College Football | GAMEDAY

Around the Nation

B1G/ACC CHALLENGE
The conferences match up at four sites today – Chapel Hill, N.C.; Durham, N.C.; Iowa City, Iowa, and Lafayette, Ind. Even split on the sites with the first two being in ACC country and the latter two on Big Ten fields. Ironically, I’m envisioning splits all around, between the conferences overall and between the conference winners at the conference-specific sites.

In other words, each conference wins two games and each has one road team win. The home winner, for me, seems easy. It’s Iowa beating Pittsburgh. The Hawkeyes just might be the cream of the B1G West Division crop when all is said and done. I see Virginia Tech pounding host Purdue. The other two, tough one. Both Illinois and No. 23 Northwestern are great stories, and one of them is an alma mater … but I think the other is the more likely to win on the road with the Wildcats topping Duke and the Illini falling at North Carolina. Of course, I’d be happy if that vibe were proven wrong.

KINDA CONFUSING
Much has been made of the SEC’s collective hiccup last week with three of its team falling, and then dropping out of the national polls, and another limping out of the top 10 following an embarrassing win. Now everyone seems to be pointing to this week as an opportunity for the circuit to prove itself with No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 2 Alabama, No. 18 Auburn at No. 13 LSU, and South Carolina at No. 7 Georgia.

Umm, how does the SEC prove itself in games that have its members facing each other?

CONTENDER 2 PRETENDER?
Don’t see No. 19 Brigham Young having any future in the playoff race after tonight. The Cougars visit No. 10 UCLA, and I highly doubt any Hail Marys will be able to save them this week. The Bruins are quietly building a powerful program under Jim Mora – which seems impossible considering their prime-time location in Los Angeles, but, it is what it is. Plus, UCLA freshman QB Josh Rosen is the real deal.

UNI WATCH
Gotta say this for Bill Cubit, he has some serious taste in attire. Just three games into his reign as Illinois head coach, and the Illini have looked consistently sharper with what they wear than they ever seemed to under Tim Beckman. Today’s getup is orange-white-orange, and looks even better than UNC’s white-blue-white – which ain’t easy to do.

HEISMAN HOPEFUL
As Temple looks to go 3-0 for the first time in 35 years, keep an eye on junior RB Jahad Thomas. Ranked third in FBS in rushing with 328 yards, he has been a revelation to a ground attack that, frankly, had been a hold-up in the Owls’ development under Matt Rhule. He’s also a dangerous special teamer, as evidenced by last week’s 100-yard kickoff return TD.

Temple’s What 2 Watch vs. Massachusetts
GILLETTE STADIUM, 3 P.M., ESPN3, 97.5 FM THE FANATIC

1. Focus and attitude. Considering their 2-0 start against, let’s face it, much higher-level competition, the Owls might be a little lax at the outset this afternoon, but they better avoid a full-game lull – if only for one thing: UMass can move the ball. In doing so, it also may rack up some points, or keep Temple from doing so. In other words, focus and attitude, at some point, needs to be there for the visiting Owls, or they could take a major step back – in program growth and how it is viewed by others. Yeah, the Minutemen got whacked last week on the road at Colorado, but they also rolled up close to 400 yards on offense. Temple won’t be able to just show up and receive a gift “W.”

2. The Owls passing game. OK, we get it, in order to beat the likes of Penn State and American Athletic Conference favorite Cincinnati, Temple may have had to play it close to the vest and/or go with the hot hand, which, obviously, was RB Jahad Thomas toting the rock to 328 yards, which places him third in the nation among FBS runners after two weekends of football. But if they’re going to push the limits on this thing in 2015 and make a run at the best possible record they can have, the Owls are going to have to open it up, or show they can, in order to hang with/beat the likes of Memphis, East Carolina and Notre Dame. A couple of P.J. Walker to Robby Anderson aerial bombs today would be a nice kick-start.

3. The DL getting some pressure on Minutemen QB Blake Frohnapfel. Dude’s name may be a bit odd, but his game is “money,” so much so that an NFL future looks to be in the offing. A year ago, he racked up 3,345 yards and 23 TDs passing, and his physical gifts suggest he is capable of much more, and the Owls would be wise to get to him as quickly and often as possible in order to delay that pending explosion at least a week. Taking him down once they do, though, may be a bit of a problem since he stands 6-6 and weighs 240. The UMass OL doesn’t figure to be as awesome as Cincy’s last week, which, for their sake, hopefully helps the Owls … because they barely laid a hand on Bearcats QB Gunner Kiel.

4. Owls CB Sean Chandler vs. UMass WR Tajae Sharpe. Regardless of how successful Temple is at applying heat up front, Chandler will get tested throughout this one since he figures to match up with Sharpe most of the time. The Minutemen senior had 85 catches for 1,241 yards last season and hauled in 11 passes from Frohnapel for 138 yards last week against the Buffaloes. Chandler, the Owls’ only freshman starter last season, has been rock-solid since arriving from Camden High, just a short drive over the Ben Franklin Bridge from Temple’s campus. He had seven tackles and two pass breakups last week in Cincy. Today would be a good one to get his second career INT.

5. Something more than a “sighting” of DE Praise Martin-Oguike. Not for nothing, but this guy needs to be more than mention in the “participated” section of the stat sheet each week if Temple is going to reach its full potential this season. The guy, according to Owls head coach Matt Rhule, has NFL-type talent and thus far doesn’t even have a single tackle in 2015. He led the team in sacks a year ago and ranked third in tackles for loss. Yo, PMO, buddy, it’s time to step it up … and no better time to do so than the present. Being slowed by any number of nagging injuries can’t be an excuse for what many feel is an elite athlete, sorry.

6. Respect. Now that the Owls are starting to get some, locally and nationally, including mention on this morning’s ESPN hypefest headed by Kirk Herbstreit, pay attention to the types of crowds who come out to see Temple play … and the comments made about the team and Rhule. So far, more than 105,000 have seen the Owls in person through two weeks this season, and you have to wonder what the turnout will be like in New England. The danger with getting known and getting accolades is this: Rhule will be a wanted man by more respected programs now Don’t be surprised if that gets talked about on TV today while the game is going on – and continues each week as long as the Owls keep winning.

- Jack Kerwin  |  [email protected]

---

Temple DE Praise Martin-Oguike (50) in action against East Carolina last season. He forced three fumbles by the 23rd-ranked Pirates in that one.