Tag Archives: Temple football

09.21.18
by

Lapsing Into Old Habits

Mike Schmidt may have said it best about sports in Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia is the only city in the country where you can experience the thrill of victory one night and the agony of reading about it in the paper the next day.”

Schmitty might have been onto something because, while Temple’s 31-17 win over Tulsa was a cosmetic success, the reality is that the Owls will have to be better in order to beat Boston College.

tulsa

The good news is that they have been better and they have the game tape to prove it. Thrilling victory, but you’ve got to wonder if the Owls are lapsing into old habits, particularly on the offensive end. The Owls showed a lot of good habits a week ago at Maryland by putting the H-back in motion and having their elite tailback, Ryquell Armstead, follow the extra blocker through the hole. If you thought that would be a staple of the offense going forward, OC Dave Patenaude disabused fans of that notion by rarely showing that look against Tulsa.

If the Owls are going to beat another Power 5 team and challenge some of the better teams in the AAC, they might want to go back to what worked so beautifully a week ago. Armstead not only ripped off some big runs off those motion blocks, but the running game set up open lanes in the passing game.

Who knows why they lapsed back into the scatterbrained look they showed against Buffalo and Villanova but they need to shake those bad habits now. Quarterback Anthony Russo delivered a lot of balls on the money but it only seemed half of them were caught because the receivers were not getting the same kind of separation they did a week ago. That running game and that motion created the separation the Owls need to reincorporate that back into their game plan against the Fighting Steve Addazios in a week and a day.

To me, any win is a good win but some are better than others and last week was definitely better than this week and next week needs to be better than the last two. Hopefully, the Owls will take a hard look at the Maryland film and conclude that last week’s scheme is the way to go.

Otherwise, they risk needless agony when they could have endless thrills.

Saturday: This Week in College Football

Monday: What We’ve Learned

09.20.18
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The Whole World Will Be Watching

Last year’s Temple vs. Tulsa highlights …

Walk into a bar on any given Saturday as a Temple fan, even in Philadelphia,  and the drill has become a familiar one over the last half-century, maybe before that.

Between fighting the Penn State fans and the fraud Notre Dame subway alumni and the front-running Alabama fans, you’d be lucky to get someone to put on the Temple football game somewhere on the side with no one to watch but you. Forget about asking for the sound to be turned up, either.

thurweather

At least the weather should be good

 

Not tonight (7:30, ESPN).

The whole college football world will be watching with the sound blasting in every bar from the Northeast corner of Maine to the farthest western island in the Hawaii chain. My guess is that the crowd would have been in excess of 30K if the Owls took care of business against Villanova and Buffalo in addition to winning against Maryland. Instead, the hit from those two disappointing games will be around 8K so expect an announced crowd in the 22K range. Anything more would be a bonus.

While those die-hards like us will be there, this, though, in a made-for-TV affair like most Temple home games. The difference this time is the Owls will have a captive audience and can enhance their brand with a big win.

OK, sure, there will be an NFL game on but, hey, it’s the Jets and Cleveland which leaves most of the TVs on Temple and Tulsa.

So this is a big opportunity for Temple to establish that the Maryland game was no fluke and to prove what the rest of the team believes: That the Owls who dominated a 2-0 Big 10 team who beat Texas are the team fans should have seen from Day One.

A convincing win over Tulsa would be step two in restoring a damaged brand because so many people who otherwise not ever watch a Temple game will be there—either on the couch or in local establishments—watching.

More importantly, all of the Owls’ preseason goals are still on the table. The No. 1 goal has been to win the league championship and, to do that, the Owls will probably have to win all the AAC games they are favored in plus grab at least one win against UCF or USF(those two could cancel each other out).

It will not be easy because this is a Tulsa team that hung with Texas (28-21) in Austin before losing to Arkansas State by essentially the same score (29-20) at home the next week but winning a championship is never easy.

If the Owls play the way they did the first two games, they could easily lose this one. If the Owls play the way they played last week, there is no reason to believe they can’t win by at least a similar score against Tulsa.

To me, on the list of reasons why the Owls lost their first two games right at the top was the refusal to run the ball against a horrid run defense (Buffalo) and an FCS team that gave up 45 points against Towson. The Owls committed to the run behind a blocking lead back against Maryland and that opened up the passing game for Anthony Russo. That’s the way they won 20 games in two years and the way they can still accomplish the goals set for this year.

The Owls will play a lot of games after tonight but, chances are, this will be the most eyeballs on them in any of them even including a possible bowl. This is their big chance to make a good impression.

Tomorrow: Game Analysis

09.18.18
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Russo: Collins’ First Litmus Test As CEO

russocollins

By 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, we will find out if Geoff Collins is either the Miller Huggins of Temple football or the Gabe Kapler.


Patenaude has a documented
history of making mistakes
in sticking with quarterbacks
too long. He went with his boy,
Logan Marchi, for seven games
and that cost the Owls embarrassing
losses to teams like UConn

The big question Collins has to answer is if he will take charge and name Anthony Russo the starting quarterback.

The evidence would suggest he should. Frank Nutile, the starter at the beginning of the season, threw interceptions all over the place in losses to FCS Villanova and MAC Buffalo. He did not look confident nor show the kind of arm he did in five of his last six games last year. Maybe Nutile was injured all along. Maybe he just had a sore arm.

Whatever, Anthony Russo, his replacement, looked confident and sharp and managed a convincing win over a Big 10 school that beat probable Big 12 winner Texas.

No-brainer, right?

HugginsMiller

 

“Psst: Geoff. It’s me. Miller. Miller Huggins. Trust me: Start Russo”

 

Only if you let someone with no brains make the wrong decision. After the game, offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude said “Frankie should be OK for Tulsa” and that statement leads me to believe that this OC is leaning toward putting Nutile back into the saddle. Patenaude has a documented history of making mistakes in sticking with quarterbacks too long. He went with his boy, Logan Marchi, for seven games and that cost the Owls embarrassing losses to teams like UConn. Only the “luck” of an injury to Marchi reversed Temple’s season.

My guess is if Dave Patenaude was managing the New York Yankees back in 1925, Lou Gehrig would have never seen the field.

Huggins, then the Yanks’ baseball manager, passed his first litmus test as a manager.  If the Hugger were still alive, he would able to pass on some valuable Cliff Notes to Collins for his upcoming litmus test.  On June 2, 1925, Huggins told Gehrig that “(Wally) Pipp wasn’t doing too well” and Huggins thought a few days of rest would do him good.  Lou Gehrig took over the rest was history. Gehrig went on to play 2,632-straight games—the longest consecutive streak in baseball or any other sport until Cal Ripken Jr. came along.

Knowing Gabe Kapler, who probably will not make the Hall of Fame, this is what he would have said: “I have full confidence in Wally and, even though Lou did well, Wally is not going to lose his job because of an injury.” It’s probably the same deal with Patenaude and this is where Collins has to put his foot down.


… it’s not even a tie.
Russo was significantly
more impressive in his
game—against a foe that
would destroy both Buffalo
and Villanova—than Nutile
was in his two

In baseball, one of the axioms is “the tie goes to the runner” and, in college football, the tie in performance goes to the younger quarterback over the redshirt senior. Crazy enough,  but, in the case of Russo and Nutile, it’s not even a tie. Russo was significantly more impressive in his game—against a foe that would destroy both Buffalo and Villanova—than Nutile was in his two.

In college football, if it’s even close, the decision goes with the younger player.

In this case, as in Gehrig’s, the better one. Now is the time for Collins’ first litmus test as CEO of the Temple football operation.

In less than 48 hours, we will find out whether Geoff Collins is closer to Miller Huggins than he is to Gabe Kapler. We can only pray he is the real boss and doesn’t cede this authority to an incompetent subordinate.

If he does, he is a weak leader who won’t last long at Temple. Or anywhere else for that matter.

Thursday: Tulsa Preview

 

09.17.18
by

Maryland: Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde

hyde

Editor’s Note: Fizz checks in on his thoughts about the Maryland game.

By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

In the original story, a lawyer named Gabriel Utterson investigates the prominent physician Dr. Jekyll, who transforms into the murderous Mr. Hyde.  In this version of the story, I will take the place of lawyer Utterson.  The dual personalities of Jekyll and Hyde will be played by Dave Patenaude, the Temple offensive coordinator.

power

Utterson (to Inspector Hodges):

“It was most remarkable. During the first three offensive possessions, Mr. Hyde was running the offense.  It was the same old Broad Street Offense… handoffs up-the-gut on first down, followed by straight passes with no fakes from an open backfield.  When the passes failed, it was up-the-gut on third and long.

Hodges (to Utterson):

“Then what happened?”

Utterson:

“From what I heard, there was a timeout and Mr. Hyde went to the men’s room. When he came back to the coaches’ box, he was most composed and dapper.  He’d morphed into Dr. Jekyll, and the offense was completely different.  All of a sudden there was deception in the backfield.  Receivers and running backs were going in motion and coming back to QB before the snap, sometimes getting the ball and sometimes faking. There were even tight-end screens and the defense didn’t know what was happening.  Then, QB Russo started to roll out which gave him plenty of time to  look downfield and throw very accurate passes (except for the time when he looked directly at his receiver doing a sideline pattern and was intercepted for a pick six.)   Amazingly, I saw what may be the best offensive call in Temple’s history.* On a fourth and two, Temple ran a fake punt and a reserve QB threw a touchdown pass that changed the game.”

Hodges:

“Wow!  Was that all?”

Utterson:

“Not by any means.  Russo threw a touchdown pass on a designed play where the wideout broke to the sideline and jumped up and down drawing his man and the safety. Meanwhile, the tight end ran a stop and go and was wide open down the sideline.  This is the first time since this new coaching staff took over last year, that we’ve seen imaginative and deceptive play design.”

Hodges:

“So it was a cake walk after that?”

Utterson:

“Unfortunately, no!  It was really strange.  There was a TV timeout with six minutes left in the third quarter, and Dr. Jekyll’s assistant left the booth.  When he came back, he was so startled he had to change his shorts because Mr. Hyde was once more looking at the field.  Everything then reverted back to the Broad Street Offense.  It seems that Mr. Hyde was once more playing not to lose.  Two of the most curious play calls occurred on third and on long, deep in Maryland’s territory.   On both occasions, he ran his famous up-the-gut play for no gain, and I thought he was trying to set-up a field goal.  But no, he then threw deep from a straight drop-back on fourth down.”

Hodges:

“So what clinched the game?”

Utterson:

“Well, again it was weird.  Maybe Mr. Hyde rubbed off some on the defense which had played so aggressively and outstandingly to that point and not allowed any points.  The defense seemed to relax a little, used some three-man rushes, and Maryland began to be effective with both the run and the pass. The game was saved from being a nail-biter by linebacker Bradley who had an 83-yard interception return for a touchdown.”

Hodges:

“So what’s your conclusion in regards to the coaching staff?”

Utterson:

“Inspector, if you arrest Mr. Hyde and lock him in the basement of Conwell Hall, perhaps this coaching staff will finally learn to be aggressive at all times.”

* This author made mention that the fake punt on fourth and two was possibly the best offensive call in Temple’s history.   Undoubtedly, the worst call was when I was handed the ball against Delaware in 1959, and lost three yards.

Tomorrow: What We’ve Learned

 

 

 

09.16.18
by

Shocked and Amazed (in a good way)

Sometimes you are shocked and appalled.

Others you are shocked and amazed.

Count a significant—maybe a majority—of the Temple football fanbase into that latter category today after a 35-14 win at Maryland. For the first two games, shocked and appalled would have been the more apt adjectives.

Raising my hand here because this is the team I thought I would see from the jump but due to so many head-scratching decisions of the coaching, err, brain trust we have not.

Until Saturday.

teamstats

The tight end position made a spectacular reappearance into the Temple offense as the Owls used Kenny Yeboah and Chris Myarick not only to catch key passes in the game but to essentially play the role of a fullback leading the way for Ryquell Armstead.

Anyone who has followed Temple football since Armstead arrived knows he is as good a back as any in the league while following a lead block. He does not do well when lined up in an otherwise empty backfield where the bad guys can send a blitzing linebacker at him.  The coaching staff did not give him a lead block until Saturday and they gave him several as the tight end lined up as an H-Back on Armstead carries and was put in motion with Armstead following the motion.

Why that wasn’t there from the jump is a mystery to me.

Better late than never.

It might also be helpful to use a blocking fullback in addition to the H-Back block, but maybe that’s asking for too much. Maybe Ed Foley and Adam DiMichele can talk OC Dave Patenaude and HC Geoff Collins into that.

predelicksions

Maryland site had the score right but the teams wrong

Love to see it in action on Thursday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN) against a Tulsa team that got hammered by Arkansas State last night. If it works, keep it in the offense going forward.

Anthony Russo, an Elite 11 quarterback, looked like the guy Trent Dilfer said he would be years ago.

He probably did enough to earn the job under center against Tulsa and, should he improve, keep it going forward.

Hopefully, an ancillary benefit from yesterday’s Owl win will be getting the Prodigal Son fans to return.

Some undoubtedly will be back for the Tulsa game. If the Owls can build a winning streak, more will come back and maybe, just maybe, this season will be the one we expected at the beginning.

My game watch plans were an absolute nightmare as the North Bowl location where the Temple Engineering grads had a party did not get the Big 10 Network on their TVs and instead pumped an internet feed onto a faraway screen behind the bowling alley with no sound. At halftime, it was onto Chickie and Pete’s in South Philly where the game was on two large screens in (empty) private rooms with no sound. I was the only Temple fan in there. They might as well made it a padded room because I was going nuts.

A very nice young lady ducked her head into the room when she saw me being there to cheer alone for the Owls.

“My son plays for Temple.”

“Who?”

“No. 40.”

“Yes,” I said. “Todd Jones, St. Joe’s Prep.”

She seemed shocked that I knew him.

“My mother passed this morning so I could not go to the game.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. My condolences.”

The first to congratulate Freddie Johnson in the end zone on his fake touchdown catch from Toddy Centeio?

Todd Jones.

I hope that made his mom proud on an otherwise sad day.

Monday: Fizz Breaks Down Maryland

Tuesday: What We’ve Learned So Far
Thursday: Tulsa Preview
Friday: Game Analysis

09.14.18
by

Fizzy: Spread (For and against)

empty

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Editor’s Note: Fizz played with perhaps the most famous player in Temple history (famous for something other than football) but we’ll just say he also played with former William Tennent legendary head coach Bill Juzwiak and Temple administrator Joe Morelli.

THE SPREAD – FOR AND AGAINST

In reviewing last week’s game, I forgot to give Temple credit for one reverse and one halfback pass. The pass was perfect and the receiver dropped it. The reverse was run at the wrong place, the two-yard line, and only succeeded with the last minute, ad-lib flip to a split end. But at least they ran them… kudos.

Now let’s talk about college offensive and defensive football in general,

The Spread

Everyone runs some version of the spread. (Probably that’s because many coaches can’t think for themselves.) As those of us who’ve been around for a while know, offensive formations become popular until the defense catches up. It’s been this way ever since the single-wing, so here’s my analysis.

For the pure spread to succeed, you must have a fast QB who can run whenever the opportunity arises. That’s because when the receivers all over the field, the defense is “spread,” and most of the time the pass defenders have their backs to the QB. The schools with dynamic runners are the most effective because they can quickly pick up undefended yardage.

On the other hand, if you don’t have a good running QB and you’re still trying to run the pure spread, you’ve severely limited yourself. You have only one back to fake to, and he’s six yards back. It’s a slow developing, very observable running game. The advantage is tailbacks have time to see open lanes developing if there are any. Temple is in this situation and it drives me crazy.

If you don’t have a good running QB, then you should modify your version of the spread.

Villanova did a good job against us in this respect. They ran traps and mis-directions to slot and wing-backs going away from the initial direction and fake. It was effective and reminded me of the (gulp) Delaware Wing-T. Also, you can line-up in the spread, but with motion and realignment, it doesn’t end up the spread at the snap of the ball. There are all kinds of variations imaginative coaches can do, depending on their player’s skills.

Defending The Spread

If I’m defending the spread (as I’ve said many times before), here’s how I’d do it. Basically, I’d have a run defense of five guys and a secondary defense of six. (Yep, that makes eleven.) I’d have different lineman on almost every play, lining up in different locations and with the one pure linebacker blitzing and faking the blitz, all the time. Depending on the strengths of each offense we play, there would be different priorities each week for blitzes, slants, and loops. I don’t want the offense to ever be sure of what we’re doing.

The six guys in the secondary could play any number of zones depending on the strengths of the offense, and to confuse the QB. The zones would not be observable to the QB when he lines up, therefore disrupting the lineup, and the wait for the coaches play call to come from the sideline. The zones could be a 4-2, 2-4, 1-4-1, 3-3. 5-1, and 1-5, etc. Each week, during preparation for the opponent, certain designated zones would be emphasized in practice. For example; against a good running QB on a third and ten, I’d consider a 4-2 or a 1-4-1. Repeat: I don’t want the offense to ever know what we’re doing.

It’s a big country, someone has to fix it. The meek won’t inherit shit!

Tomorrow: Maryland Preview

Sunday: Post-Mortem

 

09.13.18
by

How We Went From AAC Champs To AAC Chumps In 2 Years …

sharga

OC Dave Patenaude ditching the “Temple TUFF” offense of full-time fullback (and, more importantly, Geoff Collins’ role in enabling that blunder) is the No. 1 reason why Temple went from consecutive 10-win seasons to a likely 10-loss season.

On the morning Geoff Collins was hired, while finally finding my keys, stashing my wallet away and picking up the cell phone, I looked down and it was ringing.

“Mike, what do you think?” a friend of mine said.

“Think about what?”

“Temple finally announced The Guy.”

“Who?”

chumps

SB Nation’s current (unfortunately correct) assessment of the Temple football program

“Geoff Collins.”

“The guy from Florida?”

“Yeah, isn’t that exciting? I think it’s a great hire.”

“I guess,” I said. “From some of the guys on the list, he’s probably the best one.”


These are guys who
not only do not
understand Temple
TUFF but include an
incredibly arrogant
offensive coordinator
who intentionally sabotaged
the very fullback-oriented
offense that gave Temple
20 wins in two seasons.
That was an offense and
a toughness Temple fans
came to know and love

The list included guys like K.C. Keeler, Danny Rocco, Neil Brown and Matt Canada. Keeler was a failed head coach at nearby Delaware and resurrected his career at Sam Houston State. The other guys were FCS head coaches or FBS coordinators.

Not the kind of list Dr. Pat Kraft should have doodled for an Owl program that had long stretches in the top 25 in consecutive regular seasons.

Underwhelming at best, disappointing at worst.

Given that backdrop, my “I guess” response was appropriate. If Collins had brought with him a national championship Florida coordinator and a Florida quarterback coach—like Steve Addazio did with DC Chuck Heater and QB coach Scot Loeffler—that’s one thing. It’s quite another when your top assistants are from Coastal Carolina and Kennesaw State.

By comparison, Collins has surrounded himself with incompetence and, because of it, has placed a once-great program in jeopardy of a historic free fall. Here’s the empirical evidence:

recentjawns

These are guys who not only do not understand Temple TUFF but include an incredibly arrogant offensive coordinator who intentionally sabotaged the very fullback-oriented offense that gave Temple 20 wins in two seasons. That was an offense and a toughness Temple fans came to know and love.  It was an offense that perfectly epitomized the toughness of the school, its students, the alumni, the city, the neighborhood, even the corner of the practice facility.  It was an offense that had a purpose, with the run setting up a play-action fake and every play seemingly setting up an explosive play in the passing game.  Run the ball successfully with an elite tailback behind an extra offensive lineman (fullback Rob Ritrovato) to bring the linebackers and safeties up to the line of scrimmage. At that point, the defense is susceptible to a deft ball fake that freezes the linebackers and safeties in their tracks and allows the quarterback to find open receivers everywhere. Now, nothing sets up anything else except a five-yard loss on a handoff. This scatterbrained offensive scheme, pardon my language, is complete bullshit that every single one of the 20,000 or so current remaining Temple fans rejects without question.

My feeling was then and still is now that Temple as a program after consecutive 10-win seasons and two appearances in the league championship game reached a point where it could and should have hired an accomplished head coach and did not need to roll the dice on another coordinator again.

evidence

Make no mistake, hiring a coordinator as a head coach is a crapshoot. Coordinator and head coach are two different jobs. Just because you are good at one does not translate being good at another.

The checker at your local grocery store might be the greatest bagger in the history of supermarkets but that doesn’t mean he would make a good store manager.

You could end up with a guy like Al Golden or Matt Rhule or a guy like UConn’s Bob Diaco.

All three had impeccable credentials as a coordinator—Diaco was FBS coordinator of the year as DC at Notre Dame—but there’s plenty of evidence where great coordinators fail as head coaches.

So here we are, not long removed from being a Top 25 (albeit regular season) staple to one coming off a loss to the local FCS program and a team from a lower conference (Buffalo) that the Owls beat 113-13 in their last three meetings with them.

How did we get here?

By rolling the dice on another coordinator when Temple football got to the point where it could attract an accomplished head coach. Owls rolled a seven and 11 on the last two coordinators. It was only a matter of time until their luck ran out.

That appears to be the case now.

If Collins can prove to be Temple TUFF enough to upgrade his coordinators, he has some hope for resuscitating both his career and this precious program, whatever he values the most.

If not, none of us have any hope for anything.

Friday: Fizzy Offers Some Constructive Advice (6 a.m. publishing time)

Saturday: Maryland Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.11.18
by

TU-Buffalo: Adventures in would have, should have, land

weinraub

By Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub

Today’s write-up is going to be a little different because most everything has already been said. Basically, both the offensive and defensive strategies developed by this coaching staff simply don’t work.  They didn’t work last year, and certainly not this year as we are 0-2 against teams from lower divisions.  There is now a distinct possibility we may not win a game this year.  For those of us who have followed Temple football for eons, it’s a nightmare.

correction

Offense

The straight-ahead Broad Street Offense has no rhythm.  By that I mean there’s no setting up plays for down the line.  If you run to the right or up the gut a number of times, most teams would be readying counters or mis-directions.  If you’re going to throw on first down, why in the world would you not pass from play-action, rather than an empty backfield which tells the defense exactly what you’re going to do. If your current strategy isn’t working, why isn’t there a different one?  Just bringing Wright in to run the “wildcat” doesn’t fool anyone.  As soon as the defense sees it, they know what’s coming. (Why doesn’t he throw from that formation?)  And constantly going for field goals when you have fourth and two deep in the opponent’s territory is stupid and shows no guts and no imagination.

Defense

It’s the same defense all the time, with only minor variations.  This year, both Villanova and Buffalo manhandled our front seven most of the time.  As we’re always in the 4-3, the uncovered offensive lineman have been killing our linebackers. Unless we’re blitzing and hitting the proper gap, we constantly give up too much when trying to stop the run.  On pass defense, and going back to last year, we’ve never been able to stop a five to fifteen-yard pass over the middle. And in every game there are many missed tackles because our guys don’t wrap-up – they just throw the chicken-shit shoulder.

Some Solutions

On offense, and if our second string QB can run, then why not do that from a different formation as a change of pace – and still throw.  With all the practice time they have now, why not have a second offense?  How difficult is it to teach ten or twelve plays from a different set and force the opponent to spend extra preparation time?  As I’ve said lots of times before if there was a balance to the offense maybe we wouldn’t need to do this.

There has to be an entirely different, or at least an additional defensive philosophy because this one doesn’t work.  My plan would be to employ five guys as a rush defense with the down-linemen constantly changing position.  Six guys would play zone pass defense so they could sit and wait for the receiver to come in the middle and cream him.

Conclusion

My ideas may or may not be effective.  However, they’re at least different.  Over the two years this staff has been here, they’ve shown absolutely no ability to adapt, change, or be innovative.  The best possible record we could now have this year would be 2-10.

* Correction from last week – This writer apologizes for a misstatement. I said Joe Morelli ran a naked bootleg in 1962.  It was a bootleg, but it was Joe who was naked.

Thursday: How We Went From AAC Champs To AAC Chumps in 2 Seasons

Saturday: Maryland Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.09.18
by

Temple: Worst-coached team in college football

digest

With the possible exception of Willie Taggart’s Florida State football team, it’s hard to come up with a convincing argument that Temple is not the worst-coached team in college football after two games.


No matter how hard
you work Sundays
through Fridays,
you are judged what
you do on Saturdays
and this Temple coaching
staff is a complete and
utter failure on the
most important day
of the week

We’ll go with Temple only because Taggart coached his way into two Power 5 jobs and he’s proven himself as a head coach in other places.

There is no offer on the horizon for Geoff Collins’ staff this year and maybe not for several.

Not only did the Owls lose to a FCS crosstown rival, Villanova, they had to beat in order to retain any football street cred in Philadelphia, Collins and his staff botched a simple game plan that was handed to them on a silver platter.

Playing a Buffalo team that gave up 199 yards to FCS Delaware State and was ranked No. 95 in the nation in rushing defense this year (and No. 96 last year), the Owls refused to go with the one offense—tailback behind a fullback—that would have kept the ball away from the two NFL players the Bulls had, Tyree Jackson and Anthony Johnson.


Playing a Buffalo team
that gave up 199 yards
on the ground
to FCS Delaware State
and was ranked No. 95
in the nation in rushing
defense this year
(and No. 96 last year),
the Owls refused to go
with the one offense—tailback
behind a fullback—that would
have kept the ball away
from the two NFL
players the Bulls had

Collins and offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude had just two jobs—score points and run the ball effectively enough to have six-, seven- and eight-minute drives and chew up the clock.

The Owls scored enough to win but they did not provide their defense with the requisite help needed by keeping the ball away from the Buffalo offense.

Temple had consecutive 10-win seasons by playing an every-down fullback but, on Saturday, did not have fullback Rob Ritrovato on the field to lead the way for Ryquell Armstead even once. With Ritrovato—an outstanding blocker in his own right—Armstead would have had essentially another offensive lineman in front of him and probably a lot more than the 107 yards he had on the ground. More importantly, had Armstead been able to put 200 yards on the board, Jackson and Johnson would have had far fewer possessions and Temple would have been able to come away with a much-needed win. Ritrovato was on the field to gain a short-yardage first down on a running play, but Wayne Hardin (Henry Hynoski, Kevin Grady and Mark Bright), Bruce Arians (Shelley Poole), Al Golden (Wyatt Benson) and Matt Rhule (Nick Sharga) would have been able to tell Collins a fullback can and should play a more vital role.

They either don’t care to use a fullback or don’t know how. Either way, it’s a bad look and not a Temple one.

Collins and Patenaude seem oblivious to that simple concept given an ill-conceived game plan that stopped the clock far too many times on incomplete passes and gave Buffalo far too many needless possessions.

Coaching is all about tailoring your schemes to the strengths of your players and attacking the weaknesses of your opponent. Temple’s coaches have failed miserably in those two most important areas in consecutive weeks. No matter how hard you work Sundays through Fridays, you are judged what you do on Saturdays and this Temple coaching staff is a complete and utter failure on the most important day of the week.

Unless something drastic changes, Temple is looking at a maybe two-win season coming off 27 wins in the past three years after losing two games in which it was a solid favorite. In one game, the Owls watched Villanova do the same damn things it did last year and showed zero adjustments. In another, the Owls stubbornly refused (or did not know how) to use a fullback leading a tailback to chew up clock and keep the ball away from a dangerous offense.

That’s about as bad a job as can be possibly done.

In fact, we’ve scoured the 127 FBS teams and haven’t found a worse coaching job after two games. The scary thing is that nobody will do a damn thing about it. That might not be Temple TUFF, but that’s tough for Temple players and fans who deserve better.

At least Taggart won his nightmare game last night. Temple fans have lived through a pair of nightmares and there’s a lot more tossing and turning ahead.

Tuesday: Fizzy Checks In With Buffalo Thoughts

Thursday: How Did We Go From AAC Champs To AAC Chumps in 2 years?

Saturday: Maryland Preview

Sunday: Game Analysis

09.07.18
by

Game Plan: No Wild Winging Against Buffalo

nitro

Hopefully, Nitro being named a game captain means he will be an every-down fullback which is just what the Temple offense needs right now.

Although both Villanova and Buffalo wear different shades of Blue and White, there is no doubt about one thing.

Buffalo is a better version of Villanova. Just because Buffalo is better than Nova, there is no reason for Temple to panic (3:30 p.m., Lincoln Financial Field, no over-the-air TV) against its former MAC rivals.

conditional

Fortunately, transitive property has been proven faulty on many occasions and matchups are more relevant than any other factor in college football.

In that area, Temple would seem to have the advantage.

The game will simply come down to this: Temple exploiting the one weakness Buffalo has demonstrated not only this year but over the past 13 games: Run defense. Against a very bad FCS team, Delaware State, the Bulls yielded 199 yards rushing. Villanova might be the Alabama of FCS football (although that is yet to be proven), but Delaware State is probably closer to the New Mexico State version of FCS football and the fact it could gain that many yards against a FBS team is alarming. Of the 127 FBS teams, Buffalo is ranked No. 95 against the run. Last year, the Bulls were even worse—ranked No. 96th (195.3 ypg) against the run in a 12-game season. This is probably not the game OC Dave Patenaude should have Frankie Nutile winging it all over the lot nor the kind of game he throws a couple of passes after getting first-and-goal at the 1 (like the Army game a year ago).

So if the Owls commit to the run behind a proven AAC championship tailback (Ryquell Armstead, 916 yards, 15 touchdowns in 2016)  following a fullback like they did in back-to-back 10-win seasons, they can accomplish two very important things:

  • Controlling the clock and the game, chewing up big chunks of yards and scoring touchdowns on the ground;
  • Keeping the ball away from the two NFL prospects on the Bulls, quarterback Tyree Jackson and wide receiver Anthony Johnson.

Jackson a very accurate 6-foot-7 passer and can see over a Temple pass rush that is already down one starting defensive end (Dana Levine, out 4-6 weeks with an injury). Levine’s subs got pushed around by the Villanova starting offensive line while the only heavy lifting at the defensive end position was being done by Quincy Roche at the other end. Too bad the Owls couldn’t recruit a guy who was named the No. 12-ranked DE in the United States when he got out of high school three years ago.

What’s that?


This will not be the easiest
game of the season, but
it will certainly be the
easiest game plan
of the remaining dozen or
so games left on the schedule.
In about 24 hours, we will
have a good idea if the highly
paid professionals running
the Temple program are able
to figure out what anyone
with a minimum football IQ can

 

They did?

Oh yeah, Karamo Dioubate is getting limited snaps in the interior of the line while walk-ons back up the other end. It would seem to be a simple move to slot Dioubate in his more comfortable position so as to help Roche create additional pressure.

A lot of things that appear logical to the casual observer about this Temple team were illogical the first week of the season.

Maybe naming fullback Rob Ritrovato one of the four game captains is a sign that the Owls are getting back to the Temple TUFF brand of running game Owl fans know and love. Maybe it’s just window dressing like calling Nick Sharga “the best fullback in the country” one year ago and limiting him only to five downs or less in the actual games.

This will not be the easiest game of the season, but it will certainly be the easiest game plan of the remaining dozen or so games left on the schedule. In about 24 hours, we will have a good idea if the highly paid professionals running the Temple program are able to figure out what anyone with a minimum football IQ can.

Sunday: Game Analysis