Blue over Black Shoe Diaries

By Mike Gibson
One of my favorite blogs is Black Shoe Diaries.
It's got just the right mix of humor, irreverence and insight that so many other websites don't even come close to having.
There's no better place to check on the pulse of Penn State football fans.
Plus, Temple Football Forever gets plenty of mentions on it.
Last week, when BSD mentioned that we sacastically said "we can't wait to see how the refs" rob Temple against UConn next year, our site meter lit up.
I dashed off a quick note to Kevin at BSD thanking him for the plug and he mentioned that he might like to submit a few questions for us to answer prior to the Penn State game.
I've been waiting by the phone for a few days and, so far, no call.
No call. No email. No letter.
It's the same feeling I had when I left Jessica Simpson my cell number.
Empty.
And it's almost Thursday already.
We understand things are a little busy over there, so I've anticipated the list of their questions, borrowing a few themes from last week's list to Syracuse blogger Troy Nunes:
1) Temple? What the heck happened?
Well, we've become a pretty good football team in three years, thanks to a crash course by Penn State grad Al Golden. The guy is a tireless recruiter who any mom and dad would be proud to have in their homes. Hence, the top three recruiting classes in the MAC.
2) Adam DiMichele? How will he be different from the quarterback Penn State fans saw in State College two years ago?
Night and freaking day. Merrill Reese, during the Eagles' broadcast on Monday night, threw this line out to partner Mike Quick, "Mike, I've watched three Temple games and, pound-for-pound, there isn't a better quarterback in all of college football than Adam DiMichele." DiMichele (pronounced DEE-MIKE-EL) is the kind of kid who can take a team on his back and will them to a win, as he did three straight weeks last season before breaking his leg. If he's pressured, he'll run out and make yards. He can throw on the run. He can throw in the pocket.
3) What happened in the UConn game?
Very suspect officiating by, you guessed it, Big East refs. All three Temple plays covering over 30 yards in the fourth quarter were called back by flags. On the first play of overtime, DiMichele completed a bubble screen to Travis Shelton, he sprinted to the 3 and that was called back due to a hold on D'Oynne Crudup. Film showed Crudup not only didn't hold, he did not touch the guy he was supposed to be holding. The refs compounded that call by a bad spot, moving the ball back 6 yards further than it should have been spotted. "They apologized," Golden said, "but that's bad football. I have 112 kids in there. What am I going to tell them?" What should have been a first-and-4 was a 1st and 10. "First-and-4, that's house money," Golden said.
4) What happened on the Hail Mary pass?
Keystone Cops. Temple had three defenders, two positioned behind the receiver and one in front. All three go to tackle the guy in the end zone, instead of going to knock the ball down. Gotta wonder what good tackling the guy in the end zone does. "We didn't execute," Golden said.
5) What do Temple fans expect Saturday?
Most are pretty realistic. They want a team that competes and makes plays on Saturday and gets out of State College in good health. They basically tied a UConn team that laid a 45-10 number on Virginia so they know they have the talent to do some damage in State College.