Tag Archives: William Kwenkeu

09.12.21
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Now comes the hard part

Plenty of people who make millions on college football had Temple pegged for two wins before the first projection of the college football season in May.

Somewhere, a few months later, that was adjusted to 2.5 due to a lot of Temple money coming into the betting parlors.

Still, the thought was this:

Temple would beat both Akron and Wagner and the .5 covered the books in the event of a win over, say, USF.

With Temple’s 45-24 win over Akron yesterday, the conventional thinking is “now comes the hard part.”

Maybe.

But, really, how hard?

Gasparilla Bowl defensive MVP William Kwenkeu (35) had two sacks in the win over FIU in 2017. His game against Akron yesterday might have been just as impressive.

Boston College had a similar win over UMass, which Vegas generally considers is a team not even as good as Akron.

If the Owls can beat Boston College on Saturday, the entire vibe changes inside the $17 million dollar Edberg-Olson Complex.

Maybe the vibe has already changed.

Consider this: Justin Lynch is the FIRST quarterback we’ve found in the entire history of Temple football (playing the sport since 1884) who WON a game as a true freshman starting his first game. (Hell, for MOST of those years, true freshmen were ineligible to even play but what Lynch did was impressive nonetheless.)

He was much more than a game manager. A lot of pretty good “veteran” quarterbacks (Lee Saltz for one) never had a day this good: 19 for 23, 245 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

If the Akron game becomes a confidence-builder and a building block for Lynch, he becomes a much more relaxed quarterback against Boston College and that can only bode well for the Owls’ chances in their home opener.

Another positive sign is that the team’s stars on both sides of the ball took over when they needed to on Saturday. Down, 14-0, Randle Jones took a jet sweep to the house. Two years ago, Carey called Jones a “flat-out stud” but he really wasn’t able to show it except on the opening play of the SMU game last year. Jones has been hampered by injuries.

Now healthy, Jones is a difference-maker.

So is William Kwenkeu on the other side of the ball.

Only the die-hard Owl fans know that William was the “defensive MVP’ in the Owls 28-3 win over FIU in the Gasparilla Bowl way back in 2017 and he’s still here four years later.

Thank God.

Not all Owl fans stuck around for the thrilling conclusion.

His scoop and score was the other key play in the game.

With the announcers talking about Temple in a “malaise” those two plays took Temple right out of it and back into a Temple TUFF mode.

Does it last?

A win on Saturday will be hard, but nothing worth achieving ever is easy.

Maybe the home crowd makes a difference. If so, a lot of Temple football haters can rip up their betting slips.

Monday: Not Like That

01.18.21
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The Temple 22 guessing game

Temple football needs to be fun again and the only fun comes from winning and singing the fight song afterward.

Any shot at picking a starting Temple “22” for football on Jan. 18th is a guessing game.

Mix in COVID and a fluid roster situation caused by the transfer portal and it’s really throwing darts but here we are on Jan. 18 and the first game is September and, just from the roster currently posted on Owlsports.com this morning and the transfers coming in, we’re going to be taking a shot.

Lancine Turay

OFFENSE (11)

WIDE RECEIVER _ Jadan Blue, Randle Jones and Amad Anderson. The fact that both Blue and Jones are still listed on the roster is really gratifying from my perspective. Jones is the fastest wide receiver we’ve seen at Temple since Travis Sheldon and Blue is on pace to break all of the Temple career records. Anderson is an accomplished Power 5 transfer who can play the slot. This should be the strength of the team.

QUARTERBACK _ D’Wan “Deuce” Mathis. Temple’s never had a quarterback transfer in who started a game for a Power 5 team, like alone the first game for a powerhouse SEC team so this is a no-brainer. Mathis has big shoes to fill, replacing a guy who tossed 44 touchdowns vs. 32 interceptions. Mathis will have to cut down on the INTS since he threw 3 to just a couple of touchdown passes. Whatever, Rod Carey’s read/option is more suited to Mathis’ skills than Anthony Russo’s.

TU needs more help at LB for William Kwenkeu (35)

RUNNING BACK _ Iverson Clement, the first four-star Temple running back since Juan Gaddy (at least coming in although you can say anyone who was a Heisman Trophy finalist, like Paul Palmer was, played like a five-star). He will undoubtedly be pushed by R’Von Bonner, who did more at Illinois than Clement did at Florida.

TIGHT END _ David Martin-Robinson. The redshirt junior-to-be is steady as they come and had five catches for 72 yards in the 2020 opener at Navy.

OL_ Michael Niese and Isaac Moore (G) and Vic Stoffel and Adam Klein (T) with C.J. Perez at center. That’s a big, experienced, group.

(For those counting, that’s 11.)

DEFENSE (11)

ENDS–Will Rodgers III and Manny Walker. Rodgers is a sackmeister from Washington State, who recently posted on twitter that he “loves Philadelphia.” If he puts quarterbacks on the ground at the same rate he did in Pullman, Philadelphia will no doubt love him back.

TACKLES–Xach Gill and Lancine Turay, two transfers from North Carolina. Kevin Robertson will push both players for time.

LINEBACKERS _ William Kwenkeu, Audrey Isaacs and Jordan McGee. Kwenkeu was the defensive MVP in the 2017 Gasparilla Bowl.

SAFETIES _ Amir Tyler and Trey Blair. Tyler is the senior leader and Blair will be a future playmaker and leader.

CORNERS _ Ty Mason and Freddie Johnson_ Two solid players. Mason took the year off from COVID (he didn’t have it but was just afraid of catching it) and should be well-rested, albeit rusty.

Rodgers, Walker, Gill, Turay=4; Kwenkeu, Isaacs, McGee 4+3=7; Tyler, Blair, Mason, Johnson=4-7=11.

Is this lineup good enough right now to beat Rutgers on opening day?

I would say no because we need two “Kwenkeu-level” linebackers to join William and more depth along the defensive and offensive lines.

Still, there’s no doubt that Temple has improved from the Temple we last saw in November and adding a couple of linebackers should go a long way to turn what is projected to be a losing season into a winning one.

Friday: A dream matchup that never happened

11.08.19
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Ending a streak and starting one in Tampa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-VK8LYAyig

Screenshot 2019-10-01 at 10.38.22 PM

Since CBS sports made this graphic, Owls have had four more games of 20 points or more that ended last night

A couple of streaks ended last night in Tampa, one important, one not.

Temple ended a rare two-game losing streak with a solid if unspectacular 17-7 win over a decent South Florida team. That’s the important streak one that supersedes everything else.

In the process, the Owls’ streak of 20-straight games scoring 20 or more points–a Group of Five that included Oklahoma, Ohio State and Clemson–ended when they eschewed a field goal with 32 seconds left.

Speaking of streaks, the Owls now have become bowl eligible for six-straight years under three head coaches (my editors always told me don’t say different head coaches because three is understood). I don’t think college football reference has a stat for that, but that’s got to put Temple in an elite group of maybe one. Plus, the Owls ended a streak of three-straight ugly losses in Tampa (although they did win a bowl game in nearby St. Pete).

Let’s put it this way. It could be a lot worse. We could be Rutgers and a fan base so delusional they think they can beat the Owls next year after they lost (48-7) to a team Temple beat (Maryland).

Always amused reading posts like this one last night:

Screenshot 2019-11-08 at 9.05.52 AM

My reaction to the above post

As a Temple fan, I’m pleased that the Owls are making another bowl but I’m greedy. Put it this way: Was anyone all that excited about the Independence Bowl last year? How about the Boca Bowl? Or the Gasparilla Bowl? They all seem the same to me. The problem with the AAC is that the winner gets all the spoils and everybody else gets crumbs.

kwenkeu

With the new rules, Owls can take the redshirt off Gasparilla Bowl defensive MVP William Kwenkeu (35) and play him the final three regular-season games, still preserving his redshirt for next year.

I want a championship and, as long as that remains a possibility (although a remote one), that’s what the Owls should go after. UCF and Cincy need to lose twice more, knocking out UCF, and giving the Owls the head-to-head tie-breaker with Cincy and the East title. That probably means a rematch with Memphis on enemy turf, but that’s a fight the Owls should want to pursue.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves here, but the point is a 9-3 finish–something the Owls can control–is a lot more rewarding than a trip to a non-descript bowl game. Let the chips fall where they may otherwise. If anything last night showed, it was if the Owls front seven (major hat tip to Quincy “Reggie White” Roche) plays the way they did against South Florida, the Owls can run the table.

Screenshot 2019-11-08 at 1.33.09 PM

From Friday’s Tampa Bay Times

Meanwhile, it would be nice to get Isaiah Wright off the milk carton for once and turn those fair catches into 80-yard punt and kickoff returns, but that’s up to him and not us. The fact that head coach Rod Carey still has him back there indicates this is the desired result.

Now that Carey is probably without Isaiah Graham-Mobley (injured) for the Tulane game, this would be a good time to temporarily take the redshirt off Gasparilla Bowl defensive MVP William Kwenkeu and knock some rust off him. That would still be preserving his redshirt and helping Temple in the process.

It would be a win/win situation for the Owls, bolstering the linebacking corps for both this year and next and hopefully help jumpstart another long winning streak.

Sunday: Fizzy’s Insights on the USF Game

Tuesday: The Scenarios

Thursday: Stopping the hybrid triple option

Saturday: Game Day Tulane