It's Our Time Now ... Let's Take This

No words necessary. Let's just go get this title.

For the Owls, every game should be a Crusade

Terrific photo of Steve Manieri and Temple's great fans.

Photos by Ryan Porter

By Mike Gibson
Message boards are a beautiful thing sometimes.
You can catch the pulse of a sports fan, or a sports community, by sitting down with a cup of coffee and paging down a list of threads.
Occasionally, something will catch your eye so you will click on it.
So it was with me on the day after Temple's biggest football victory in years, a 37-13 win over defending MAC champion Buffalo.
The thread said something about Temple's game at Eastern Michigan this Saturday being a "trap game."
The coffee spit out of my lips and all over the screen.
After I got the Windex out to clean everything off, I had to laugh.
"Trap game?" I thought, with all of the incredulity Jim Mora Sr. once said when someone asked him about playoffs.
It's still a classic response that lives on in a Coors Light commercial.
"Playoffs? Playoffs? Playoffs?" Mora said in three different tones of voice. "We'd be lucky to win a game."
"Trap game?" I thought.
Trap game? This is Temple a team dying for every shred of respect it can get. Every time Temple steps onto the field, it should treat it like a crusade, not a game.
I still think that.
I always thought the great thing about college football, at least on the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level was that there were only 12 games, 13 if you are lucky.
Call it the lucky 13th in this case.
Trap games and letdowns should be for some other sport.
Here we are in college football where you work 365 days a year, lift weights, run, practice, to play in 12 regular-season games a year.

Letdowns and trap games should not be part of the lexicon. Playing like a mad dog frothing at the mouth should be the norm not the exception, no matter who is lining up on the other side of the ball

You practice and game plan for six days a week just to play that game the seventh.
Letdowns and trap games should not be part of the lexicon. Playing like a mad dog frothing at the mouth should be the norm not the exception, no matter who is lining up on the other side of the ball.
Especially if you are Temple, a school that the day before it faced Buffalo was ranked in ESPN's Bottom 10. That's what the world thinks of you as a Temple football player. It's definitely not reality, but it is the perception.
It took awhile to acquire that perception so it won't change after one game, but it will after a body of work called a season and the reality of this season is that the Owls are running out of games to make the statement they need to make.
The players should be fed up and play the rest of the season with a huge chip on their shoulder.
I know the fans have had enough of that "Temple sucks" mantra.
Those Bottom 10 days were supposed to be over.
Eastern Michigan is the next game and that's why it is the most important one the Owls will ever play.
That's why it bodes the Owls well if they pretend they are not headed to the Little House to play Eastern Michigan but instead headed to the Big House down the road to play the real Michigan.
It's that important to Temple and its fan base to keep that momentum going this week and beat an opponent it is favored to beat. There's a great photo accompanying this story of Temple's fans watching Steve Manieri catch a pass in traffic against Buffalo, courtesy of Ryan Porter.
It reminds folks how hard it is to make plays to win in big-time college football and how hard it is to sustain the winning. That's why the focus should be on Eastern Michigan now.
The Buffalo win was just one game, one of many the Owls have to win from here on out to accomplish their goals.
If they have to pretend they are playing the Wolverines, so be it. A long winning streak starts by focusing on each task at hand, not looking ahead to the next one after that.
Eastern Michigan is the task at hand. THEN comes Ball State.
That's how this thing works.
Trap game?
Don't make me laugh.

Temple 37, MAC champs 13: The Video

Temple 37, Buffalo 13. It is now OK to look, Ethel.

A can of whoop ass for everyone

By Mike Gibson
I had to do a double take at the tailgate prior to the game.
Somebody was wearing a blue University of Buffalo T-shirt that said: "Buffalo Football: A Can of Whoop Ass."
For a second, I didn't know if he was referring to the Pitt game or the University of Central Florida game, both whoop-ass jobs.
Then I thought, oh, he meant Buffalo was going to whoop ass.
Never mind.
Sometimes you get the can and sometimes the can gets you.
Maybe the Owls will get to whoop ass, like Buffalo did last year, after Saturday's 37-13 Temple win.
One piece of advice to my fellow Temple fans: When we get good, and we will reach the Promised Land soon, never wear a shirt like that.
It's just bad Karma.
I thought the same thing when I read the pre-game prediction board on UBfan.com.
No one over there predicted the Owls would win. No one predicted a Buffalo win of less than 14 points.
Bad omen to get too cocky, especially against a Temple team many, including CBS Sportsline's Dennis Dodd and the New York Times, picked to detrone Buffalo in the MAC East.
You would have thought last year's Hail Mary pass would have taught them at least a little bit of respect for the Temple football program.
Whatever bad Karma pre-game, there was plenty of good Karma to go around at the post-game tailgate, thanks to what the Owls did the three hours it mattered on Saturday afternoon.
Some game balls:
The defense: When it came time to make a play, they made a play. They grew up big-time against Buffalo. From Peanut Joseph staying on his feet when he could have easily went down, to Andre Neblett staying with the ball or to Dominique Harris finally holding onto the ball, they are finding out that winners make plays. Let's hope the lesson carries to the final nine games of the season. Make that 10. Only two teams gained over 500 yards of total offense against this year's Pitt team. One was North Carolina State. The other was Buffalo. The Owls defense held one of those teams to 13 points.
Bernard Pierce: For all of Bernard Pierce's great runs, the greatest was this: A spinning run near the goal line for about seven yards. As Pierce came out of his spin, he wrapped the ball up and held onto it like it was gold. With both hands. That shows maturity beyond his teenage years. The Owls might have found the stud running back they were looking for since Todd McNair/Paul Palmer days.

James Nixon: This guy routinely ... and I mean routinely ... gets behind the defense. Nobody can cover him. That's what 4.3 speed will do for you and he doesn't labor at the speed. He does it in one easy motion with great vision. He's a weapon we should use more often.

Vaughn Charlton: This young man is finally realizing that he doesn't have to be Peyton Manning for the Owls to win eight, nine or 10 games. He just has to be Vaughn Charlton. Play within himself. Hit the short- and intermediate routes, keep those sticks moving and occasionally take a deep shot when you have the defense off-balance. Manage the game. Great clutch pass to Evan Rodriguez.
Yeah, he said it: "I have to hide in the city. I have to hide in the state. But at least I'm 1-0 in the MAC.’’ – Temple coach Al Golden.

Factoid of note: Cap Poklemba has made Lincoln Financial Field a house of horrors for MAC foes. Whipping the crowd into a frenzy over the last three years has paid off for both the former Owl kicker and the Owls. Temple is 7-2 against the MAC at LFF since 2007. Fifteen thousand active and involved fans is better than 50,000 fans who sit on their hands. There is still plenty of time to join the party, Owl fans _ unless you plan to sit on your hands. Only the party people on the dance floor, as they say.

Owl fans in a show-me state (of mind)

By Mike Gibson
They might have stumbled out of their dorm rooms at 10 a.m., taken the 10-minute subway ride to the game in Philadelphia but the estimated 6,000 Temple students will be from Missouri for Saturday's game against Buffalo.
You can say the same for 5,000 or so Temple alums and maybe 4,000 "Joe Philly" types who have adopted Temple as their hometown college team. About 15,000 hardcore Temple fans will be there, about 15,000 softcore Temple fans have already said "why bother?" after the Sept. 3 debacle against Villanova.
This is about the hardcore fans, though.
Huh?
While they all may physically be in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, they definitely are in a Missouri state of mind.
You know, the "Show Me" state.
Almost 30,000 Temple fans, including about 12,000 students, left it all on the field against Villanova, screaming themselves hoarse, standing the entire game and generally providing by all accounts was a substantial home-field advantage against a school, Villanova, from the same town.
When they left the stadium, you could hear a lot of students _ Temple students who could have gone anywhere _ say, "same old Temple" after a 27-24 loss to Villanova.
Same old fumble up 10-0, going in for a 17-0 lead right after halftime.
Same old three interceptions.
Same old 24-14 fourth-quarter lead, followed by the same-old defeat on the last play of the game.
Temple coach Al Golden must have sensed the mood of the university community this week when he wrote this letter to the students:

Letter to the students
Thank you for your excitement and passion you displayed at our home opener versus Villanova.
The sea of Cherry and White on the Temple sideline and in the end zone was truly incredible and it marked the largest student attendance we’ve had since I’ve been head coach of the Owls. Your enthusiasm at our games truly does give us the best home-field advantage in the MAC.
I strongly encourage you to attend our first MAC game of the year this Saturday (9/26) at Noon versus Buffalo. Please see below for bus transportation and student ticket information. We need you in the seats this Saturday! Be loud & proud of your Football team and help us win a MAC Championship this season! Go Owls!
Al Golden, head football coach

Thank you for your excitement and passion you displayed at our home opener versus Villanova. The sea of Cherry and White on the Temple sideline and in the end zone was truly incredible and it marked the largest student attendance we’ve had since I’ve been head coach of the Owls. Your enthusiasm at our games truly does give us the best home-field advantage in the MAC. I strongly encourage you to attend our first MAC game of the year this Saturday (9/26) at Noon versus Buffalo. Please see below for bus transportation and student ticket information. We need you in the seats this Saturday! Be loud & proud of your Football team and help us win a MAC Championship this season! Go Owls!

- Al Golden, Head Football Coach
That indicates to me that the incredible disappointment in the overall Temple community over Villanova must have impacted Al to write the letter.
Students, alumni and fans can only take so much of same old Temple.
So those of us who can muster ourselves out of bed on Saturday morning, will get on the subway or head down I-95 and, while hoping things will be different in the noon showdown against MAC champion Buffalo, will be in a show-me mode.
Anybody who sits near me knows that I'm usually the first one off my feet (well, second to this guy), exhorting the crowd to get whipped up into a frenzy.
Not this week.
I'm going to sit there quietly and hope this team and most importantly coaching staff shows me enough to get excited about.
Show me some touchdowns.
Show me some big defensive stops.
THEN I might get off my feet.
I'll be there, but my mind will be 1,000 miles away.
Hopefully, a few long Temple touchdowns will snap me out of a Villanova-induced stupor.

Tim Riordan is now a Buffalo fan

You might not be able to see it, but Tim Riordan is third from the left, first row, seated next to punter Sean Landetta.
I got an email the other day from a Tim Riordan and that got me thinking about Temple's Tim Riordan, who was one of my favorite Temple quarterbacks.
Tim was Wayne Hardin's last quarterback at Temple and Bruce Arians' first, so he spanned a couple of eras in back-to-back seasons.
Under Hardin, Riordan called an audible in the Carrier Dome that beat Syracuse, 23-18, in 1982. Down, 18-16, in the fourth quarter, Tim looked over to the Owls' sideline, gave a hand signal, patted his side, nodded to Hardin and Hardin calmly nodded yes. He then changed the play at the line of scrimmage and threw a fly pattern to tight end Scott Andrien that went for 44 yards and a TD. No histrionics, no confused looks to the sideline, no wasted timeouts, just a simple point and a simple nod. That was Temple football under Hardin. Supremely organized and efficient and constantly outsmarting the opposition.
That year, Riordan was the No. 7 passer in all of NCAA football. He still holds the Temple completion percentage record (63.9 percent) for one season.
In 1983, Riordan made just enough great plays to beat Syracuse, 17-6, in Arians' debut at Franklin Field.

"I'm not kidding myself. With Riordan in the game, maybe it's different."_Joe Paterno, after 1983 game against Temple

He went down with an injury early in the Owls' loss to Penn State, ironically enough by the same 23-18 score he beat Syracuse by, and Joe Paterno grudgingly admitted afterward that the outcome probably would have been different had Riordan not gotten hurt.
Riordan was a third-round choice of the Arizona Cardinals and eventually played quarterback for the Philadelphia Stars of the old USFL.
Now Tim Riordan is in Buffalo, a big-time University of Buffalo football fan running a blog called Bull Run, the guy who sent me an email. He's not OUR Tim Riordan, though, and not related to the former Temple quarterback. (Hey, if the REAL Tim Riordan wants to send me an email and tell me what he's up to, it's templefootballforever@gmail.com.)
Tim knows all things Buffalo football, so I tossed a few questions at him regarding Saturday's noon MAC East conference showdown.
While this Tim Riordan will be in the stands on the Buffalo side, what this Temple team needs most is OUR Tim Riordan. I wish Vaughn Charlton could throw the short to intermediate throws like Temple's Tim Riordan once could.
Vaughn does throw a better deep ball than Riordan, but what good does that do if you are only going to throw one deep ball a game?

No histrionics, no confused looks to the sideline, no wasted timeouts, just a simple point and a simple nod. That was Temple football under Hardin. Supremely organized and efficient and constantly outsmarting the opposition.

Instead, we're getting the other Tim Riordan in the stands for Saturday's game.
Welcome, Tim, and here are my questions and his responses:
1) What is the difference between the running styles of Mario Henry and Brandon Themilus vs. James Starks. Temple fans are very familiar with Starks, not so much the other guys.


Over the past two seasons Thermilus (83 yards) and Henry (165 yards) have done far more damage to Temple than Starks (46 yards).


Thermilus is a horse, he will punish the defensive front seven every time he touches the ball but on the odd run when he breaks into the open he is not fast enough to take it to the house. Thremilus also lacks the burst needed to get around the corner on better defenses.


Mario Henry has impressive speed, he can hit the corner but he lacks the power of Thermilus. He is not going to break too many fundamentally sound tackles.


Both backs have had trouble holding onto the ball this season.


I've always though of James Starks as the best parts of Henry and Thermilus. He had explosive speed yet was powerful enough to take it through the center of the line. Most of all he was good as a receiver out of the backfield.


2) How would you compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of Maynard and Willy?


Maynard has a much stronger arm, a lightning fast release, and is far more mobile in the pocket. Maynard is, physically, the better quarterback in just about every way. He can make some of the tight trows that would have been difficult for Drew.


Drew had better leadership skills on the field and I think he had the immeasurable ability to be the quarterback you needed in a pinch but much of that is owed to his three years under Turner Gill, Maynard may eventually get there as well.


Maynard lacks the touch to put the ball in just the right place, that was a luxury UB enjoyed last season. Maynard also has shown some questionable pocket presence, nothing sinful, just what you would expect from a first year starter.

3) How would you compare UTEP to Central Florida and which team did you think was better and why?


I would have to say UTEP played the better game, They were a holding call away from beating us and they did it without 4 turnovers and as many short fields in the second half.

4) Who are the playmakers (names and numbers) on defense for UB?


Our defensive backfield is talented, experienced, and hard hitting. #30 Mike Newton is, in my opinion, the best player on defense. Davonte Shannon, #7, is the other big name in the secondary. Both, I think, Are good enough to be drafted.


Justin Winters, #34, is having a good year at linebacker but other than that our defensive front seven is having a pretty weak season. UB has yet to put real pressure on a quarterback, or shut down a running game.

No Happy Ending in Happy Valley again

Owls must swarm to the ball like this on every play against Buffalo.

My doctor has a Penn State mural that I have to look at when I go for my annual checkup.
It's one of Joe Paterno leading the football team down the main street at State College, presumably during a pep rally. If you haven't guessed by now, my doctor is a PSU grad.
We always have some small talk about the mural, then he asks me about Temple football.
He just shakes his head from side to side.

Al Golden's RX: WIN ... THE .. GAME!!!!!

It's THAT look, the one every Temple fan seems to get all the time, the "why bother" look.
"I don't think they are going to do it," he said, never referring to what it is but I know what he means.
I tell him with the right coach, Wayne Hardin, they did do it once and what was done before can be done again. Hardin won 80 games (and lost only 51) against a schedule tougher than the current MAC one the Owls play. I tell my doc another coach, Bruce Arians, went 6-5 against a schedule that was ranked No. 10 in the nation one year.
Both had far less tools to work with than Al Golden does now.
I tell him, with the right coach, that someday the Owls will be competitive with Penn State and by competitive I mean final score and a drive at the end of the game deciding it either way. I tell him it happened before against better Penn State teams. I tell him if Central Michigan can beat Michigan State, we will have our day against Penn State.
He just shakes his head and gives me that look.
That was my No. 1 goal going into today's game: Getting rid of THAT look forever.
It didn't happen because James Nixon dropped a ball he should have held onto and it didn't happen because we went for a trick play on 4th and 1 a couple of times when we could have run the ball and probably gotten the first downs.

The final score was 31-6, but add that touchdown Nixon should have had and add that touchdown or two we might have gotten except for those funky 4th and 1 calls and it could have been 31-20 or better.
I'm tired of adding imaginary points. I want real ones now and a lot of them.

The final score was 31-6, but add that touchdown Nixon should have had and add that touchdown or two we might have gotten except for those funky 4th and 1 calls and it could have been 31-20 or better.
I'm tired of adding imaginary points.
I want real ones now and a lot of them.
Could have, would have, that's what I'm tired of at this point.
This is Year Four of the Al Golden Regime. He's had four recruiting classes. There are no excuses now.
Other programs, like Toledo, Navy and Rutgers, have beaten PSU over the last 30 or so years.

How come Penn, a FREAKING Ivy League team, can hold Villanova to 14 points and we can't? I lay these first two games at the feet of the coaching staff.

Why not us?
Why not?
Just a guess, but probably because we look confused out there at times. How come the Penn State offense doesn't need to constantly look over to the sideline before they snap the ball? The Lions get a lot more done, too.
How come Penn, a FREAKING Ivy League team, can hold Villanova to 14 points and we can't?
I lay these first two games at the feet of the coaching staff.
They can't do anything about the fumbles or the dropped passes, but they can get this Keystone Cops look on offense fixed. They can blitz more on defense.
So while other Temple fans might have been encouraged by this latest outing, I wasn't.
I'm looking at a two-game body of work and what I see is Roseanne Barr-ugly. No amount of make-up is going to make that big fat pig look good.
Or this one: Oh and two is just that. Zero and two.
Temple fans deserve no less than a long winning streak starting this Saturday and could haves and should haves won't cut it anymore.
Al Golden's charge is simple and you can write this is big, bold letters: HE MUST WIN SEVEN OF HIS NEXT 10 GAMES. At least. I will take all 10, but I guess I'm more greedy than Al is. He would have had to win only six if not for the Villanova debacle, but that was his fault so he gets no Mulligan for that game. He must make it up down the line.
I don't want to write about should haves anymore.
I want to write about great touchdowns, lots of them, and great defensive stops, lots of them.
The talent is here.
In 10 weeks, we'll find out if the coaching is, too.
Five and six wins is just unacceptable anymore. Unacceptable.
Over these next 10 games we will find out if Al Golden is the right coach.
Winning, not coming close, not "enjoying the game" should be the only standard by which to judge him now.
It's Time.
Buffalo is the biggest game of the year... be there and make noise. If you don't have tickets, click here:

Hardin's Owls used to scare wits out of Nits

By Mike Gibson
Back in the day is a phrase kids like to use about crazy things they heard of way back when.
Here's something really crazy: Temple and Penn State used to play great, great football games back in the day.
It's true.
Back in the day, doesn't seem so long ago to those of us in our 40s and 50s.
I suspect even 60s.
Back in the day, Temple used to play Penn State tough more often than not.
Believe it or not.
Back in the day, Joe Paterno wasn't so gracious in his praise of foes.
The crusty old Penn State coach has been known to lay it the praise on thick recently for some pretty thin opponents, like Coastal Carolina.
There was a day, though, when JoePa occasionally let loose with what he really felt and the day Penn State announced it was resuming its series with Temple was one of those.
"The guy who scheduled Temple must've been drunk," Paterno blurted out.
He was talking about his own athletic director.
Paterno didn't want to play a game where he had everything to lose and little to win and that's what he thought of Temple in those days. The Owls were good and posed a threat and they were an in-state opponent.
So a rivalry was born.
A couple of weeks later, Paterno and Temple coach Wayne Hardin posed for a publicity photo, arm-wrestling.
Eventually, Hardin would provide some of Paterno's hardest-fought wins.
One of those games was the first one in the resumption of the series, on Sept. 6, 1975, at Franklin Field.
Temple sold roughly 30,000 tickets to the game and Penn State sold 30,000.
"I don't want to be out pom-pomed in my own stadium," Hardin told then athletic director Ernie Casale, talking Casale into buying 30,000 pom-poms.
Hours before the game, Hardin and Casale and a few other helpers put the pom-poms on the rows of seats behind the Temple bench, all 30,000 of them.
On the first play from scrimmage, an Owl speedster named Bob Harris took a simple handoff to the right, darted into the line, found a hole and went 76 yards for a touchdown.

Our 5 Keys to the Shock the World
1. Keep your QB off his ass _ If you see a lot of draws and screens to set up a long bomb or two, that's a good sign of a well-designed offensive scheme.
2. Play mistake-free _ Easier said than done. When you tell a guy don't fumble, it puts the word fumble in his head. Don't fumble. Don't throw an interception.
3. Put the other QB on his ass _ Basically, send more guys than they can block. Challenge your extremely talented linebackers to make plays and send safeties, LBs and DEs from spots Penn State won't expect them. Keep blitzing blind side. Tell the blitzers to try to strip the ball as they arrive at the QB. If you can't get to Clark with five, send six. If you can't get to him with six, send seven and eight.
4. Get the ball to the playmakers _ That means if you hit James Nixon for another 75-yard bomb and find Michael Campbell on a jump ball in the end zone, don't forget that they are still on the team.
5. Play Neapolitan, not Vanilla _ Aggressive schemes often result in a plus-turnover ratios. It's risky, sure, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. If the Owls come out and play vanilla on both sides of the ball, they will be nothing but a snack to the Nits. If they bring pressure and force turnovers, they have a chance to cause major mid-day indigestion for 106,000 people.

Temple 7, Penn State 0.
The first play of Penn State-Temple since the 1952 game and it was a Temple touchdown.
To this day, it was the loudest roar I've ever heard from Temple fans.
Half the stadium on their feet, cheering and waving Cherry and White pom-poms and generally acting like crazed, happy, lunatics.
Half the stadium in Blue sitting in stunned silence.
It was a beautiful thing and, for a moment, you thought it would last all night and maybe years into the future.
Temple lost that game, 26-25, on a Rich Mauti 64-yard punt return with 27 seconds left. Temple gained 378 total yards to Penn State's 127 but still lost.
"That offensive line is the best we've ever faced," Paterno said of Temple that night.
Afterward, Hardin admittedly cried like a baby.

...a silent press box was interrupted by Penn State beat writer John Kunda of the Allentown Morning Call.
"Hardin's outcoaching Joe again," Kunda said. The press box erupted in laughter because they knew he was right ...

The next year, at Veterans Stadium, Temple trailed, 31-17, entering the fourth quarter, but behind a quarterback named Terry Gregory, the Owls scored twice on TD passes to close the gap to 31-30. Hardin eschewed the tie and went for the win. Gregory's two-point conversion pass was dropped.
"I don't go for ties," Hardin said.
"I have to give coach Hardin a lot of credit," Paterno said. "A tie would have been big for their program."
At the time the series was resumed, in 1974, Temple was in the middle of a 14-game winning streak, the longest in nation, longer than Nebraska or Oklahoma or Texas.
Only when Don Bitterlich, usually the most reliable of kickers, missed a chip-shot field goal on Nov. 2, 1974, did the Owls miss their chance for win No. 15. They lost that game at Cincinnati, 22-20, and then went on the road and lost to a very good Pitt team, 35-24.
The Owls finished up 1974 with a 35-21 win at West Virginia and a 17-7 win at Villanova before that Penn State opener in 1975. If you are counting, that's 16 Temple wins in 18 games.
On Sept. 1, 1978, Temple extended one of the best Penn State teams. Utitlizing his great punter, Casey Murphy, Hardin quick-kicked on half the third downs, pinning Penn State deep in its own territory for much of the game. Murphy would not only kick it long, but he was a master in the art of the coffin corner kick and would nail it inside the 5 most times.
Temple would send its punt team on the field, pull it off, then send it back again just in time to get the kick off.
On offense, Temple showed reverses, halfback passes, throwback passes to the quarterback and shovel passes to the fullback, plays rarely seen in those days but ones that kept Penn State's defense honest.
In the middle of all this, a silent press box was interrupted by Penn State beat writer John Kunda of the Allentown Morning Call.
"Hardin's outcoaching Joe again," Kunda said.
The press box erupted in laughter because they knew he was right.
The strategy worked until Penn State kicked a field goal with a minute left to win, 10-7.
In 1979, Hardin took his best team up to State College, led, 7-6, at halftime but lost, 22-7. A win and Temple would accept an invitation to the Liberty Bowl. A loss meant the Garden State Bowl.
That was the last of the good Hardin-Paterno matchups.
Bruce Arians would later lose to Paterno, 23-18, on Sept. 21, 1983 and, 27-25, on Sept. 14, 1985 but he never outsmarted Paterno.
Temple hasn't had a good game with Penn State since, at least in terms of the final score.
There are a lot of reasons for that, mostly laid at the feet of the Temple administration for some bad football hirings.
They once made a great hire in Hardin and he gave Temple fans a lot of thrills, especially on days when the Penn State game came around.
It's a shame a whole generation of Temple fans missed out on that party. Maybe Al Golden will hold an impromptu one Saturday afternoon.

If Temple beats PSU, season tickets will be sold out by Tuesday so buy yours now as a hedge fund:

Penn State Week: A puncher's chance

By Mike Gibson
Playing Penn State, for this Temple fan, has been a little like playing the lottery.
I know I'm not going to win, but I plunk down my money anyway.
Little risk, great reward.
You can't win if you don't play.
Yet you pretty much know in your gut you're not going to win.
For most of the past 20 years, Temple didn't even have a puncher's chance.
Now the Owls have a puncher's chance.
Problem is, we're Tex Cobb and they are Muhammad Ali.
Cobb is a big-time Temple football fan and a frequent visitor to Temple tailgates over the last 15 years or so.
I chalked his Temple fandom up to 20 years of getting hit upside the head until I found out reading Dan Gross' column that Cobb recently graduated from Temple as a 50-something.
No truth to the rumor that Tex enrolled when he was 18.
One of the highlights of an otherwise uneventful life for me was having his beautiful wife come up to me at one of the tailgates and plant a big wet one on my lips. I looked over at Tex and was about to shrug my shoulders, but he smiled so I knew I was OK.
I say the Owls have a puncher's chance because if there's one thing Al Golden has done well over the last four years is bring up the talent level.
Not to Penn State's level, but certainly past the Syracuse and Akron's levels and I think the Nittany Lions will find that out Saturday.
Plus, as Joe Paterno has noted, Temple has no more fat guys so he's improved the team's conditioning.
As a point of reference, Akron fell to Temple, 27-6, in the final game of last season. The Zips fell to Penn State, 31-7, in the first game of this season. Last year, Akron beat Syracuse, 42-28.
Vaughn Charlton, for all of his faults, did throw for 318 yards and two touchdowns against perhaps the top FCS team in the nation and I think he's an upgrade over Greg Paulus, who did not pick up a football in four years.
Plus, Charlton already had his day against PSU two years ago, playing in front of 70,000 at Lincoln Financial Field. In that game, he threw one touchdown pass that was called back due to a phantom hold and had another touchdown pass dropped by a freshman tight end. I don't think he will be overwhelmed by the experience this time. He's capable of putting points on the board.
Vaughn is a smart guy, so I think he will avoid throwing the type of pass (timing patterns, mostly) that caused him to throw three interceptions against Villanova.
We can only hope those pages have been ripped from the playbook.
Defensively, Mark D'Onofrio's body of work outweighs some passive play-calling against Villanova. D'Onofrio doesn't look like a passive defensive guy to me and he got away from his DNA against Villanova.
Here's hoping he brings it against Penn State.
Think the A-gap blitz Trent Cole of the Eagles pulled off against the Carolina Panthers yesterday. I'd love to see Adrian Robinson line up in A-gap blitzes against Penn State. Move Robinson around. He's your best pass rusher.
Also, the Owls have four playmakers at linebacker. I'd like to see Amara Kamara spy Darryl Clark and turn the others loose on run and pass blitzes.
If the Owls play an aggressive scheme, both offensively and defensively, they have a puncher's chance to shock the world Saturday.
If they come out vanilla on both sides of the ball, it's just another ripped up ticket to State College.

Villanova loss: The Single Bullet FG Theory

The Zapruder Film of Temple football. Don't look, Ethel.

I will always support the program, me and the 15,000 die-hards. But I won't sugarcoat the truth. I just won't.

I haven't been in the mood to post on any of the message boards recently.
I'm in deep mourning.
Thirty years of losing, then being sold that this year would be different, then losing to a 1AA team, will do that to an individual.
I don't think Al Golden understood the importance of this game to Temple, its current students, alumni and fan base.
I don't think Al Golden understood the intense dislike Temple people have for Villanova people.
I don't think Al Golden understood if you lose this game, you lose an entire fan base (at least the much larger soft part of it, countless thousands of people who could have pushed our average past 30K) for a whole season. That's shy of beating Penn State, which, after that latest brain cramp, is just not going to happen.
In many ways, this was a program-killer. When the story of this program is written, it could include a chapter on redemption, about a win in front of 106,000 people at Penn State that started something big or it could begin and end with five turnovers.
The Zapruder Film of Temple football could be that bullet-to-the-head field goal that we allowed by playing a prevent defense in the final seconds.
Call it The Single Field Goal Theory.
I will always support the program, me and the 15,000 die-hards.
But I won't sugarcoat the truth.
I just won't.
The plain truth is me and the 15,000 die-hards are not enough to keep it running.
We are running out of "next years" because decisions on things like conference affiliations are being made now and will largely be determined by attendance.
You need big wins to fuel the attendance engine.
You need to protect your own house.
Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Kent, Fake Miami, just ain't going to cut it.
Not in this market.
That's why the Villanova game was so important.
Play the game, Al, but win the game.
As Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo used to rant to Mike Francesa on WFAN when those two were the No. 1 tandem in all of talk radio, "Win The Game, Mikey ... WIN ... THE ... GAME!!!"
Win the game, Al.
WIN ... THE ... GAME!
OK, I understand about the minus-4 turnover ratio. I understand all of that.
But Al Golden could have done things proactively to turn that stat around.
That's why I'll never understand why our linebackers weren't unleashed on Villanova. Blitz left, blitz right, blitz up the middle.

There is no doubt in my mind if the blitz was a big part of our defensive package, we would have been able to put Whitney down 10 times and not just five. We might have jarred a couple of balls loose in Villanova territory. We might have scored a defensive touchdown or two.

Every one of our linebackers is faster, significantly faster, than Villanova quarterback Chris Whitney. There is no doubt in my mind if the blitz was a big part of our defensive package, we would have been able to put Whitney down 10 times and not just five. We might have jarred a couple of balls loose in Villanova territory. We might have scored a defensive touchdown or two.
We WOULD have won the game. There's no doubt in my mind.
Put him on his ass, hit him enough times, and watch that turnover ratio and field position swing in our favor.
This is not second-guessing. It's first-guessing.
Page down to a post or two below.
There it is in bold typeface with a gold background posted prior to the game: TEMPLE'S NO. 1 PRIORITY SHOULD BE GETTING TO THE QUARTERBACK. I guess I didn't make that big or bold enough.
I was buttonholed by an older gentleman, I'll call him Joe, on the way out.
He was walking with another older gentleman.
The other guy told him, "Don't worry, Joe. We've got 11 games left to play."
Joe was inconsolable.
"I don't care about those other games. This is the game I wanted to win. You can have all the Akrons and Northern Illinois you want. This is the game I wanted. I'm not coming back."
"I hear you, bro," I said.
"Then you understand," Joe said, nodding his head vigorously. "You understand."
Joe isn't alone.
The sad truth is that you can lose to Penn State, go 10-2 and win the MAC and a good chunk of Philadelphia will say, "Yeah, but they couldn't beat Villanova. The MAC sucks. Who cares?"
I care, but I doubt anyone other than the die-hards care and that's why this loss was a program-killer in many ways.
We've already lost our house.
All we have left is the car.
Anyone want to roll the dice for double-or-nothing with Penn State?

Plenty of good seats now available:

The Villanova Post-Mortem

I was just working out some math equations in my head.
Hmm, what does 27,854 plus 1 equal?
Oh, I'd say about 30,632.
What does 27,854 minus one equal?
Probably around 8,000.
Fuzzy math?
No, just some figures based on observing the very fragile Temple football fan base over the last 30 or so years.
Expect the crowd for Temple's game against Buffalo when it comes back from an expected Penn State beat-down to be around 8,000. That's where the minus 1 comes in ... 27,854 fans minus one must-win, equals 8,000.
Had the Owls beaten Villanova and gave a decent effort in a loss at Penn State, they would have drawn 30,632 for the Buffalo game, which arguably is the most important on their schedule.
I know that.
You probably know that.
Tell that to the 20,000 or so Temple students who believed last night, but no longer do after a 27-24 loss to Villanova.
You could hear the refrain coming out of the stadium.
"Same old Temple," the kids were saying.
And they were OUR students, not Nova's.
Can you blame them?
Until Al Golden beats a team with a winning record (and the last time I checked he hasn't as a HEAD coach), he's all talk, no substance.
Back on Feb. 4, I wrote that I was worried about this game because Andy Talley, quite frankly, is a better game coach than Al Golden.
I thought it didn't matter because Golden had the talent edge to Talley's game-coaching edge.
I was right in both cases.

Temple brought four or five most of the night. The last time I checked, this is not the North-South All-Star game. They do allow you to blitz.

Talley is the better game coach and Golden had the better talent.
I was wrong about the edge part. Talley's football acumen far surpasses Golden's. Edge should not have been an operative word.
What good does it do if you have advantage in a chess match and you can't finish it off by making the proper moves?
Talley made the proper moves and Golden didn't.
I wrote here last week that "Temple's No. 1 priority should be getting to the quarterback."
A freaking blind man could see that.

Until Al Golden beats a team with a winning record (and the last time I checked he hasn't as a HEAD coach), he's all talk, no substance

Al Golden couldn't. If that's Mark D'Onofrio's fault, he's got to get in Mark's face and say, "bring the house." That's what the head coach is for.
If you can't get to the quarterback bringing four or five, bring six.
If you can't get to the quarterback bringing six, bring seven.
If you can't get to the quarterback bringing seven, bring eight.
You get the idea.
Temple brought four or five most of the night.
The last time I checked, this is not the North-South All-Star game.
They do allow you to blitz.
Chris Whitney made them pay.
The defensive side of the ball is not the only area where the guys with the headsets on came up small.
The Owls have a career linebacker, Matt Rhule, as an offensive coordinator and that's probably why their offense has no imagination.
At least George DeLeone, a lifelong offensive mind, pulled out the handoff to Tim Brown, pitch back to Adam DiMichele and bomb to Travis Shelton for six against Bowling Green.

What we've seen in two years is a 28-24 lead against Buffalo with 38 seconds to go, a 6-0 fourth-quarter lead against UConn, a 27-7 fourth-quarter lead against Navy and a 24-14 lead against Villanova and losses in all four games. It can't be the kids' fault all the time.

Bruce Arians had Matty Baker also throw a pair of long-bomb flea-flickers to Mike Palys for a couple of scores in a 45-28 win over Boston College two decades ago. Arians, the offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champs, knows his stuff. Might be a good idea for Rhule to take a page or two or 12 out of his Temple book.
When backup quarterback Chester Stewart lined up in the slot, I thought, "Great, we're going to TRY at least one throwback pass."
Nothing.
Meanwhile, Talley tries a reverse that goes for 28 yards and his offensive plays had a sophistication far above any package Matt Rhule threw out there.
What we've seen in two years is a 28-24 lead against Buffalo with 38 seconds to go, a 6-0 fourth-quarter lead against Uconn, a 27-7 fourth-quarter lead against Navy and a 24-14 lead against Villanova and losses in all three games. It can't be the kids' fault all the time.
Just once, I'd like to hear Al Golden say, "I screwed up. I take full responsibility."
Instead, he throws Kee-ayre Griffin under the bus after the Navy game and now throws the kids who fumbled and tossed INTs under the bus last night, saying the story of the game "begins and ends" with the five turnovers.
The buck has to stop somewhere else. I, like Golden, love playing this game. You have to win it, though.
Golden can't go out there and hold onto the ball and throw to the right person, sure.
But he can put those kids in a better position to win.
That's what Talley has done for nearly 20 years at Villanova and that's why Villanova has a win Temple needed more.

Owl student rooting section alone could number 20,000 strong

Cherry Crusaders showed up in force to support Owls vs. PSU two years ago. All indications are they will take it to a much higher level against 'Nova.

Tip of the day

Be seated inside the stadium NO LATER than 6:50 p.m. (That means leave the tailgates at 6:30) for the GREATEST Temple football video ever produced. It will give you goosebumps, I promise.

By Mike Gibson
Checked my twitter account the other day and noted that "The Cherry Crusade" is now following my tweets.
Geez, I don't tweet that much (I'm just getting used to the whole thing) but I could not have been more honored if Bill Cosby had become a follower (he hasn't, but I'm following him).
I checked and The Cherry Crusade is the official tweet site of the loud and organized Temple rooting section of the same name.
The Cherry Crusade, by all accounts, has done a spectacular job mobilizing the students for Thursday night's game against Villanova. An army of about 20,000 students reportedly already have tickets in hand.

Looks like our readers have nailed Thursday's attendance ....
Final results of poll:
Since 22K tickets have already been sold, your best guess on TU-VU attendance:

22-25K 24 (12%)

25-27K 28 (14%)

28-30K 39 (20%)

31-32K 42 (21%)

33-39K 34 (17%)

40-45K 15 (7%)

45K plus 12 (6%)



Votes so far: 194
Poll closed

The Cherry Crusade is the organized rooting section that usually numbers in the high single-digit thousands for Temple home football games.
That's usually.
Thursday won't be anything near usual and could be the start of something really big.
In the last four days, the Liacouras Center ticket office has been beseiged by long lines of Temple students purchasing their discounted tickets for the Villanova game.
Each day, the lines got longer at the Broad Street entrance.
It's spreading in a good way like the 1918 flu spread in a bad way.
You walk by and hear one student say to the other, "What's the long line for?"
"They are getting tickets to the game Thursday night," the other kid will say.
"I've got to go, too, then."
One post on Owlscoop.com mentioned millions of Temple students have lined up for tickets.
Millions is an exaggeration.
High thousands isn't.
"I'd say around 20,000 (students), give or take about a thousand each way," someone in the know emailed me this morning. "We're looking at 10K Temple alumni and about 5K Villanova fans for a grand total of about 35K, if all goes well."
I'm stunned, but in a very proud way.
I come from an era where Temple students didn't cheer and didn't get involved in extra-curricular activities.
You took the bus or subway to school, went to class, put out the Temple News and went to work. Maybe only 1,000 lived on or near campus. Now, according to the university's official website, 12,000 students live on or near campus and those students are Owls to the very core.
"Temple has a large and loud student section," a poster named UConnJack87 wrote on the Boneyard website last year. "The game was played in a Hurricane and I'd estimate that several sections of students alone stood and cheered the whole game. I didn't expect that."
Similar positive posts appeared on MAC websites about the nationally televised game with Ohio.
These students not only stand the whole game, they are loud, their cheers are funny and imaginative and, largely thanks to an ex-football player named Cap Poklemba, appropriate to the game situation at hand.
They are truly the Owls' 12th man.
What a difference from 20, 30 years ago.
Back in the day, you went to the games, sure, but you always wondered where the other students were.
Temple kids no longer have to wonder that anymore. The entire 12,000 kids who live on campus now apparently are going to the game Thursday night.
Throw in a few thousand of the commuters who want to have a total college experience and you have something big happening Thursday night.
Real big.
Thanks, Cherry Crusaders.
May you all cheer so loud Thursday night that you won't be able to speak Friday morning.
That's a good thing, not a bad thing.
I plan to have the same kind of worn-out vocal cords, too.
Hell is coming here, Villanova fans ....