In this, the second installment of "What, Me Worry?" , Temple Football Forever is officially worried.
Fortunately, the first installment of worry (The Big East invitation) turned out to be unfounded.
I hope this installment turns out the same way.
Worried about the outcome of tomorrow's game at Army.
Nothing the Owls have done in the last four weeks have shown me they can beat EVEN Army, and that would be the exclamation mark of a downward trend between this season and last season that is alarming at best.
Look at what Army's has done in recent weeks:
- Beat Boston College, a team that gave Notre Dame a decent game.
- Lost by one point to an outstanding Northern Illinois' team.
- Beat Air Force, a decent team from the West that gave Michigan a good game.
Look at what Temple has done in recent weeks: Lost by 47-17 to a Pitt team that gave Notre Dame a good game.
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| Even Temple grad Dick Weiss is picking against the Owls. |
Lost by 35-10 to a Rutgers' team that lost to Kent State.
Temple beat Kent State, 34-16, last year.
Temple also beat Army by 42-14 last year.
Temple also beat Ball State by 42-0 last year.
Ball State is one of the best teams in a Mid-American Conference that is outstanding this year.
Listen, I know Temple lost six starters on defense and most of the offensive line to the pros last year but it did not lose SO much talent to have this kind of a downturn in 12 months.
Except for a 16-for-20 performance in the passing game against South Florida, Temple seemed to spend the entire season in an attempt to return college football back to the days of Woody Hayes and "three-yards-in-a-cloud-of-dust" approach. Only it worked for Ohio State, not Temple.
Beating a 2-8 Army team would not be a feather in the Owls' cap, but it would certainly show signs that this program has a pulse and won't take the final game against Syracuse lying down.
Yeah, I'm worried.
I have reason to be.
I hope the football program and team prove my worries as unfounded as the administration did back in March.
Picks:
Last week: Was a good week. I went top-heavy on high-value underdogs. The only loss was the Army game and it was 7-7 in the fourth quarter. I had ARMY getting 18 at Rutgers; MIAMI (FLA.) getting 1 at Virginia (a push); VANDY getting 3 at Mississippi (Vandy won outright); GEORGIA TECH getting 9 at North Carolina (GT blew out UNC outright); BUFFALO getting 2 1/2 at home vs. Western Michigan (Buffalo won outright). Only liked one favorite: TULSA giving 2 at Houston and Tulsa won, 41-7.
This week: Going the other way, liking three favorites and a dog. BUFFALO giving 10 at Umass; TULSA giving 2 to visiting UCF and LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE giving 4 to visiting Western Kentucky. Like one underdog and that's SOUTH FLORIDA getting 7 at Miami.
Records:
Last week: 4-1 overall, 4-1 ATS.
Season: 17-8 overall, 15-11 ATS.
Saturday: No story, but complete analysis of the game on Sunday
