by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Pssst. Got a good one for ya.

That Temple football victory Friday night against South Florida, the one in which the Owls ran for better than 300 yards, controlled the clock throughout and somehow managed to keep one of the nation's most explosive offenses in check when it mattered most, well, that's the best one of the Matt Rhule era.

In fact, it may be the best in the program's history, post-Pop Warner days at least.

Oh, beating Penn State last season was big, ending a 74-year drought against its Big Brother within the commonwealth. The Owls also got a couple bowl wins to claim, as well as some against ranked opponents, including one against No. 21 East Carolina in 2014 with Rhule at the helm, and, of course, there was last year's prime-time Halloween special that saw Temple earn a morale victory against Notre Dame before a national-TV audience.

But, really, when you factor in the importance of this latest win, against a quality opponent that not only was the American Athletic Conference East Division favorite, but, frankly, a tougher opponent than Penn State was last year, East Carolina was the year before, and that it actually resulted in another notch on the actual “W” column, kinda tough to argue the merits of the aforementioned sentiments.

Maybe we could research the annals of a mostly dismal Temple grid history to come up with some long-ago decision worthy of greater celebration, but nothing has been better during Rhule's reign.

South Florida, at worst, was the third-best team the Cherry & White had faced in the four seasons the ex-Penn State linebacker has been running the show on Broad Street. ND last year was the best, and Houston's 2015 edition may have been better than this 2016 Bulls squad – but not by much.

That one-two tandem of quarterback Quinton Flowers and running back Marlon Mack, the pairing that absolutely decimated Temple last season in Tampa, Fla., is about as electric as electric gets in the college game. Yet, the Owls did a pretty impressive job keeping them under wraps, certainly much better than last year's far-more-ballyhooed defense headed by Tyler Matakevich did.

The two were responsible for all four USF touchdowns in this one, but neither got “off” to the point where they dominated the game – and both did so last November. Paced by Averee Robinson's 2.5 sacks, the Owls got to Flowers a total of 4 times ... among their 11 tackles for loss. Not bad.

Not bad on offense, either. Going ruan-heavy in this one, the Owls were beautiful to watch in essentially muscling their way to the top of the division, sophomore Ryquell Armstead cranking out 210 yards and 2 TDs, benefiting from the brilliant kick-out blocking of fullback Nick Sharga. Jahad Thomas added a pair of rushing scores and freshman wildcat-formation specialist Isaiah Wright 58 yards on just 6 carries.

For good measure, senior signal-caller Phillip Walker calmly, coolly led the attack and posted a highly efficient 14-for-21, 209-yard, 1-TD night himself.

The end result ... Temple finally reached .500 under Rhule (23-23), it reclaimed the top spot in the AAC East, it positioned itself to make a run at not only a second straight appearance in the conference title game but a second straight bowl appearance, too.

Take away the magic dust surrounding last season's 7-1 start, the reality is this 5-3 squad actually is playing better right now than that one was at the same juncture.

With the best win in a long time, if not ever, for the program already in the back pocket.

by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

These Game 8s are getting to be a big deal with Temple University football.

Last year, the Owls entered their ocho contest sporting a 7-0 record, ranked 21st in the country, paired against No. 9 Notre Dame and poised to play before a sold-out crowd at Lincoln Financial Field as well as a national-TV audience – the Cinderella portion of a pretty nifty college football prime-time package.

They put on a good show, had a chance to win and, still, in a way, emerged “winners” despite falling 24-20.

Fast forward to Friday night, and, you know what, we might not be talking in similar hyperbole to how important things are to the Temple program, its history and its future … but maybe we ought to be.

The Owls, once again, are hosting a hot team, on national TV, and, not for nothing, but their American Athletic Conference East Division title hopes are hanging in the balance as well. No, South Florida (6-1 overall, 3-0 conference) doesn’t carry the same kind of cachet as ND, but it’s a quality program, it’s on the rise and it’s the main obstacle in Temple’s way right now.

There won’t be a sellout for this one, and that’s the real catch. For head coach Matt Rhule and Co. to make scenes like last fall’s electric Irish experience more common, they need to take care of business against the likes of USF, in entertaining fashion to boot, enough so that crowds, big crowds, near-sellout crowds, actually start coming to see an Owls-Bulls clash.

You start getting those, you start getting more ND and Penn State extravaganzas dotting the ledger on a more regular basis.

Ironically enough, for those who bailed on Temple this season after its opening-night loss to Army, there are incredible similarities between what has been deemed a disappointing 2016 and 2015’s coming-out party. The Owls’ defense pretty much determines whether or not the team will have a shot to win, and is headlined by one of the nation’s premier players: this year being end Haasson Reddick and last year linebacker Tyler Matakevich. The offense is sluggish, often disjointed, if not stagnant.

Although, frankly, Temple’s offense is better at producing yards, and producing points on its own than 2015, and last week’s 26-25, last-second stunner at Central Florida matched any of the miraculous, “snatch victory from the jaws of defeat” wins that highlighted last year’s 10-4 campaign.

Any additional inspirational for the Owls (4-3, 2-1) could be something so simple: payback. The Bulls embarrassed them in Tampa, Fla., last November, rolling up a 44-23 decision that was more one-sided than it reads.

Hey, it’s Game 8. It’s a big deal.

by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

So, it’s Sammy Sleeves Week, huh?

Hmmm, kinda seems much ado about … mediocrity.

Thing is, there really hasn’t even been a question Sam Bradford being a serviceable, even smart, pro quarterback. He throws a pretty nice ball. Seems capable of making almost all the throws. If anything, the criticism about his lack of toughness always has seemed unfair. Getting injured is not the same thing as being a pansy in helmet and pads.

So, at worst, he’s either hurt or just OK.

At best … what, mediocre or a cut just above?

Yep, he leads the NFL in completion percentage, stands second in passer rating and is averaging about a yard and a half more per attempt than he has the rest of his career. But, as he says, he’s not gonna “try to do anything special,” and, thus far, he really hasn’t.

We’re not talking about a guy who has carried Minnesota to a 5-0 record after starting the last four games following a last-minute trade from the Eagles to serve as a professional stopgap for Teddy Bridgewater, whose training-camp knee implosion sent shockwaves through the league. We’re talking about a guy who has done a serviceable job of directing an offense mostly out of harm’s way so as not to screw up what the team’s dominating defense has created.

He’s not being called upon to do too much, as evidenced by his ranking 21st in the NFL in yards passing per game, and that has paid off – for the team and his efficiency.

But, really, eye-test wise, is he any different than he was while drawing mixed reviews here in Philly last fall or mostly disappointing ones previously during an injury-plagued stint in St. Louis?

He still plays conservatively. He still gets into Checkdown Charlie mode. He still seems to be a brittle statue in the pocket.

The one difference is that he’s on a better team, with better blockers, better receivers and, yeah, a much better safety net with that defense.

The Eagles would be better this year if they had him?

Not buying it. Not unless the Vikings’ personnel joined him here.

Frankly, rookie Carson Wentz has made plays with his athleticism and chutzpah that Bradford could never make or even attempt to make ... and posted numbers quite similar to the veteran anyway.

That 3-2 record, with a shaky offensive line and subpar receiving corps, that’s pretty good. Especially when the two losses came when the Birds didn’t exactly play great, yet still had opportunities to either win or extend those games.
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Put Bradford in the same spot … and he might not even be suiting up for this Sunday’s game at the Linc.

Wentz? He’s good to go.

With something more than mediocrity appearing to be part of his future, maybe even the immediate one.

by Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

Bump one.

It was bound to happen.

Just rest easy, Eagles fans. If Sunday’s 24-23 loss at Detroit is any indication of what awful awaits this team led by a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback, well, it ain’t gonna be that bad then.

Take away Ryan “Fumble Fingers” Mathews’ ridiculous gaffe with about two and half minutes to go, and we’re probably talking about an undefeated 4-0 squad set to enter its divisional slate next week in D.C.

Had the veteran running back held the football, properly, in his outer hand, away from helmet-leading Lions defensive back Darius Slay on a third-and-short right then, the Birds were looking at either A) a first down or B) a fourth-and-short near midfield in which they could have gone for it or punted, burying the home team deep in its own territory.

With a defense that had surrendered zero points in the second half providing the security on a two-point advantage.
Instead, Mathews coughed up the ball, the Eagles lost possession after a mad scramble, and, essentially the game shortly after when the Lions turned the turnover into a game-winning field goal.

Yeah, OK, Carson Wentz heaved his first interception of the season on the ensuing possession and, considering the Birds had more than 80 seconds to maneuver themselves, oh, 45-50 yards into FG range themselves, the call and the decision to throw the ball could be deemed silly or unnecessary at that point.

But you kinda gotta admire the go-for-broke mentality, don’t ya?

Seriously, if Sunday’s effort was symbolic of the worst to come, got no issues here signing up for the bundle package that Doug Pederson and Co. are trying to sell the public.

Wentz, again, played beyond his age and “amount of reps” file, actually rallying the Eagles from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit to eventually a 23-21 advantage midway through the fourth with the calm and confidence reserved for the likes of guys toiling their wears in New England and New Orleans the last decade and chance, not a guy making his fourth NFL start.

The defense, albeit not as dominant as it had been two weeks ago in throttling high-powered Pittsburgh at the Linc, still held an offense directed by renowned slingshot artist Matthew Stafford to just 244 yards.

Umm, that ain’t bad. Ain’t bad at all.

What is? The possibility that Detroit might be the last sub-.500 team the Eagles face all season, and games against sub-.500 teams accounted for two of their three wins thus far.

NFC East rivals Dallas, Washington and New York, for starters, were 4-1, 3-2 and 2-2, respectively, before the Giants kicked off against Green Bay on Sunday night. Only Cincinnati, at 2-3, had a losing record by then and found itself on the Birds’ remaining slate.