Four and seven nothing to get excited about

At least Steve Addazio is excited about the future of the Temple University football team.
If he is, I guess I should be.
I'll have to reserve judgment on that one because, no matter how you package it, four and seven is nothing to get excited about.
I must be a hard marker.
After Friday's 38-20 loss to Syracuse, which looked a lot like the other four Big East losses before that, there were a few things that were painfully apparent this year:
TEMPLE'S SECONDARY CAN'T COVER ANYONE _ If Daz can't see that, I don't know what he's looking at. Other than Anthony Robey, the Owls got picked on big-time on third and long this year and could not get off the field. That's not being negative. It is what it is. Without criticizing individual kids, there were some guys who were on the field who did not belong on the back line of the defense. Does anybody ever step in front of a ball and pick it off anymore? Not at Temple, sadly. Unless young versions of Todd Bowles, Kevin Ross, Bob Mizia, Pervis Herder or Anthony Young show up on campus in the next few months, I don't see how this gets any better.
TEMPLE'S PASS RUSH WAS NONEXISTENT _ I knew the Owls would miss Adrian "Rush" Robinson and they did. There was just no guy on the defensive line with his spin move, speed, toughness and his relentlessness. There was some talk about injuries along the defensive line, but those are just excuses. Other teams had injuries and they got to the quarterback. Temple needs a Robinson to arrive on campus soon. Maybe he will. Maybe that will energize the other returning linemen. We can only hope. The pocket needs to collapse and the Owls need D-linemen with the speed to get to the QB and put him down. Getting close won't cut it anymore. This isn't T-ball where everybody gets a certificate for trying. This is big-time college football and a results-oriented business.
TEMPLE'S OFFENSIVE LINE DID NOT DO A GOOD JOB PROTECTING THE PASSER _ Chris Coyer got beat up during his time as a QB and Friday was Juice Granger's turn. Daz said the team had problems picking up protections, but isn't that was Monday through Thursday practice is for? Just sayin'.
I've always said that my two keys to winning in football were to protect your QB and put the  other guy's QB on his ass.
Temple did a very poor job of both against Syracuse and in the four BE games prior to that one.
Other than the secondary, pass rush and pass protection, I agree with Daz.
The future is bright.
Just don't know if there's enough other areas to make much of a difference.
Picks:
Season: 17-9 overall, 15-12 ATS. 
Last week: 0-1 with three ties (or pushes, as Vegas calls it):
BUFFALO giving 10 at Umass; TULSA favored by 2 to over visiting UCF and LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE giving 4 to visiting Western Kentucky. Amazingly, this is how good Vegas is: Buffalo won, 29-19; Tulsa won, 23-21 and LL won, 31-27. Lost on  SOUTH FLORIDA getting 7 at Miami. Al Golden won, 40-9.
This week: Going back to high-value underdogs. RUTGERS getting 2 at Pitt; WYOMING getting 7 1/2 over visiting San Diego State; AUBURN and OC Scot Loeffler getting a backdoor cover of 33 at Alabama; GEORGIA TECH getting 14 at Georgia.