TU vs. Wyoming shows how much has changed

Laramie, Wyoming, the site of the last Temple vs. Wyoming game.

Turnovers costly for Owls
By Mike Bruton
LARAMIE, Wyo. (9/2/1990) — If Wyoming was expecting an embattled opponent haunted by last season's failures, it didn't find one in Temple yesterday. What it found was a most generous adversary.

Jerry Berndt's Owls had no intention of making things easy for the Cowboys and, in fact, made things rather rocky for them for nearly three quarters before succumbing to its own mistakes and losing, 38-23, before a crowd of 17,564.
The game at War Memorial Stadium was pockmarked by turnovers, but the Owls hatched six of the eight that occurred, their last three propelling the Cowboys to victory in this, the season opener for both teams.
Complete story from Sept. 2, 1990 editon of Inquirer is here for your edification.

As I write this, the temperature in Albuquerque, New Mexico is 12 degrees.
Here in Philadelphia, it's 62 degrees.
So much for warm-weather bowl destinations.
It could be worse.
According to an email I received from Wyoming, it was 21 degrees when the man started his car in the morning there on Monday.
That's minus-21.
Much can change in 10 or so days and hopefully that temperature inversion will.
College football is like the weather that way.
A short 20 years ago and Temple was playing Wyoming in an unlikely matchup in Laramie.
A lot has changed since:

• The Big East WANTED Temple;
• A high school head coach named Steve Addazio was in his second year working toward the first of three  state titles in Cheshire, Conn.;
• Temple had a good, professional, competent football announcer in Dave Sims;
• There was no BCS (and therefore no BS in college football);
• Teams actually had to have WINNING seasons to earn a bowl bid;

What hasn't changed are the precepts of the game itself.
The team that blocks and tackles the best and limits the turnovers usually wins the game.
Such was the case in 1990 when Temple dropped a 38-23 game in Laramie, based on turnovers.
In fact, Temple head coach Jerry Berndt used the term "ball security" way back then.
Some things never change.
Addazio's plan to win at Temple has the ball security issue right at the top of the sheet.
Limit turnovers, play great defense, run the ball, make a difference on special teams.
If Temple doesn't do anything crazy like turn the ball over 127 times (exaggerating for effect here), like it did the first time these two teams played, it should come away with its first bowl win since 1979.
That would give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, whatever the temperature is on Dec. 17.