The Time is NOW

 

Penn State week is upon us. The Owls have handled business in order to make this week potentially a ground breaking week for TU football.

This week is important for all three factions of people associated with Temple

1. The Players: These players are talented. Make no mistake about it. They should not and will not be in awe of the power of Penn State football. They competed last year in Happy Valley. This year, an upset is even more likely in a slightly less hostile environment with what appears to be an even better Temple team.
2. The Fans: While this game is listed as a home game for Temple, I'm hoping for a 50/50 split in attendance on Saturday. More importantly, the fans that do show up need to be loud and proud in their support of the Owls. This game is on national television, so I hope the TU supporters do everything possible to show that this isn't the same apathetic fan base from years past.
3. The Administration: Alright, I'm not huge on the whole "we need our logos on the field" argument that so many TU alums seem to think is so important, but this week is the exception. Once again, I hope the administration sees the need to shed positive light on the university on national TV. Having a huge eagle in the middle of the field just doesn't scream big time to me.

Temple is currently a 9.5 point dog in this game, but various other projection methods have this as an even closer game. Let's not forget that betting lines are set to get the kind of action on both sides that the sportsbook would like to see. It's pretty clear that Addazio and his staff have kept the playcalling very "vanilla" to this point. It will be interesting to see what Loeffler and company have up their sleeves.

There's little to no chance that the Owls will be able to walk out with a victory by just lining up and pounding it down the Nits throats all game. Yes, it would be very satisfying to win that way, but let's face it. That isn't going to happen. Mike Gerardi is going to need to be adequate under center to give the Owls a punchers chance at victory.

Adequate is something that Chester Stewart was not in last year's gut wrenching defeat to the Nittany Lions. He passed for under 50 yards and tacked on 3 interceptions as well. There's no question in my mind that with a 150 yard, turnover free game from Stewart, the Owls would have been able to pull the upset. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

This year I hope I won't be talking about the "woulda, coulda, shoulda".