Monday, September 27, 2010

Penn State 31, Temple 30: The Video


No, that headline is not a typo and I know Temple lost to Penn State, 22-13, not, 31-30, on Saturday.
I came across this terrific video the other day while preparing for the Penn State vs. Temple game.
I looked at it again tonight.
It's from the 1976 Temple vs. Penn State game, a 31-30 final with the bad guys, as usual, on top.
Temple coach Wayne Hardin went for two to win it (there was no overtime in those days) and the ball agonizingly went off the Temple player's fingertips.
One of the things that struck me about it was how well Terry Gregory passed in that game and how well-conceived the offensive game plan was.
That was 1976, but the way Temple passed the ball in the 2010 game, you'd think we were back in the single wing days now and not then.
Terry Gregory was not even the 10th-best Wayne Hardin quarterback in my humble opinion but Hardin could recognize good quarterbacks when he saw them. Steve Joachim, Marty Ginestra, Frank DiMaggio, Tim Riordan, Lee Saltz, Brian Broomell, etc., all were better quarterbacks than Gregory. Why was Temple able to get those guys then and not now?
Call it what you will but Al Golden has struggled with identifying good quarterbacks or at least putting good ones on the field. He lucked into his best QB, Adam DiMichele, when Alex DiMichele was recruited as a fullback by former coach Bobby Wallace.
Since then, the Temple quarterback play as been spotty at best and that's probably a generous characterization of it.
I think it's pretty obvious the 1976 Penn State team was better than the 2010 Lions, so Gregory lighting them up for 300 plus yards was impressive.
My Kingdom for a Terry Gregory-type quarterback now.
Or an Adam DiMichele.