Tag Archives: Temple football

06.21.17
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“Krafting” Better Schedule

okie

Unless Pat Kraft tinkers with the schedule, after ND this year, Oklahoma in 2024 is really the only high-profile opponent on any of the Owls’ future schedules.

Whether or not he wants to admit it, Pat Kraft has a scheduling problem.

Too many Idahos and Bucknells on the schedule and not enough teams that create juice nationally.

As the Sixers learned in their pursuit of Fultz, there’s really only one way to fix a problem.

Give something to get something.

photo

 

Whether he wants to admit it or not, having Stony Brook on the schedule—instead of beating another Power 5 team—did the AAC champions no favors last year

 

 

Dr. Kraft, the athletic director at Temple, has something to give up for an overall greater reward.

Pick the Idaho and Bucknell years, specifically, and give up those home games for a road game against a more high profile opponent.

Kraft has said two things publically about his scheduling philosophy. One, that he will not accept anything less than a home-and-home with anyone. Two, that no one wants to play the Owls. While that might be his stated philosophy, there is evidence to the contrary.

Both have been debunked by the Oklahoma series starting in 2024.

That’s not a home-and-home (it’s a two-for-one) and, by playing the Owls, Oklahoma has disabused the notion that no one wants to play the Owls.

There have to be other Oklahomas out there and it is up to Dr. Kraft to find them.

Whether he wants to admit it or not, having Stony Brook on the schedule—instead of beating another Power 5 team—did the AAC champions no favors last year. That’s why the “prize” for winning the title of the best G5 conference was not a NY6 bowl but a back-to-the-future trip bowl that the Owls made in 2009.

Since the 2018 non-conference schedule (Villanova, Maryland, BC) is devoid of the Bucknells and Idahos—who really should not be playing Temple—let’s concentrate on the 2019 schedule first.

The Owls’ home opener is the body bag game with Bucknell on Aug. 31. On that weekend, for instance, Baylor is set to open with Stephen F. Austin. Kraft can get on the phone with his self-described “best friend in the whole world” (Matt Rhule) and arrange for the Owls to travel to Waco that day. Surely, Matt would not back down from the same kind of challenge Oklahoma accepted. Then his next move would be to get on the horn with K.C. Keeler and arrange for SFA to host Bucknell.

As the French say, Voilà!

Problem solved. Temple gives up a home game which would be sparsely attended for a road game where there’s a lot of juice to energize the fan base for future home games that year.

The next problem is the Idaho game, a home one on 9/12/20. Since the Owls’ long-term goal should be to get into the ACC, that’s where their focus should be.

Both Miami (Fla.) and Pitt have openings on that date and Temple should offer a home-and-home to both schools. If neither takes it, then offer up the Idaho home game as a sacrifice to the football Gods and take a one-and-done road game. Tell the Vandals thanks for the return date, but no thanks and help them get a game with Villanova or something.

Kraft’s scheduling problem is going to remain one until he does something about it. Otherwise, you can plan your shore trips around the Idaho and Bucknell dates.

Friday: Collins’ Best Week Ever

06.16.17
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Cracker Jack Surprises

crackerjack

As a kid, one of the most popular snack food items was Cracker Jack.

It was OK tasting, but the real appeal was the prizes in the box.

You never knew what was going to be in the box, but it was usually something interesting like a bird whistle, a dancing skeleton or magic kit. Nothing elaborate, but something to pass the time.

Going into Costco the other day and seeing those boxes of Cracker Jack got me to thinking that this 2017 season will be like that snack. You know it’s going to be good, but you also know there will be a surprise or two along the way.

Hopefully, like the box, it will be an interesting one.

The assumption on the outside is that Temple will take a step back and probably cede the title to USF this season. I subscribe to the step back theory, not the ceding title one.

This year, Temple will not have to win 10 games to win the title; I think it could still win it winning as few as eight games and I think that’s a reasonable goal.

Another assumption from a personnel standpoint is that the loss of P.J. Walker will mean Temple takes a big hit at that position and that his successor will be a game manager, rather than a star.

That’s where the Cracker Jack surprise comes into play.

We don’t know if Geoff Collins is a great gameday coach or just another great assistant who rose to his highest level of competence. If he beats Notre Dame and pummels the crap out of Villanova, we will know our answer in the first two weeks. Same if he loses to both. Not so much with a split, though. Going 2-0 with a Mayhem defense that causes turnovers and puts quarterbacks on their asses with regularity would be the ticket.

I think the most interesting prize in the box could be the QB position, where any one of three quarterbacks–Anthony Russo, Frank Nutile or Logan Marchi–emerge.

Marchi has been referred to as a “Poor Man’s Johnny Manziel” without the off-the-field baggage. If he beats out the other two and wins the job, and has anywhere close to the rookie season Manziel had at Texas A&M, the Owls will be a national story. Same, too, for Russo, who is the most highly recruited Temple quarterback since Ron Dickerson grabbed Parade First-Team All-American Kevin Harvey out of Paulsboro. Harvey became a pretty good defensive back but never the QB many predicted he would become. If the Owls succeed with Russo at the helm, that could open a pipeline to local talent for years.

Plenty of surprises ahead in this box because we do not know what is inside. I can’t wait to unwrap it on 9/2/17.

Monday: Birthday Wishes

Wednesday: Krafting a Better Schedule

06.14.17
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Sustainability

Pedersen

If Geoff Collins commits to Temple like Chris Pedersen did to BSU, that would stabilize things.

One of the side benefits of this Labor of Love called Temple Football Forever is reading some of the comments.

Generally speaking, the comments are a little more insightful here than they are on Philly.com or OwlsDaily or Owlscoop.
Maybe I’m just biased, but that’s the way I feel. I think part of the reason for this is that we discuss issues here related to the viability and sustainability of the program and do not generally delve into puff pieces on the players. The reason for that is simply that this site is dedicated to the long-term fans of the program. Players come and go, parents come and go and coaches come and go, but the fans are here forever. This site is for the fans of the program for the past 20 years or longer and hopefully for the fans of the team for the next 20 years. That’s why the future is such an important topic here.
Hence, Temple Football Forever.
A couple of recent ones knocked my socks off and pretty much explained where we are as a program and why we are there.
kjone

To me, there’s a fourth option here and that is to go the Boise State route and find an outstanding coach willing to put eight years in the program like Chris Pedersen was with BSU.  For awhile, Boise State had its pick between the old Big East and the Big 12. It picked the old Big East, but when the Big East became the AAC it opted out. For Temple to truly become the “Boise State of the East” it’s important that Temple become that wanted commodity. Is it realistic? Boise State is not the university Temple is in any non-football respect, so if the Broncos could do it there is no reason Temple cannot. For me, the way to do it is better vetting of future Temple coaches. I cannot believe that the subject of the coaching revolving door did not come up in the Geoff Collins’ vetting process, but apparently it did not. For that, shame on Pat Kraft and Dick Englert. It would be terrific if Collins himself says he wants to break the recent run of coaches who have left the kids holding the bag and stay here for a long time but I don’t see that happening, either. The closest thing he has come to saying that is that he “tells the kids we love them” every day. If you love them, tell them you will never leave them and keep the promise.

These kids have been burned by Al Golden, Steve Addazio and Matt Rhule. It would nice for them to not be shuffled from foster parent to foster parent every few years.

KJ is right, though, the current path is not sustainable because inevitably Temple is going to swing and miss on hiring a head coach and that is going to lead to three-win seasons. Even the best ADs don’t hit homers with head coaching hires all the time. Once you’ve teased the fans with success, they don’t want to slide back.

The other great comment was from JoninOhio here:

jontwo

Jon’s points are terrific, too. Temple always seems to be on the precipice of building a great fan base, but a loss to Army before 35,000 Temple fans last year was a blow from a fan standpoint the team never recovered. That happens every season Temple suffers a disappointing upset loss. Two steps forward, one step back.

This year that can all change. A win over Notre Dame would open some eyes and be a huge step forward toward sustainability.  Remove that revolving door in the coach’s office at the E-O on top of that and away we go.

Friday: A Cracker Jack Surprise

06.12.17
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Gone Too Soon

In a large way, Kee-Ayre Griffin started this football turnaround at Temple University.

After sending someone I did not know a congratulatory email for getting 28 highly-rated commits in his first month on the job, Al Golden shot back a reply.

“Thanks, Mike. It’s not over yet. We’re waiting on a guy from St. Peter’s who might be the best of the class. It’s between us, Maryland and Boston College. Wish us luck.
_Al”

Griffin, who died last week, was that guy and Golden got him. Getting Griffin started a Golden run where he’d win a handful of recruiting battles with Power 5 schools every year.
That’s how you recruit at Temple University. You get mostly two stars that you “coach up” to four stars, but you reach up and grab a few four-stars–like Griffin–in every class. Temple certainly departed from the ingredients of that mix  in the most recent class and we will not know if the resulting cake will be delicious or flat until four years down the line.

athletic

Griffin did not turn out to be the Mega Star back all of the scouting services had him being, but he was more than a serviceable running back who found his niche after being switched over to the defensive side of the ball.

Before that happened, he had a key fumble in an overtime loss at Navy that never should have happened and a young head coach who did not know any better threw him under the bus afterward. With 17 seconds left and on fourth down deep in your own territory against a triple option team with no time outs, you punt the ball, plain and simple.

That’s Coaching 101.


That’s how you recruit
at Temple University.
You get mostly two stars
that you “coach up” to
four stars, but you reach
and grab a few
four-stars–like Griffin–in
every class

In 2009, I was walking down the corridor of the fourth floor of the team hotel, the Renaissance Marriott,  in Washington D.C. and saw Griffin, dressed in a Temple warmup, leaving about three hours before the Eagle Bank Bowl. Knowing the team had left a couple hours before, I said:
“Kee, what happened to you?”
“I got suspended.”
Not wanting to know what it was for, I just said:
“Sorry to hear that. We need you out there.”
“Thanks.”

After hopping on the D.C. Metro, the entire car broke out into a loud “Let’s Go Temple” rhythmic chant that lasted the entire ride to RFK Stadium. Thinking about the “regular” commuters hearing that, it was one of my proudest moments as a Temple fan. In the rear of the same car, I saw Griffin taking in the whole scene and smiling. Hell, I got pretty choked up watching this scene unfold.

In 2011, while playing for Steve Addazio, he had the most athletic interception I ever saw a Temple player make, diving by the sideline to intercept a Penn State pass. It would have won the game, but Mike Gerardi returned the favor three plays later and Penn State went on to win, 14-10. If not for that, Griffin’s play would have gone down with Sharif Finch’s interception as two game-changing plays in wins over Penn State, but it was not to be.

While he might have hung with the wrong crowd after Temple, the Kee-Ayre Griffin I knew was a good guy who loved the school and his teammates and made a huge impact at Temple. Two other teammates, Anthony Ferla and Adrian Robinson, also did not make it to their 30th birthday and that is the very definition of gone too soon. The arguments about Kee hanging with the wrong crowd should be for another day. He’s gone and his Temple family is grieving along with his blood relatives. The same can be said for Ferla and Robinson, who died under different circumstances.

All of them deserved to be remembered for the significant contributions they made to Temple.
Wednesday: Sustainability
06.09.17
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Fizzy’s Corner: The Cosby Trial

fizz

Editor’s Note: Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub, a friend of Temple Football Forever and former teammate of Bill Cosby, was featured in a story in the Washington Informer. The story follows below: 

The Temple University community — both current students and faculty and its proud alumni — have largely remained silent as Bill Cosby, the school’s onetime favorite son, faces sexual assault charges.

However, on the outset of Monday’s trial in which the iconic comedian could face 10 years in prison, one of the university’s stronger voices has emerged.

David Weinraub, a Temple graduate who spent more than 30 years as a teacher, dean and high school principal, has challenged others to “review the evidence” against Cosby, who attended Temple and served 32 years on the university’s board of trustees.

Weinraub, who has closely followed the accusations of dozens by women who claim Cosby assaulted them, has put together a compelling argument, presented as if he were a lawyer, and asks students of a fictional law school to determine Cosby’s guilt or innocence.

“I’ve been following it from the beginning and saw the obvious time constraints with the statute of limitations in the case and I saw where a district attorney candidate ran on the Cosby issue,” said Weinraub, who now lives in New Jersey.

His “assignment” details the case through facts not always as widely reported as the allegations.

“Once the accusations were made public, many women came forth to say they too, had been molested by [Cosby],” Weinraub said. “Many of their stories had the same theme: they were thrilled to have this famous man show interest, and accompanied him to his digs where he surreptitiously slipped a drug in their drink. Later, they woke to find their clothes in disarray, and various forms of evidence suggesting some kind of sexual activity had taken place.”

None of the women came forward with a complaint within the legal time limit except for former Temple employee Andrea Constand. However, after prosecutors originally reviewed the evidence, it was determined that there wasn’t enough to convict Cosby, so Constand filed a civil suit seeking damages, Weinraub noted.

“The basis of her case was that on one of the many occasions she had visited Cosby, she was given a pill,” Weinraub wrote in the dissertation to students whom he’s asked to determine the outcome of the case. “When the drowsiness wore off, she looked down and saw that Cosby had his hand in her pants.

“She did not say that anything else had occurred, only that she saw his hand in her pants,” he wrote. “Cosby said the pill and any activity was consensual. She said it was not.”

Given the he-said-she-said testimony in such cases, prosecutors struck a deal with Cosby for him to tell his side of the story and that it would remain sealed, Weinraub said.

Also, a deal between Cosby and Constand was reached but years later, a new prosecutor stepped in and filed charges anyway despite the former prosecutor agreeing not to seek prosecution.

The new prosecutor wanted to bring in the previously sealed testimony made by Cosby in the civil suit, Weinraub said.

“After hearing the testimony of the old prosecutor who said he had indeed, made the deal, the presiding judge said in effect, ‘tough darts,’” he said, pointing out how Cosby’s private words could now be shared with a jury in a criminal trial and that the judge who allowed the testimony did so knowing that Constand’s claims could not be substantiated.

In his direction to the law students, Weinraub asked that they also consider Cosby’s request for a change of venue.

In summation, Weinraub said the only charge to be considered is that Cosby gave Constand a pill and placed his hand in her pants, all without permission.

“There is no other charge here,” he argued.
“You’ve heard firsthand from this woman, she did not acquiesce to take a pill from Cosby, nor did she want him to put his hand in her pants. Cosby’s testimony from the civil trail says he offered a portion of a pill and she accepted. At no time did she say no.”

Weinraub noted that Constand voluntarily came to Cosby’s house on several occasions and even returned after the alleged incident.

There was no immediate complaint of any sort until much later, when her mother got involved, he said.

“Then, after the prosecutor decided he couldn’t win a criminal case, the mother and daughter decided to sue in civil court … during the civil case, they made a deal, accepted money, and that was that until this new prosecutor searching for an issue that could help him win an election, said he would bring criminal charges against Cosby,” Weinraub said.

“She didn’t say he raped her,” he said. “She didn’t say he did anything else indecent. All she said was he put his hand in her pants without her permission, and that’s after cozying up on the couch with him for quite a time. There’s no proof here, only innuendo from a woman who took his money and then went back on her word.

“Why was she even there?” Weinraub said. “Why didn’t she leave? Innuendo is not proof. After all the times she voluntarily visited Cosby, and even instigated some of those visits, are you going to send a man to prison on her word alone? Are you going to send a man to prison because this woman said he had his hand in her pants?”

Weinraub asked his students to place themselves in the position of the presiding judge and present a verdict and rationale for it.

When asked what would be his verdict, Weinraub said, “Not guilty.”

Attempts to reach Montgomery County District Attorney Richard Steele and Constand’s attorney were unsuccessful. Temple officials had no comment.

Monday: Too Soon

Wednesday: Sustainability 

Friday: Cracker Jack Game Managing

Monday (6/19): Birthday Wishes

Wednesday (6/21): Five ADs Pat Kraft Should Call

06.07.17
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Sweet Home Recruiting

alabama

There’s three seasons of Temple football, the fall, the spring and recruiting.

Temple did well in one, not so well in another and the jury is out on the third.

Of course, the most important season is the fall but without the other two there can be no tangible success. The jury is always out on the spring, because that’s always the good guys versus the good guys. For the elation of every great touchdown class in the spring, there’s the nagging thought that maybe the secondary is not as good as advertised. That happens every year.

Now we’re in recruiting season.

So maybe that’s why it was heartening to hear that Geoff Collins sent some of his staff down to Alabama for a recruiting seminar.

A lot of people among us felt that the Owls should have had a better recruiting season off an AAC championship, even with a new coaching staff. There was enough evidence to support that theory as Al Golden, Steve Addazio and Matt Rhule all had significantly higher-rated recruiting classes in their transition years than Collins did in his.

There was definitely the term “mailing it in” used on the recruiting effort of this staff and it’s hard to defend against it. It certainly seemed like that from my perspective, considering a new coaching staff without a lot of local ties would “settle” for not building a long-term foundation and instead look to live off Rhule’s recruits and move on to the next job.

It’s hard to scrub that image from the minds of a lot of Temple fans, including me. A top-rated AAC class in 2018 would erase that perception but we are not off to a good start.

aacrecruits

That’s why they have to get their act in gear for the season that takes place most of the summer.

Maybe going down to Alabama to listen to what Nick Saban has to say will help, but probably some good old-fashioned hustle and shoe-leather might do more good.

“I’d like to welcome our group from Temple,” we can only imagine hearing Saban say. “The best advice I have to improve your recruiting is to get in the SEC, play all of your games on Saturday and pack the house.”

Golden did it by coming to Temple with built-in relationships with high schools within the recruiting focus area and Rhule did it by enhancing those relationships. Maybe after listening to Saban, picking up the phone and calling Al or Matt might be worth the dime.

Friday: Fizzy’s Corner Returns

Monday: Sustainability

06.05.17
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Timing Is Everything

logos

Any Temple football fan since the days of the MAC knows that planning ahead can be a tricky thing.

You set aside the day for the home games and hope you can get to at least some of the nearby games.

You very rarely know more than a few weeks, sometimes a few days, what the exact kickoff times will be.

Such is life in the television-dominated world of college football these days.

Something different happened this season, though.

Temple fans now know the kickoff times and the days for many of the games and that can be a good thing.

Of course, the most important game time is the one on Sept. 2 at Notre Dame, perhaps the highest-profile remaining game on the TU sked until 2024. That game will start at 3:30 on NBC and probably be on in every bar and tavern in the country.

Three-thirty is perhaps the best time for a home Temple game and the Owls lucked out by hosting Villanova on 3:30 on Sept. 9. That game will not be on over-the-air television in Philadelphia, which is probably a good thing because that means there will be more fannies in the seats than usual. If the Owls don’t get at least 35,000 for this one it will be a major disappointment considering they drew 34,000 for the home opener against Army last year.

On Sept. 15, the Owls host UMass on ESPNU at 7 p.m. The less said about that game the better.

On September 21, the Owls travel to hot Tampa for a 7:30 (or 8) ESPN game. Probably best for them that game is not being played in the daytime.

Another time etched in zone is the revenge match against Army, high noon, on Oct. 21. That game will be on CBS Sports Network. Owls also host Navy in another revenge match (for them) on Nov. 2 on ESPN. That is either a 7:30 or 8 p.m. start.

The final known starting time is the Nov. 10 game at Cincinnati, 7 p.m., on ESPN2.

Still unknown are the times of games against Houston, East Carolina, UConn, UCF and Tulsa but winning the AAC championship certainly seems to have put the Owls in a position where a lot of their game times are already known.

You could not say the same thing this time last year.

The Lineup

Sept 2 @Notre Dame 3:30 NBC
Sept 9 Villanova 3:30 ESPN3
Sept 15 Umass 7:00 ESPNU
Sept 21 @USF 7:30/8 ESPN
Oct 21 @Army 12:00 CBSSN
Nov 2 Navy 7:30/8 ESPN
Nov 10 @Cincinnati 7:00 ESPN2
Houston @East Carolina Uconn UCF @ Tulsa TBD

Wednesday: Sweet Home Recruiting

06.02.17
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The Big Cheeses

Sometimes you wish everyone was Ed Foley.

At least I do, not necessarily for what they do but for what they say.

The Temple football video guys (and gal Morgyn Siegfried) have an interesting series where every Friday they take a Temple football coach or staff member for a Cheese Steak.

Hence, Cheese  Steaks With Coach was born.

All of the videos can be watched here.

When I viewed the first video with head coach Geoff Collins, I did not know what answers he would give but was nonetheless interested in what he had to say.

Then I watched the second one with Foley and Ed said everything I wanted Collins to say about Temple and Philadelphia was perfectly articulated by Foley and you know Foley meant every word he said.

“I love it here,” Foley said. “This is where I want to be. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

So far, we’ve heard Al Golden, Steve Addazio and Matt Rhule say similar things that, in retrospect, could not have meant. We’re thinking mostly about Rhule’s specific comment about not wanting to coach anyone other than Temple’s players after he signed a contract last year in good faith at Temple and that no amount of millions thrown at him would get him to change his mind.

A year later, he changed his mind.

Collins nor any of his assistants have proclaimed their love of the place in their segments as much as Foley did in his. It might have been an oversight, but a lot of it is because this is home for Foley. A perfect coach for Temple would be a guy who loves Philadelphia as much as Foley has, a recruiter like Golden and a game day mastermind like Wayne Hardin was.

That perfect guy probably does not exist.

You can learn a lot about cheese steaks and more about the mindset of the current coaching staff.

They all love the food, but none gee Cheese whiz you kind of wish there was that same kind of enthusiasm about the place and the program Foley showed.

Monday: It’s About Time

 

05.31.17
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Power 5 Misconceptions

The 2013 Temple signing class

A few years ago, a famous ex-Temple basketball player—who shall remain nameless—went on a sustained rant when he learned that the Owls were leaving the MAC for football and joining the then Big East.

“This is the worst idea ever,” he said. “We’re never going to win in the Big East. We’re going to be going back to 3-9 seasons. It’s just dumb. I like this winning thing. Let’s stay in the MAC where we can win. We haven’t even won a MAC title. Let’s do that first.”

I tried to explain to him then, as I do to others now, that when the Power 6 train (the old Big East was part of that cartel) pulls up to the station and asks you to board, you don’t say want to go back to 10th and Berks at midnight and look for the watch you might have dropped on the ground. You get on board. There might not be another train coming.

Just when you thought the Owls winning the AAC—the successor to the Big East football conference—drove a stake through that faulty logic, it reared its ugly head on the Temple fan facebook page the other day when someone said “we’re not ready” for the Power 5 and that a move to the Power 5 would mean a return to three-win seasons.

De Ja Bleeping Vu.

 

Oy vay.

Let’s deal with the first misconception, the so-called “fact” that  Temple is “not ready” or would “return to three-win seasons” in the Power 5.

Temple already has beaten Power 5 teams in Penn State (27-10) two seasons and Vanderbilt (37-7) three seasons ago. In 2011, the Owls beat a Maryland team (38-7), which was a week removed from a 32-24 win over Miami (Fla.), another Power Five team. They went toe-to-toe with the then No. 9 team in the country, Notre Dame, on national television in 2015 and lost pretty much on the final play of the game.

This is not your father or grandfather’s Temple football program.

It might not hit the ground running in the Power 5, but it certainly would not crawl and probably jog right into the middle of the pack if not better.

A year ago, only 120 yards in penalties kept one Group of Five champion, Temple, from beating a Power 5 champion, Penn State, on the road. Most of those penalties were of the kind that could have been avoided had the Owls paid more attention to detail in the week or so preceding the Penn State game. No one knows if Geoff Collins is going to be a more detail-oriented coach that Matt Rhule was, but you have got to hope that one of his Temple teams is not going to get 120 yards in penalties in such an important game again.

The whole conversation could be moot since there is no invitation on the horizon but should something come in the mail, every single Temple fan has to know that the answer is not subject to debate.

Friday: The Big Cheeses

05.29.17
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5 Reasons Why Owls Could Repeat

NCAA FOOTBALL: DEC 03 AAC Championship - Navy v Temple

The AAC title would be a nice keepsake item for the Owls this season.

The Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is a very nice place, one that Temple football fans called home for the last two games of the 2016 season.

One of them, a father of a recent player, mentioned to me that he would not mind if the thing could be placed on a forklift and plopped right onto the site that for years was Geasey Field. Not a bad idea, I said, if it could find into that spot.

As I walked out of that stadium in late December, I remember thinking another thing.

I liked that stadium a whole lot better the first week of the month than the last. It looked like the Taj Mahal on the first Saturday of the month and, after a 34-26 loss to Wake Forest, like Northeast High.

Playing and winning a meaningful game made it a whole lot better-looking.

Temple has been in the AAC championship game the last two years, losing the first, winning the second.

Few expect the Owls to return for a third-straight time, maybe even host it,  but I don’t think it’s impossible.

Here’s 5 reasons why the Owls could repeat:

sharga

Don’t Mess With a Good Thing

Offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude mentioned that the Owls would keep their identity as a run-first, pass second team, then talked the out the other side of his mouth in the same sentence, saying the Owls could go to multiple receiver formations as well. The Owls have the best blocking fullback in the country, Nick Sharga, for one more year. If they are going to go to multiple wide receivers, do it in 2018, not 2017. At his Baylor press conference, Matt Rhule said the Owls ran the ball simply because “we had a NFL fullback.” They still do.

maniac

Mayhem Takes Over

The T-Shirts the university sells isn’t just an empty slogan: Mayhem Is Coming. That’s because everywhere Temple coach Geoff Collins has been he has structured a defense based on pressuring the quarterback into mistakes, like fumbles and interceptions. In players like Sharif Finch and Jacob Martin (defensive ends) and tackles Michael Dogbe and Karamo Dioubate, they have guys who can get to the quarterback and strip the ball from him before he’s able to get a pass out of his hands. At least that’s the plan.

russo

Quarterback Separation

Anthony Russo is the best quarterback prospect out of the three Philadelphia City high school leagues (Public, Catholic, Inter-Ac) since Matt Ryan played for Penn Charter. Russo’s stats playing better competition than Ryan dwarfed the current NFL MVP (Russo had 35 touchdown passes his senior year as opposed to 20 for Ryan). Yet Russo hasn’t been able to establish separation with fellow quarterback contenders Logan Marchi, Frank Nutile and Toddy Centeio. If he does in the next few months, watch out.  Really, all any of the quarterbacks needs to do is match P.J. Walker’s first year (20 touchdowns, 8 interceptions) because the running game with Jager Gardner and Ryquell Armstead could carry this offense.

Infusion of Confidence

A win over Notre Dame in the first game would inject an infusion of confidence into the players that could carry over into the rest of the season. Face it: They all seem to like Collins, but nothing would give Collins credibility to his players like beating ND on national TV. They could ride that Tidal Wave through the AAC. How sweet would it be for Temple to beat Notre Dame and then see the Irish go on a six- or -seven-game winning streak after that?

kraft

Game Day/Week Coaching

While Rhule, like Al Golden, were great program CEOs and very good recruiters, they had some brain farts on game day that caused Temple fans and ex-players to shake their heads. Such an example occurred against Army in the opener last year when the Owls played their base 4-3 against a triple option, instead of plugging the A Gaps and forcing Army’s quarterback to beat them in in the passing game. Another example was a poor week of preparation prior to Penn State led to 120 yards in Owl penalties in a 34-27 loss. Cracking the whip during practice the week before might have cut those penalties in half and meant the AAC champ winning at the Big 10 champ. Huge opportunity missed not only for Temple but for the G5. If Collins does a better job at studying opponent’s game film than Rhule did, he could steal one or two more wins than the so-called experts expect.

Those one or two extra wins could make all the difference in the world.

Wednesday: P5 Misconceptions