Temple football: Sometimes less is more

One of the best interviews with K.C. Keeler I’ve ever seen

Nobody is perfect.

Not even a perfect head coach.

For me, K.C. Keeler is the perfect head coach for my team because my team is Temple and Keeler is from Philadelphia (Emmaus is close enough), was recruited by Temple and didn’t go to Temple only because Hall of Fame coach Wayne Hardin ran out of scholarships and found his way back to Temple when Temple needed him the most.

Yet nobody is perfect, even my perfect head coach.

Would love to see more jet sweeps for JoJo and fewer for Chase this season. No more 3-yard handoffs on the first play of the game to the best running back.

The Navy debacle is well-documented here and I would have wound down the clock down and kicked the field goal with three seconds to win the game, 27-24. That’s not second-guessing. That’s exactly what I told Navy fans I would have done in real time in the same place and at the same time the game was played. They agreed with me that Navy was fucked if Temple did what I told them Temple should do.

In real time.

Keeler got greedy and took the touchdown and trusted his defense against the best player in the league (Blake Horvath). The best player in the league won.

Not the only concerning sign I saw last year so less of those is what I want to see this year.

What did I see last year?

Too many first-play handoffs to Jay Ducker or jet sweeps to Colin Chase.

Don’t get me wrong.

I love Ducker and Chase.

Couple of things wrong with those plays.

One, after three or four games, handing the ball off to Ducker is telegraphing the play to the next team. Two, Chase doesn’t have the speed or the twitch to take the first play to the house. Sam Brown is the “Ducker” of this year. If you are scouting Temple tendencies, you will expect a handoff to Brown on the first series.

That’s not the best game plan, nor is the handoff to the slowest receiver on the field. There is a faster receiver with more twitch who Keeler called the “best punt returner in the nation.”

Know who that guy is?

JoJo Bermudez.

Why Bermudez didn’t get those toss sweeps last year and Chase did is something I will never understand.

First play of the Rhode Island game shouldn’t be the expected handoff to Brown nor a jet sweep to Chase.

If anything was learned from last year, it should be a jet sweep to your best and fastest player, Bermudez. Or maybe you want to save that play for Penn State.

If so, doing less is more.

I’ll leave the perfect decision for my perfect head coach.

Monday: Game Week