Coaches spend preseason football camp preparing their players for the upcoming schedule and trying to establish a routine for game days. There was absolutely no way Matt Rhule, in his second season at Temple, could have prepared the Owls for the distractions they faced at Vanderbilt last Thursday night.
The game was delayed by lightning. Kickoff came at 9:52 p.m. Central time and didn’t end until Friday at 1:14 a.m. An NFL exhibition game between the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings only 2 1/2 miles away was played without delays. Strange, huh? In addition, there was a controversy over Vanderbilt’s new uniforms that almost resulted in a loss of timeouts.
On this week’s coaches conference call for the American Athletic Conference, Rhule said his team just wanted a chance to compete. The Owls waited out the weather, warmed up for 20 and then played.
The weather certainly was a little bit of a challenge. The kids handled it well. We told the kids, that’s why we go practice at 5:30 in the morning and do camp in the spring to be ready for these things. At one point I walked in the locker room told the kids the game had been cancelled, we”re going home and they all got dejected. I said, ‘Well, that’s the worst case scenario. That has happened yet.’ Then we pushed it back another hour. It’s like anything else , it can always get worse.
Waited it out, just wanted chance to compete, warmed up 20 minutes and went and played. The result was a 37-7 victory for Temple, a team that went 2-10 last season and was picked to finish eighth in the preseason AAC poll. Temple hadn’t defeated an SEC opponent since Florida in 1938.
“The weather certainly was a little bit of a challenge,” Rhule said. “The kids handled it well. We told the kids, that’s why we go practice at 5:30 in the morning and have camp in the spring to be ready for these things. At one point I walked in the locker room told the kids the game had been cancelled, we”re going home and they all got dejected. I said, ‘Well, that’s the worst case scenario. That has happened yet.’ Then we pushed it back another hour. It’s like anything else , it can always get worse.”
As for the jersey scandal, here’s how the AP described it: “Vanderbilt introduced new uniforms that almost resulted in a loss of timeouts. The Commodores had their team slogan, “Anchor Down” written on the back of their jerseys, where a player’s name usually appears. Early in the second quarter, officials said the presence of the slogan made the jerseys impermissible and that Vanderbilt would be charged a timeout each quarter they were worn. Later that quarter, the officials said Vanderbilt wouldn’t be penalized at all. Vanderbilt athletic department spokesman Larry Leathers said the jerseys were approved by the Southeastern Conference.”
Rhule wanted to make it clear he had nothing to do with that. It wasn’t a situation he created to rattle Vandy.
“I [told the officials] I don’t care about their jerseys,” Rhule said. “I don’t care. Whatever rule that was, that wasn’t me doing that.”
Vanderbilt may not be the strongest team in the SEC, but this was a road victory in a SEC stadium. It’s a good thing for Temple and certainly a much needed victory for the AAC in its quest for respect.
“I just think it means for our kids, that they won a game,” Rhule said. “Hopefully they learned last year that it’s hard to win college football games. It’s not easy. We don’t ever want to minimize it by saying it’s just one game, but we don’t want to overblow it by saying we’ve arrived. We worked really , really hard and found a way to win this game. And now we’ve got to have the courage to go out and do that week after week. One thing hopefully the last year has taught them is, there’s no secret to winning. . . . If you do the work, at least you have a chance to win.”
THE BIG CHILL
There’s something wrong about the words Big Chill and USF football in the same sentence. But that’s the old movie title (The Big Chill is one of my all-time favorites) that is being used to describe the tension between USF coach Willie Taggart and the Tampa media this week.
USF freshman running back Marlon Mack set an AAC record with 275 yards on 24 carries in a 36-31 win over Western Carolina. From what we read, the last-minute starter made some incredibly nifty moves and scored four touchdowns (62, 60, 57 and 3 yards). Three of those TDs came in the second half as the Bulls rallied from a halftime deficit.
Taggart says the young Mack, from Sarasota, Fla., goes about his work with a smile on his face and won’t have any troubled staying grounded after such an incredible debut.
“He’s not one of those boastful type guys,” Taggart said. “I think he’ll be fine. Stay hungry. Stay humble. I think he has great teammates around to keep him grounded.”
We have to to take Taggart’s word. The coach doesn’t allow freshmen to be interviewed. Oh boy. What is this early 1980’s Georgetown basketball with Patrick Ewing in the lineup?
“Freshmen aren’t ready for that,” Taggart saud, “We’re going to train him on how to talk to the media. They have enough worries as it is. We want those guys to continue to grow and be a part of the team, just play football and not worry. When the time comes, they will talk. ”
Sorry that’s just silly. I’ve had any number of former UConn basketball players tell me over the years that dealing with the huge Connecticut media contingent was one of the best things in their life – whether they went on to the NBA or a job in the real world where communication is important.
Taggart is free to do whatever he wants. But . . . They aren’t ready? You might be surprised. You are going to train him? So freshmen athletes are like a pack of dogs that need to be trained? Coaches have their rules. Fans don’t care. The media gets mad. I don’t understand. But you can’t always get what you want.
A GAME FOR THE IRISH (NOT NOTRE DAME)
UCF had a nine-game winning streak snapped when Penn State kicked a field goal with time expiring for a 26-24 win Saturday. The game was played before a crowd of 55,000 in Dublin, Ireland. Despite the loss, coach George O’Leary called it an outstanding trip and praised the facilities and the Irish fans. “It was really great,” O’Leary said. “The American fans at the game understood the game. The Irish fans throughly enjoyed the game. We showed a little bit of everything as far as deep balls, right down to the kicking game at the end to win the game. The comments I heard was they can’t wait to get a couple more teams over there to catch another game. Really into it. The [organiziers] did an outstanding job of explaining the game with a video showing what holding was and interference and that type of thing.” . . . A young Memphis team got off to a nice start with a 63-0 win over Austin Peay. Things will be a little different for the Tigers this Saturday when they travel to Los Angeles to play UCLA. The Bruins have a team that could reach the College Football Playoff and are led by QB Brett Hundley, a legitimate Heisman candidate. Hundley struggled in the opener as Virginia applied a strong pass rush. But the Bruins held on to win their opener. Memphis coach Justin Fuente to name the problems Hundley creates for a defense. “The list is long,” Fuente said. “He’s a very big, seems to be on film , a very strong quarterback. Guys bounce off of him. He’s obviously a fantastic athlete. He’s very elusive and he’s an accomplished passer. So when you start to watch him play and you think about bringing pressure, or you start to thinking about laying back, he gets to moving around and making plays or he’s disciplined enough to stay in the pocket and deliver the football. It can cause you some problems. It puts you at a crossroads.” That’s never good.
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