TU listed as 14 point underdogs. What was the line when the Owls beat Vandy 37-7 to open the season?

Justin Lynch, am I right?

If Mathis is legit, there's no way the kid is here for 4 years if he's good enough to be the backup as a true freshman or even be in the conversation as a true freshman. No sense redshirting him and preserving his eligibility.

Unless Mathis is SO good that he leaves in 2 years for the NFL? But Lynch is not going to sit for 4 years and watch Mathis play.

Figure I can start a thread for these....

1. How many wins this year ?
2. is Mathis going to be great , mediocre or well below average ?
3. will Temple be a good running football team ?
4. will the offensive line be a strength ?
5. how many points a game will we average offensively ?
6. How many points a game will we give up defensively ?
7. Name the best five players on the team at the end of the year ?
8. will the coach and his staff be on the hot seat by the end of the year ?

Temple allowed the media to observe the first hour of practice this morning. Here are some observations:

- D'Wan Mathis looks as advertised. The ball comes out of his hand nicely.
- Justin Lynch took all of the quarterback two snaps and Mariano Valenti took all the quarterback three snaps.
- Nick Bags appears to be on the starting defensive line.
- Freshman center Bryce Thoman spent some time working with the starters.
- Isaac Moore is working as the starting left tackle.
- Appeared as though Tayvon Ruley and Edward Saydee were splitting first team reps at running back.
- Some other starters on defense: DaeSean Winston, Cameron Ruiz, Freddie Johnson.
- Randle Jones caught a long touchdown pass from D'Wan Mathis during team work.

Are any more single digits about to be awarded? It would be cool if "Deuce" actually got to wear that number.

When is his NFL HOF induction?

Here we go... Fordham isn't a huge deal but it's an A10 program. That's big enough to cause waves. Mandatory vaccinations to enter their campus facilities. No exceptions. I'd guess Fordham will not be the last.

Our latest podcast is out, and includes an excerpt from our exclusive interview with Temple running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Gabe Infante. Gabe and I talked about the program's recruiting philosophy, and it's part of a larger interview that will be available for OwlScoop.com subscribers in the coming days.

Kyle Gauss, Dante Collinelli, Sam Cohn and I also talked about the position battles at tight end, running back, BUBO and the specialists, and we answered your mailbag questions, too.

Hope you all enjoy it.

We're recording The Scoop, our OwlScoop.com podcast, tomorrow and taking mailbag questions up until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. As I said last week, although we're in the middle of preseason camp for football, we're happy to talk basketball as well and answer your mailbag questions if you have them.

Thanks so much for listening and for your support of the site! We appreciate it!

We're recording The Scoop, our OwlScoop.com podcast, tomorrow and taking mailbag questions up until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. We'll talk about what we've heard from the players and coaches this week, including Mike Uremovich and the tight ends, running backs and specialists. We'll also play some audio from my conversation with Gabe Infante, separate and exclusive from his session with reporters earlier this week. We dived more into his role as the recruiting coordinator, the program's recruiting philosophy and much more. And I'll have that full interview available for all of you as subscribers later this week.

So if you have mailbag questions, please drop them in here and we'll answer them on the podcast. Thanks so much!

Running backs coach Gabe Infante and Edward Saydee, Kyle Dobbins and Trey Blair will talk to reporters today. We'll have updates on Twitter and a full story later.

We'll have a story up on the site soon from @Dante Collinelli. In the meantime, here are a few excerpts from this afternoon's press conference.

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Temple returns home today from the Bronx to finish out preseason camp in North Philly. Here's some of what we've learned so far about the Owls through 12 days of preseason camp.

For those of you with ESPN+, Temple has TWO on the list. And boy, are you not going to believe who they chose.

We'll be talking to Rod Carey and offensive coordinator Mike Uremovich on Monday and will have coverage of that media session soon after.

The team scrimmaged today, so we'll ask both coaches about what they saw from it.

We talked to cornerbacks coach Melvin Rice and several of his top corners today, including Keyshawn Paul, Cameron Ruiz, Freddie Johnson and Elijah Clark.

I asked Ruiz what he thinks so far of D'wan Mathis, and is what he said:

“I see an elite talent. I see one of a kind. I think he’s a special talent. I see he’s extended plays, but I’m not going to chirp on that as much, because I want everyone to see that for themselves when he plays. I’ll just say he’s a special talent.”

Here's the full story:

In case you missed it out on the front page, our latest episode of The Scoop, our podcast, is out. We talked more about D'wan Mathis, the linebackers, the receivers and the safeties.

@Kyle Gauss, @Sam Cohn, @Dante Collinelli and I are back again this week with another episode of The Scoop, our OwlScoop.com podcast. You can help drive the conversation with your mailbag questions, so please drop them in here if you have one, whether it's about preseason camp position battles, recruiting or even something off-topic.

Although we're in the thick of covering preseason football camp, we're more than happy to talk hoops, too. Sam just did some great coverage of the Danny Rumph Classic and had the chance to talk to some former Temple players.

Also, here's a friendly reminder to please subscribe to The Scoop on Apple Podcasts or wherever you access your podcasts. Ratings and reviews help us out as well. The more we get, the more visibility the pod - and Temple sports talk - gets on that platform.

Thank you!

How we doing? Everyone holding up pretty good as far as we know?

@Kyle Gauss, @Sam Cohn, @Dante Collinelli and I are back again this week with another episode of The Scoop, our OwlScoop.com podcast. You can help drive the conversation with your mailbag questions, so please drop them in here if you have one, whether it's about preseason camp position battles, recruiting or even something off-topic.

Also, here's a friendly reminder to please subscribe to The Scoop on Apple Podcasts or wherever you access your podcasts. Ratings and reviews help us out as well. The more we get, the more visibility the pod - and Temple sports talk - gets on that platform.

Thank you!

Quarterbacks coach Jake Landry, starting quarterback D'wan Mathis and backups Re-al Mitchell and Mariano Valenti talked to reporters today.

You can check out our story from @Dante Collinelli here:

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Here's our story from today by @Dante Collinelli with quotes from Rod Carey, Jeff Knowles and several of the linebackers, including Audley Isaacs, George Reid, Yvandy Rigby, Jordan Magee and Kobe Wilson.