Temple Football

Randy Edsall knows after his team punished Texas Southern last week that they needed to quickly put that win behind them.  Temple is a team that has always given the Huskies problems.

UConn will be without captain Scott Lutrus again as he is still recovering from an undisclosed injury.  There is no timetable on his return, and after a neck stinger last year who knows how many games he is going to be held out.

One area to watch during today's game is the Huskies wide receivers.  Michael Smith and Kashif Moore both had wide open touchdown drops last week.  They can get away with that against bad teams, but Temple will make them pay for those mistakes.

Al Golden has made his team a formidable opponent.  His team lost 12-9 in overtime back in 2008, and in 2007 lost 22-17 on a call that should have gave them a touchdown.

Jordan Todman has been the bright spot of UConn football through two games.  There was a lot of hype and expectations for him coming into this season.  He is currently the leading rusher in the Big East and 12th in the nation.

If the Huskies are to win today they need to find ways to pressure the quarterback.  Look for Kendall Reyes and Trevardo Williams to push the offensive line backwards and get to the quarterback.

UConn shouldn't be phased by the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field.  Remember this Huskies team went into Ann Arbor just two weeks ago.

This game is probably going to be closer than most people expect.  Temple went to a bowl game last season and is off to another fast 2-0 start.  UConn needs to go out there and gain the momentum.

Zach Frazer looked comfortable in the pocket in only two quarters of play last weekend.  He is going to need to have that same poise and presence in the pocket.

The Huskies will ready and prepared for this Temple team.  I like UConn to win 29-14.

Thumbing down the roster about an hour before the Villanova game, I was heartened to see the number of my favorite Temple player right next to my favorite Temple player's name: No. 30 Bernard Pierce.

Then the game began and that wasn't MY Pierce wearing No. 30.

He had a couple of OK runs, but OK runs won't get you on a Heisman Trophy Billboard.
I've called him "The Franchise" from the first day I saw him play.

Others call him St. Bernard. Another website even called him Bernie's MAC show.

That's why tonight's game (7 p.m., Lincoln Financial Field, ESPNU) against Central Michigan is so important.

Temple needs the real Pierce to stand up. Temple needs Pierce to make a Heisman run for it to have any chance to run the table, and Pierce needs Temple to run the table for him to have a chance to win the Heisman.

It's a symbiotic relationship.

I don't know what mind games Al Golden was or wasn't playing, but there's no way a 5'5", 150-pound back should be starting over a future NFL first-round draft choice. Matt Brown is a great little change of pace back, but he's not Pierce.

Yeah, I said it.

Pierce will be a first-round NFL draft choice and it will be on an April day after his Temple junior season is completed.

Not the pedestrian Pierce, mind you, I saw against Villanova, but the Pierce who won the Pennsylvania  high school state championship in the 100-meter dash as a high school senior and who broke every single Temple freshman running back record last year.

So the question begs answering?

Why only 75 yards on 20 carries against Villanova last week?

The reasons are many and varied.

Golden started Brown because he said Brown "worked harder." Well, I'm 5'5" and I might have worked harder than Pierce if I was 30 years younger, but I'm no good.

Somewhere talent has to be factored into the equation.

I don't think St. Bernard ever got into a rhythm and that might have been the chief reason.

Villanova keying on him might have been another reason, but a lot of teams keyed on Pierce last year and he flat-out abused them.

Even though Pierce ran behind the same 318-pound line from last year, I don't think those 318-pounders played up to their potential last week.

Except for Colin Madison's pancake block to free Brown for a 17-yard touchdown, I didn't see any pancakes.

I didn't see any syrup or butter or bacon, either. So factor in the line's subpar performance as the third reason.

Is Pierce hurt?

I heard a couple of students at the pre-game tailgate say they saw him limping to class last week, but I didn't see Bernard limping on the field so he's healthy enough.

Another possible reason is that everyone has bad games. Gale Sayers had bad games. Heck, even Paul Palmer had bad games.

That's why tonight could and SHOULD be a  bounce back night for Pierce, his offensive line, Temple's coaches, and everyone else.

If he doesn't go for at least 150 yards and at least couple of scores, I'll start to worry but I don't think I'll have to because the Pierce I know from last year was relentlessly consistent.

I expect relentless consistency tonight. I expect the real Pierce and the real Temple offensive line to show up and explode off the ball like only they can.

Throw in a few Chester Stewart ball fakes followed by long touchdown passes to wide-open Owls and this offense will really be humming.

Then the numbers will match up with the names in the program and this season will be off and, err, running.

If you go to the Temple-Villanova football game next year, best bring a defribulator.

That will be on my pre-game check list, right next to the Coors Light and the reduced fat wheat thins (hey, got to cut calories somewhere).

Defribulator because after the last two Temple-Villanova football games, I spent the hour or so afterward trying to start my heart again.

They've been that exciting.

The toughest part after Temple's 31-24 last-second win over Villanova on Friday in front of a partisan Temple crowd at Lincoln Financial Field is getting back to a normal heartbeat again.

I think I'm OK now.

Playing Villanova for the past two seasons has been that draining with a mixture of extreme disappointment and exhilaration.

Temple 31, Villanova 24.

Temple's Justin Gildea, the kid from the Altoona area, put an exclamation point on the game with a fumble return for a touchdown on the last play.

First the officials said it didn't count, then they correctly looked at the replay and said it did after the game was over.

Didn't matter.

The heroes, in my mind, were Brandon McManus, the Temple placekicker, who calmly stroked the game-winner with nine seconds left and his holder, former Temple starting quarterback Vaughn Charlton.

Temple head football coach Al Golden said Charlton would be a major contributor to this team, but I think he might have been talking about tight end.

What Charlton did, using his 6-foot-5 frame to reach up as high as he could and put the ball down quickly for McManus, was a remarkable play: a winning play made by a winning kid.

His successor as Temple quarterback, Chester Stewart, could have packed it in after fumbling to give Villanova the lead (don't know why he didn't just hand it off to still-Heisman Trophy candidate Bernard Pierce on that third-and-1), but Stewart was another hero, orchestrating a game-winning drive.

Golden himself showed a remarkable insight into the Temple fan psyche with this quote:
"All the old time Temple people, they know," Golden said. "A minute fifty left, fumble the snap, and there's 250,000 alumni who shake their heads and say, here they go again."

Man, the guy has been here only five years, but he nailed it.

I thought initially that 5-foot-5, 150-pound Matt Brown starting over Pierce was some kind of message Golden was sending to Pierce, but a few of the people on campus said that Pierce was seen limping around on his way to classes so he's hurt.

He looked OK to me on the field.

Whatever, Villanova did a good job overall. It stacked the box, and Stewart only made them pay occasionally.

The Wildcats, with 16 starters back from a FCS (Division I-AA) team, will win the national championship again.

They are that good.

They have a tough-as-nails quarterback, Chris Whitney, who for some inexplicable reason, Temple has refused to blitz for the past two years.

Villanova would be the second-best team in the MAC, in my opinion. That's not a knock on the MAC as it is a tribute to what Andy Talley's been able to do at Villanova.

I will go on record here as saying Temple will beat Central Michigan by a larger score than it won against Villanova.

People don't give Division I-AA football enough credit.

Villanova has a lot of good, tough kids, and Andy Talley is a great, great coach. Is there a classier guy out there than Talley?

I don't think so.

"I'm happy for Al," Talley said after the game. "I expect big things from Temple."

Most of all, I was happy for the Temple students.

There was a legitimate 32,163 in the stands, and I bet at least 27,163 were Temple fans. Of those, I bet there were about 15,000 Temple students.

When McManus' kick went through and when Gildea scored his touchdown, I heard a wall of joyous sound louder than anything outside of an Eagles' game in Lincoln Financial Field.

Those same Temple students could be heard walking out of the stadium last year, saying, "Same old Temple."

This year I heard a new refrain.

"Let's Go Temple," they chanted on the way out.

Perceptions are changing, both inside and out.

Finally.

This thing has gnawed at the stomachs and heads of Temple fans for 364 days and no amount of Pepto Bismol or Advil has been able to get rid of it.

That's how bad they took the loss to Villanova last year.

Err, no, I didn't enjoy this.

That's how bad they take losing to Villanova 364 days later.

"If you didn't enjoy that, you don't enjoy football," Temple head coach Al Golden said after a 27-24 loss to Villanova 363 days ago.

No, Al, I didn't enjoy it. But I do enjoy football.

What a good 1-A (FBS) team should do to Villanova:

2005: Rutgers 38, Villanova 6

2006: Central Florida 36, Villanova 15

2007: Maryland 31, Villanova 14

2008: West Virginia 48, Villanova 21

Down to just one day now to wait for the antidote for this ailment: a convincing Temple win over Villanova.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

I won't predict a score because of the variables involved. There could be a hurricane (Earl), then again there could not. There could be a little wind or a lot. There could be five unforced turnovers or not. Temple's coaches could elect to play it close to the vest, like last year, and that would shorten the game in my opinion and play into Villanova's hands.

I would like to see Temple's defense set up camp in the Villanova backfield. By that, I mean constant pressure on Villanova quarterback Chris Whitney, and by constant pressure I mean bringing him to the ground and not just getting close.

If you can't do that with 4-5 rushers, do it with 7-8, and don't wait until it's too late to turn up the heat. If Temple stops the run and RELENTLESSLY rushes the passer, it could put up 70 points on this team.

I'd like to see that. I really would. That would be "enjoyable" for me.

Realistically, though, it should fall somewhere in between 27-24 and 70-14 if that happens. If not—if Mark D'Onofrio inexplicably allows Whitney to dink and dunk like last year—it could be 27-24 either way.

I'd like to NOT see that. I really do not want to see that. That would not be enjoyable.

So, I fully expect D'Onofrio to learn from last year's game and attack, attack, attack. I hope that's the medicine he ordered and I fully expect it won't take effect until 8 p.m. or so on Friday. But, it should work. Then, the feeling many of us have had for 365 days or so should be finally gone and we can all smile again.

Former Temple kicker Cap Poklemba said it best in the Villanova pre-game tailgate last year, talking about the Mayor's Cup:

"There should be no other name on that trophy besides Temple," Cap said. "It should say 2009 winner: Temple, 2010 winner: Temple and so on. Temple's name should be the only name on that trophy."

Right on, Cap. That problem gets corrected on Friday.

"We want to win because that trophy belongs here," Temple's Bernard Pierce said.

Temple will bring its 30,000 fans. If Villanova brings 7,000, we should get to my target number of 37k. If Villanova brings its usual 5K, we'll hit 35K.

Those numbers aren't nearly as important to me as 70-21 or 35-14.

Seventy-to-21 would be enjoyable, but I could also get enjoyment out of 35-14.

In two days, I will get this bad feeling out of my stomach and my head. Only then will Temple fans forget about last year's pain.

It's one thing when an anonymous blogger throws out a rumor. Those kind of things happen all the time.

It's another when a respected college football journalist like Rivals.com's Tom Dienhart does it, followed a few hours later by other internet rumors alluding to the same thing. Dienhart has broken many stories and his reputation is impeccable in the business, so his word is nothing to be trifled with and, when you combine it with a telling "no comment" from Temple AD Bill Bradshaw, there's a lot to those smoke signals.

Where there's smoke, fire comes along eventually.

So I'm buying it.

Temple to CUSA. I think the announcement will be made soon, but the holdup is the Temple Board of Trustees getting together to approve it.

This could take days, weeks or months but not more than that.

Temple was wooed by CUSA a few years ago before accepting the MAC's football-only invite and that turned out to be a life-preserver for a then-drowning program.

The move was first mentioned by a Tulane blogger a couple of weeks ago, and it turns out he had some pretty good sources.

Truth be told, the CUSA Bowl lineup is so much better than the MAC's, it's not even funny. Even if Temple wins the MAC this year, the, err, reward for Temple fans is a trip to Detroit for the championship game followed by another trip to Detroit for the bowl game.

No offense to Detroit, but that's dreadful. I can just imagine the Temple fan now complaining that he can't go to Detroit because the walk from his car to the indoor stadium will be "too cold."

The only way Temple can avoid that is to win out, beat Penn State, Villanova, and UConn and sweep the MAC. Something like that could—could—put Temple in the Rose Bowl or the Sugar Bowl, and more likely means a certain Heisman Trophy for Bernard Pierce.

That's my mantra this year: "12-0 and we're Golden." I'd love to meet the Temple fan who went to the last Sugar Bowl involving Temple (1934). If he/she is still alive and, say, was 20 at the time, then he/she would be 96 now. Possible, but not likely.

Still, if this turns out to be true, I'm ambivalent about this. Seriously, I've always liked the MAC.

I liked the MAC when I was a kid. I liked the MAC when Big Ben was at Miami. I liked the MAC when Garrett Wolfe was making his run at the Heisman. I liked the MAC when Northern Illinois upset Alabama a few years ago and when Central Michigan beat Michigan State last year. I liked the MAC long before Temple even got involved with that conference. Now that Temple's in it, I follow all the MAC games even more closely.

I don't see how Rice will put more opposing fans at Lincoln Financial Field than, say, Bowling Green, but let's face it, BG never put more than a few hundred in there anyway. It's a step up for football certainly and Owl hoop heads will probably like the non-league schedule a lot more than they do now.

If Temple wins the MAC this year and THEN Conference USA next, I'm loving the move and the history that comes with winning two leagues in consecutive seasons.

Time being as fleeting as it is, I didn't realize that 1986 was so long ago until I tried to find the Paul Palmer Comic book I lost.

The old comic book is somewhere, tattered I fear, in the middle of a whole bunch of Temple-related junk that I never really had a chance to categorize.

In those days, I was in the middle of apartment-hopping in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and just threw most of my stuff into my storage room.

It might be still there, but I can't find it. On a recent trip, all I did found was a pretty well intact media guide from that year.

Well, the Paul Palmer comic book story is relevant today because the campaign for the Heisman WITH POTENTIAL HEISMAN VOTERS is something, I believe, the university should be doing today, in July, not August or September.

Scott  Walcoff, from the school's promotion department, is handling the back end of this campaign (for potential ticket-buyers) rather brilliantly with a Hunt of the Heisman billboard strategically placed at locations within a mile of Lincoln Financial Field.

The billboard states simply "Hunt for the Heisman" with the words below "you are 1 mile from history" and directs folks to owlstix.com for ticket information.

Heady, smart, stuff.

Not enough, though, is being done from the front end, which, to me, is targeting the voters themselves.

That's where the comic book, or something like it, comes into play.

Back in 1986, Temple football information director Mike Kaine, working under SID Al Shrier, came up with the idea of mailing the comics with Paul Palmer on the cover and 16-pages of illustrated Paul Palmer information to the 1,050 voters.

"How much did it cost?" Kaine told a newspaper reporter back then. "I have no idea.
"It cost a lot, but the promotions department covered all the costs. We came up with the idea, wrote it, paid an illustrator and made the mailings. It was a significant investment."

It was critically acclaimed, too.

Last year, a Spokane (Wash.) newspaper called it one of the top five Heisman campaigns of all time. They lumped it with a Vanderbilt quarterback's video that came with a bag of popcorn. Also, Notre Dame's changing of the pronunciation of Joe "Theesman's" name to Joe Theisman (he spells it that way, but pronounces it the other) to rhyme with Heisman.

I could find only one negative comment on the campaign and that was a writer from the Los Angeles Times.

"What is Temple trying to do?" he wrote. "Insult our intelligence? We're writers. We can read."

He missed the point of the whole thing, which was to get Paul Palmer's name out there to the people who mattered the most, the Heisman voters.

Would that writer even mentioned Palmer's name if Temple didn't do something so eye-catching?

No.

It doesn't have to be another comic book, but that wouldn't be a bad idea.

Scott Walcoff started this ball rolling with a terrific billboard campaign. Make modified bumper stickers out of those billboards and mail one to each of the 1,050 Heisman voters.

If cost is an issue, have the Owl Club raise the money.

Do something innovative.

Bernard Pierce deserves a Heisman launch that targets both fans and voters.

At the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, I will take a moment to do just that.

Let's talk about, say, the Penn State game three months from today.

(Let me just say, before going any further, that beating Villanova is one million times more important than beating Penn State. It's imperative. It's a demand, not a request. You cannot lose to Villanova again and retain any hometown credibility for the program.)

Still, I've fast-forwarded myself to Beaver Stadium (great name, by the way—just sayin'), sitting with 110,000 of my fellow college football fans, 5,000 of whom may be rooting for the Owls against Penn State on Sept. 25.

Making that 250-mile trip has been usually as futile a project for Owl fans as trying to end world hunger or getting the Republicans to pass a health care bill with a public option.

It's been that way since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. That's the last year Temple won.

Maybe not so much this year. Temple's got a little more than a puncher's chance this year.

You know it.

I know it.

The rest of those 105,000-plus fans don't know it, though.

The best compliment Temple received in recent years from Joe Paterno was a backhanded one, saying, "Temple looked good. They didn't have any fat guys."

Beating Joe Paterno would be a big fat win for Temple.

Most of the Penn State fans in the Philadelphia area give lip service to the Temple program.

"Al Golden is doing a great job there."

"Being in the MAC has done wonders for Temple."

"Al's building a nice résumé there."

When I mention that it's only a matter of time before Temple pulls a Central Michigan and beats the highest-profile college football program in its state, I get a whole different reaction.

"Whoa. Let's not get crazy."

"It's never going to happen."

"Temple is never going to beat Penn State."

Never say never. It may not be this year. It may not be next year, but it's not impossible.

There's a stellar defense with six first-team All-MAC players returning, PLUS a Heisman Trophy candidate in the backfield with a quarterback who might be able to find open receivers on the run. (My kingdom for an Adam DiMichele.)

This isn't your father's Temple team, unless your father played for Wayne Hardin. This is a real good team.

Real good might be one way to put it.

Loaded might be another.

Beating Penn State, especially if the Nittany Lions went on to win the Big Ten, would rocket the Owls toward greatness.

Beating Penn State would immediately legitimize Temple football not only in its own town, but in the state and the nation as well, and would be a boost of immeasurable proportions in terms of prestige and gate receipts.

Temple students, faculty, and alumni would be puffing up their chests so much for the next 12 months, you'd think all of them looked like the Incredible Hulk. By my calculations, that's 250,000 living alumni, 33,000 full-time students, and 12,300 full-time employees. Those are a lot of chests—and 90 percent of them live here or damn close to here.

They might have to shut down North Broad Street, like they did when the basketball team won at North Carolina, 82-66, in 1988.

With all due respect to Villanova, none of the above happens with a win over the Wildcats.

I know a lot of Temple fans think it's possible. In fact, I don't know of a single Temple football player who doesn't believe in the delicious thought.

I think it's a good thing that I can't find a single Penn State fan who thinks it's possible.

I hope their football team approaches Sept. 25 the same way.

Rivalries are a beautiful thing.

I'm old enough to know when Temple and Delaware were rivals.

One of my fondest days was spent in Newark, Del., when Temple beat Delaware 31-8 in front of a still-record and still-stunned crowd of 23,619.

An even fonder day was Temple's 45-0 win in Newark on another beautiful Saturday. The hot dogs in that post-game tailgate tasted like filet mignon.

Temple even got grief from the local media for scheduling Delaware.

"I believe in scheduling Delaware...and then beating the crap out of them," was the way Wayne Hardin was quoted in response.

I loved it.

Could you imagine Temple's current coach, Al Golden, saying that about any opponent?

"Temple's program is a big-time song and dance," Delaware coach Tubby Raymond said.

Ouch.

Now that's a rivalry.

That's what I'm talkin' about.

Hardin must've really enjoyed it because he beat Raymond seven of the last nine times he faced him on the football field. Hardin could talk the talk, but one of the most admirable things about him (of many) is that he backed that up by walking the walk.

Penn State is a rival, but to be one, you've got to prove that you can beat one.

Temple's proven that against Rutgers numerous times, and the proximity of the schools combined with an animosity factor qualifies this as a real rivalry.

You've got to have a little animosity to stir the rivalry pot, and in Rutgers, there's some of that.

That's why the news today of a two-for-two deal (twice in Philadelphia, twice in Piscataway) is terrific for me.

Since Delaware, Rutgers has always been Temple's biggest rival.

With the Big East expulsion backdrop, there's plenty of animosity.

This is something Rutgers wanted five years ago, but it approached Temple with a three-for-two deal.

Temple, I'm told, said no dice.

"We want to play you, but it's two-for-two or nothing," was Temple's response.

So, for five years, it's been nothing.

Temple would have been very happy waiting until kingdom come with the nothing, and Rutgers brass finally realized that the extra game demand did not make sense if it meant the schools would never play again.

Rutgers finally gave in last week.

I'm amused when I hear from my Rutgers friends (and I have a few) demanding that Temple give Rutgers an extra home game "because Temple is a MAC school."

Dude, you are the reason we're a MAC school.

If you supported us, Virginia Tech and Pitt would have joined in and blocked the Big East expulsion.

So there's some animosity there.

I have some fond memories, too, of some Rutgers-Temple games.

I'm sure Rutgers fans have similar memories as well of games that didn't turn out as well for Temple, but that's what rivalries are all about.

When Bruce Arians was Temple coach and Dick Anderson was his opposite number at Rutgers, Anderson had a quarterback named Scott Erney who was killing Temple on the final drive of the game with a 35-30 lead.

Erney, running a two-minute drill against Nick Rapone's prevent defense, drove RU to the Temple 20 in the game's final minute and appeared to be leading his team to the winning touchdown.

Arians then called a timeout, got in Rapone's face, and ordered a jailhouse blitz on the next four plays.

The result?

Four straight Temple sacks, with a defensive lineman named Swift Burch ending the game on top of Erney at midfield. Temple won, 35-30.

"If I was going to go down, it wasn't going to be against a prevent," Arians said, holding the game ball. "I was going to go down with my guns blazing."

In 2002, at Rutgers in the rain, the Owls trailed at halftime, 14-3.

The Owls, by then, had won three straight over Rutgers, and a senior center named Donny Klein got up at halftime and pounded his helmet on the floor and started an F-bomb tirade. By that year, Temple got kicked out of the Big East and knew Rutgers would be staying in instead.

"I've never lost to f-ing Rutgers, and I'm not going to end my career losing to f-ing Rutgers," Klein said, ending a 10-minute rant that included about 100 f-bombs.

Led by Klein's incredible blocking, a back named Tanardo Sharps rolled up 215 yards on 43 carries, and Temple won, 20-17, on Cap Poklemba's last-second field goal.

The Temple team then ran over to the Big East logo and danced on it, singing the school's fight song in a monsoon.

That's what I would call animosity.

That's what I would call a rivalry.

Temple really hasn't had one of those in long time.

There's no animosity, for me at least, against Buffalo, Kent State, and the fake Miami.

The only discordant note is that this series won't start until 2015.

Al Golden will be 45 years old and working on a Wayne Hardin-like legacy in Philadelphia (I hope).

By then, I hope he talks the Hardin, Arians, and Klein talk and walks the Hardin, Arians, and Klein walk.

More than anything else, the Heisman Trophy is the by-product of an excellent and deserving candidate playing under the right circumstances with just the right level of promotion.

Temple's Paul Palmer was that back in 1986 (pictured).

The Owls' Bernard Pierce, who broke all of Palmer's freshman rushing records last year, certainly is that now.

People told Palmer he could not make a serious run for the trophy because he played at Temple.

Yet there he was at the New York Athletic Club on the day Vinny Testaverde got the trophy, right there as the deserving runner up. Palmer wore a neat brown suit with an Owl lapel pin and he was as deserving of the recognition as was Testaverde.

Not bad at all.

It was a great day for Palmer and for Temple University.

The only advantage the Palmer of 1986 had over the Pierce of 2010 is that Palmer played against what was then the No. 10 toughest schedule in the country and helped the Owls of Bruce Arians finish 6-5 against that schedule, beating the likes of Virginia Tech and East Carolina.

Yet Pierce will be on the field against Big East contender Connecticut and Big 10 contender Penn State, so he will have those kinds of chances, too.

What I'd like to see the university do for Pierce right now is nudge him toward the Heisman the way the SID office nudged Palmer. Get him into the conversation now, not after he rolls up, say, 514 yards and seven touchdowns against Villanova.

Back in 1986, the SID office put out a comic book with Palmer depicted as Superman. Back then, the SID office put Palmer on the cover of the 1986 Media Guide with the caption "Heisman Trophy candidate Paul Palmer" and the headline: Temple: the Philadelphia Team America's Watching.

Page Two included quotes from Don Nehlen, Joe Paterno, Dick MacPherson and others touting Palmer's ball-toting ability.

Clever stuff.

The only promotion I've heard for Pierce is a free schedule magnet.

As Derrick Coleman once said mockingly after being fined for missing a practice, "Whoopty damn do."

I don't see the same level of promotion right now for Pierce a couple of months before the season, but maybe the school is working with a couple of illustrators in New York City.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Then again, maybe not.

Don't give me any grief about this not being in the budget. Budget schmudget.

Do you know how much having a serious candidate for the Heisman Trophy does for the university's coffers in terms of attendance, TV revenue, etc.? This is a gold mine. Gold.

The 49ers (the gold-miners, not the football team) didn't walk away from Sutter's Mill because they didn't have the money for a pan.

That's why I'd like to see the university set the table for what I expect to be a terrific year for Pierce and the Owls by mounting a serious campaign now. Bang the drums hard.

Set off smoke signals.

Do something.

If Pierce leads to the Owls to an upset win or two and helps them dominate the MAC, he will be right there in the conversation up until December.

If he does it after the kind of campaign Al Shrier's excellent SID office ran leading up to Palmer's senior season, he might have to start shopping for brown suits.

I've never met David Sourber but, from what I gather, he beat me to the punch with what I thought was an innovative idea: create a "Bernard Pierce for Heisman" Facebook page.

Type in "Bernard Pierce for Heisman Facebook" on Google and you are likely to find it.
Sourber is from Manheim, Pa., and is on target to graduate from Temple University in 2012.

He represents the current students who bring a passion and support for the school too many of the older grads can't begin to match. All you have to do is go to the games, especially last year's Villanova game, where about 15-16,000 of the fans were students dressed in Cherry and pouring their hearts and lungs out for the Owls in the stands.

Walking out of the stadium that night, I was more heartbroken for those kids in the stands than I was for myself (and nobody takes a Temple football loss harder than I do).
This Bernard Pierce for Heisman thing is getting some legs mostly because of the legs Pierce showed last year. Bernard Pierce is, in my mind, the complete package.

If puts up a similar year to last and stays healthy, he should be in the conversation right up until the night the five finalists get together. Unlike David Sourber who wasn't born then, I got to know Paul Palmer up close and personal like during his Heisman Trophy run in 1986.

Paul Palmer was a great, great back. Fast. Shifty. He could break tackles. He had great vision. While playing for Temple, he finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year only to Vinny Testaverde of Miami.

Yet having watched both Paul Palmer for four years and Bernard Pierce last year, I'm convinced there is nothing...NOTHING...Bernard Pierce can't do that Paul Palmer did.
In fact, there was little Paul Palmer could do his first year that Bernard Pierce didn't do.

After one game in which Palmer carried the ball 41 times, a reporter asked then Temple coach Bruce Arians why he gave him the ball that much. "We gave him the ball because he could handle it," Arians said. "You know, it ain't that heavy."

If I had to give Palmer the edge over Pierce in any category, it would be his durability.
Pierce carried the ball a lot last year, but so did Palmer. On the other hand, Boo-Boo was fast, but not as fast as Pierce. Pierce combines world-class speed with great moves in the open field and an ability to break tackles and punish defenders.

I watched a lot of college football on network TV and did not see anyone as good. Unlike most non-BCS backs, Pierce has Penn State and UConn on the schedule, as well as the MAC, so he's got opportunities to lead his team to eye-popping wins that will get him into the conversation as early as September.

So the Heisman is right there for the taking. If David Sourber helps him get one step closer to the New York Athletic Club, his Bernard Pierce for Heisman page is a worthwhile endeavor.