"Who do you have next week?" the man asked.
"Army, at Army," I said.
"You should spank them pretty good."
“I don’t think they can spank anyone right now,” I said. “I don’t think they’ve found the paddle.”
Mixing metaphors, I really don’t think they’ve found the trigger to their offense.
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| Bernard Pierce says he's a fast healer, but unless he went to Lourdes, I don't think he'll be able to play this week. |
Tom Leonard had a great line earlier this week, tossing in another metaphor.
“He’s got a gun for an arm but he has no scope.”
Everyone said I should not judge Chester Stewart on the basis of the Penn State game because the Lions are too good.
Fair enough, but the four-game body of work is not all-that-impressive, either.
Sure, there was the game-winning drive against Villanova and the 62-yard touchdown pass to Michael Campbell.
Those were two drives out of 28 Temple drives that night.
Where was Chester the other 26?
That’s a fair question. To say he disappeared would not be an unfair answer.
Thirteen points against a Central Michigan team that Northwestern put up 30 on is not all that impressive, either.
UConn?
The Owls were down, 16-14, when Adrian Robinson stole the game.
They added to that total behind Delano Green and Bernard Pierce, not Chester Stewart.
I didn’t see very many big plays from Chester in that game, either.
Against Penn State, I saw a true freshman quarterback play like a redshirt junior and a redshirt junior play like a true freshman. A program-defining win theirs for the taking and only a 46-yard, three-interception performance prevented them from taking it.
Forgive me for not enjoying that.
So do I expect Chester to break out against Army and throw for 300 and three touchdowns?
That’s neither fair nor realistic.
I would not be surprised to see the Owls to be impotent on offense once again, especially if The Franchise (see crutches above) doesn’t take the field. Although Army's 24-0 win over North Texas doesn't look all that impressive on paper, North Texas won at Florida International (the same FIU that took Rutgers down to the wire) and North Texas lost excruiatiingly close games to in-state rivals Texas A&M and Rice. Army led at Duke, 35-7, before winning that one, 35-21. Before you dismiss Duke, the Blue Devils scored 48 points on Wake Forest. This Army team can score and ballhawk.
If the game is low scoring, this is a game Army can win. If Temple can only put up 13 against Central Michigan, will it put up a lot more than 13 at Army?
I doubt it.
Yeah, I’m worried.
