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| Ryan Alderman (left) and Jalen Fitzpatrick look like they are having fun after Fitzpatrick caught game-tying touchdown pass at UConn. |
You can forget all of that talk about Temple football becoming the Boise State of the East.
How about the Florida Gulf Coast of the North?
That's essentially the message head coach Matt Rhule imparted to Pete Thamel in today's online edition of Sports Illustrated.
That's OK with me.
The message essentially is this:
If Temple's players have fun, they'll play loose and with confidence and win, just like those Florida Gulf Coast kids did over the weekend in Philadelphia.
If Temple's players play tight, like Georgetown and even our own Scootie Randall did, they won't perform to their highest level.
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| Any publicity is good, especially on SI.com |
Think Florida Gulf Coast and Khalif Wyatt.
Or the fun Khalif Herbin looks like he's having when he's carrying the ball from scrimmage. When he's running a pass route, Herbin looks out of his comfort/fun element.
That's the kind of confidence and fun levels that Rhule wants to bring to the Edberg-Olson Football Complex every day.
If the Owls can play with that kind of confidence and sense of fun that FGCU and Wyatt always plays with, the results on the field will be Boise State-like.
I once asked Temple football Hall of Fame coach Wayne Hardin about the fun of playing football.
"Mike, the only way you can have fun is to win," coach said.
If the only way to win is to have fun and still do work, I'm all for it.
I think Rhule might be onto something here.
We'll find out for sure in the laboratory environment of September, October and November.
