Tag Archives: Temple football

10.07.19
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Fizzy: Shedding some light on the ECU game

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Editor’s Note: Former Temple player Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub brings a weekly perspective as not only a player but as a coach, educator, and writer. 

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Random Observations

  • Penalty after penalty – Both offense & defense – Same guys all the time
  • After five games, I’ve concluded it’s (#1) Mack’s fault to not reach the first down marker. Once again in the first quarter, he went out of bounds a yard short.
  • We continue to run the fake jet sweep never having run the jet sweep.
  • Why can’t Russo run?  Why not a bootleg RPO?
  • When Centeio comes in, why can’t there be misdirections with others running the ball after he fakes.  Future opponents will be prepared.  The play sequence is lousy.
  • I know Davis bounces outside, but on short yardage runs isn’t Gardner the power back?
  • On pass defense, it seems the defenders are very slow coming up
  • Even though the running game is successful, why not try to get outside more?  Boring
  • We’ve tried to run a middle screen a number of times – all unsuccessfully.
  • 23 seconds left in the first half – Turnover in red zone.
  • Hurray, hurray – In the fourth quarter of our fifth game, we FINALLY ran a little semi-reverse pitch to Isaiah Wright and he walked into the end zone.  It’s been open all year.
  • Even when the game was secure, one of our defenders had to throw a forearm after the whistle – It was not called.

Summary

ECU was valiant but outmanned. It took much too long for our superior talent to put this game away.  We played disgustingly at times.

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Fizzy here at the Boca Raton Bowl

Conclusions

As it turns out this year, our conference games look to be the toughest part of our schedule.  And even though we’re going in with a 4 – 1 record, if we continue to play this way, our record will prove to be misleading.  How can we be so sloppy in the fifth game of the year?  Obviously, a major reason is discipline on the field.  How can we continue to take such stupid penalties?  If we do, we’ll have little chance of beating teams equal and better in talent than us.

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We also need to vary our approach more quickly on both offense and defense.  In the first quarter, ECU had us on our defensive heels.  It wasn’t until we finally started to blitz more at the beginning of the second quarter, did we turn it around.  And there must be a rule somewhere against running trick plays.  What the hell is wrong with running some halfback passes, reverses, roll right – throwback lefts, Philly Specials, and fumble-rooskies?  They turn on both the players and the fans.

C’mon coach, open it up.

Wednesday: Could be a special Homecoming

Saturday: Game Day Tribute

10.05.19
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Saturday Games: How will they affect TU?

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Memphis plays in this stadium today before coming to LFF next Saturday as perhaps a Top 25 team.

Maybe getting an extra few days to prepare for Memphis is a good thing, particularly with the penalties and pass protection issues still plaguing the Owls.

There is no maybe involved, though, when it comes to the Tigers, who have to travel to the University of Louisiana-Monroe today at 3:45 p.m.

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Early games today

Temple coaches have the added benefit of watching the game live on TV and then breaking down game film afterward.

Memphis should be able to cover the 15-point spread easily in this one but the travel to Louisiana and back to Memphis and then a trip to Philadelphia for Temple homecoming should benefit the Owls at least a little.

Other AAC games of interest today include USF at UConn (surprised that the Bulls are only 10.5-point favorites there) and SMU giving 13.5 points at Tulsa. SMU looks like the best team in the league so far and that includes UCF and Cincy. Beating a TCU team that beat Kansas, 51-17, is pretty impressive–especially after Kansas traveled to Boston to double-up Steve Addazio’s Eagles two weeks prior. I have to root for host Navy getting 3 points against Air Force and think the Middies should be able to pull the mild upset.

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Later games today

Picks today: ARMY getting 3 against visiting Tulane. The Green Wave is pretty good this year but Army has won 15-straight home games and I think Army wins this game outright. Also like Rod Carey’s former team, Northern Illinois, covering the 4.5 against visiting Ball State, Maryland covering the 13.5 at Rutgers, Navy getting the 3 against Air Force and Western Kentucky covering the 3.5 at Old Dominion. With Cincy beating UCF last night, we are now 18-5 for the season and 14-9 against the spread.

Monday: Fizzy’s Corner

10.04.19
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Turning out the lights on East Carolina

The lights went out with 3 minutes, 34 seconds left in Temple’s 27-17 win over host East Carolina but, to borrow a famous Don Meredith phrase, the party was over long before that.

The score was 27-10 at the time but, in reality, it seemed a lot more dominant game by the Owls than that.

It seems like first-year Temple coach Rod Carey has found the formula going forward: Heavy on the run game to open up passing lanes and light on the turnovers.

That’s the lesson of the unfortunate Buffalo loss. The Owls tried to do too much up there and, as a result, had too many turnovers and put their defense in too many bad spots.

No more.

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When all is said and done, I think ECU will be a better team than Buffalo–it already owns a win over an Old Dominion team that played Virginia Tech pretty even–but that’s not as important as the Owls finding their own familiar identity.

Pound and ground and hit a few important plays in the passing game as a result of the bad guys being so intent on stopping the run. It limits turnovers, but probably doesn’t lead to some of the blowout wins we’ve seen in the past.

That’s a preview of the game plan with teams like Memphis and UCF ahead and probably the only way to win.

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Re’Mahn Davis solidified my view that he’s a big-time back. He had a career-high in rushing (157 yards) and he broke more tackles on every drive than Eagles’ tight end Zach Ertz has in a seven-year NFL career. He’s got a unique running style that I can’t quite pin down. He’s not as elusive as Heisman Trophy runner-up Paul Palmer nor as fast as state champion sprinter Bernard Pierce but he breaks tackles like no Temple running back I’ve seen recently. Maybe Montel Harris (351 yards, 7 touchdowns in a 2012 win over Army) is the closest comparison I can make.

I made a point out of watching Carey’s face coming off the field and it was the pained look of a guy who lost 27-17 and not won. That’s a good sign. That shows he’s a perfectionist and that’s what Temple football needs in the CEO spot. There were far too many penalties and the Owls are going to have to figure out a better way to keep the rush off Anthony Russo. To me, the best way is putting a fullback in as a lead blocker for Davis and Jager Gardner and also drop back to help in play-action pass protection for Russo. Ask Paul Palmer what helped him nearly get the Heisman and he will tell you fullback Shelley Poole. Wyatt Benson did the same for Pierce and Kenny Harper played that important role for Harris. Nick Sharga’s fullback blocks helped Jahad Thomas, Ryquell Armstead and teammates beat Penn State and win an AAC title. Temple has a long tradition of great fullbacks.

Carey will have to come to that conclusion for himself.

Meanwhile, winning a game in college football is hard enough and winning a game on the road is even harder so it is better to learn those lessons after a win than after a loss.

Prediction Tonight: Cincinnati getting 4.5 against visiting UCF.  Bearcats, UCF and Boise State are the leading candidates to get the G5 NY6 slot and the Bearcats have already made one statement for it by beating Marshall, 45-17, on the road. How was that a statement? Boise struggled to beat Marshall, 14-7, at home. UCF was unimpressive in losing to a middling ACC team like Pitt in OT. Bearcats win this outright, 27-21. Last week we were 4-3 against the spread (winning with ECU and Toledo as dogs and SMU and Cincy as favorites but losing on Maryland as a dog and UAB and Wake Forest as favorites. YTD: 17-5 straight up, 13-9 ATS.

Tomorrow: Key Saturday Games

10.02.19
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Game Night: Wright Time to put best feet forward

Forget about baseball for a moment since just about all of the ratings indicate much of America has, even in the postseason.

This is football season and there are two games on nationally Thursday night.

One is an NFL game.

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The other is Temple football. Believe it or not, a large swath of the country doesn’t care much for the NFL but instead prefers college football and, for those folks, this is Temple’s chance to shine.

Maybe one or two times a year the university has a chance to put its front porch on the national stage without significant competition and one of them is Thursday (8 p.m., ESPN) at East Carolina. They won’t be seeing Temple as a chemistry class or a library or a band, but Temple as a football team.

So logic follows that maybe the Owls should put their best feet forward.

Or at least the best two feet they have: Isaiah Wright.

If there’s a common thread to the statements that Matt Rhule, Geoff Collins and Rod Carey have made about any Temple football player it’s various forms of this quote:

“We have to find a way to get the ball more to Isaiah Wright.”

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As a freshman under Rhule, Wright caught 8 passes for 74 yards with zero touchdowns but was more involved as a runner by carrying the ball 42 times for 232 yards, including a touchdown at Tulane.

As a sophomore under Collins, Wright had 46 receptions for 668 yards and four touchdowns and 25 carries for 188 yards and another touchdown. Those numbers regressed to 33 catches for 368 yards and three touchdowns and 19 carries for 84 yards a year ago.

This year: Wright has 22 receptions for 201 yards and three touchdowns but just four carries for 42 yards.

What do those statistics tell you?

When the guy’s number is called, he delivers but his number has not been called nearly enough–particularly on running plays. This is a coaching problem, not a player problem, and has been for some time. Carey isn’t going to run Wright out of the Wildcat (and that makes sense because he doesn’t throw from it) but more jet sweeps after faking inside to Re’Mahn Davis could be just what the doctor ordered. The film shows a lot of movement–mostly with wide receiver Jadan Blue–on running plays, but not a whole lot of use with a handoff off that movement. Get Wright involved on a few of those jet sweeps and chances are everything else opens up.

No better time than Thursday when the university is putting its best figurative foot forward on potentially the biggest stage of the year to put its best literal two feet forward.

Friday: Game Analysis

 

10.01.19
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Fizzy: A new month and a short wait

 Editor’s Note: Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub, a weekly contributor, is a former Temple player who once dated Bill Cosby’s college girlfriend while both were teammates (but not while she was Cos’ girl). Maybe he’ll write about that later this season. 🙂

By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

The summer after Jayson Werth jumped to the Washington nationals, I saw the best sign of all times in the stands.  “Was it Werth it?” the sign read.  I wonder if coach Collins has any of those thoughts today?  Of course, he had a few million other reasons to consider.

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Before I get to a brief review of the Georgia Tech game, I’d like us all to consider a mystery of life question.  How is it Temple can secure so much outstanding talent when supposedly, we’re being out-recruited by all the schools that get the three- and four-star high school athletes?   Surely, we’ve had more talent than Maryland and Georgia Tech, two of the lousiest Power Five teams.  And Buffalo, who beat us the last two years, also seems to support this question.

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Other than the top six or eight teams in the country who have unbelievable depth, there’s been a great evening out of the talent. On any given Saturday, the outcome of a game between any other of the 115 top football schools many times comes down to the coaching and/or one or two significant plays or errors. One answer obviously is that it’s very difficult to predict which players are going to succeed at the next level.  Another reason is that more talent is getting into college than ever before.  That’s because, if we’re honest, a coach of a big-time football program can now get just about any recruit he wants to be admitted to his university. (See the number of people who are going to jail because they bribed coaches to say their kid was an athlete.)  Lastly, it’s as it’s always been, great coaches attract great talent. So for whatever the reason, Temple has been most fortunate.  It remains to be seen if Coach Carey can continue this recruiting success.

Now to the game.

This was a woulda, coulda, shoulda game for Georgia Tech.  Their very costly quarterback fumbles turned the game around. The first was one foot from the end zone, the other was at the tail end of a very successful drive towards the Temple goal.  Had they scored on both of those occasions, and not given us a lengthy fumble recovery for a touchdown, the game would have been a nail biter.  On the other hand, our defense kept them scoreless on at least five trips into our red zone.  So, congratulations to our defense once again.

As I’m the world’s greatest football nitpicker, I could isolate on a number of things.  But this is going to be Fizzy light.  I would like to congratulate wide receiver Branden Mack and quarterback Anthony Russo for finally running the hook pass just past the first-down chains, successfully.  The offensive line did a hell of a job, and running back Re’Mahn Davis timed his bounces to the outside perfectly. Before he was hobbled, Jager Gardner really pounded inside.

However, one bootleg or keeper wasn’t called for Russo, although they were wide open all day and we’ve still yet to see a speed sweep by Wright, or gasp, a reverse.  I still look forward to the day when Russo is damn near perfect.

It’s now conference time.  Take a nap on Thursday afternoon.

additional editor’s note… and now for shits and giggles … 

Thursday: Game Night

Friday: Game Analysis

09.29.19
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Georgia Tech fans now know the feeling

About 11 a.m. yesterday at the dimly-lit City Hall subway stop, I ran into a group of smiling Georgia Tech fans eagerly anticipating a win over the Temple Owls.

Nice people, but I had to shake my head knowing what I know about their head coach and offensive coordinator and what I know about my current guy.

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Carey towers over Collins in more ways than one

In one corner, you had those guys, mostly coaches who came from the ranks of the FCS to jump into FBS ball for the first time at Temple. In their first game at Temple, a 16-13 win over Villanova, the defensive line jumped offsides three-straight times.

“That was when I got the feeling this entire staff was learning on the job on Temple’s dime,” I told Temple AD Pat Kraft before the Maryland game.

They still are after a 24-2 loss to Temple.

In the other corner, you had a professional FULLY FBS staff mostly from Northern Illinois, who produced multiple league championships at pretty much the same level Temple plays.

When the doors to train opened, knowing the managers in both corners of this fight, I was never more confident about an outcome.

Now Georgia Tech fans know how we felt after losses to Villanova and Buffalo to start last season.

Last week, the Owls suffered their own embarrassing loss, another one to Buffalo, but the last time we saw Rod Carey he promised to fix what ailed the Owls and he devised a clever game plan that accentuated the run and allowed the offense to manage the game and allow the defense to do its thing.

Re’Mahn Davis rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns and the Owls controlled the clock and won the turnover battle. Football is a simple game. You protect the ball, control the clock to keep the defense rested and you usually win. It would be nice to see a downhill runner like Davis following a fullback through the hole, but you can’t argue with Carey’s results.

That was the game plan and it was executed to perfection. That’s what championship staffs do.

Still, you’ve got to feel for the other guys and gals sometimes. I’ve been there and I’m glad Carey, and not Collins, is here.

Tuesday: Fizzy’s Corner

 

 

 

09.28.19
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Game Day: Revisionist History

 

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Maybe the Owls’ defense will finally show Collins what Mayhem looks like this afternoon.

You never like to say a guy is lying but, for two years, Geoff Collins stretched the truth a lot of his time at Temple University.

None more than earlier this week in the formal press conference leading up to today’s game (3:30, Lincoln Financial Field) when he answered a question this way:
On whether there’s familiarity in the Temple roster after being the coach there previously:

“The entire two-deep either played for us for the last two years or we recruited them.”

Hmm.

Not exactly a lie, but not exactly the truth either. The truth part is that “the entire two-deep either played for us” is correct. That’s to be expected, though. What was Collins supposed to do when he arrived at Temple? Play guys who weren’t there previously? The recruited part? Not so much.

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Checking the two-deep released in the pre-game notes against the recruiting charts of both Scout.com and Rivals.com, as many as 17 starters in today’s game were recruited not by Collins but by Matt Rhule and one (Harrison Hand) was recruited by Rod Carey.

Less even last year when only two starters–both offensive line tackles–were recruited by Collins.

When he arrived, Collins promised defensive Mayhem. If you count your own players not staying home on cutback running plays as Mayhem, he delivered. If not, and I don’t, Mayhem never arrived.

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Pre-game watching at the Steve Conjar tailgate …

OK, Geoff, whatever you say.

The bottom line of the Collins Era at Temple is that he underachieved with the talent he inherited and wasn’t the dynamic recruiter everyone expected him to be when he arrived in Philadelphia. Rhule, who won 10 games in consecutive years, left Collins with 10-win talent both seasons and Collins underachieved by roughly five games.

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Just a Cherry-colored tank top or t-shirt needed today. Hopefully, everybody goes in from the tailgates and cheers their lungs off for the Owls.

That’s not to say Collins–an engaging bull-crapper, no doubt–won’t be able to sweet-talk recruits to attend Georgia Tech.

It is to say that it did not happen for him here.

For Temple to win today, it will have to do something that Rhule put a premium on–protecting the football. The Owls have to treat it like Gold and, if they win the turnover battle, they should be all right. That should be the lesson of Buffalo going forward.

Something tells me Carey understands that better than the snake oil salesman who is someone else’s problem now.

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Post-game watching at the Steve Conjar tailgate (although I think he will be packed up long before the 10 p.m. game)

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

Tuesday: Fizzy’s Corner

Thursday: ECU Preview

Friday: Game Analysis

09.26.19
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Patenaude: Just what the doctor ordered

Let’s face it: The Temple Owls looked sick last week against Buffalo and they need a prescription to look like their old selves–or at least the Rosey-cheeked (Cherry-cheeked?) group that played against Maryland.

A Dave Patenaude pill washed down by a little of Geoff Collins’ swag juice might be just what the doctor ordered and that should be delivered at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday (3:30 p.m.) when Georgia Tech head coach Collins and his offensive coordinator Patenaude come to town.

At least that’s what Vegas thinks as the Owls were installed as a 9.5-point favorite and that rose to double-digits quickly.

Football is a strange game with an odd-shaped ball that takes funny bounces so it cannot be predicted from a mathematical standpoint. If that were the case, Syracuse, which beat Liberty (24-0) and lost to a Maryland-team (63-20) with Liberty beating Buffalo (35-17) would have meant Temple over Buffalo by 85 points.

It didn’t work out that way because it’s hard to give an X factor to overconfidence or a Y factor to turnovers or a Z factor to three dropped third-down passes.

Still, the variables involved with Patenaude and, to a lesser extent, Collins are pretty rigid and well-known in Temple land and have carried over to Atlanta.

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Patenaude with the approval of Collins overhauled a highly successful Temple pro-type (at least the same pro-type run by Bill Belichick in Boston) and turned it into a spread ill-advised to suit the talents of the team he inherited all because that’s what “everybody else” does or because that’s what he did at Coastal Carolina.  He probably should have won nine regular-season games his first year (instead of six) using the Matt Rhule system and at least 10 his second year but underachieved both years. In the 40-plus years I’ve followed Temple football, Patenaude was the worst coordinator-level coach here I’ve ever seen and there was not even a close second.

National people who don’t know better think Collins did a great job here. Local people here, not so much.

So what has he done in Atlanta?

He repeats the same mistake again, trying to force-fit square pegs into round holes.

Both have a team that was exclusively recruited to run a triple-option and have now turned it into a college spread because (you guessed it) “everybody else does it.” Great generals know if they have a strong infantry and weak cavalry they don’t design an attack based on the kind of cavalry they hope to have. Instead, they accentuate the infantry in any battleplan. Similarly, great coaches like Belichick don’t do things because everybody else does it. They do things to fit their personnel and make it work with flawless execution. If Patenaude and Collins were great coaches, they would recruit the personnel they want to fit their offense first and make it work only when those guys are ready to play and not the other way around. They would try to make some form of a triple-option work until then.

Rod Carey proved last week that he wasn’t perfect (really, no one is). I’m still no more thrilled that he has Anthony Russo run a read-option offense than I would be if Belichick did the same with Tom Brady. Overall, though,  I’m glad he’s the doctor to nurse this team back to health and those guys on the other sideline holding up silly money down placards are the cure.

At least that’s what my instincts tell me. We will find out for sure in 48 hours.

Predictions early this week (to get the Maryland-PSU game in): MARYLAND getting 6.5 against visiting Penn State, WAKE FOREST giving 6.5 against visiting Boston College, SMU giving 7 at South Florida, EAST CAROLINA getting 3 at Old Dominion, UAB giving 2 at Western Kentucky, TOLEDO getting 3.5 over visiting BYU, CINCINNATI giving 3 at Marshall. Last week: 5-0 against the spread with Coastal Carolina covering the 17 against UMass (winning, 62-28), Old Dominion covering the 30-point underdog status at Virginia (losing, 28-17), Boston College covering the 7 at Rutgers (winning, 30-16), Indiana covering the 27 against UConn (winning, 38-3) and Iowa State covering the 29.5 against Louisiana-Monroe (winning, 72-20). Season so far: 12-4 straight up, 6-5 against the spread. 

Saturday: Game Day

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.24.19
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Fizz: Buffalo was a team loss

Editor’s Note: Made only slight changes to include two first names on the first reference that were left out.

                                        By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Wow!  Anthony Russo was over, under, in front and in back all day.  Then, when there were good passes in key situations, a lot were dropped.  Russo continues to look directly at his primary receiver as soon as he gets the ball.

All the while, both the offensive and defensive lines were outplayed to say the least, and we couldn’t stop the outstanding Buffalo running backs. (Number 5, Kevin Marks, reminds me of Brian Westbrook.)   The “targeting” calls didn’t help, and they were both questionable.  I guess it all depends if it was your quarterback or not.

There was no way we should have won the game, and we didn’t.  It’s a shame because we could have faced Georgia Tech undefeated, and a win would have us definitely ranked.

So let’s look at the coaching decisions that affected the game to some, but not a major degree.

  • There was a poorly executed screen pass where it didn’t seem to be a middle screen or an outside screen, and Russo threw right into the crowd.  Coaching?
  • Whoever has outside responsibility on our left defensive side, continued to penetrate and allow key yardage and a touchdown to go outside.  The defense should have been adjusted.
  • As it became apparent in the second quarter we had trouble stopping their running game, we should have started to run-blitz then. We did in the fourth quarter.
  • The long snapper was finally changed after another miscue which gave the momentum to Buffalo, but the punting is still only satisfactory with another shanked kick in the second half. Perhaps our punter, who could also be changed, should get practice fielding ground balls.
  • Down two scores at the end of the first half, why take a knee with 22 seconds left?
  • Someone on the coaching staff must have had a very low score on his math SAT’s.  I overlooked us going for two against Maryland when we shouldn’t have, and then we did it again against Buffalo.  In the fourth quarter, if we had kicked the extra point after a score, we would have been down 21 points.  The best we could have hoped for at that time, was a tie and overtime, so why risk being down by 22?
  • After Buffalo didn’t get a first down in our territory in the fourth quarter, we refused to take a 15-yard penalty before they punted.  Why?

So, cracks are starting to appear.  If we come back and beat the “Ramblin Wrecks from Georgia Tech,” there still won’t be enough seats on the bandwagon.

Thursday: Just What the doctor ordered

Saturday: Game Day

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.22.19
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Temple-Buffalo: Humble Pie

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As far as desserts go, Pumpin Pie for some reason has always been my favorite followed closely by Boston Cream Pie and Lemon Meringue Pie.

Humble Pie, not so much.

Temple got a sour taste of that on Saturday in a 38-22 loss at Buffalo.

College football is a funny (odd) not funny (hilarious) game sometimes and Saturday was one of those times.

When Sam Franklin scooped up an apparent fumble to put Temple supposedly up 14-0, I was a pretty happy camper. Then the replay came and (rightly) the Buffalo runner was ruled down by no more than an inch.

Game of not inches, but maybe an inch.

That’s how fast a college football game can change.

Did Temple need a taste of humble pie?

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No.

Does it kill the Owls’ season?

Also no.

Saturday proved that Buffalo after leading Penn State at halftime can go on the road and get clocked by Liberty, 35-17. It also proved that Temple can beat Maryland at home and lose to Buffalo on the road.

The road is a pretty dangerous place and that’s probably why I don’t spend a fortune following my beloved Owls there.

What the hell does this all mean?

I think–and I feel confident in saying this–that Maryland will end up being a better team than Buffalo when all is said and done.

I also think that Temple will be a better team than the one that lost to Buffalo and that the Owls will take care of business against Georgia Tech.

Beyond that, who the hell knows anymore?

Rod Carey was 5-0 against Buffalo with a fraction of the talent he had at his disposal yesterday so this loss really does not compute. 

The Owls got a little full of themselves this week with all the praise they received and were served a heaping hot helping of humble pie.

Plenty of things to fix starting with the special teams. Yeah, I know punter Adam Barry got two bad snaps but at some point, you’ve got to be athletic enough to pick up a bouncing ball and make one step and kick the damn thing away. Barry hasn’t quite shown that yet. Is he the Steve Sax of Temple–a second baseman who had such a mental issue that he couldn’t throw to first–that’s yet to be seen. Yet he’s shown a lot of signs that Connor Bowler did not last year. Bowler had five-count them five–50-yard-plus punts in a 49-6 win over East Carolina yet Rod Carey felt he wasn’t good enough to continue as the punter for Temple University.

Having watched the great Casey Murphy punt for Temple, I remember him picking up every single bad snap and getting off a great kick. Murphy messaged me yesterday during the game that he always practiced bad snaps. Maybe Barry should do the same.

The run defense that looked so great against Maryland looked so bad against Buffalo I do not know what to think.

All I know is that I never felt Temple was going to go unbeaten but, if there was going to be a loss, this was the place to do it–a nonleague game that left all of the current goals on the table (with perhaps the exception of an NY6 game).

Those goals are still right on the table and could make for a delicious meal. Just skip the dessert, please.

Tuesday: Fizz’s Thoughts on Buffalo