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1. Plain and simple ... EXPOSED The slow starts, the bad hands, the soft zone defense, the over-reliance on Jahad Thomas, they all came back to bite the Owls in this one. It also didn’t help that overconfidence seemed to creep into the equation here, not just with the players laying back, acting as if the game ultimately would roll in their direction because, hey, it always had save for the last four minutes on Halloween night, but with their head coach making decisions seemingly based on a belief much in the same way. Not for nothing, Matt Rhule, but this was an out-classing, out-performing right out the chute by the Bulls – there was no time to waste with running plays, outside of scrambles, in the second half when your offense was moving at a snail’s pace and down three scrores, nor FGs with the team ahead, far ahead, of you is scoring TDs. This was not a game that could not have been won. South Florida left the door open several times, and the Owls opted not to enter, failing to grasp the sense of urgency at hand throughout the game’s final 30 minutes probably because the football gods had graced them with so many improbable escapes from the jaws of defeat already this season. Sorry, that was fool’s gold and it finally showed up to be in this one. You can’t live on guts, guile, sheer luck and speed forever, especially when the latter two are completely erased by the opposition. 2. Saving grace That seemingly sure-fire trip to the inaugural American Athletic Conference by the Owls, it’s gone … save for one thing – the schedule. Frankly, Temple, right now, would be dead to rites in regard to that affair if not for Memphis having a season back-loaded with difficult games and South Florida still having to play Cincinnati, which, honest to crud, probably is the best damn team in the circuit, but has done just enough to self-implode itself into the middle of the standings. Heading into Saturday night in Tampa, everyone was thinking the Owls were a given to be vying for AAC honors. They were 8-1 overall, 5-0 in the conference. Trailing ’em in the AAC East division were the Bulls at 5-4, 3-2. You’d think, oh, man, this is easy, home-free type stuff. Only, by losing to USF, the Owls essentially made their final two games must-wins since the Bulls would hold any tiebreaker edge due to head-to-head should both teams finish 6-2 in the AAC. Funny thing is, a loss next week to Memphis was an automatic … had the Tigers not collapsed at unbeaten Houston, throwing away a three-score, second-half advantage, to drop out of the AAC West race. So, they’ve been gutted. Plus, Cincy looms for USF this coming Saturday, and the Bearcats have long since accepted their middling status in the conference and have readjusted their goal to getting the best bowl game possible. In short, they have no pressure on them. USF now does. 3. You know what, target this ... The Owls were flagged for two targeting hits, and the refs pulled back the hankie on the second. Reality is, they were either both targeting … or not. In each case, the USF player in the mix was a moving object, not a set-in-stone one, whereby the Owl in question lined up his prey and speared himself helmet to helmet with total connection. That’s the whole basis of the rule, to rid the game of such violent, unfair attacks. If anything, the ejection of Saladeem Major was way over the top, an overreaction to the impact of two players colliding and the fear of what could have happened to one of them (and nothing bad did happen, either). The only thing right with the officials’ conferring after to determine the validity of the penalty was them determining that the ball, bouncing around after a USF kickoff, had hit Major’s head and gone out of bounds, thus nullifying an infraction for the Bulls. How they missed that in the first place, who knows … If anything No. 2, DB Alex Wells’ hit on Quinton Flowers was far more questionable since the scrambling Bulls QB already had hit the turf with one knee before the Temple senior even lunged at him. 4. Thanks for the numbers On a night when Temple had little reason to celebrate, Thomas did eclipse 1,000 yards rushing this season with his 16-carry, 65-yard effort and junior QB P.J. Walker surpassed 2,000 yards passing with his 259-yard performance. Thomas became just the 10th Owls runner to get a grand on the ground, and Walker matched a mark he had reached in each of his first two seasons. Also, senior LB Tyler Matakevich posted 9 tackles to inch closer to another 100-stop campaign. With three in the books, he has two more weeks to accumulate 4 more tackles to become just the fourth FBS all-time to have four seasons of 100 or more. That being said, T-Mat’s stock took a serious hit in this one as Flowers and lickety-split RB Marlon Mack embarrassed him time and again. 5. Unis a winner ... again Owls remained unbeaten this season in the looks department at 9-0-1 … the tie coming against Notre Dame two weeks prior. Though fellow Under Armour swagger USF was pretty sharp with a white-green-green ensemble, the Owls’ white jersey and black pants (with cherry and white piping) topped off by that nasty black-cherry helmet was just too sweet to beat. In a way, Temple and UA seem to have morphed this old-school classy with new-school bad ass into a tremendous brand. The one caveat is those stupid diamonds mixed into the equation, along with the patched “T” on the jersey sleeves. Then again, if that’s what it takes to make the diamond “T” helmet of yesteryear disappear, thumbs up. - Jack Kerwin | ydkjack1@gmail.com 1. Gotta be kidding ... Shortly after this outcome, stories started emanating about wiping away the “interim” tag and extending Bill Cubit as head coach. Each passing word had me wondering if it was time to go all Wayne Brady on any who authored them. Seriously, are you EFFIN kidding? Yeah, Cubit comes across like a decent guy in press conferences, and he’s made himself part of the Illini community in a very fatherly, welcoming way. But, get real – if you hope to be a viable entity in what now is the best conference in college football. His dime-store, pop-gun offensive philosophy about stretching the field horizontally to take limited strides vertically is ridiculous, and, for those who can’t seem to grasp, he is NOT going to change on that philosophy. This is who Cubit is, and by genetic proxy, it is who his son/assistant coach/right-hand mand, Ryan, is, too. It is who the elder Cubit has been for decades … and, newsflash, it doesn’t work. Not over the long haul, and, frankly, it’s far too dangerous for the insanely small returns it yields in the short term. Frankly, it would be easy to rip QB Wes Lunt’s lack of athleticism and point to that as a major flaw with the Illini and why they’re only 5-5 at this point, but the fact of the matter is, here’s a kid whose arm screams taking shots downfield all game and the Cubits have him primarily tossing dump-offs to Josh Ferguson or 1-yard “outs” on third-and-fours. People, forget the folksy and think football. The Illini have no business re-upping with Cubit unless the goal is to remain mediocre. 2. Gotta run in this league The Buckeyes handed off the ball 50 times and passed it 25. The Illini did almost the opposite, going 25 rush to 47 pass. It’s pretty simple math and the equation never fails in the Big Ten – you have to be able to run the ball if you hope to be successful in it. The Illini are not lacking for talent among their ballcarriers. Ferguson is a top-flight talent, and freshman Ke’Shawn Vaughn was coming off a 180-yard game the week before … but the Cubits called six carries for him in this one? Puh-leeze. In a game like this, the Illini’s running stats always look terrible because of Lunt being a statue and getting sacked, and the Cubits calling for a run when it’s totally set up to fail. It’s astounding to watch. Like “no feel” for what is going on at all. The Illini will pass and pass and pass, and fail, fail, fail … until, boom, finally hitting one longer than 9 yards and suddenly think they uncovered an opponents’ weakness – and then really start passing. The storyline is old and tired, and not changing. Move to another one, please. 3. Gotta defend in this league Pretty amazing when you have four guys – FS Clayton Fejedelem, LBs T.J. Neal and Mason Monheim, and DE Carroll Phillips – register double-digit tackle numbers and you still give up 440 yards to the opposition, including a whopping 283 on the ground. Granted, you’re facing a top-5 team with a Heisman talent at RB in Ezekiel Elliott, but surrendering 5.7 yards per pop when you’re explicitly geared up to stop the run game? Uh, that’s not good … and when your offense is doing little to aid the effort, great – not good – is required to get the job done. 4. Gotta give Buckeyes credit For all the drama and lackluster play Ohio State and their diehard fans have endured this season, the Buckeyes do remain an elite entity, capable of rolling any opponent at a moment’s notice. If anything, they got about the best Illinois had to offer, given talent level and coaching, and they just kinda took care of business in pretty methodical, albeit boring, fashion. Elliott was awesome, QB J.T. Barrett was reasonably effective and the defense was dominant. Sounds like a like recipe for success, and it is – even when Ohio State isn’t playing lights-out ball. 5. Gotta recognize Kinda tough to top Ohio State’s classic silver-white-silver road getup on gameday, but at least the Illini looked sharp, courtesy of their orange-blue-orange attire that should be the home staple. One thing, though, and, sure, the tip of the cap to veterans is nice … but could we do something other than a strange American flag motif in the “I” on the helmet next time? Maybe patches sewn onto the jerseys instead, or even – gulp – going with the flag colors (hello, red, white and blue) solely on the uniform instead of the school colors. Or, perhaps, the “I” on one side of the helmet and an American flag on the other. Not sure, really … but, honestly, the current deal just looks forced and cheesy – doing service to neither the school nor its intent, which is to honor vets. - Jack Kerwin | ydkjack1@gmail.com |
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