Signs point to a big crowd for Temple's home opener

Sign looks like the one above, with the word "Justice" on top and the date and place of the game on the side.
By Mike Gibson
It is a relatively new term, "Thinking Outside the Box" and it means to solve a problem differently, from a new perspective.
One of the main problems with Temple football has been filling the seats, a problem exacerbated by 25 years of losing.
The solution, of course, is winning.
The "what to do in between" crossing that bridge from losing to winning led some Temple University people to think outside the box the last couple of years.
For this year's opener against UConn, on Sept. 6, the Temple people put their heads together and came up with a couple of spectacular ideas designed to put fannies in the seats.
The football people, led by video whiz Fran Duffy, put a nifty two-minute video documenting how Temple was ripped off at UConn last year and vowing revenge.

The promotions people, led by Scott Walcoff, might have topped that with "lawn placards" made in the shape of those poltical signs for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain.
Lawn placards is a misnomer because they aren't meant for your front lawn.
Walcoff made hundreds of these sharp-looking signs and now they are all over Philadelphia and South Jersey in high-traffic areas.
I picked up one of these yesterday and placed across the main parking lot at Temple's Ambler campus, where thousands of Temple students, faculty and staff can see it every day. (My plan was to put it at 20th and Spring Garden, but a police officer was there yesterday and I lost my nerve.) I got a couple of thumbs-up when I put it on the satellite campus. I was even shocked that it was the only sign placed there. Heck, the ground was pretty solid but I used both feet to secure the sign as best as I could.
It was the second-straight year Temple people thought outside the box to put people in the seats.
Former head coach Wayne Hardin led that charge last year when he "guaranteed" 66,000 fans for the opener with Navy.
He went on every TV station in the Philadelphia area, every radio station and talked to every reporter getting that guarantee out there.
The "guarantee" in and of itself was news and an example of thinking outside the box.
Hardin got publicity money could not buy and his guarantee was half right.
Thirty thousand, mostly Temple fans, gave Lincoln Financial Field a rare college football atmosphere.
Navy ran into some problems. Due to Labor Day Weekend, many of its loyal fans eschewed a trip to Philadelphia for a trip to the shore. The Academy would not pay for the Midshipmen to make the trip.
So only about 2,000 Navy supporters made it, including about 100 Midshipmen who paid their own way.

If the Owls lose
to Army, I would not
be surprised with 15-20K.
That's life in the big city.

If the Owls handle Army, as expected, my guess is that 30-35K will find their way to Lincoln Financial Field and it will be a sea of Cherry and White. It could be more. I doubt it will be less. If the Owls lose to Army, I would not be surprised with 15-20K. That's life in the big city.
What the signs do and the video does is get the brand out there so the fans can start thinking about attending the game and buying tickets and circling their calendars for Sept. 6.
For that, you can thank guys like Fran Duffy and Scott Walcoff for thinking outside of the box and a lot of fans, like Mike Adkins, who used plenty of old-fashioned shoe leather to find high-traffic places to put these signs before thousands of eyes.