been drinking from. Kraft and Johnson were responsible, but so was the BOT which should have provided oversight.

Today’s 24-17 loss to North Texas was bad, but proved the kids never quit and that is important.

They were down, 24-3, and had enough pride in themselves, the school and their teammates to compete.

The second half was 0-0 against a bowl team.

IF … and that’s a big IF .. the next coach can keep the core base of talent (I’m thinking QB Evan Simon, RBs Torrez Worthy, and some guys on defense) here and supplement them with P4 backup talent and FCS stars (not JUCOs), Temple has a chance at a winning season.

Not far in advance like the old days. Next year.

It also has to have a good coach who understands that the way to beat offenses is an attacking defense (which means sacks and strip fumbles in the backfield or forced interceptions) and an offense that supplements its base philosophy with surprises (i.e. halfback passes, double reverses, shovel passes and jump passes ot the tight end).

The last three years we saw nothing of that at Temple.

Disappointing but not surprising that this offensive staff played backup QB Tyler Douglas at RB on several downs but never realized they had a RB who could throw a halfback pass. North Texas might have been fooled by that but we will never know because Temple never tried to fool the opposition.

Wayne Hardin, who fooled Temple’s opposition for many years, was probably turning over in his grave.

The next four years we should see plenty of fooling the opposition or there will not be four years after that. Pain should be followed by gain, but we will see.

After four years of the most painful Temple football watching in history, no fans deserve that kind of future more.

Monday: Season Review

11.22.24
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Temple-UTSA: You can’t make this stuff up

Wanted: Head football coach Temple University: If you watched the Owls on national TV Friday night, you know the opportunity that awaits you. A bunch of kids representing a great university played their asses off, only to to lose at UTSA, 51-27, because there were a lot of illegal shifts and illegal formations. If you know how to structure a practice to eliminate those kind of mistakes and put these wonderful young athletes in a better position to win, please contact Arthur Johnson at Temple University, Broad and Montgomery, Philadelphia, PA, 19122. Only successful head coaches need apply. Temple can’t make a mistake on another “promising” assistant because promises are often broken.

That pretty much summed up Temple’s effort in a 51-27 loss at UTSA on Friday night.

https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1860131230026727765

The kids at Temple played as hard as they could but a lot of procedural errors held them back.

As we’ve said in this space many times over the past couple of months, illegal shifts and illegal formations don’t happen to teams playing Temple nearly as much as they do to Temple.

The reason for that is simple: Temple structures its so-called practices like a team that was coached by a career assistant coach, which is exactly what happened over the last three years.

A career winning head coach at any level knows how to structure a practice so those kinds of mistakes don’t show up on national TV.

So that’s the decision facing Arthur Johnson now.

Does he go out and get a “promising” assistant to be head coach or does he go out and get a guy who delivered for some other school what he promised.

I’ll go for the guy who delivered the goods and not someone who is promising to deliver.

Maybe the most remarkable moment of Friday night’s game was the interview of Johnson while a slow quarterback negotiated his way through the entire Temple team for a 75-yard touchdown.

You can’t make that kind of stuff up but there it was for the world to see.

It left Johnson speechless and the world laughing at Temple once again. So, if you are keeping score, the last four appearances on a major ESPN network, Temple gave up 55 points to SMU, 51 to Oklahoma, 52 to Tulane and 51 to UTSA.

Enough is enough.

Get a guy in here who knows how to stop someone and has proven it by delivering more W’s than L’s to the school he was at before Temple.

Monday: Russell Conwell’s Pick for Next Head Coach

11.17.24
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Temple can’t afford to roll the dice on another assistant coach

Temple can do a whole lot worse than re-hire former head coaches like Geoff Collins or Al Golden, currently two Power 4 DCs.

Had to chuckle when two games ago Temple head coach Stan Drayton said the Owls’ lack of an NIL a primary reason the team has been mired in 3-9 seasons.

Partially, yes. Primary, no.

Then I watched the Bowling Green vs. Western Michigan where Steve Addazio did the color and his former Temple OC, Scot Loeffler, is the head coach at Bowling Green.

Bowling Green and Temple is a similar level of G5 football and both teams have about the same NIL money in their coffers, which is pretty close to nothing.

Did not get the name of the play-by-play guy but hit “key plays” on Youtube and he must’ve said “he called these kind of plays for you at Temple” on about 11 of those 28 key plays. Good, imaginative, plays.

Don’t remember Loeffler ever blaming the lack of NIL for the performance of his team.

BG is atop the MAC with a 5-1 record, 6-4 overall. Played tough against Penn State this year (34-27 loss) and won at Georgia Tech last year.

This is what we wrote before the Manny Diaz hire.

Both teams with significant NIL advantages over Bowling Green.

Some coaches make excuses. Others just roll up their sleeves and get the job done.

Stan Drayton was in one category. Scot Loeffler is in another.

How did Temple end up with a career assistant coach in charge of a multi-million dollar program is the key lesson the school can learn and apply to next hire. How it ended up with a Midwestern head coach with no knowledge of Temple before that is another lesson.

No more assistant coaches. No more Midwestern fishes out of water.

A guy with Philly and Temple connections and a proven winner as a head coach is really the only way to go now.

There are plenty of guys who have head coaching experience and someone in charge of the hiring process should pull out a yellow legal pad and put some names at the top of the list.

I would shoot for the moon and work my way back to earth like Apollo 13 did.

One, Jon Gruden. Lived in Philly as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for years. Very familiar with the Temple program and once said on draft night that “nobody plays tougher than Temple.” Has said he would like to coach a G5 program. Would bring star power to Temple. Probably would say yes. Would be a major splash hire, just like Pop Warner (1930) and Wayne Hardin (1970) were for Temple. That worked out pretty well.

Two, Al Golden. Already has done a more impossible job taking Temple off college football’s deathbed and applying CPR to the program. Already in the Temple Hall of Fame. Would bring in major money to a Temple NIL fund and have the support of past Temple players. Would probably say no but I’d make him say it.

Three, Gabe Infante. Currently the assistant head coach at Duke University and a former Temple assistant coach. Current Buffalo Bills’ and former Temple RB Ray Davis said of Temple while at Vandy that “Coach Infante is the only great coach on that staff.” Has multiple state titles as a head coach at St. Joseph’s Prep, which is only five blocks from the Temple main campus. He is the embodiment of Temple founder Russell Conwell’s “Acres of Diamonds” story. Huge recruiting ties to Philadelphia.

Four, Geoff Collins. Rubbed some the wrong way while here as a head coach but you can’t deny this simple fact: Of all the head coaches in Temple history, Collins is the only one who has coached multiple seasons and never had a losing one here. Can you imagine Arthur Johnson introducing Collins with this line at the next press conference: “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the only head coach in Temple history who has never had a losing season and we fully expect that to continue after today.” Would jump at the opportunity to come back.

There are about six more head coaches with Temple ties who have won as head coaches elsewhere. Rolling the dice on another assistant who has never been a proven winning head coach is a crapshoot and the Owls might be down to one chip.

Friday: UTSA Preview

11.16.24
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The most consistent 3-9 team in college football history

In the midst of a long season, then Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid seemed frustrated by the questions of the media after a particularly ugly win and ended the press conference with these words:

“Enjoy the win.”

As Temple fans, we have no choice not to after an 18-15 overtime win over visiting Florida Atlantic that raised numerous red, or in this case, Cherry and White flags. It was the ugliest of ugly wins.

One, Temple struggled against an FAU team that got hammered by UConn, 48-14.

Temple should have won at UConn and was an ill-advised tush push away from doing so.

What happened in between?

You don’t need 12-0 seasons to bring this back to Temple. Just a new coach and a lot of 8-4 ones.

My view simply is this: Temple has been going through the motions since that spirited effort at UConn, knowing that it really wasn’t playing for anything but another 3-9 season.

After Saturday, that’s exactly what happened.

One thing we do know about Temple football: In the post-pandemic, post-NIL and post-transfer portal era, it is the most consistent 3-9 football program in FBS history. No school has ever finished 3-9 in even three-straight seasons without firing a coach and Temple will finish with four-straight 3-9s and the emphasis is on finish.

This is one of about 10 guys who can bring Temple football back to respect on a national scale.

One 3-9 Rod Carey season was followed by three 3-9 Stan Drayton seasons and that’s exactly how this thing is going to finish. Don’t give me any bunk about Temple having a chance against either North Texas or UTSA because it doesn’t.

North Texas and UTSA are only light years ahead of FAU and, by association, Temple.

Those two programs may be comparable to UConn but a Temple team playing out the string now and playing for something like it did in the UConn game are two different things.

Temple president John Fry is on the fly list (in this case, not a “no-Fry” list) to UTSA and he will be in the house for the Owls’ final game against North Texas. What he is likely to see is about a 35-14 loss in San Antonio and a 47-17 loss back in Philadelphia.

After that, the question he will present to the BOT is does Temple want to invest in an arms’ race in college football by paying players exorbitant money or does it want to fold up the tent entirely?

Winning would certainly help restore Temple’s image and bring fans back but it would take not only that investment but another significant one in a head coach who knows what he’s doing. That’s the case I would make to Fry if I had a chance to talk to him because a good football team can energize the entire Temple community (see above video).

I can also understand his point of view as a bean-counter.

That’s a lot of scratch and a school invested in doing other things like campus security and a hospital system that hemorrhages money might say the dollar is stretched too far.

If so, Temple’s football most recent legacy will be a maddening consistent 3-9 Final Four seasons.

Enjoy the win.

It might be the last one.

Monday: Debunking an NIL theory

11.09.24
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Time to make Wiesehan interim head coach

Unlike most of Drayton’s assistants, Chris Wiesehan knows the secret sauce to winning at Temple.

Safe to say that this will be the last time Temple football appears on a non-streaming ESPN network.

Maybe ever if the Owls decide to keep Stan Drayton around.

Getting that largest of the current G5 markets like Philadelphia certainly has its appeal but the last three appearances by a Drayton-led Temple team on a “regular” ESPN network has produced these results:

SMU 55, Temple 0 (ESPN)

Oklahoma 51, Temple 3 (ESPN)

Tulane 52, Temple 6 (ESPNU)

Enough is enough.

Arthur Johnson (rear, sitting) decides to fire Rod Carey (front) after a 49-7 loss to UCF which dropped his Temple record to 12-20. If he doesn’t do the same to Stan Drayton after a 52-6 loss to Tulane, John Fry should do the same to him. Drayton is 8-25. The numbers are the numbers.

That’s a lot of TV sets clicking off to other games by halftime.

That’s a lot of “regular college football Joes and Josephines” laughing at a great university.

If Temple University cares anything about its national profile, it should elevate offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan to head coach no later than Monday morning.

What does that accomplish?

A couple of things:

One, athletic director Arthur Johnson gets to keep his job for maybe one or two more years. Johnson was the guy who brought in his friend, Drayton, to be the head coach and it hasn’t worked out. Firing that friend will show new Temple president John Fry he is not wedded to that decision and able to separate his personal feelings about the guy from a business decision.

Two, it gives Temple a chance to see if the formula that worked for Troy could work here. When West Virginia plucked Neal Brown away from Troy, the Trojans looked around and said, “we only need a guy who knows Brown’s formula for winning here.” Jon Sumrall was that guy. At Temple, there is no guy on the staff who fits that description more than Wiesehan. He was here when Matt Rhule won here. He was here when Geoff Collins won here.

Chris Wiesehan was here when the Owls won under two head coaches. He’s seen all of the mistakes under this one and is the best hope now to reverse those before the end of this season.

He knows the secret sauce to winning here. If he’s able to stir that sauce with this pot, beat FAU and North Texas, then the Owls have their man.

If not, they have to look elsewhere.

What we do know at this current stage is keeping Drayton around for one more day does nobody any good.

No bigger Temple football fan than me, but I’ve checked out on the season. I’m not going to the final two home games. I imagine many of the other loyal Temple fans like me have come to the same conclusion. Hell, after seeing the effort against Tulane, I think a lot of the Temple players have already checked out.

Why Wiesehan now? Temple has to rid itself of the Unholy Trinity of Drayton, OC Danny Langsdorf and DC Everett Withers, the most responsible people for this mess. Wiesehan can name Chris Woods DC and Tyree Foreman OC. Temple needs to get back to a Temple TUFF running game and if they need to use two tight ends to help out Torrez Worthy, then that’s what must be done. This RPO stuff without the threat of a running game won’t work. On defense, they have to get after the quarterback. Withers’ philosophy of dropping 87 people into coverage never worked anywhere.

A new coach like the popular Wiesehan would be enough for me and a lot of other fans to change our minds. This is a guy the players can rally around as well.

With Drayton, there currently is a malaise in the program.

After nearly three years, Drayton is 8-25 without a single road win. Johnson fired Rod Carey after going 12-20 with multiple road wins.

Given that specific backdrop, firing Drayton now would not only be the fairest outcome but would give Temple a better look at the picture going forward.

The current picture is more than a little fuzzy and Johnson needs to move the antenna around or risk being removed from the screen himself.

Monday: Coverage of the firing press conference?

10.26.24
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Administration now has its Stan Drayton answer

The great name of Temple University was once again embarrassed on the national stage. Thanks, Stan.

Most people in regular jobs get a three-month probation to prove they can do the job, then they get to join a union and have some protection down the line.

Temple head football coach Stan Drayton has had three years, not a mere three months.

Enough.

This was our post on opening night. Drayton didn’t learn that Simon was the better QB until three weeks later. I, not a $2.5 million paid HC, learned it that night in the first quarter. That’s one of many fireable offenses.

The Temple administration now has its answer about him: He hasn’t done the job, can’t do the job and never will do the job.

That was abundantly clear after a 56-34 loss at East Carolina on Saturday. The only saving grace was that Temple wasn’t playing at another North Carolina school, Charlotte, because that school hung a 55-37 loss on ECU. In two years, Charlotte’s Biff Poggi is 6-13. In three years, Drayton is 8-24. Same conference. Temple has better facilities and roughly the same NIL money.

Charlotte is making progress. Temple is not.

Who made the better hire?

This was our post TWO WEEKS before Stan Drayton was hired.

With another ill-timed bye week (why do we have two bye weeks in one season?), and Temple’s well-earned reputation of doing nothing while other schools do something, nothing will probably happen.

Something is a better option than nothing but if that something is to name defensive coordinator Everett Withers as interim coach, nothing moves to the No. 1 option.

Probably a moot point now since a new President comes onboard on Friday and Temple will probably wait until then to do something.

Temple has proven under other coaches–Wayne Hardin, Bruce Arians, Al Golden, Matt Rhule and even Geoff Collins–that it can win and be nationally respected in football.

This is what we wrote in this space about Everett Withers on St. Patrick’s Day, 2023, the day he was hired to replace D.J. Eliot. Withers gave up 56 points today and the defensive kids totally quit on him, despite what Stan Drayton said post-game.

Under guys like Jerry Berndt, Ron Dickerson, Bobby Wallace, Rod Carey and now Drayton, not so much.

We suspected this for quite awhile now.

Two weeks before Arthur Johnson hired Drayton we wrote in this space “we have a sinking feeling that he is the guy” and the sinking part was because Johnson was at Texas and Drayton was at Texas with him. Given Temple’s history of Bill Bradshaw being at LaSalle at the same time Fran Dunphy was there (and hiring him to be head coach) and Pat Kraft’s history of being at Indiana at “around” the same time Carey was, that was no bueno.

When is Temple ever going to learn that “buddy hires” don’t work nor should they be allowed?

Maybe after three strikes that approach is now out but that would mean someone other than Angel Hernandez, err, Arthur Johnson has to be the umpire.

Historically, the Temple Board of Trustees has given a new President carte blanche to hire his own major managers, including athletic directors. That came on years when the budget was even tighter than it is now.

We suspect Johnson will be gone.

After then, what?

New President John Fry is a Philly guy. It is only logical that he brings in a Philly guy to be AD. Maybe the new AD brings in a Philly guy to be head coach.

As long as that Philly guy is a proven winner as a head coach with recruiting connections within the footprint of Temple and not the buddy of the other Philly guy, Temple has a chance to succeed again in football.

That’s the formula going forward.

Drayton’s probation is up, and he should be out. If Fry wants to do something to ingratiate himself with Temple fans on his first day of work, firing Drayton would prove that he cares about the way Temple is perceived nationally.

Monday: Five Candidates

10.20.24
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How about restoring the T for Temple U tradition?

The 2024 team could learn a lot from the 2016 team and this is how the players sung T for Temple U after a big win over USF that year. This is a tradition both home and away after every Temple win.

Since I haven’t been around for many wins over the last three years and missed this year’s Utah State game in person, decided to saunter on down to hear the team sing “T for Temple U” after the 20-10 win over Tulsa on Saturday.

After football wins for as long as I can remember, the team breaks out into a loud “T for Temple U” rendition joining the band after the alma mater.

The alma mater is the B side.

Here is Temple running back Montel Harris leading the 2012 team in a post-game rendition of “T for Temple U” in front of the Temple band who made to to Army that day. Harris had 351 yards and 7 touchdowns in that game.

T for Temple U is the A side.

I should have known better.

The team dutifully hung around to hear the school band sing the alma mater and swung to and fro but when the band fired up T for Temple U the team rushed off into the locker room.

Geez, got to stick around to sing T for Temple U with the band and fans.

Heck, even in road games, the players themselves sang the song “A Cappella” and the fans sung along.

When did that change?

The most important part of this video is from the 2:04 mark on. Notice the players getting into it.

I know it’s a little thing, but someone has got to tell Stan Drayton to keep the troops around for the most enjoyable post-game tradition at Temple.

Two songs, not one. The second song is the most important one. The alma mater is the appetizer. T for Temple U is the main course. Don’t go to a 5-star restaurant, pick at the salad and get up and leave.

Maybe getting out of the habit of winning got them out of that habit of celebrating but both habits are something that need to bridge the current and the past. Drayton needs to get with his leadership council tomorrow and mention, hey guys, we plan to win Saturday and, after winning, let’s enjoy the experience with the fans who bother to make the trip.

Another crazy thing about Saturday was the stupid white helmets. They look horrible and are not Temple helmets. Besides the odd look, they have numbers on them and that’s department of redundancy redundant. The players have the numbers on the front and back of their jerseys. They don’t need numbers on the helmet. Also Saturday was the day that the school honored the 1979 Garden State Bowl champions.

How about playing that game wearing the same exact uniforms, including the iconic Cherry “TEMPLE” helmets?

Would that have been too much to ask?

No.

For now, though, I’ll settle for restoring the long tradition of the football team singing T for Temple U with the fans and not just inside the locker room afterward.

Friday: ECU Preview

10.19.24
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Beautiful day, ugly (but needed) win

Having been to the last half-century of Temple football Homecomings, what happened on Saturday might have been the most impressive of them all.

OK, maybe I fibbed.

This overflow lot of mostly Temple students was completely full after the main lots were sold out. Those kids missed a helluva game. (Photo courtesy of me)

The 2015 Homecoming against Tulane was more impressive, simply because Temple fans filled the entire lower bowl in a 48-14 win. They even did a wave across the entire stadium.

On a gorgeous Philly day (74, sunny, no wind) this one was like that one in the sense that the crowd outside the stadium was at least as impressive on Saturday as the one back in 2015.

The difference was that time 35,145 made it inside the stadium and this time only 18,871 did. The flip side of that was Temple was 6-0 then and 1-5 now so maybe the fans deserve more credit. No doubt in my mind if Temple was 5-1 instead of 1-5, a dozen thousand or more people would have wanted to go inside.

Weather-wise, it doesn’t get better in Philadelphia on any Oct. 19. A month from now we will be here freezing our asses off against North Texas.

Yes, there were about as many people who partied the whole day in the lots as the people who made it inside in a 20-10 Temple win.

10 for 104 is way too much

The honey needed to attract those bees inside going forward for Temple is to turn a 17-0 lead into a 34-0 win and the Owls have shown they don’t know how to execute that killer instinct yet.

Penalties were the big reason why, at least in the second half.

On offense, whenever the Owls had a big play, they had a holding penalty.

On defense, whenever they made a big stop in the second half it was either a PI (pass interference) or defensive holding.

That’s why Tulsa–arguably the worst team in the AAC–was able to cause those fans who made it inside (raising my hand here) to bite our fingers until about the 2:40 mark of the fourth quarter.

Eliminating the penalties is the way to beat these teams like East Carolina and FAU coming up. Continuing with this season-long trend is a formula for joining Tulsa at the bottom of the league standings.

If Temple ever wants to get those fans to go from the parking lot and into the stadium, it is going to have to clean up now what should have been done in spring and summer practices.

You could say that about a lot of things, including the swing and miss on who should have been the starting quarterback at both Oklahoma and Navy.

A lot of things that need to be cleaned up by now should have been done by Aug. 31 and that’s on Stan Drayton. Whether it costs him his job or not will depend on his sense of urgency now.

Monday: A Different Kind of Homecoming

10.06.24
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After the fumble heard ’round the world, where does Stan stand?

All these “coaches on the hot seat” stories assume Temple operates like a normal school.

The math for Stan Drayton was getting problematic after the Army loss.

After the fumble heard round the world on Saturday, nothing adds up. Temple’s fumble at the goal line on an ill-advised play call went so viral, it was the number one trending sports video on twitter (or X) between 8-9:10 p.m. on Saturday night. So pretty much everyone saw it and was laughing at Temple.

All the while we who have loved the program so many years were crying.

Athlon Sports Preseason Magazine had Stan Drayton on the hot seat before the season and it hasn’t gotten any cooler after a 1-5 start.

We’re No. 1, at least in ridicule. That’s the kind of math Temple doesn’t need to be associated with, and the numbers adding up in its favor at the end of this season not likely now.

Temple would have to basically run the table–and lose only to, say, Tulane–in order to qualify for a bowl.

In just about every other job in the world “up or out” applies after a certain probation period. Drayton’s probation period expired a long while ago and in no world does 3-9, 3-9 and (most likely) 3-9 represents an up.

Does it really represent an out, though?

At a normal school, an evaluation is made after three or so years whether it’s prudent to keep paying the guy big-time money to keep repeating the same record, or “fish or cut bait.” The assumption is that an important decision must be made and caution or indecisiveness just postpones the inevitable and causes a couple more years of suffering.

Temple, though, works with a different, err, template.

The history of the Owls with major coaching hires has been this: Temple has no stomach to pay two big coaching salaries at the same time and will wait until the contract is up and just not renew it. The one outlier to the process was eating a couple of years of Rod Carey’s salary to get him the hell out of here.

That was a different time with a different administration.

With a new anti-football President coming on board Nov. 1, that’s probably not going to happen with Drayton so while he can stand another 3-9 season, Temple football might not. There’s been a rapid decline in fan support since the big 2022 Homecoming Crowd against Rutgers and the 2024 Homecoming Crowd against FAU will probably been the smallest one since Al Golden’s first year (2006).

When the BOT votes to keep football or not in one or two years, that kind of math is most unhelpful.

It’s too late to get those crowds back this year but it’s not too late to show the powers-that-be football can thrive at Temple. Finish 5-1 and making a bowl is the way to do it and that means no bonehead decisions like doing a tush push with a 160-pound backup redshirt freshman quarterback. Fake it into the belly of Torrez Worthy who does the leap into the end zone, have the QB put the ball on his hip and with an option walk in and toss a short pass to one of five wide-open guys.

That’s probably one game too late.

For the most important sports equation in school history to add up for Temple now means rising to the occasion over the next six games and nothing that happened in the first six supports that hypothesis.

Friday: Five Guys