The Season Starts The 26th

(Temple RB Kee-ayre Griffin pounding the ball forward -- photo by Darryl Rule.)


Two games, two losses.

Not what Owls fans expected to start of the season, coming off what seemed to be another sure loss to Penn State. Not to say, though, the Owls could pull off an upset.

Let's look at this hypothetical situation: Temple beats Villanova for the Mayors Cup, going into the bye.

Surely, the attitude going into Happy Valley would be a lot different. Hype would be building, and glimmers of hope of beating the #5 team in the country would stand strong. During the bye, Coach Golden and the team might not have had to work on several mistakes made in the game:

- Ball security during the run game *
- Finishing and securing tackles *
- Penetration on the Defensive line
- Quarterback/Coaching decisions

Granted, many of these were fixed during the Penn State game, there should not be a need to deal with some of these problems. These are concepts that are addressed during the days of Pop Warner.

The point here is that the Temple-Penn State game could have gone much differently in the Owls' favor, if not for mistakes that costed them a 1-0 record to start off.

But that's now the past. It's time to move on to the true season. With the team's recent struggles, there has been a lot of doubt towards coach Golden. A win here signifies that this 2009 team is legitimate, meaning a true competitor in the MAC. If the team is able to win this game, there is still hope for many Temple fans who have been skeptical of coach.

The true way to a bowl game is by winning in the conference, that it begins on the 26th. From there, Temple will take on Eastern Michigan (10/3) and Ball State (10/10) before getting back to OOC. This will be determining factor as to what Temple Football team we are dealing with: have we stepped backward, or moved forward?

This Saturday, the Owls begin their MAC Conference against Buffalo, the 2008 MAC Champions. Last year, if you recall, the Bulls beat Temple on a hail mary pass with 5 seconds remaining. In just the 3rd game of the season, Temple suffered its second last minute loss of their 2008 campaign.

To many Temple fans on OwlScoop and OwlsDaily, this game determines the state of the program under Al Golden.

This year, the Owls will look to get their revenge and tack on the first win of the season against the Bulls in Philadelphia. We'll have a preview of both Temple and Buffalo later this week on YouTube, along with analysis here on The Owl's Nest!