Rhule made a comment during one of last week's press conferences that has been interpreted (perhaps incorrectly), that American conference officials have somehow implied or hinted that Temple will be invited to a bowl with 6 wins.

We would finish 6th in the conference with a win over Tulane, but the American has guaranteed bowl spots for its top 5 teams, and nationwide there are already more bowl eligible teams than there are bowls spots available. It doesn't look promising.

Have you been hearing any inside chatter that suggests our chances of getting invited to a bowl might be better than the odds indicate?

This post was edited on 12/1 4:14 PM by Hoots_a_lot

This post was edited on 12/1 4:14 PM by Hoots_a_lot

With the losses of Robby Anderson and Zach Hooks, PJ's slump, and a bunch of injuries (Zaire Williams, Fitzpatrick, Herbin, Eaton, Jabo Lee, plus those on the OL) our offense has had a rough 2014 season. When you take a look at next year's roster though there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Consider:

1) All five starters on the O-line return
Eric Lofton - R-Senior
Shahbaz Ahmed - Senior
Kyle Friend - Senior
Brendan McGowan - R-Junior
Dion Dawkins - Junior

2) The O-line will have depth
9 Redshirt Sophomores/Sophomores (Aaron Ruff amongst them), 1 Junior, 2 Redshirt Seniors

3) A replenished group of RBs
Thomas and Gilmore return. Zaire Williams, Jabo Lee, David Hood should be good to go. We also have incoming freshman Raekwon Gray.

4) Real QB competition
PJ, DiGiorgio, Nutile, Williams, and Marchi all battling for QB should improve the quality of that position.

5) Another year for nearly all of TU's receivers to improve
Christopher, Shippen, Herbin, Hairston, Deloatch, Kirkwood, Yancy, D. Thomas, and Eaton are all back. Another year of experience should especially help the younger guys. Incoming freshman Delvon Randall may be able to contribute in his first year

Just some reasons to look forward to next year's offense. The D returns nearly everyone and should be one of the best in the country. If Temple can get some things clicking on offense, they should be in good shape.

2015 Schedule
PENN STATE
@ UMass
@ Charlotte
NOTRE DAME
@ East Carolina
UCF
@ USF
@ Cincinnati
UCONN
+ three crossover games (Houston, Memphis, Navy, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa)

Although we have not won a few games lately, it is not for lack of trying by the defense to keep us in the game.

This year's defense is light years ahead of where I thought we would be after our late game meltdowns in the 2013 season.

These guys are bringing it, and making big time stops and turnovers. They are getting stronger and more cohesive as the season has progressed and are down right, old school, snot socking, bad boys. Matakevich, Finch, Praise, Sean Chandler, Walton, Robinson, Avery Williams, Tavon Young, Ellis, Ionnidis, Chudnoff, Amoire, Alwan, Smith, Will Hayes, and all of the others are due a standing ovation for their efforts this season.

And the best aspect of this squad is that almost everyone is back for next year! (I think we only lose Robey from the two deep)

These guys are WE THE "T", and that "T" stands for TOUGH!!!

Thanks guys, your hard work and dedication are deeply appreciated by this Temple football fan!

GO OWLS!!!

Not only was the news of the Ohio State player's apparent suicide a shocker, but today there are reports that a former University of Richmond offensive lineman, who was continuing as a student after his playiing career was cut short due to concussions, was found dead over the weekend. Circumstances of this death have not been determined, but it makes you wonder.

aver attendance 23,370

largest navy 28,408

smallest del st 19.202

conference games
tulsa 25,340
e carolina 22,130
memphis 23,882
cincinati 21,255

open conference play in 2015 on 9-12 (unless we have a bye) vs either cincinati south florida or navy. they are the only aac teams not schedule that day.

in 2015 the aac has two more bowl tie-in seven up from five
boca raton vs mac
cure vs sun belt this will be a permanent aac bowl

2016 aac adds the bahamas bowl vs mac making eight bowl tie-in

What happened to them? Herbin hasn't played in weeks and Smith did not play today.

Gents, one game we KNOW we have left.

Anyone have a player that's caught their eye they'd like to call attention to, someone to shine a spotlight on for the Tulane game we may have missed?

I'm going to go with Will Hayes. This kid actually caught my eye at the start of last year when he tore out onto the field during the introductions vs. Notre Dame. Playing in a venue like that in front of such a huge crowd, this young man didn't show an ounce of intimidation or trepidation. Fella was fired up.
Since then, I've kept an eye on him and he's definitely made progress and seen increased playing time. While he doesn't have flashy speed, intriguing size, the guy is a scrapper. Backing up at safety and playing special teams, this guy leaves it all on the field.

Special mention: Since Hayes was banged up and might not be on the field for Tulane, I'll nominate Corey Lerch. The long snapper goes overlooked unless he screws up. This kid has had very few bad snaps and for a true freshman, that's showing some grace under pressure. Also, he's regularly one of the first down the field on punt coverage and while he hasn't had but one stop, he's done a fine job redirecting the play.

Three winnable games.

First Question: Do we still have an offensive coordinator?

Second Question: If we still have on offensive coordinator, does he/she attend our football games?

Third Question: If we still have an offensive coordinator, one who attends our football games, does he/she know anyone in football who could teach him/her how to execute some running plays?

Thank you for your response. Go Owls!

Temple is going to.a gun fight with a bow without the arrow . The one thing I have learned watching chip Kelly is that you need to be balanced and a threat all over the field . You attack weakness in the defense overall and attack a edifice play defense with reads on each play . Temple , without any type of running game is behind the eight ball. . When you take away 50 percent of responsibility from the opposing defense then you odds and play sculling gets very narrow .

This all becomes even more of a serious problem in the red done when the field is very compact . Add that your QB is less than 6 ft still and passes down near the goal line almost always have to be to the sidelines because he can't see over the lineman .

PJ is a big play QB and I font thing will be a great manager of the game . No problem because big plays can win a game . PJ needs to play off something and a running game would be ideal for this kid

I can't believe every week it's the same thing with these time outs.

I expected more of -7 line actually. I'll take that as a positive.

"I'll say it very bluntly," said second-year coach Matt Rhule, who usually does exactly that. "P.J. hasn't played good enough. That's No. 1. No. 2, no one's made a play for P.J., right?

Rhule blunt about Walker

"There was a real focus on recruiting by the staff and not a lot of practice by the team," Rhule said in his recent press conference. I wonder who the staff was recruiting?
This post was edited on 11/26 4:16 PM by damnels

This post was edited on 11/26 4:18 PM by damnels

Article on Press Conference

Martin Luther King plays Imhotep Thursday, and the game is being televised at 10:30 a.m. on Comcast. It's a chance to check out DT recruit Dawayne Young.

Plus Imhotep has a slew of talent, including TE/DE Naseir Upshur, as well as RB Tyliek Raynor, both of whom are juniors I believe the Owls have offered. Raynor was hurt and didn't play Saturday against Archbishop Wood, so I'm not sure of his status. Imhotep has a load of OL/DL who are underclassmen, so we'll get to see them, too.

St. Joe's Prep took out Ben Franklin Saturday and Wood took out Imhotep. Watching both games, I was drooling.

Prep's John Reid (WR/DB) is headed to Penn State, and RB/DB Olamide Zaccheaus is going to Virginia. They have a sophomore back named D'Andre Swift who is a stud. Plus several other talented kids. They also feature Jon Runyan's kid, a big OL who is headed to Michigan, where daddy played.

Wood has the Bates kid, the 6-5, 300-pound OL headed to PSU, plus numerous other talented kids.

I'm guessing we offered Reid, Zaccheaus, Bates, etc. It would be nice to make deeper inroads at those schools.
This post was edited on 11/24 5:42 PM by freemzy

The noon game pulled a 4 rating and a 10 share winning the day.
Interestingly... the PSU/ Michigan game on ESPN2 at 7pm pulled a 3.5 rating and a 6 share....
Does Temple give the game that much of a bump with higher ratings for a noon game?
Hmm...

Crushed UConn tonight 41-0. I hope we are ready for them Saturday at NOON!

I would expect that PJ Walker would be in a quarterback battle in the off-season, but at the same time do we have anyone that could even challenge him? Is Logan Marchi going to be any good? Ihe was a two star player and is still only 6'1". don't expect Nutile to be ready until he's about a junior based on ACL reconstruction and lack of experience. His high school stats and film never really impressed me anyways. In that recruiting class Ohio, Akron, Tulane, western Michigan, Buffalo Memphis Cincinnati Tulsa, and Old Dominion all recruited higher rated quarterbacks than him. As much as I would like to see a strong showing from DiGiorgio next year, him making a push to be a starter as a walk on shows that our scholarship quarterbacks are not the caliber that we need. Lenny Williams is a dual threat quarterback but at 5'10" I'm not sure if he would have much more successful than PJ.

The "Hurry Up-No Huddle Offense" is anything but that. With the constant stopping and dog staring at the side line I see no advantage whatsoever with this offensive strategy. For the life of me I can not see or detect one edge it gives us, other than allowing the defense to get plenty of time to set up for the next down.

It seems it takes our offense almost the full 35 seconds before getting a play off.

I think we would be better served going back to a huddle.

GO OWLS!!!

This post was edited on 11/16 9:53 AM by coolhandred

Great to see Delvon Randall and Kenny Randall recommit.

Can always use a giant DT in Randall and a great athlete like Delvon Randall.

And we hire a true WR coach for next season? Thoughts, anyone?

More unfortunate news on the injury front for Temple.

Freshman cornerback Anthony Davis tore his ACL in practice last week prior to the Penn State game and will need season-ending surgery.

Davis, who chose Temple over a number of high-major programs like Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia, had six tackles and two pass breakups this season.

Matt Rhule said today on the AAC call that Jihaad Pretlow and Kenny Harper left Penn State on crutches. With Pretlow, it's a hamstring injury, and Harper reinjured the same ankle that had ailed him earlier this season. I suppose we'll find out more next week about whether they can play against Cincinnati.

JDC: The junior played RG the whole game. Why him over Semaj Reed, Leon Johnson or Brian Carter?

Is it because he's more experienced? Was he injured before and he's healthy now? The other guys just not ready for that type of game?

This post was edited on 11/17 1:43 PM by freemzy

Two more wins fellas!