For someone who hates to get up early, the thing I missed most about the 2020 was getting up at 5:30 or so a half-dozen times a year and making my way to Lincoln Financial Field by no later than 8 or 9.

I’ve been doing that for the better part of 40 years now and to suspend that routine seemed strange.

It was strange.

I thought about that when someone accused me of being a “fair-weather fan” because of this post last week.

I remember tailgating near the end of one season where the Owls went 0-11 under Bobby Wallace and the pre-game tailgate at Lot K included Ted DeLapp, Rick Gabe, Nittany Owl, a guy named Fred, the late Dan Glammer, Lazygote and me.

We looked around the lot not five hours before the game but more like five minutes and we were it. That was it on that rainy pre-game against Miami (Ohio). Seven guys. Maybe more in the Jetro Lot a couple of blocks away where the late Wes Sornisky was holding court with a few ex-Temple players.

Now it’s grown exponentially but those days were never to be forgotten. The pre-game talk that day was that we were going to hire a coach to bring us to the Promised Land. One guy mentioned Rick Neuheisel. Fred brought up Frank Solich. One guy mentioned John Latina.

None of us have ever heard of Al Golden at that point.

It turned out he was the right choice.

We all came back every week during a 20-game losing streak because we knew that, under a good coach, Temple football–despite paltry facilities in those days–could thrive.

It turned out we were right. Because largely of Al Golden, Temple went from being laughed at to being respected and he was the coach the Owls needed at that time.

My point then, as it is now, is that once we came out of the Dark Ages, we should have a minimal expectation of never returning to them. Everyone there nodded in agreement. Temple football should never have zero, 1 or 2-win seasons again.

Those fans there that day were the all-weather fans, not the fair-weathered ones. None of us expected Temple to win the championship every year, but winning seasons (or at least non-losing ones) should be the standard going forward.

A 1-6 season opened some eyes, even though a lot of us got up just before noon on days we were used to getting up at 5:30. Some blamed COVID, but I thought that excuse was too easy. COVID didn’t cause four kickoffs to go out of bounds (two in a row). COVID didn’t cause a pandemic of fair catches. COVID didn’t cause the Owls to throw a pass short of the goal line on a critical two-point conversion at Navy when they had a 6-6 receiver covered by a 5-10 corner in the back of the end zone.

The standard remains and that’s why 2021 is important to keeping whatever fan base Temple football has left or even have a chance at expanding it.

Friday: Dynamic and Dependable

The plan as rolled out by the Temple football season ticket office was to set a deadline for Feb. 26.

I let it slide.

I don’t think I’m the only one.

Looking at it from a sheer marketing perspective, the product they are trying to sell is just not a good one right now.

Hmm.

Do I want to sit in a seat and watch another 1-6 (or 2-5) start and suffer like I did from 1991-2008?

No.

Been there, done that.

Hell, I might wait until after the Rutgers’ game and re-up. Beat Rutgers and I am all in and that bar would have been a very low one as recently as two years ago.

Furthermore, do we really know if fans will be allowed in the stands?

Just as importantly, will tailgating be allowed in Lot K or FDR Park? The tailgating experience is at least 50 percent of being there in good years, about 90 percent of it in the bad old days. Right now, 2020 was the bad old days and I’m hoping it was an outlier but the signs are not encouraging. Tailgating is not guaranteed for 2021.

I certainly hope so and think so, but I don’t KNOW so. That alone is enough to postpone any decision on season tickets until the effect of the vaccine on the entire pandemic is determined, maybe even as late as August.

If the ticket office was smart, they would have moveable deadlines and not have set the one that just expired. It’s going to be hard enough to sell tickets this season.

Making it easier to sell them should supersede any arbitrary deadline.

Friday: The Bounty Bowl and Temple

A week ago, we mentioned in this space that you’d have to have a pretty strong pair of Cherry and White-colored glasses to think a 1-6 team transformed itself into a winning one this offseason.

Maybe we were wrong so we went to the mat and went over the 2021 schedule game by game.

If you think by adding a quarterback from Georgia (who is charged with replacing a top four all-time Temple quarterback) and a couple of Power 5 running backs are going to do the trick, those are pretty strong glasses.

There is hope, though.

Five impact players still to be added can move the needle from a two- or four-win 2021 season to a six-win one. What do we mean by impact players? Guys who’ve started and excelled on a Power 5 team. Defensive linemen who have multiple sacks and tackles for losses. Defensive backs with interceptions and multiple starts. Difficult to get those kinds of guys? Yes. Impossible? With over 1,600 and counting players in the portal still, hardly. Unless Temple gets five of those types, I don’t see a significant uptick in wins in 2021.

It’s that simple.

In hopes of eating my words come December (and will only if the 2021 Owls post a WINNING season), here is a sobering look at what will probably happen with this current group of players:

Rutgers 31, Temple 14 _ Rutgers seems to have turned it around under former coach Greg Schiano who, like Al Golden at Temple, is a proven winner at his former place of employment. If Temple loses this one, it will go to show how far Temple has fallen from a team that beat Maryland (20-17) in 2019 to losing to a team that same Maryland team beat (48-7).

Temple 21, Akron 14 _ This could easily be a loss as the Zips closed out last season impressively, with a 31-3 win over Bowling Green, whose head coach in that game was former Temple offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler, but you’ve got to believe the Temple program is better than the Zips and I believe that there is enough holdover talent to get this done.

Boston College 34, Temple 23 _ If Isaiah Graham Mobley and Khris Banks make game-changing plays in this one, that will be a real kick in the nuts.

Temple 38, Wagner 7 _ The last time Wagner played an AAC team it lost “only” 21-14 but that was UConn so it didn’t count.

Cincinnati 38, Temple 0 _ Cincy has had four of the last five top AAC recruiting classes. In the same time frame, the best Temple can do is finishing in the middle of the recruiting pack. It’s not the X’s and O’s, it’s the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s.

ECU 28, Temple 3 _ Temple has only slightly improved from last year’s 28-3 loss but arguably ECU has also improved so it’s a potential wash.

Houston 31, Temple 10 _ The Cougars get revenge for a 59-49 loss to Temple when the Owls had a running back good enough to score six touchdowns in the game (and a commitment to the run that enabled him to do it).

Memphis 41, Temple 29 _ The Owls had Anthony Russo at quarterback when they were able to put up 29 points on Memphis last year. If Duece Mathis is as good as advertised, he will at least be able to match the output.

Navy 34, Temple 31 _ So far, the Temple coaching staff has only faced two triple option teams, Army in the early NIU days and Navy last year. They haven’t figured out a way to stop the triple option in over a decade. Maybe they should have the Air Force, Army and BYU staffs visit the E-O for a chalkboard session. Since Pride Goeth Before the Fall, I don’t anticipate that happening so Navy scores over 30 again.

UCF 38, Temple 17 _ Instead of trying for a touchdown on fourth and goal at the two for a 38-21 loss, Rod Carey goes for the field goal to cover the spread. The boos from the smattering of 4,345 fans at Lincoln Financial Field are palpable.

Tulsa 44, Temple 7 _ The Golden Hurricane prove that a school with 3,764 full-time students can beat a school with 40,000 full-time students if the right ratio of those students are big-time football players.

USF 39, Temple 31 _ USF lost at Temple last year, 39-37, when its quarterback inexplicably put the ball on the carpet at his own five. People usually learn by painful mistakes like that.

There you have it. Unless five impact players walk in the door between now and April, Temple is staring at a 2-10 season. Five impact players can help the Owls pick off the USF, Memphis, Navy and maybe Houston games but the Jimmy’s and Joe’s aren’t there now, nor are the X’s and O’s.

Don’t say the coaching staff hasn’t been warned.

Monday: Back to the Future