If this is merely just about a “visit” and not a commitment or a new stadium, it’s a disappointment. Click over image for story.
#WTF is Matt Rhule Talking About?
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Matakevich Winning Butkus Award Would Be Big Boost for Temple Football
Football fans of Temple can give their fingernails a rest. From standout linebacker Tyler Matakevich‘s twitter feed in December, it looked like he would return for his senior season with the Owls in 2015.
Now that the deadline for declaring is about to pass, it’s all but official.
That’s no small commitment because, according to most mock drafts, Matakevich would be one of the top 10 linebackers selected in the NFL Draft if he decided to come out. Now that Matakevich has decided to do something for the Owls, Temple must decide to do something for him in promoting him for the Bednarik Award that goes to the nation’s best defender and Butkus Award that goes to the nation’s best linebacker.
I think he has a decent chance of winning the Butkus Award and that would be a big feather in the cap of Temple football. He doesn’t need to do anything superhuman to win it, either. Just keep doing what he’s been doing and help the Owls win two or more additional games in 2015 than they did in 2014. With Notre Dame and Penn State on the schedule and both figure to be highly rated TV games, his name is fast-tracked to the head of the LB class.
Temple did the same in 1986 for running back Paul Palmer, when the school came up with a clever comic book idea that promoted him for the Heisman Trophy. He did not win it, coming as close as possible — losing to Miami’s Vinny Testaverde and ahead of such luminaries as Oklahoma’s Brian Bosworth and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.
Matakevich is driven by a desire to get Temple to a bowl and sitting and watching others play seems to fuel the flames for next season.
Matakevich is one of the few players to earn all-conference honors in two conferences, the now-defunct Big East and current successor AAC. He also currently is the NCAA’s leading active leaders in tackles among all five divisions (FBS, FCS, and Divisions I through III). For his entire time at Temple, he has given the Owls his best.
Promoting him heavily for the Bednarik and Butkus is the least the Owls can do for him now.
Temple Football Could Learn a lot from Paul Johnson
Click on the photo for more. Temple football’s whole offensive outlook could improve in 2015 by just looking at the way Paul Johnson uses the fullback to open up the entire offense. P.J. can have the same kin d of season this Thomas kid did for GT under this scheme.
Truth Hurts: There Will Be No Bowl
Tommy Tuberville coolly counted down the seconds with his glove to call timeout at the appropriate times to beat Temple yesterday, a stark contrast to his counterpart.
That old saying that “the truth hurts” came in the press conference after Temple’s 14-6 loss to Cincinnati and it was offered up in helpings in this Thanksgiving Day leftover:
“Every game there are different reasons why you win or you lose. I put this game squarely on me,” Temple head coach Matt Rhule said. “Mismanagement of the clock, mismanagement of timeouts, timeouts down the stretch that we had to use early on for ridiculous reasons that the head coach is responsible for. That hurt us. We didn’t have a chance to stop the clock or keep that game going despite the really heroic effort from those guys on defense. As I told the team, that’s on me. There’s nobody else you can point at.”
He’e right, for one of the few times this season. Really, though, was anyone surprised?
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“Every game there are different reasons why you win or you lose. I put this game squarely on me. Mismanagement of the clock, mismanagement of timeouts, timeouts down the stretch that we had to use early on for ridiculous reasons that the head coach is responsible for …”
This guy uses timeouts like they are eight in each half, not three, and it has been going on like this for almost two full years now. Timeouts for things that should have been taken care of during the week in that $17 million practice facility Temple University paid money for by paid professionals who Temple University is paying good money to do those jobs. St. Joseph’s Prep, a team that practices a few blocks away 17th and Thompson’s Brady Athletic Field, gets those things done during the week and is flawless on gameday because of it but Temple does not and is not.
This game was over long before it should have because those paid professionals are not doing the jobs they are paid to do and, because of that–win or no win over Tulane–there will be no bowl. Temple is limping to the end of the season, much like the 2010 team limped to an 8-4 record that nobody wanted. The numbers are just not good for Temple. There CURRENTLY are 80 teams bowl eligible for 76 slots and there will be more eligible teams after next week.
There is a very real chance that even with a win over Tulane–and that’s not a given due to the fact that this coaching staff refuses to use a blocking fullback to even TRY to jump-start an anemic running game–no one will want this team, either.
Fans left the game with five minutes left because they knew there was no way Temple could stop the clock due to the incompetence of the coaching staff. By the time they got to the parking lot, the game was on several televisions and those fans could see a clear image of Cincinnati Tommy Tuberville counting down 3 … 2 … 1 … with his gloves and then pointing to the official to call a timeout.
That was a telling image. A paid professional clearly in control of the situation, with the paid professional on the other side of the field acting like a turkey with his head cut off.
5 Moves That Will Guarantee a Temple Win
Matt Rhule could have used the bye week to fix all of the recent problems (offsides, illegal procedures) and tweak the running game and pass protection schemes. Click on the photo for 5 simple tweaks that would guarantee a Temple win over Cincy.
Friday: Transitive Property Says PSU, Matchups Say Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTesVxHl4r8
Pretty pedestrian stuff this week, except Matt’s answer when someone asked him if John Christopher was returning punts (16:05 time stamp): “I really have nobody else right now, to be honest with you.” I guess he forgot Nate L. Smith’s terrific return on the last punt of the Memphis game.
Years of watching and trying to predict outcomes of Temple football (and other NCAA) games have taught me two things:
Stay away from Transitive Property as the sole tool. TP is the theory that if Team A beat Team B and Team C beat Team A than Team C Will Beat Team B as well.
Look at matchups first.
We’ve detailed a couple of reasons why we’re picking Temple to beat Penn State all this week and none reference Transitive Property. I think Temple will win because Temple’s defensive line should disrupt Christian Hackenberg enough to cause at least one game-changing sack and fumble and at least one game-changing pick. Two of each or more would be nice, but I’m not greedy.
On Our Way: OC Marcus Satterfield looks down after Matt Rhule gives him the offensive game plan (fullback, tailback, plenty of play-action, no 3 wides) that he got from the Bernard Pierce and Al Golden days at TU. Rhule looks upbeat.
That’s a matchup working in Temple’s favor.
Another is that Penn State’s extremely disciplined defense runs into trouble against dual threat quarterbacks like P.J. Walker and I think Walker is a gamer and a winner who will turn enough third and eights into first and 10s with his feet. Hackenberg, on the other hand, is not capable of that. P.J. is also capable of scrambling around and finding sure-handed guys like Romond Deloatch and Keith Kirkwood on busted plays, assuming the Temple coaches are sure-headed enough to have those two targets in the game. If Hackenberg ran around on similar-type plays, chances are better than even Sharif Finch or Praise Martin-Oguike would have caught up to him.
That’s another matchup working in Temple’s favor.
Good thing because Transitive Property, at least in head-to-head matchups, does not favor the Owls. UCF beat Temple, 34-14, and Penn State beat UCF, 26-24.
On the other hand, Penn State “only” beat Akron, 21-3, and I’ve got to believe Temple is at least 19 points better than a team that has lost four-straight MAC games, including a 55-24 loss at old rival Buffalo. Penn State lost to a Maryland team that struggled to a 24-17 win at South Florida, which “only” beat Uconn, 17-14. (Temple beat Uconn, 36-10.) Penn State lost to Northwestern, 29-6, a week after Northwestern lost to old Temple rival NIU, 23-15.
Of course, that’s why the game is played on the field and not on paper and that, thankfully, is only a few hours away.
Positively Beautiful
Watch Tyler Matakevich’s block on Khalif Herbin’s punt return. Gotta find a way, any way, to get the ball in Herbin’s hands more.
Watching Temple systematically dismantle Delaware State, I am reminded by the admonishment of a cop when a group of runners I was with came along a five-car pile-up on what was then the East River Drive about 30 years ago.
“Nothing to see here, boys,” the officer said, “run along.”
Nobody got hurt, just a bunch of totaled cars. Temple was a Humvee running into a Mini Cooper on Saturday.
To me, Saturday’s game was a thing of beauty. The Owls sped around the corner like a finely tuned machine and let up just enough on the gas pedal in the second half to avoid the 100-0 win. Nobody ever said Matt Rhule wasn’t a nice guy. Temple finally dominated one of these lesser teams like it should every time out.
Afterward, I ran into a beautiful person I respect very much and she said: “Now, Mike, no negativity or I’m going to come looking for you.”
Hey, how could anyone be negative? Before the game, I wrote, “44-7 would be nice; 63-0 would be better.”
Really, when you win, 59-0, there can be no nitpicking. A year ago, Towson dominated one of our conference brethren, Uconn, 31-19, and Towson had its hands full with this very same Delaware State team last week. Sure, P.J. Walker forced a couple of interceptions, but he’s got a bum ankle and maybe he’s not planting properly. The speed runners looked a lot better this week. Is that a product of the opponent or getting more speed back there? Would have liked to see Connor Reilly loosen up his arm more, but I’ll chalk that up to coach Rhule not wanting to run the score up.
Mostly, all good stuff. Even the uniforms looked good. I’m a big believer in Karma. When you win, keep the unis the same; when you lose, change up the unis. Love to see the Owls come out in the Cherry Helmets with the school logo next week just because I’m superstitious about stuff like that.
If the Owls play next Saturday like they did this Saturday, they should not need overtime to win at Storrs this year. That should be something worth watching. The real season begins then.
Temple Football Forever 