Tag Archives: Tulane football

05.09.18
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Settling The Greatest Team Debate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW8Km53ojm4

I honestly had never watched the great Dave Smuckler play until reviewing this today.

Sitting in the press box at the Meadowlands on a Saturday in December of 1979 and watching Temple dismantle a pretty good California team for the Garden State Bowl, I was pretty much convinced I was watching the greatest Temple football team to that point.

The other thing I remembered from that day was thinking I was freezing to death.

It would not be until 2009—almost 30 years later to the day—that I was convinced I was freezing to death standing outside tailgating before a late December game in Washington, D.C.

bright

Fullback Mark Bright was MVP of the GSB

That caused me to flip through the pages of the 1980 Philadelphia Bulletin Almanac. It said the temperature at kickoff at the Garden State Bowl was 40 degrees. The kickoff temperature at the Eagle Bank Bowl against another California team, UCLA, was 11 degrees with a wind chill of -11.

The point of this story is perspective. Even though I am partial to the 1979 team and still tailgate with many of them, feelings should never be confused with evidence.

My FEELINGS were that I was cold that day in 1979 but the evidence was of a much colder bowl game in 2009.

It’s all about perspective and solid evidence. The same can be said for being the best Temple team of all time. It’s not that the players of today are bigger, faster and stronger than those of the past (arguably, because it’s hard to imagine anyone stronger than, say, Joe Klecko). It’s what you do against the college football landscape as it existed and exists that determines a legacy.

The goal posts haven’t moved since 1934. If the 2018 team wants to be the best Temple team of all time, it will have to do something the other two teams haven’t done: Finish in the top 14 in the nation.

sugar

That said, after another look at the Bulletin Almanac (before Google, the greatest research tool ever), we’re going with the 1934 team as the best team in Temple history. Not only was it the first team to play in the Sugar Bowl (a better bowl than Eagle Bank, New Mexico and Gasparilla), the Owls of that day were unbeaten in the regular season. The Tulane team the Owls lost to in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day 1935 was better than the Cal team that the Owls beat in 1979 because the Green Wave finished 11th in the nation. In the only “poll” of that day, Temple finished 15th. In 1979, the Owls finished 17th in both major polls. The 1979 team was special in that it was 10-2, with losses to only Penn State (after leading at halftime) and Pitt (a 10-9 final). Had the Owls been able to win both, and also a more high-profile bowl game, they probably would have had a strong enough schedule to be declared national champions.

Pretty heady stuff.

In the 1934 season, Tulane was co-SEC champions and shared that title with Alabama, the co-National champions that year.

I would rank the 1979 team as No. 2 and the 2016 team, the AAC champs (a team in the top 25 for much of the second half of the season), as No. 3. No. 4 would be the 2011 Owls of Steve Addazio, who not only beat an 8-4 Wyoming team in the New Mexico Bowl but destroyed a Power 5 team, Maryland, on the road, 38-7. That was the same Maryland team that a week before had beaten Al Golden’s Miami team, 32-24.

No. 5 would be the 9-1 Owls of 1973 and they probably would have been higher if they had been able to beat Boston College that year.

They lost that game, 45-0, but redeemed themselves the next season with a 34-7 win over the Eagles before nearly 20,000 fans (capacity house) at Temple Stadium. The team the Owls thumped, 34-7, in 1974 finished 8-3 but did not beat a team with a winning record.

By then, though, it was too late. The Owls finished 8-2 in 1974 but immersed themselves into the Temple record books with a 14-game winning streak over two seasons (the longest in the nation at the time). Greatness might not quit, but it has standards much higher than a 6-6 regular season or 45-0 losses.

The benchmarks are set for these Owls of 2018. Finish ranked a consensus No. 14 or higher and they are the greatest Temple team of all time. It won’t be easy, but greatness never is.

No members of the 1934 team are still alive but I do know that nothing would please members of the 1979 team more than these Owls being able to forge that kind of legacy.

True greatness, not slogans, will be the reward.

Friday: Temple TUFF and SOFT

 

11.21.16
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… and now for a word from Fizz …

streaking

... Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub’s views here could be considered contrary or constructive criticism … I will let you decide in the comments below ...

By: Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

Two shutouts in a row, a five game winning streak, more talent than almost everyone we play, bowl game and conference championship possibilities, that’s not too shabby, right?  The program is in great shape, so what’s to bitch about?

I’ll tell you what; it’s the play-calling in the first half.

Most every week before the game, Coach Rhule announces our game plan to the world.  The plan is usually the same, we’re going to run the football and keep the other team’s offense off the field.  (Even if we are going to do that, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell everyone else.)  Of course, the opposing coaches then design their first and second down defenses to stop the run.  Tulane certainly did that.  Led by number 77 (Smart), Tulane gapped and run-blitzed the stuffing out of the Owls, and rendered our run game mostly ineffective in the first half.  It ended at 10 – 0, and woulda, coulda, shoulda, been at least 24 – 0.

greatness

Until nearly the end of the first half we ran the ball on practically every first down, and usually on second down too.  This puts tremendous pressure on Phillip Walker and our receivers, as they always seemed to be facing third and long.  Of course, the defense then dials up some blitzes to put the heat on.

Walker and the receivers, especially Ventell Bryant, were phenomenal.  Walker’s passes were mostly crisp and accurate, and our receivers seem to be gaining more confidence in each game.  With Tulane playing man-to-man, it was obvious from the get-go, they couldn’t cover our guys.

Well, what was obvious to me, wasn’t obvious to Glenn Thomas and Matt Rhule.  Sure, it ended up as a romp, but we didn’t know that in the first half.  Twice, on first and twenty, we ran the ball on both first and second downs.  At first and goal, three times, we ran the ball on first and second downs.  When we lined up in I formation, I thought for sure they were going to run the play-action to our outstanding Nick Sharga in the flat. No dice!  Speaking of play-action against a man-to-man pass coverage, OMG, how successful would that have been on first down?

All of the above may not seem important after a blow-out, but it is.  In the three losses this year, all woulda, coulda, shouldas, it seems our coaches stubbornly stuck to the game plan until it was too late.  More imaginative and flexible play calls, might have staved off those losses.  But now, if we’re to win a championship and a bowl game against very good teams, we’re not going to have the luxury of out-manning our opponents in the second half.  We have to be nimble and strike quickly.  If we waste opportunities against good teams, we will lose.

In closing, I’d like to congratulate Phil Snow on putting together an exceptional defense.  However, a word of caution.  We couldn’t  stop Army’s triple-option, and Navy runs it better.  If we get to play Navy, I’d like to suggest he get together with Wayne Hardin.  At our tailgate after a loss to Navy years ago, Coach Hardin, drew up his plan on how to stop it.  If we can’t, we’d better score a lot of points.

Tomorrow: The Seniors

10.09.15
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Prodigal Son Day Should Answer Some Questions

On Saturday, we will pick up where we left off over a month ago.

If the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan once wrote, the message about the interest in Temple football right now among its Prodigal Son Alumni has been very telling over the past week.

prodigal

Homecoming Day is what I’ve always called “Prodigal Son Day” because that is the only game many alumni attend. The regular tailgaters get replaced, and the Prodigal Sons (and Daughters) get all of the good spots along tailgate row. The top bunk, if you will. The next week, we return to our regular tailgate programming with the regulars all back in their customary spots.

The challenge at Temple has always been to get those casual fans, what I would call the “soft core” Owl fans, off their couches and away from the TV remotes and potato chips and joining the “hard core” ones at the stadium. That’s why the media’s message this week, however subtle, is encouraging.

Words of the alma mater. Please memorize. Thanks.

In the above video (3:23) kids do an awesome rendition of the alma mater. Would be great if the crowd would  add their voices.

Two Temple alumni in the media, who have never mentioned Temple football glowingly in the past, banged the drum rather loudly for their Owls using some impressive platforms. First, renowned Philadelphia Eagles’ expert Ray Didinger said that “Temple should be unbeaten” going into the Notre Dame game and that he would not be surprised if P.J. Walker eventually becomes a NFL quarterback.  This is the same Ray Didinger who said two years ago on a Saturday morning program with co-host Glen Macnow that “I kind of wish Temple would drop a level and play Lafayette, Villanova and Delaware.” That was after a caller wanted to talk about Brandon McManus as an NFL kicker and Macnow said sternly, “I’m not talking about Temple football” before hanging up on the guy.

Didinger did not jump to the Owls’ defense then. He is now. Like all Prodigal Sons, he is welcome home. That’s why they call it Homecoming.

Last 4 Homecoming Games for Temple:

Year
Score
Opponent
Attendance
2014
Temple, 35-24
Tulsa
25,340
2013
Temple, 33-14
Army
25,533
2012
Temple, 37-28
South Florida
25,796
2011
Temple, 34-0
Buffalo
25,820

Beating Penn State and being 4-0 has changed a lot of long-held perceptions. David Murphy, the Channel 6 weather guy, always mentions the Chester pro soccer team, but never mentioned the Temple team that plays American football until Monday of this week and, every day, has talked up the Owls and Homecoming.

Baby steps, but what this media message means is that Homecoming—which never gets a crowd smaller than 25,000—should experience an uptick in attendance. Sources inside the ticket office said 21,000 tickets were sold as of late Thursday afternoon and also added that Homecoming crowds are traditionally the largest “walk-up” crowds of the season—anywhere from 7-10K—depending upon the weather. Murphy supplied the good weather so, conservatively, the estimate of the crowd should be around 31,000.

While we would all like to see more, a cautionary note is to remember what Wayne Hardin said. “We’d have to go unbeaten 10-straight years for us to sell out the stadium every week,” he said in the 1970s. He was right then and he’d probably be right now. To sell out half of it at 4-0 is saying something and that’s probably the most realistic goal.

Anything above that would be a pleasant surprise.

The fun resumes on Saturday ….

10.08.15
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Huey Long’s Only Temple Football Game

Huey Long trying to get a booth review before the invention of television.

Huey Long trying to get a booth review before the invention of television.

Most people remember Huey Long as the only dictator in the history of the United States.

Technically, though, he was a U.S. Senator from the state of Louisiana in the early-to-mid-30s. In a real sense, though, he was “coach” of the LSU football team that lost to Tulane, 14-13, in the last regular-season game of the 1934 season. (He had a puppet Governor installed and puppet head coach, but Long was on the sidelines, made the important decisions and often got into heated arguments with the refs.) Had the Tigers scored two more points, Long’s team would have gone up against one of the legendary college coaches of all time, Temple’s Pop Warner, in the 1934 Sugar Bowl.

Tulane beat Huey Long's LSU team to earn a shot at Temple.

Tulane beat Huey Long’s LSU team to earn a shot at Temple.

That near brush with Long has to rank as one of the strange circumstances surrounding Temple football history. As it was, Tulane, not LSU, was the southern representative in the 1934 Sugar Bowl and Long never had a chance to match wits with Warner. He was in the stands, though, at the Sugar Bowl, rooting for Tulane according to newspaper accounts of the day. The temperature for that game was in the mid-50s, a day after it reached 78 degrees in New Orleans.

Four months after Tulane’s 20-14 win, Long was assassinated. He was 42 and planning to challenge Franklin Delano Roosevelt for the Presidency. An Oscar-winning Best Picture, All the King’s Men, was made on his life in 1949 and it won the Best Actor Award for Broderick Crawford, who played Long.

10-4? (That’s a Highway Patrol reference.)

Now, the Owls and Tulane and even LSU have come full circle for the 2015 game. The Owls are a 15-point favorite and Sports Illustrated (in the form of Stewart Mandel) this week has projected them as the Group of 5 representatives in the Peach Bowl against LSU.

Leonard Fournette has no shot in the open field against No. 8.

Leonard Fournette has no shot in the open field against No. 8.

Pretty heady stuff for the Temple fans who will flock to Lincoln Financial Field for the most festive and optimistic Homecoming in, err, Temple Football Forever.  It points up how things can change in college football in such a short time because it was only two years ago that the Owls came into Homecoming 0-6 and came out 1-6 after beating Army.

Now they are about as near to the top of the college football world as the 1934 Owls were. Somewhere, Huey Long is looking down and taking it all in, probably ambivalently.

Or, maybe in his case, looking up.

Tomorrow: Some Informed Speculation on HC Attendance

Saturday: Game Day Preview With Updated Depth Charts

Sunday: Complete Game Analysis

12.06.14
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Plenty to Play For, Just Not a Bowl

Sadly, the final gameday of the season.

Sadly, the final gameday of the season.

There are a lot of people who live in a fantasy world who believe that a team without a significant fan base and no bowl tie-in is going to somehow magically appear in a bowl if it becomes qualified because of things like TV ratings and conference affiliations.

Count me out of that group.

There’s plenty to play for, though, tonight when Temple travels to Tulane (7:30).  The game is on a real ESPN network (the duece), not ESPN3 or ESPN News or ESPNU so there will be a significant potential audience out there. The Owls will be playing to avoid a third-straight losing season and that is important.

The fact that Temple has done nothing about an abysmal punt return game is symptomatic of a larger overall leadership problem.

The fact that Temple has done nothing about an abysmal punt return game is symptomatic of a larger overall leadership problem.

There is just not a bowl game on the line.

Temple is not going to a bowl game with a win on Saturday, even if it is a 63-point effort like the one it had three years ago in West Point. Temple’s elimination game was two weeks ago, not today, and the Owls rolled out an uninspired offensive game plan against Cincinnati that belied that sense of urgency. Forget the calls for a play-action passing game and some semblance of a running game. Why didn’t Temple even TRY to use a slippery punt returner like Nate L. Smith instead of John Christopher to at least artificially pump some juice into the team?

Temple got zero yards from its punt return game … again.  It got nothing from its run game … again.

Those are two things fans should hope at least are addressed tonight.

Temple’s bowl chances might have been dashed before the season even started when American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco “sold” the rights to the conference’s sixth bowl tie-in to none other than CUSA. It was a monumental blunder.

The irony of this is dripping.  Temple’s 8-4 team did not get into a bowl because the MAC had too few tie-ins and its 6-6 team will not get into a bowl because conferences like the MAC and CUSA have too many. This kind of stuff happens only to Temple. You cannot make this stuff up. Temple’s major reason for leaving the MAC was getting more opportunities for a bowl and now the conference they go to sell a bowl where Temple would have appeared.

Any Temple fans up for a couple of winter days in the Bahamas? Sorry, we sold that bowl.

In the same category was UCF’s miracle win over ECU on Thursday night. Temple had a slight chance of backing into the fifth tie-in if Memphis moved up to a BCS game but, for that to happen, Memphis would have had to win the league outright and Fresno State would have had to knock Boise State out in the Mountain West title game. A head-scratching UCF Hail Mary allowed UCF to share the title with Memphis and eliminated even that sliver of Temple hope.

So, in a sense, Temple was beaten again by a Hail Mary pass, leaving winning tonight and at least some momentum into next season as the best the Owls can reasonably hope to accomplish.

Even given that, only a backroom Hail Mary in a smoke-filled room on Bowl Selection Sunday can extend this season beyond today and those kind of plays never go Temple’s way.

12.04.14
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Throwback Thursday: Temple vs. Tulane

Programs for this Saturday's game will probably go for higher than 25 cents.

Programs for this Saturday’s game will probably go for higher than 25 cents.

After Tulane came back from a two-touchdown deficit to beat Temple, 20-14, in the first Sugar Bowl, then Temple head coach Pop Warner said:

“We lost to a fine squad,” Warner said, “but our boys presented themselves well. Perhaps someday we will return.”

Like MacArthur said, “we have returned” even though it is 80 years later against the same opponent in the same town with either a lot or nothing on the line.

drop3

It’s not quite the Sugar Bowl, but it’s a few blocks away and will have all the limelight that comes with Saturday night nationally televised ESPN2 game. Even if the Owls are able to beat Tulane—and they have dropped from a 4.5 favorite to open to a 3-point favorite today—they are far from a lock to make a bowl game. The Owls have to hope 19-point favorite Oklahoma takes care of business against Oklahoma State in a rivalry game (3:30) earlier that afternoon and teams like Ohio, Middle Tennessee and UAB-Birmingham are passed over. It is not an ideal situation, especially when two analysts came on College Football Gameday making a pitch for UAB Birmingham being a great bowl story since it is dropping football.

Yulman Stadium ... site of the "Sugar Bowl" rematch.

Yulman Stadium … site of the “Sugar Bowl” rematch.

Temple, though, simply has to do something it has not done for weeks—take care of business. We’ve tried all season to give the Owls a roadmap to get things done but the Owls’ inexperienced coaching staff has been too stubborn in a belief of a flawed “process” to change. We don’t expect any change now, but still would like to the Owls attempt to establish the run behind a blocking fullback and a quick and talented tailback like Jahad Thomas, then throw off play-action. P.J. Walker has been struggling in the 3-4 wide sets and it only makes sense to provide him with some sort of max protect scheme so he can at least have time to fake to a running back and look down the field.

Common sense does not appear to be on the horizon, though, based on the process of the past few weeks. Tulane plays a nine-man front and would be susceptible to play-action, but to expect that now would be too much to ask. So get your popcorn ready and sit back expect to see 3-4 wide receivers attack a nine-man front and hope Temple’s defense can overcome that kind of convoluted gameplan.

As Terrell Owens might say, “It’s gonna be a show” but the entertainment value could be questionable.

Pop Warner would probably be turning over in his grave, perhaps muttering something about how he would have never hired an offensive coordinator from Tennessee-Chattanooga.