Temple Football

Ten years ago, the Temple University football program was on life support.

The school was not-so-politely asked to leave the Big East Conference in 2001 for a number of reasons, one of which included the notion that the Temple Owls were considered "non-competitive."

Four years later, the school's Board of Trustees agreed—by an 8 to 7 margin—to keep Temple football at the major college level. Along with that vote came a pledge to commit the resources needed in order to restore the program to its former glory.

That commitment appears to be paying off rather nicely these days.

Following Saturday's 34-0 homecoming win over Buffalo—the team's fifth victory this season by more than 30 points—the Owls have won 20 of their past 27 games.

In junior Bernard Pierce, Temple boasts one of the best players in the nation: a running back capable of breaking off touchdown runs reminiscent of those typically seen in video games. And the man who leads the latest iteration of the Owls—head coach Steve Addazio—previously earned two national championship rings as a member of Urban Meyer's staff at Florida.

In a few short years, the Owls have risen from the proverbial ashes of the late 80s and 90s. Not only are the Owls dominating their own conference, they're winning games against nationally-recognized programs that boast dozens of four-star recruits.

Even those who had completely written the team off are beginning to pay attention once again. The renaissance on North Broad is rapidly approaching its final stages.

When it comes to Temple football, everything is different now.

In the not-too-distant past, Temple gave away thousands of football tickets to area schoolchildren.

For the kids, it was a rare opportunity to watch a football game in an NFL stadium. For the university, it was a philanthropic way to fill the building.

Attendance was a priority for Temple in those days, especially since the Big East was threatening to revoke the school's membership due to lack of fan support.

However, even with free tickets readily available, convincing people to spend their Saturday afternoons watching college football at Veterans Stadium was a hard sell.

It's not hard to figure out why: Temple simply wasn't very good.

From 1985 to 2006, the Owls had exactly one winning season. There were two years (1985 and 2005) in which the team didn't even win a single game.

To borrow a phrase from Malcolm Gladwell, the tipping point for Temple football came on December 6, 2005. On that day, the school announced that their new head coach would be former Virginia defensive coordinator Al Golden—a fitting last name for the man who would spark the rebirth of the Owls' football program.

Golden was all of 36 years old when he accepted the job, and the former Penn State tight end brought with him an energy and a passion that hadn't been associated with Temple football in decades.

The season before Golden arrived on campus, the team finished 0-11. Four years later, Temple ended the regular season 9-3 and earned an invitation to the EagleBank Bowl—the school's first postseason appearance since 1979.

Golden was showered with accolades for his work reviving a program many had left for dead. And with those accolades came job offers: last December, he decided to take his talents to South Beach to become the head coach the Miami Hurricanes.

Many wondered if Temple would be able to find a coach who could continue the success that Golden ignited during his five years in North Philadelphia. Those worries were put to rest less than three weeks later when Steve Addazio was formally introduced as the 25th head coach of the Temple Owls.

As a former offensive coordinator and associate head coach for the Gators, Addazio is keenly aware of what it takes to compete at the major college level.

He wasted little time in garnering his first major win—a 38-7 rout over Maryland in College Park on September 24. The victory marked the first time Temple had ever defeated an ACC school.

"[The win] was great for recruiting, and it was also great for the development of our football team in the big scheme of things," said Addazio in an interview on The Broad Street Line last week.

The energy surrounding Temple this season is hard to ignore.

The team has been featured in a number of national articles, and the Owls routinely find their way into ESPN highlight packages, thanks in large part to the on-field exploits of Pierce.

The Bristol-based network seems to have something of an affinity for the Owls. When ESPN was forced to find alternative programming after the NBA canceled the first two weeks of its regular season, what did it choose?

Temple football.

Last week, the Owls' early November matchups against Ohio and Miami University were moved from ESPN2 to ESPN. The Miami game will mark the third time that Temple will appear on ESPN's primary network this year, and the contest is one of the school's record-setting eight national TV appearances this season.

Seemingly overnight, the Owls have turned into appointment television. More than 1.9 million people watched Temple nearly upset Penn State earlier this year—a record TV rating for the university.

There are still a few things missing, however.

The pomp and pageantry that surrounds most other Division I schools isn't yet present on North Broad Street.

There is no ceremonial walk through the heart of campus, nor is a singular hand gesture that unites the team with the fans. Traditions such as those will come with time and, most importantly, success.

Success is precisely what the Owls have enjoyed in recent years—barring an epic collapse, they will likely be bowl-eligible for the third consecutive season.

Even so, fans have been slow to warm up to the new-look Owls.

More than 57,000 came out for the Temple-Penn State game, but the Owls have averaged less than 27,000 for their other three home dates this season.

"I think [the fans] are missing out on a great experience," Addazio told The Broad Street Line. "The atmosphere is electric."

The recent revival of the Temple program has led to the belief that the school may soon receive an invitation to a major conference, possibly for all sports.

Temple would seem like an ideal candidate for the Big East, but according to several reports, Villanova (who competes in the conference in all sports except football) balked at the league adding another team from the Philadelphia market.

However it shakes out, Temple clearly has the credentials worthy of major conference membership.

This season, they've defeated a top-level ACC team (Maryland) and almost beat a nationally-ranked Big Ten team (Penn State). Last year, they notched a victory against Connecticut—the team that would eventually win the Big East title.

Off the field, the school's Board of Trustees recently approved a $9 million expansion to the team's practice facility. The upgrades will quadruple the size of the current complex, and will allow Temple to be more aggressive when it comes to recruiting.

It's hard to imagine that the Big East—or any other conference, for that matter—would refer to the Owls these days as "non-competitive."

The school's mantra this season is "Philly Proud, Temple Tuff", and Addazio and his charges do their best to fulfill that motto every time they step out onto the field. And with each passing week, the renaissance of a proud Philadelphia football institution comes closer to completion.

The college football major conferences are in a transition period. Conferences are scrambling to compete with the “Super Conferences” by trying to add some of the best reaming teams left in college football.

The Big East is one of those conferences, and the Temple Owls are ready to join. Why would the Big East want Temple when the Owls can't beat Toledo?

Temple started the day at 3-1 and hosted the Toledo Rockets. The Rockets had won just one game before this meeting and another Owl victory would show the Big East they deserve the call to join.

That plan did not work out. Perhaps the Owls were distracted by joining the Big East but they did not show up for the game against Toledo.

After starting the game up 3-0, the Owls went silent for the rest of the first quarter. The Rockets led 15-3 after one quarter and the Owl needed a rally.

They did just that by scoring 10 points in the second quarter, and trailed 22-13 at halftime. That would be as close as the Owls would ever get.

The Owls ended up losing 36-13 and the Big East might be second guessing the Owls.

However, the Owls should still get the invite. The Rockets are not as bad as their record indicates. The Owls did not look good today, but overall they still have a solid recruiting base to draw from on the east coast.

The Big East and the Temple Owls are still a combination that works.

James Brown is a B/R Featured Columnist. Feel free to contact James at jtsneaks@gmail.com.

When Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced that they were heading to the ACC and Connecticut began to flirt with the conference, the Big East was left with a choice.

They could agree that their conference life was not long for this world and all go their separate ways or they could agree to try to work together to lure other members into the conference.

After some deliberation, they decided that they would rather stick together and try to keep the conference afloat.

Their first move appears to be offering Temple a spot in the league. John Taylor of College Football Talk passed along a report that originally appeared on SportingNews.com:

"The presidents will reportedly vote on extending an offer to Temple to become a full-fledged member of the conference, including, obviously, in football."

Temple is certainly a more attractive program now than they have been in the past, thanks to the resurgence of their football team.

But this still feels like a desperate move on the part of the Big East. Rather than take more time to try to put together a "Godfather offer" to lure a bigger-name school, the Big East extended an offer to a school that they were certain would come on board.

It's actually kind of ironic that the Big East is banking on Temple joining the conference to keep them alive. After all, the Big East all but kicked the Owls out back in 2004 when the conference was trying to improve its football profile.

Getting Temple to come back is far from enough to stabilize the league. There is still a chance that UConn leaves and Rutgers may not be far behind.

You have to applaud the Big East for doing all they can to keep their conference alive in major college football, but offering Temple membership in the league is a poor start to their plans to do so.

As a college sports fan, your more than familiar with underdogs making a name for themselves. 

A mid-major program on the rise with little to no history, no hype, and little national attention. That is, until they start winning important football games while given a chance under the national spotlight.

The Temple Owls have done just that to begin their 2011 season. Forget that 14-10 heart-breaking loss to big brother Penn State--the Owls have proven they are no longer small-time.

After a 37-8 dismantling of ACC product Maryland this past weekend, there isn't much else that stands in the way of Temple and Steve Addazio's program running the table. Playing in a Mid-American conference that offers good football—but not great competition—there isn't much left for Temple to
prove.

Unless, that is, they are able to run the table and really make a name for themselves. How do you think Boise State reached the highest peak a mid-major program can climb? The same could be said
about the prospering program down at Texas Christian Gary Patterson.

That's not to say that Addazio has his program on the track of either Chris Peterson's or Patterson's. He has a long, long way to go. Even if the winning continues, Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw will need to begin scheduling some more grueling out-of-conference contests.

But what he has done is righted his team on a path to success and dominance at the mid-major level. You have to start somewhere, right?

The Owls boast one of the most exciting backfields in all of college football. Bernard Pierce and Matt Brown are a threat to take it for six every time they touch the football.

Pierce rushed for five touchdowns (a school record) and 149 yards against a talented Terrapins team. His last weekend performance leaves him just shy of 500 yards to go along with 12 touchdowns on the ground through just three games.

Brown, on the other hand, is the perfect compliment to the skill-set of the Owl superstar. The mini-sized speedster is the lightning to Pierce's thunder.

To go along with their monster rushing attack, the Owl defense has given up just four touchdowns through three games. If the defensive line continues to be a strength, every opponent must fear Temple.

Now at Miami, former head coach Al Golden brought in an influx of talent during his time in Philadelphia, leaving behind plenty of fortunes for Addazio. This football program has all of the things needed to reach the next level: great facilities, a huge student population, an appealing campus, financial support, and to top it all off—plenty of talent.

Addazio, who won two national championships with Florida under Urban Meyer, has as much
momentum as ever for this program.

Now is the time to start using it.

With conference realignments looking more likely each hour of the day, this is the perfect time for Temple to make their move.

Although it isn't quite yet relevant to discuss the future of this program, Temple had an outside chance at being a top-15 team by season's end if the outcome vs. Penn State had gone in their favor. Instead, the Owls are playing for a chance to play in a high-tier bowl game to show the
nation their legitimacy. 

Win out, and college football may have their new Cinderella in the making.

In five years, Al Golden transformed the Temple Owls from laughingstock to one of the best teams in the Mid-American Conference. For all he did for the program, Golden was never able to establish a consistent passing game. Temple's one-dimensional offense was the main reason why Golden never won a MAC title at Temple.

Even more important than the naming of Steve Addazio as the new head coach was the January commitment of junior college transfer Clinton "Juice" Granger.

At 6'3" and 230 pounds, Philadelphia native Granger looked to be the perfect candidate to run the spread offense Addazio is installing at Temple. At Pierce College in Los Angeles, Granger threw for 1,176 yards and 10 touchdowns while rushing for 200 yards and five touchdowns in just seven games.

With the arrival of Granger, 2011 is thought to be the year Temple wins the MAC and the year the Owls beat Penn State for the first time since 1941. Temple students thought they would no longer need 5-hour ENERGY drinks to make it through a football game.  

However, as the season opener against Villanova approaches, the apparent savior may have to ask his teammates to save him a seat on the bench.

Addazio has yet to name a starter at quarterback, but it becoming quite obvious that it will not be Granger. Last Wednesday, Addazio talked about using Juice in a Wildcat package. The competition appears to be between two holdovers from last season, junior Mike Geraldi and senior Chester Stewart.

Hearing that news does not induce confidence there will be much improvement to a passing game that ranked 90th in yards per game and 65th in passing efficiency.  Geraldi and Stewart combined to throw for 2,132 yards with 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

Addazio has praised Granger for his high level of maturity, but the question remains why Juice could not beat out two competitors that struggled last year. Granger is inexperienced, but it's hard to get experience by holding a clipboard or running just a particular set of plays. 

Some critics have questioned Addazio's ability to fix the Owls' passing game when the Florida Gators struggled to throw the football last year while he served as the team's offensive coordinator. To be fair, it is hard to blame him for all their offensive woes when the players struggled for several games just with the center-quarterback exchange. In 2009, the Gators were the only team in the FBS to pass for 3,000 yards and also run for 3,000 yards.

The fact that Temple may have its best receiving corps in recent memory only adds to the frustration of Granger not being the opening-game starter. Senior Rod Streater caught 30 passes for 481 yards and four touchdowns in 2010. Sophomore Deon Miller is tall and athletic and should be a reliable target across the middle.

JUCO All-American Malcolm Eugene and junior Darryl Shine are two more intriguing options at wideout for the Owls while they also return one the best tight ends in the MAC in Evan Rodriguez.

If the passing game does not improve from last season, the Owls will again rely on junior tailback Bernard Pierce.  Pierce has had difficulty staying healthy the last two years but backups Matt Brown and Myron Myles are more than capable of filling in. Pierce's injury woes emphasizes the need for Temple's offense to become more balanced.

Temple is fortunate to be in the MAC East, the weaker division of the conference. However, Miami (OH) is led at quarterback by rising star Zac Dysert. In the MAC West, Northern Illinois' Chandler Harnish is the best quarterback in the conference. It is hard to believe that Toledo's Eric Page caught 99 passes in 2010 while Temple's top three receivers only had 91 receptions combined.

It is premature to give up on Granger eventually becoming the starting quarterback for the Owls. He has three years of eligibility remaining and still possesses the physical attributes that made him a prized recruit in the first place.

However, if Granger does advance from third string to starter this year, the promotion would be prompted by ineffective play at the position and numbers in the loss column. A disappointing passing game will probably translate into another year of waiting for Temple to win a MAC Championship.

It may not be time for Temple fans to abandon ship, but it would not be a bad idea for them to put on life preservers.

Temple University’s annual Cherry and White game was a “fun, but competitive atmosphere,” to say the least.

First-year coach Steve Addazio hoped that this game would have a light, stress-free feel after intense spring practices.

Temple’s White squad defeated Cherry, 27-26, at the Edberg-Olson Complex on Saturday morning in front of 3,423 fans.

Quarterback Mike Gerardi engineered White to an early lead with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Alex Jackson. 

For Addazio and the Owls, it was a chance to see what they have to build with in their future. They got all that and more in redshirt freshman running back Myron Myles. Myles paced the White Team to victory with 133 yards and three touchdowns (two rushing).

“The coaches had faith in me and gave me the ball a number of times,” exclaimed Myles. “We were talking trash to the defense all spring, so when we got the chance to go against each other, it was a good thing.”

Temple’s talent, particularly on offense, doesn’t end with its blue-chip tailback. Tight end Alex Jackson, also on the White Team, was named the spring’s most improved offensive player. Jackson caught five passes for 79 yards and a touchdown.

“It feels great. I think I work hard, so it feels great. I didn't expect to win it, but when they called my name, I was very happy. I've worked very hard this spring to improve my game and show what I can do,” said Jackson in regards to his award.  

Gerardi threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns. All in all, he appeared better suited for the spread offense than his counterpart Chester Stewart.  

Gerardi’s highlight came in the third quarter, with a 71-yard touchdown pass to tight end Evan Rodriguez to cut Cherry’s deficit to one.

Additionally, sophomore quarterback Chris Coyer sat out with a hand injury. However, redshirt freshman Connor Reilly saw some playing time and connected with Myles on a 21-yard touchdown pass.

"I'm excited about the quarterbacks," Addazio said. "I think they've come a long way, and I think they showed today that they have the ability to make some plays.”

Although the defenses were prohibited from pressuring the quarterback, their presence was still felt.

“I wouldn't let them do anything today. I wouldn't let them play three-down packages, I wouldn't let them blitz, I wouldn't let them do things like that. I just wanted to be vanilla, but they've had a heck of spring. They're making a heck of a transition with a new scheme and a new concept. So it's good,” Addazio said.

On a side note, a change in attire greets the Addazio Era, as Temple will now don cherry helmets with a white “T.”

Temple commences its 2011 season in the Mayor’s Cup against the Villanova Wildcats on September 1 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Reports have surfaced in Connecticut's flagship paper, the Hartford Courant, that recently hired Temple football coach Steve Addazio wants out of Temple and is reaching out to a search firm hired by the University of Connecticut to assist in replacing Randy Edsall as coach.  

Neither Addazio nor Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw have denied the report.

Temple has a history of apathetic fan support.  

Temple athletics has also come under fire as a tax burden and could face financing cuts.  

There should be no question why Steve Addazio wants out of Temple before he even starts.  Temple is a horrible place to coach football.

The question remains, does UConn want Addazio?  Addazio was a highly criticized offense coordinator under Urban Myer at the University of Florida.  A website created by fans encouraging the firing of Addazio was created this past season. 

Temple, one of the worst athletic programs in the nation, is often considered a last resort for coaches.  Addazio was also Temple's fifth or sixth choice in their head coach search after Al Golden left Philadelphia.  One reason Golden left Temple is believed to be the impending Temple athletic budget cuts. 

Does UConn really want Temple's fifth or sixth choice as their next head coach?

And how does Temple handle this situation in the future.  It appears there are only three options:

1. Fire Addazio or hope he gets hired by UConn and then move towards a coach who actually wants to be at Temple.  This may require dipping into the high school ranks.
2. Live in denial that this report from credible sources is true.
3. Forgive Addazio, realize he is the best Temple can do and move on.

Very tough situation for Temple and Temple fans.  It cannot be fun knowing that your brand new coach is already looking for a new job.

Temple's dream coach has always been Andy Talley from crosstown rival Villanova.  Despite playing Division 1-AA, Talley has dominated Temple over the years. 

However, with Villanova looking to join the Big East for football and Villanova's overall superior climate, there is little chance that Talley would ever take the step down the social ladder and go to Temple.