The Zapruder Film of Temple football. Don't look, Ethel.

I haven't been in the mood to post on any of the message boards recently.
I'm in deep mourning.
Thirty years of losing, then being sold that this year would be different, then losing to a 1AA team, will do that to an individual.
I don't think Al Golden understood the importance of this game to Temple, its current students, alumni and fan base.
I don't think Al Golden understood the intense dislike Temple people have for Villanova people.
I don't think Al Golden understood if you lose this game, you lose an entire fan base (at least the much larger soft part of it, countless thousands of people who could have pushed our average past 30K) for a whole season. That's shy of beating Penn State, which, after that latest brain cramp, is just not going to happen.
In many ways, this was a program-killer. When the story of this program is written, it could include a chapter on redemption, about a win in front of 106,000 people at Penn State that started something big or it could begin and end with five turnovers.
The Zapruder Film of Temple football could be that bullet-to-the-head field goal that we allowed by playing a prevent defense in the final seconds.
Call it The Single Field Goal Theory.
I will always support the program, me and the 15,000 die-hards.
But I won't sugarcoat the truth.
I just won't.
The plain truth is me and the 15,000 die-hards are not enough to keep it running.
We are running out of "next years" because decisions on things like conference affiliations are being made now and will largely be determined by attendance.
You need big wins to fuel the attendance engine.
You need to protect your own house.
Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Kent, Fake Miami, just ain't going to cut it.
Not in this market.
That's why the Villanova game was so important.
Play the game, Al, but win the game.
As Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo used to rant to Mike Francesa on WFAN when those two were the No. 1 tandem in all of talk radio, "Win The Game, Mikey ... WIN ... THE ... GAME!!!"
Win the game, Al.
WIN ... THE ... GAME!
OK, I understand about the minus-4 turnover ratio. I understand all of that.
But Al Golden could have done things proactively to turn that stat around.
That's why I'll never understand how our linebackers weren't unleashed on Villanova. Blitz left, blitz right, blitz up the middle.
Every one of our linebackers is faster, significantly faster, than Villanova quarterback Chris Whitney. There is no doubt in my mind if the blitz was a big part of our defensive package, we would have been able to put Whitney down 10 times and not just five. We might have jarred a couple of balls loose in Villanova territory. We might have scored a defensive touchdown or two.
We WOULD have won the game. There's no doubt in my mind.
Put him on his ass, hit him enough times, and watch that turnover ratio and field position swing in our favor.
This is not second-guessing. It's first-guessing.
Page down to a post or two below.
There it is in bold typeface with a gold background posted prior to the game: TEMPLE'S NO. 1 PRIORITY SHOULD BE GETTING TO THE QUARTERBACK. I guess I didn't make that big or bold enough.
I was buttonholed by an older gentleman, I'll call him Joe, on the way out.
He was walking with another older gentleman.
The other guy told him, "Don't worry, Joe. We've got 11 games left to play."
Joe was inconsolable.
"I don't care about those other games. This is the game I wanted to win. You can have all the Akrons and Northern Illinois you want. This is the game I wanted. I'm not coming back."
"I hear you, bro," I said.
"Then you understand," Joe said, nodding his head vigorously. "You understand."
Joe isn't alone.
The sad truth is that you can lose to Penn State, go 10-2 and win the MAC and a good chunk of Philadelphia will say, "Yeah, but they couldn't beat Villanova. The MAC sucks. Who cares?"
I care, but I doubt anyone other than the die-hards care and that's why this loss was a program-killer in many ways.
We've already lost our house.
All we have left is the car.
Anyone want to roll the dice for double-or-nothing with Penn State?
Plenty of good seats now available:

By Mike Gibson
I was just working out some math equations in my head.
Hmm, what does 27,854 plus 1 equal?
Oh, I'd say about 30,632.
What does 27,854 minus one equal?
Probably around 8,000.
Fuzzy math?
No, just some figures based on observing the very fragile Temple football fan base over the last 30 or so years.
Expect the crowd for Temple's game against Buffalo when it comes back from an expected Penn State beat-down to be around 8,000. That's where the minus 1 comes in ... 27,854 fans minus one must-win, equals 8,000.
Had the Owls beaten Villanova and gave a decent effort in a loss at Penn State, they would have drawn 30,632 for the Buffalo game, which arguably is the most important on their schedule.
I know that.
You probably know that.
Tell that to the 20,000 or so Temple students who believed last night, but no longer do after a 27-24 loss to Villanova.
You could hear the refrain coming out of the stadium.
"Same old Temple," the kids were saying.
And they were OUR students, not Nova's.
Can you blame them?
Until Al Golden beats a team with a winning record (and the last time I checked he hasn't as a HEAD coach), he's all talk, no substance.
Back on Feb. 4, I wrote that I was worried about this game because Andy Talley, quite frankly, is a better game coach than Al Golden.
I thought it didn't matter because Golden had the talent edge to Talley's game-coaching edge.
I was right in both cases.
I was wrong about the edge part. Talley's football acumen far surpasses Golden's. Edge should not have been an operative word.
What good does it do if you have advantage in a chess match and you can't finish it off by making the proper moves?
Talley made the proper moves and Golden didn't.
I wrote here last week that "Temple's No. 1 priority should be getting to the quarterback."
A freaking blind man could see that.
Al Golden couldn't. If that's Mark D'Onofrio's fault, he's got to get in Mark's face and say, "bring the house." That's what the head coach is for.
If you can't get to the quarterback bringing four or five, bring six.
If you can't get to the quarterback bringing six, bring seven.
If you can't get to the quarterback bringing seven, bring eight.
You get the idea.
Temple brought four or five most of the night.
The last time I checked, this is not the North-South All-Star game.
They do allow you to blitz.
Chris Whitney made them pay.
The defensive side of the ball is not the only area where the guys with the headsets on came up small.
The Owls have a career linebacker, Matt Rhule, as an offensive coordinator and that's probably why their offense has no imagination.
At least George DeLeone, a lifelong offensive mind, pulled out the handoff to Tim Brown, pitch back to Adam DiMichele and bomb to Travis Shelton for six against Bowling Green.
Bruce Arians had Matty Baker also throw a pair of long-bomb flea-flickers to Mike Palys for a couple of scores in a 45-28 win over Boston College two decades ago. Arians, the offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champs, knows his stuff. Might be a good idea for Rhule to take a page or two or 12 out of his Temple book.
When backup quarterback Chester Stewart lined up in the slot, I thought, "Great, we're going to TRY at least one throwback pass."
Nothing.
Meanwhile, Talley tries a reverse that goes for 28 yards and his offensive plays had a sophistication far above any package Matt Rhule threw out there.
What we've seen in two years is a 28-24 lead against Buffalo with 38 seconds to go, a 27-7 fourth-quarter lead against Navy and a 24-14 lead against Villanova and losses in all three games.
It can't be the kids' fault all the time.
Just once, I'd like to hear Al Golden say, "I screwed up. I take full responsibility."
Instead, he throws Kee-ayre Griffin under the bus after the Navy game and now throws the kids who fumbled and tossed INTs under the bus last night, saying the story of the game "begins and ends" with the five turnovers.
The buck has to stop somewhere else. I, like Golden, love playing this game. You have to win it, though.
Golden can't go out there and hold onto the ball and throw to the right person, sure.
But he can put those kids in a better position to win.
That's what Talley has done for nearly 20 years at Villanova and that's why Villanova has a win Temple needed more.

By Mike Gibson
There is a reason all 30 NFL coaches have been taking a knee for the last 30 years.
Herman Edwards.
Joe Pisarcik.
The Miracle of the Meadowlands.
It's not questioned.
It just is.
It's coaching 101 and not the advanced math stuff guys like Bruce Arians and Wayne Hardin know in their sleep.
It's simple stuff even pee-wee coaches know.

Temple had the ball with 37 seconds left in its 33-27 overtime loss to Navy Saturday, up 27-20.
Thirty-seven seconds.
Or, as Chase Utley might say, thirty-seven bleeping seconds.
Both of the announcers in the game knew what the strategy would be.
Heck, the Navy coaching staff probably knew would the strategy would be.
The five guys I was watching the game with pretty much agreed that Adam DiMichele should take a knee and no more than one second later the guys announcing the game agreed with us.The announcers were advising Temple to take a knee and kick the ball out and give the ball back to Navy, a triple-option team, with no timeouts and 20 seconds left.
"This is easy," CBS-TV analyst Trev Alberts said.
Easy for anyone but Al Golden.
Inexplicably, unbelievably, he chose to handoff to the running back.
Just like Pisarcik chose to handoff to Larry Csonka on Nov. 19th, 1978.
Fumble.
Herman Edwards picks up the ball on one bounce and takes it in for a score.
Kee-Ayre Griffin, fighting for extra yardage he didn't really need, was stripped of the ball by Navy linebacker Ross Pospisil and teammate Clint Sovie played the role of Herman Edwards.
Game, set and match.
I like Al Golden and believe he's one of only two guys who can make this team a perennial MAC champ (Bruce Arians is the only other one I can think of). But he's not immune from criticism nor should he be.
"I was surprised they ran; I thank God they did," said Navy linebacker Ross Pospisil.
After the fumble, my head was buried in my hands, feeling much like what those Giants' fans must have felt in 1978.
"Why, Al?" I kept yelling at the screen. "Why? Why?"
"I was surprised they ran," Pospisil said. "I thank God they did."
Is just me or have I missed the first time Al has ever accepted the blame for a bad decision? So far, my count stands as never.
Your call, but it seems to me it's always someone else's fault, not his.
"Certainly we could have kneeled down, but you give it to the running back, tell him to put two hands on it. That's what running backs do," Golden said.
Since when?
Maybe before 1978, but not since.
At least not with the lead and 37 bleeping seconds left.
Ask anybody who has coached in the NFL or pretty much anywhere else for the past 30 years.
When the bad guys need a miracle to beat you, don't go to Lourdes, fly back and hand them a gallon of Holy Water.

By Mike Gibson
Back on Media Day, Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele said, "we're only a couple of days away from starting special."
DiMichele was talking about a season of headlines.
One of those headlines is in, the Hartford Courant's simple "Temple Routs Army" telling the story of the opening-day 35-7 win over the Cadets slightly better than the Philadelphia Daily News' "Temple Football Opens with a 35-7 Win at Army" or the Philadelphia Inquirer's "Owls Storm West Point in Triumphant Opener."
Those are the headlines that were.
These are the headlines that could be in the coming weeks and months:
Sunday, Sept. 7 _ Owls slog out a 6-0 win in torrential rainstorm _ The UConn fans who returned roughly half of the school's ticket allotment must have known something. Hurricane Hanna made a run right up the East Coast and arrived in Philadelphia just in time for the 8 a.m. pre-game tailgate. Temple abandoned its no-huddle offense and went to a pro-set two-back attack. Backup tailback Ahkeem Smith shined, gaining 167 yards and scoring the Owls' touchdown on a 22-yard run in the first quarter. UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen was stopped on fourth down at the Temple 2 as the clocked rolled down to zeros in the final quarter, but Big East officials awarded him the touchdown anyway. As several Temple fans headed toward the replay booth with baseball bats in hand, MAC officials quickly overturned the call. "It used to rain like this in Bethlehem all the time," a beaming Smith said afterward. "I love it." Owls' kicker Jake Brownell slips in the mud and misses the extra point.
"Harper killed us again," UConn coach Randy Edsall said, not knowing Jason Harper is no longer No. 34 for the Owls. Surveying the damage to the field post game, Eagles' owner Jeffrey Lurie was rushed to Thomas Jefferson Hospital with chest pains and did not make the opener with the Rams.
Sunday, Sept. 14 _ Owls exact messure of revenge _ The number 12 was lucky for Owls. With the No. 12 on their helmets, the Owls beat host Buffalo by the same score, 26-14. Afterward, reporters found out why No. 12 was on the helmet. It wasn't to honor redshirt quarterback Vaughn Charlton but to help the Owls remember what Buffalo's No. 12, junior defensive back Kendric Hawkins, said after last year's game. "We punched them in the mouth and they quit," Hawkins said then. Owls ran several sweeps in Hawkins' direction and pulling guard Andre Douglas pancaked him on one Marquise Liverpool touchdown run. Defensive coordinator Mark D'Onofrio unleashed the dogs of war on Buffalo quarterback Drew Willy, calling for several blindside blitzes that buried Willy. "I never saw them," Willy said. "I don't know about punching them in the mouth," D'Onofrio said. "But I did see him bleeding a couple of times. This is bigger than UConn. Much bigger."
Sunday, Sept. 21 _ Penn State's Season Goes Down the Toilet _ Penn State coach Joe Paterno was seen running off the field four times during Temple's stunning 28-21 win in State College. Remarkably, the Owls scored all four of their touchdowns during Paterno's bathroom breaks. "Guys, I take Flo-Max, OK," the 81-year-old Paterno said. "I forgot to do that this morning and it came back to bite me. I heard some cheers and a whole lot of moans while I was in the head. I figured something was going on. How did Temple score?" Paterno was later told Travis Shelton took the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown and former Penn State recruit Adam DiMichele tossed three more touchdown passes. "We pick up the biggest win in the school's history and I know the headline in the Philadelphia paper is going to be Penn State loses and not us winning," Temple coach Al Golden accurately said afterward.
Sunday, Sept. 28 _ Owls remain unbeaten with 16-3 win over Broncos _ A Homecoming Day crowd of 65,478 greets the Owls after their win over Penn State. Ironically, Jimmy Rollins was honored at halftime for his attendance at Temple basketball games and takes the microphone. Rollins was at the game because he was injured running out a foul ball and could not play for the Phillies. "You guys are front-runners," Rollins said, adding, "just kidding." Everyone laughed. Temple's defense dominated.
Sunday, Oct. 5 _ Owls move one step closer to MAC East title _ In a repeat performance of last year, Temple beat Miami, 24-17. This time, it was closer as the Owls' Eric Reynolds scored on a 67-yard punt return in the fourth quarter to break a tie. "This is why we practice all over the place," Golden said. "I told the guys we have to learn to win anywhere and they've adopted that mindset."
Sunday, Oct. 12 _ Owls hand Central Michigan first loss _ Long touchdown runs by Joey Jones, Marquise Liverpool and Ahkeem Smith gave Temple a 21-0 halftime lead and the Owls coasted past the defending champions, 35-14, before a stunned crowd of 18,568. "Where did those guys come from?" Central Michigan coach Butch Jones said. "I read MAC Report Online and they never said the Temple runners were that good." After the game, Joe Jones legally changes his first name to Joey. "That's in honor of coach," Jones said, pointing to Golden.
Wednesday, Oct. 21 _ Owls hammer Ohio, 41-0 _ ESPN Game Day makes a special trip to the rare Tuesday night game with Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit throwing bouquets at the Owls as several thousand Temple students ham it up for the cameras in the background. Corso interviews former Temple kicker Cap Poklemba, who arrives to the halftime set in a Dr. Suess hat. "You lead the cheers," Corso said. "I understand you led the cheers when no one was here. It must be sweet."
"Lee, you don't know the half of it," Poklemba said. "It's sweeter than sweet."
Owls go to 8-0 and move into the top 20 for the first time since 1979.
Sunday, Nov. 2 _ Owls sink Navy, 21-14 _ Temple uses experience gained from stopping Army's option to stopping the Middies as well. "I don't know how to say this diplomatically, but I think they found out we're not Towson," Golden said. Owls go to 9-0 and Philadelphia radio station WIP announces that it will now take calls on Temple football.
Thursday, Nov. 13 _ Owls sack Kent State, 21-7 _ Temple's defense finds diminutive quarterback Julian Edelman for nine sacks in the win. "Those guys are so tall I couldn't see over them, so I tried to duck for a view downfield and, by then, they had me," Edelman said. "It's frustrating." D'Onofrio: "We weren't going to let a midget beat us." Temple goes to 10-0 and DiMichele and Golden make the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Sunday, Nov. 23 _ Owls give Eastern Michigan an empty feeling, 28-0 _ Before an announced crowd of 5,234 that looked like 534, the Owls coasted to a routine road win. "We're not used to this," DiMichele said. "It was like playing in library but, like coach says, you need to be prepared to win everywhere. Man, I didn't know it was this cold in Michigan." Owls go to 11-0 and clinch the MAC East title by a full game over Bowling Green.
Saturday, Nov. 29 _ Record crowd sends Owls off to MAC title game _ Temple tunes up for the Dec. 5 MAC title game with a 26-7 win over Akron before a record crowd of 71,222. "It's the beginning of a new tradition in Philadelphia," Golden said. "Everybody goes to a Thanksgiving Day game on Thursday and our game on Friday. I saw a lot of turkey sandwiches in the stands." Owls spend two hours going around the stadium and high-fiving the fans afterward. Owls go to 12-0 and are mentioned as a possible BCS Bowl game foe.
Saturday, Dec. 5 _ Owls beat Central Michigan for MAC title _ Using the no-huddle offense Temple last used in the opening game against Army, Temple befuddles Central Michigan in a 35-25 win. "It's my fault," Central Michigan coach Butch Jones said. "In our game against them earlier, they pounded us running the ball. I thought they'd do the same thing so we practiced using an eight-man line. Then they go no-huddle. We got outcoached." Unbeaten Temple named as foe for once-beaten LSU in 2009 Fiesta Bowl.
Saturday, Jan. 10 _ Tigers topple Temple, 22-17, for National Title _ In an eerie end to the game at the Fiesta Bowl, DiMichele finds Bruce Francis in the back of the end zone for an apparent score but he is ruled out of bounds. Fox Replays from several angles show Francis clearly caught the ball but LSU fans insist Francis bobbled the ball. "If he bobbled the ball, why is there no video anywhere of him bobbling the ball?" Golden asks. On ESPN afterward, Corso rips the officials and says both the BCS refs and the BCS replay officials are corrupt.
"As far as I'm concerned, Temple is the national champion," Corso says.

Wow.
Some good competition from some great blogs and we finished No. 1 in the awards announced yesterday.
Hopefully, the road to the MAC title provides enough good reading material for a repeat next year at this time.

By Mike Gibson
What do Vaughn Carraway and Mike Palys have in common?
They are game-breakers and trailblazers.
Both turned down schools that have a name over a school that has a life and a substance.
Both could have gone anywhere.
Both chose Temple.
Chances are you already know that Carraway committed to Temple University today and that he is the No. 19 prospect in all of the state of Pennsylvania.
A brief refresher course on Palys, though, might be in order.
Palys was the first player who had a solid "offer" and not "interest" on the table from Penn State and picked Temple instead in 1984.
He was lured by the enthusiasm of a young coach named Bruce Arians.
Carraway, too, chose to blaze a trail today when he picked Temple University. At one time, he had a solid offer on the table from Michigan.
Like Palys with Penn State and Walter Washington with Nebraska, Carraway is believed to be the first player to ever pick Temple over Michigan.
Like Palys, a young coach, this time Al Golden, convinced him that Temple was the best place to be.
He joins a stellar group of recent recruits who chose to be a part of something special, the resurgence of Temple football and help bring big-time college football to a major Eastern city like Philadelphia.
All Carraway has to do is keep doing what he's done to get here, work hard, and Temple quarterback Adam DiMichele will get him the ball.
He will get noticed playing in this big city, in its large media market before a fan base starved for a winning team.
Thanks to guys like Carraway, of Muhlenberg High near Reading, this class is shaping up as the best class since Arians lured this group to North Broad Street on Feb. 8, 1984:

• Mike Hinnant _ Of Springarn in Washington D.C., the tight end chose Temple over Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia.
• Auturo Weldon _ Also of Springarn, Weldon picked the Owls over Syracuse and West Virginia.
• Craig King _ a high school All-American lineman from Clifton, N.Y., who picked Temple over Texas A&M.
• Joe Greenwood _ Defensive back from Johnstown who picked the Owls over West Virginia, Pitt and Maryland.
• Mike Palys _From North Pocono High, Palys was the son of former Phillies centerfielder Stan Palys and he caught a pair of long touchdown passes from Matty Baker, both on flea-flickers, in a 45-28 win over Boston College in 1988. Was also a great punt returner for the Owls and a terrific baseball player for Temple.

We bring up that class because they and Arians proved it can be done at Temple.
Now Golden is proving the same thing with a whole other generation of players at a school Arians would not recognize in terms of buildings or facilities.
Carraway is just the latest recruit, but he's a trailblazer much like Palys and Washington were.
If you need more convincing on how big this is for both the Owls and their fans, here are some stories on Carraway:
The Vaughn Carraway Chronicles
Rivals recruiting rankings _ It includes a list of the top 40 players in the fertile state of Pennsylvania and Carraway is listed in the upper half.
The Pittsburgh Preseason Report _ Which confirms the official Michigan offer and ranks him at No. 21 going into the season.
Kicking to Carraway is a bad mistake, you bleepin' dope _ How Carraway's clutch punt return helped keep Muhlenberg unbeaten.
Carraway's 108-yard interception return _ It turns out throwing in his direction is also a bad mistake, IF you happen to be wearing any color not Cherry or White (except at the Penn State game this fall).
Welcome, Vaughn Carraway, and congratulations for making the best decision of your young life, a wise choice that is going to set you up for an outstanding future.
By the way, Mike Palys is now Dr. Michael D. Palys, a very successful and wealthy doctor in Boston, a periodontist on the staff at Harvard University.

Maybe this should be the last page of the next coach's contract, signed by both parties, with the understanding that the AD will give no permission for another university to contact said coach.

By Mike Gibson
There's been an Elephant in the room for the past few days.
Elephant with a capital E.
Seems like no one in either Vivacqua Hall or the Edberg-Olson Football Complex wants to look at it, but it is an unwelcome visitor right there in the living room, unexpectedly coming through the sliding glass doors and destroying the brand new furniture and eating all of the peanuts on the dining room table.
Not even the media seems to be addressing it, other than superficially.
Well, today, Dave "Fizzy" Weinraub saw the Elephant, pointed to it and tried to get the trainer to take it out of the living room in an excellent letter to the editor in the sports section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer.
I was privileged to be introduced to Fizzy and have known him from the pre-game tailgating scene at every Temple football game.
He is a terrific storyteller (ask him about Bill Cosby some day), very funny and an all-around great guy.
He shows up at every Temple home game and probably has gone to some long before I started to be a fan as a 10-year-old kid.
If every Temple alumnus did what Fizzy has done, we'd have 250,000 at our games. We only need 69,999 more Fizzies to never have any problems.
His support of the program should never be questioned.
I believe if I tell you
I'm going to build
you a brick house
and sign a contract
to build that house,
I'm not going to leave
when one wall is up
and say, well, the guy down
the street gave
me a better offer
I appreciate everyone who supports Temple football, whether it be the big spenders in the Club Box level or those in section 101 like Fizzy, Cap Poklemba and myself.
Temple invested a lot of money in its current head coach, money it probably couldn't afford to pay because it wanted a taste of what other schools had on the football field for a change.
People like Fizzy, Cap Poklemba and other very hungry supporters deserve that taste.
All they've gotten so far is 1-11 and 4-8 and promises.
That's not tasting. That's not even sniffing. I'm not a great guy like Fizzy, just a good one who, like him, is perplexed by the sight of an Elephant in any place other than a Zoo.
I'm a guy who gets to work on time every day.
I keep my appointments.
People who know me know that when I say I'm going to meet them at a certain place and a certain time, I'm always there.
I believe your word is your bond and that no amount of money can change that.
I believe if I say I'm going to do a certain job by a certain time, I'm going to get it done.
Only then will I move on to the next task.
I believe if I demand integrity, honesty and commitment from my colleagues that I should give no less in return.
I believe if I tell you I'm going to build you a brick house and sign a contract to build that house, I'm not going to leave when just one wall is up and say, well, the guy down the street gave me a better offer.
That doesn't make me better than anybody else. It's just the way I was raised.
Temple should hold its football coach, both current and next, to that same minimum standard.

Cap Poklemba is easy to spot in this Darryl Rule photo

By Mike Gibson
Al Golden, meet Cap Poklemba.
Oh, you have?
Kinda sorta.
"I've never really met coach Golden," Poklemba said Saturday. "Well, I did give a speech at the pep rally for Penn State and then I handed the microphone to him and said, "Good luck against Penn State coach.' He looked at me like, "this guy is crazy.' "
Well, he is, Al, but crazy in a very good way.
I have a feeling Al Golden would like Cap Poklemba very much if he ever got a chance to know him.
When we last saw Poklemba on the field in a meaningful game, five years ago almost to this very day, the Owls' kicker drove a stake through the hearts of Rutgers' fans in the final seconds of a 20-17 win at Rutgers' Stadium. He then led the team over to the Big East logo in the corner of that stadium and stomped on it with 55 other players as the strains of "T for Temple U" rang in the background.
It was a Delicious moment for the program.
Ever since, Poklemba has been doing his part to make Lincoln Financial Field a homefield advantage for Golden's Owls.
Poklemba is a one-man raving lunatic with a purpose, at times going into the heart of the lower deck to yell out, "I DON'T CARE WHAT AGE YOU ARE, YOUNG OR OLD, I JUST WANT YOU TO GET UP ON THIRD DOWN!!" He then alternately leads the crowd into chants of "Let's Go Temple" or "DEE-FENSE, DEE-FENSE" or "MOVE THOSE CHAINS, MOVE THOSE CHAINS, MOVE THOSE CHAINS ... HOOT" ... after each first down.
Then he runs to the student section and acts like Eugene Ormandy or Leonard Bernstein and orchestrates that section in the same manner. They respond to him with a wall of beautiful sound. Poklemba is only missing a baton.
Golden himself must have noticed, or heard, the nearly 17,000 fans sound like 70,000 strong in a 24-14 win over Kent State on Saturday afternoon because, after the game, the first thing the coach did was run up to each member of the team and direct them to the sidelines to high five the fans.
Or he must have noticed the 21,000 for Homecoming Day sounding like 200,000.
There is one person responsible for this and it's Cap Poklemba.
Al Golden gets it.
So does Cap Poklemba. Nobody asked Cap Poklemba to do what he's done, but what he has accomplished is demonstrate that one man can make a big difference.
It's a lesson all of us can learn and part of the fabric of Al Golden's character.
It's a shame the two have never been formally introduced. It would be nice (i.e., smart) if the university found some sort of kicking coach/promotions position for this dedicated young man soon.
Whatever, in some storage room at Edberg-Olson Hall there is a most valuable player award for this year's Temple Owls and it's going to deservedly go to Adam DiMichele.
Yet somewhere in some box way in the back there should be a most valuable Owl award and it would be nice if Al Golden gave it to Cap Poklemba at the football banquet.
There's not a more deserving Owl, past or present.

Story first appeared in Philadelphia Daily News in Oct. 2007.
By Mike Gibson
Perhaps Wayne Hardin, as is his custom, said it best.
"We're America's Team," the former Temple coach once said. "You know, 'Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor.' "
America's Team. Temple is more that than the Dallas Cowboys. America likes a Horatio Alger, rags-to-riches, story. Dallas never was that. Temple is.
It certainly is Philadelphia's team, with 10 times as many Philadelphians playing for Owls than the professional team that plays football in the same stadium.
If it doesn't deserve America's support, then it certainly deserves Philadelphia's.
Especially after the pro football team in town gave an embarrassingly passive display on how not to play football.
One of the Eagles' fans said it best, ranting from his seat to a TV camera in the seconds after a 19-16 loss to the Chicago Bears.
"Andy, you always say we've going to get better next week," the fan said. "You always say we've got to clean that up. We'll get better next week. Well, it's this week. It should be this week. Give me a break, Andy."
Philadelphia fans should come over to the other side and support a team that plays hard-nosed, aggressive football and a group of kids who more represent them in reality than the overpaid, spoiled and passive bunch who don't.
Temple.
This is an exciting team playing an exciting brand of football, much like Wayne Hardin's teams did in the 1970s.
At the time Hardin made his remarks about Temple being America's Team, he was specificially talking about Temple football recruiting.
Under Hardin, Temple got a lot of players who were hungry to prove themselves to the higher profile schools who overlooked them in the recruiting process. It got a lot of players tired of people telling them they were an inch too small or a step too slow. It got a lot of players who were poor in numbers of scholarship offers, but rich in areas like reputation and character.
Hungry, tired, poor.
The formula worked before.
It is now working again.
The current Owls have an interesting mix of players, but this group reminds me more of Hardin's teams than any team since because of the character of the players involved.
This Temple group, like Hardin's groups, have an inordinate number of players who were captains of their high school football team.
Eighteen members of the current 1-2 depth chart were captains of teams who won their high school championship. Most of those high schools were large schools in high-profile environments and most of those players excelled under pressure situations.
It was a proven recruiting template 30 years ago and it has proven to be the same under coach Al Golden.
Golden has a bunch of leaders, captains, who play aggressive, not passive, football.
Something tells me if Brian Griese was driving for 97 yards and no time outs against Temple, Golden would have dialed up a few well-timed blitzes that would have brought violence to the football Griese was holding.
"People in Philadelphia will be proud of this team once it starts to develop because it's tough, it competes and we have fun out there," Golden said.
You won't be able to get into the Penn State game on Nov. 10 because it already is sold out but check it out, Eagles fans, on Nov. 17 against Kent State.
You might like it.

By Mike Gibson
Why, in God's name, are former Big East refs allowed to do a game involving a Big East team against any other team?
Jack Cramer, a former Big East official, was the replay official in the booth who failed to overturn an obvious mistake in UConn's 22-17 win over Temple Saturday, a catch by Bruce Francis for the winning TD in the end zone that was ruled an incompletion.
Neutral replay officials should be the norm, not the exception, in cross-conference games.
Let's see here.
Temple was kicked out of the Big East.
UConn is in the Big East.
The Big East would be completely impartial in any game involving Temple. ... yeah, right, and I also believe those Heaven's Gate people who committed suicide in 1997 are riding on the Hale-Bopp Comet now instead of dead in their graves.
Not.
Morley Safer or Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes would love this story.
No words necessary, just the words of fans from two big East schools, UConn and Rutgers.

By Mike Gibson
The last time a university tried a Bobblehead Giveaway for a coach who won exactly one game, the coach came away a 55-25 loser.
Turner Gill walked off the field with a Bobbleahead likeness of himself in one hand, a clipboard in the other and a stat sheet with the bottom line: Ball State 55, Buffalo 25.
That was Oct. 7, 2006.
Buffalo learned the lesson.
No Bobbleheads for Turner Gill this season.
Temple learned the same lesson the hard way Saturday.
This time, it was Al Golden staring at a stat sheet with the bottom line: Buffalo 42, Temple 7. Somewhere, his Bobblehead was in the trash can.
Blame it on the Bobbleheads.
How else can you explain a 35-point loss to a team you are favored to beat by 3 1/2 points?
How else can you explain so many so-called betting experts saying to lay the wood on Temple, including one nationally syndicated radio show tabbing Temple the stone-cold lock of the week."
Blaming it on the Bobbleheads doesn't make any sense, but neither does the way Temple University's football team played its game on Saturday afternoon.
Poor blocking, poor tackling, a general malaise.
"We've got to change the culture of losing," Temple head coach Al Golden keeps saying over and over.
Screw the culture.
Just change the losing.
One way would be to get Travis Shelton the ball.
Often.
Here's a guy who singlehandedly beat Bowling Green last year and he gets maybe five touches a game.
It's obvious the coaching staff is trying to teach Travis Shelton a lesson for a real or perceived ill.
I'm sick of trying to teach guys lessons.
Teach the third-string right offensive guard lessons. Put Travis Shelton in the game and have him teach other teams a lesson the way only a guy with 4.27-40-yard dash speed can.
Culture, smuchler.
A game at the University of Connecticut looms tomorrow (Channel 6, noon) and there would be no better showcase for an Owl win than a Philadelphia TV market that includes 250,000 Temple University alumni.
They all want this losing changed to winning and Al Golden is in charge of making that happen.
Soon, like in the next two weeks.
Until then, no Bobbleheads for you.
Or anybody else.

By Mike Gibson
From all reports near Annapolis today, there will apparently be no corps of Navy Midshipmen in attendance for the Navy at Temple football opener on Friday, Aug. 31 as part of stricter policies set in force by the new Academy Superintendent.
As a friend of mine said today, coach Wayne Hardin's job just got a whole lot tougher.

Dear Joe,
As you may or may not know, former Temple football coach Wayne Hardin is up for inclusion into the current class of the college football Hall of Fame.
Coach Hardin's accomplishments in the realm of Philadelphia and national college and even pro football and have made him indeed worthy of induction. He's the last head coach to win a pro football title within the city limits of Philadelphia, doing so for the Philadelphia Bulldogs of the then Continental League in 1964. (When the USFL stars won it, they did it on the road and as the Baltimore/Philadelphia Stars.)
Coach Hardin is 80 years old now and wants to do a lot of things but none more important to him than filling Lincoln Financial Field for Temple's Aug. 30 regular-season opener with Navy.
Coach Hardin went on WPHT-AM, 1210, a 50,000-watt station heard both here and Annapolis, and "guaranteed" a crowd of 66,000 for the home opener _ a feat that would put Philadelphia on the college football map quicker than any single football victory could.
Coach said there was one caveat, though.
The game needed to be on Thursday, Aug. 30. Anyone who has grown up in Philadelphia, and spent his entire life here, knows the town virtually empties the Friday of the Labor Day weekend with people mostly headed "down the shore" for one last long weekend before a long, cold winter. There is virtually no shot Temple gets what current Al Golden calls an "unprecedented crowd" on any other night but Thursday.
Fortunately, Temple AD Bill Bradshaw worked out the details and announced that Thursday would be the date for the opener.
The date is set on Owlsports.
It's even on the Lincoln Financial Field website, which I got to by clicking on a philadelphiaeagles.com link.
Now there are some earthquake-sized rumblings that you want to take back the date for a relatively meaningless preseason Eagles' game.
The Eagles are basically the only sports organization in this town that can survive by playing on Friday night that weekend. You'll get your crowd whether you play Thursday or Friday.
The Eagles can take the hit.
Temple can't.
Please, as a favor to coach Hardin _ the only coach in the history of college football to take Navy AND Temple to top 20 final regular season rankings _ abide by the agreement which allowed Temple to announce the Thursday night date.
The Eagles would be helping both the fans of Temple and Navy and gain an enormous amount of public relations good will by keeping the Thursday date for Temple clear, making coach Hardin and coach Golden realize their dreams of an unprecedented Temple crowd.
Thanks for taking time out from your busy schedule to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Mike Gibson
Editor and Publisher
Temple Football Forever
(Longtime season ticket-holder of both Eagles and Owls)

Adam DiMichele played baseball, basketball and football at all-state levels
By Mike Gibson
Adam DiMichele has been in Philadelphia less than one year, like his head coach, but he's said and done all of the right things.
"Our time will come," DiMichele said of the Temple football Owls early last season, not in a hopeful way, but in a manner-of-fact way, like he was talking about daylight following nightfall.
At the end of the season, DiMichele was just as convinced as ever that the Owls would be a big story in college sports, sooner than later, and happy about the good fortune that landed him in the first chapters of it.
This is an unwritten best-selling book that has 100 protagonists, the uniformed Owls plus their coaching staff.
DiMichele could end up being the lead character before it goes to print.
"I have no regrets," DiMichele said. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."
His latest statement came without even opening his mouth.
At least publicly.
DiMichele is no longer listed on the baseball team.
That's a huge statement about Adam's commitment to Temple football and speaks volumes about his future contribution to his new school.
Temple needs him as a football quarterback more than it needs him as a baseball pitcher.
Yet DiMichele's future very well could be as a
baseball player. He hasn't given up on baseball, just put it off for another year.
Committing to football and spring practice is the ultimate example of giving one up for the team.
Temple is ready to win this year and DiMichele is ready to lead this team into battle. Nothing would accelerate that process faster than a good quarterback committed to becoming a great one.
There are few Temple quarterbacks I've liked more than DiMichele.
Tim Riordan and Matty Baker for their toughness.
That's about it.
DiMichele has those same gritty qualities.
People will say, "Well, what about Steve Joachim? Wasn't he the college football player of the year at Temple?"
Yes he was.
And like DiMichele was all-state in football and basketball (at Haverford High). Yet Joachim was more Mike Schmidt than Pete Rose, skating by on his talent.
There's no denying DiMichele's vast talent, but there are intangibles with DiMichele, Baker and Riordan I didn't see in Joachim.
He's good enough to be named Pittsburgh Area Player of the Year in basketball, good enough to have been drafted by the major leagues out of high school in baseball and, like Joachim, good enough to have been signed as a football player by Penn State.
He's all kinds of special.
Plus he's Pete Rose in terms of competitiveness.
Give me Pete Rose over Mike Schmidt any day, especially at the quarterback position.
Like Riordan, he bounces up after a big hit and shakes it off.
Like Baker, he can make the big throw at the biggest time.
With DiMichele, the best is yet to come.
He's shaken off two years of football rust and still looked pretty good in my mind. It's scary to see how good he can become with his first spring practice under his belt.
"I call him Roy Hobbs because he's a natural," Temple head coach Al Golden said. "I've always said that the hardest thing to do in college football is to recruit a Division I quarterback. We have at least one."
It was obvious he was talking about Adam DiMichele.
Now, in this off-season, without even saying a word, Adam DiMichele is doing his own talking.
I, for one, like what I'm hearing.

From left, Hardin, The Manhattan Project, Kennedy

"This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth, " President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
By Mike Gibson
Forget about the degree of difficulty with The Kennedy Project or The Manhattan Project or even the Alan Parsons Project.
The Wayne Hardin Project could make them all seem like child's play in comparison.
Back in 1961, when Kennedy stood before Congress and said that "this nation should commit itself" to putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade, there were a lot of "huh?" looks in the gallery.
"Moon? You mean that same moon that's up in the sky?"
In the early 1940s, when a group of scientists said they were committed to splitting the atom, people said:
"What, are you crazy? Do you know how small that thing is?"
That's sort of the same reaction Hardin got when he went on the Temple football post-game radio show and "guaranteed" to put 66,000, mostly Temple, fans in the stands for the 2007 home opener against Navy at Lincoln Financial Field.
Guaranteed.
Hardin assured Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw, the moderator of the show, that he wasn't kidding.
"We're going to do all we can to help you," Bradshaw said.
Hardin offered one caveat.
"We're going to try to play this game on the Thursday before Labor Day," Hardin said. "I've given Bill that job now. He'll get to work on it Monday."
Bradshaw worked and worked and worked some more. Sometime, in December, Bradshaw almost gave up, saying "it appears the Eagles want that date."
Yet he did not give up.
"We're not going to abandon the idea of Thursday night yet," Bradshaw wrote in an email in December.
Bradshaw hammered away on the problem for months and finally delivered his end of the bargain today with the announcement that the Owls now have that date.
Jeff Lurie and Joe Banner wanted to keep it for the possiblity of an Eagles-Jets' game.
The Eagles were originally going to play that night and were unwilling to budge.
Bradshaw conjoled and pleaded, even begged, for the game, saying that it would help the Eagles, Temple, Navy and the city.
It's important because the culture of the city has been to "empty out" on the long Labor Day weekend and head to the shore for one final fling. Playing on Thursday night would give Temple the best possible chance for a huge crowd.
The city got on Temple's side and convinced Lurie and Banner that it would best serve their community relations if they helped Temple out with this special night.
Mostly, though, it was Bradshaw who kept his word to Hardin that he would help. He didn't give up and neither did Temple.
Now it's up to Hardin to keep his word to Bradshaw.
Will Hardin be able to deliver?
Folks who've known Hardin for years say don't sell him short, even on something this ambitious.
"If you think he can't do it, you just don't know coach Hardin," long-time friend Kevin Touhey wrote in December.
Hardin was the guy who took the Temple job after it struggled against the Gettysburgs and Kings Points and Xaviers and looked people in the eye and said: "We're going to be playing Penn State and Pitt and we're going to go toe-to-toe with them. We're going to be in a bowl game."
Plenty of eyebrows raised, but few nods of belief.
Yet Hardin delivered. Temple played one of the greatest Penn State teams ever, the 1978 squad, toe-to-toe. Temple was nationally ranked. Temple went to a bowl game.
If anyone can do this, Hardin can.
Nothing gets The Wayne Hardin Project off to a running start like a Feb. announcent.
Now Billboards can be made, commercials can be filmed and radio spots can be written.
Hardin is still a compelling figure, both in this town and the Baltimore/D.C. area. He was, after all, the last Navy head coach to have that team in a major bowl and ranked in the top 10, as high as No. 2.
Hardin is counting on his Navy and Temple friends to deliver on some favors.
"There's no reason that Temple, a school with 250,000 alumni and 30,000 full-time students, shouldn't be able to fill that stadium with its own fans," Hardin said.
If he's able to pull this off, taking Navy to No. 2 in the country or Temple to No. 17 in both major polls will seem easy by comparison.
He deserves the benefit of the doubt and all the help each one of us can give him.