Brown turns down SEC and Big 10 offers for TU

Buddy Brown's junior year highlights at Williamstown, N.J.

"You don't have to go to Rutgers, you can go right here. We are not North Jersey people. We are basically a step over from Philly. We love the Eagles. We love Temple basketball. We like all that. So why not stay here and have a chance to make a change?"
_Sean Brown, Buddy Brown's father

Ben Franklin once said it first in this town, over 200 years ago:
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
Now you can add a third certainty.
Delusional Rutgers' fans.
Prior to Temple getting verbals from  Jihaad Pretlow and  P.J. Walker, RU fans were drooling over getting their services.
When the two committed to Temple, the prevalent opinion was Rutgers must have backed off at the last minute and "they weren't that good, anyway."
Now that Williamstown four-star linebacker Buddy Brown has committed to Temple, RU fans are saying the same thing.
Truth is no offer was ever pulled. Brown was 247.com's top-rated linebacker in New Jersey and the 10th highest-rated player on the board at any position in that state. He was a four-star national recruit by them and a three-star national recruit by Rivals.com.

Your typical, run-of-the-mill, Rutgers' football fan

Brown picked Temple fair and square.
It doesn't matter what a group of nerd fans say, but what Brown says.
"I think more recruits should take a harder look at Temple," Brown said. "They will be impressed."
One RU fan came onto Owlscoop.com and wrote, "you really don't think someone would turn down an offer to come to Rutgers or Penn State over Temple, do you?"
Well, yeah, and there's no thinking involved, just facts.
Ask former Big East player of the Year Walter Washington (who turned down Nebraska), former Owl wide receiver Mike Palys (who turned down Penn State), former MAC defensive player of the year Adrian Robinson (who turned down Pitt) and current quarterback Chris Coyer (who turned down Ohio State), among many others who could have gone anywhere but chose Temple.
Rutgers' fan reaction is curious and humorous, more than annoying, really.
They can't accept the fact that Temple has a more charismatic head coach than they do, a guy who was head coach at Florida (even if it was for three months). They can't accept the fact that Temple has a defensive coordinator who as a defensive coach was instrumental in an 11-0 season at Utah and was the brains behind a national championship defense at Florida.
They can't accept the fact that, in comparison, they have a dull, bland, unproven offensive line coach taking over for Greg Schiano.
Yeah, right, and the 23th-ranked linebacker in the country got an offer pulled from Rutgers when he had offers on the table from Wisconsin (Big 10) and the SEC (Mississippi State).
I didn't know Rutgers, 7-13 in its last 20 conference games, was in the NFC East.
Baghdad Bob must have had a degree in communications from Rutgers.
He was the guy who stood on one bank of the Tigris River on April 8, 2003 in Baghdad saying "American Troops are committing suicide" and "they will be either killed or burned in their tanks"  before getting to the other side.
Two U.S. Army M1 tanks could be seen in the background. By April 9, the entire town of Baghdad was secured and Bob was arrested by the troops he said would commit suicide or burn.
RU will learn the hard way on Oct. 20, 2012, just like Bob did on April 9, 2003. Tweet

TU football is in the BE to win

*Tentative TUFB schedule:
Villanova
Maryland
@ Penn St
@UConn
Syracuse
Rutgers
@ Louisville
Cincinnati
@ Pitt
South Florida
@ Army
*Need 1 more game

I was somewhat dismayed to read a distinct minority view of Temple football from a former Temple basketball great.
Now that the Owls are officially in the Big East (noon today), you are going to get naysayers from throughout the league but I thought our own people knew better.
The guy, who shall remain nameless but shares the same first name as I do, posted on his Facebook page:
"What if Temple doesn't make a bowl game for seven years in the Big East?"
"Huh?" I wrote back. "Have you seen a Temple football game in the last three years? Temple's chances of making a bowl increase, not decrease, in the Big East."
"I don't see how you come to that conclusion," he replied.
Simple.
?

We are now officially a BCS blog.

? The Big East has more (and better) bowl tie-ins than the MAC and a 6-6 BE team is guaranteed of going to a bowl. An 8-4 MAC team is not guaranteed of a bowl game, as we're all painfully aware of here.
Then there is the competition element.
Even with Penn State in a "down" year like it was last year, do you see Rutgers or Cincy or Louisville giving the Nittany Lions the kind of game Temple did last year?
No.
Had Temple played Chris Coyer, MVP of the New Mexico Bowl and 5-0 as a Temple starting quarterback, in the PSU game, the Owls win that game by double-digits.
There is no doubt in my mind about that.
The Owls have Coyer for two more years.
West Virginia, which had been the flagship program of the Big East for a long time, struggled to a 37-31 win at Maryland.
Temple went down to Maryland, took a 31-0 lead at the half and coasted to a 38-7 win. Had Steve Addazio not subbed his third-team defense in, Maryland would not have scored on its final drive. Had Addazio not taken three knees inside the Maryland 1 to close out the game, the final score would have been 45-0.
Yeah, 45-0.
That's the kind of guy Addazio is. He won't rub it in the noses of a defeated foe (unless that foe is Villanova next year; he gets a pass on that one).
Rutgers and Army fought tooth and nail to a 6-6 tie at halftime before the Scarlet Knights pulled that one out, 27-13. Temple had a 32-14 lead on Army at halftime and won, 42-14. The Owls also took knees deep in Army territory to avoid the half-century mark in that game.
Ask the Army players if Temple is ready for the Big East.
Temple has a national championship SEC coaching group, led by Steve Addazio, who was head coach (that's right, head coach) at Florida (for three months) and an SEC defensive coordinator in former Florida DC Chuck Heater, who was 11-0 at Utah as a DC and had the Owls ranked only behind Auburn and LSU in scoring defense last year. Both Addazio and Heater were high-level coaches on Florida's last national championship team.
There's enough empirical evidence out there to suggest Temple is Big East ready. Ready enough to win a Big East championship right away?
Too early to tell and the answer to that question could depend on a number of factors, including injuries at key positions.
Still, if you don't think Temple can't at least compete and win in this league RIGHT NOW, you don't know football.
Right now is the time to make money off the doubting Thomases and other-named folks who don't think Temple can make a bowl game out of this league right away.

The latest on Temple to Big East

Temple's (reported) Big East Deal:
MAC gets $6 million
Temple gets $2.5 million loan from BE
A10 gets a year's notice and $1 million
Temple plays 2 hoop games vs. MAC teams and one football game vs. a MAC team (presumably UMass this season)

We're a little gun shy about posting information on Temple's possible re-admission to the Big East for football, which seems imminent.
Gun shy, because I believe in the old adage "if it seems too good to be true, it probably isn't."
Well, Temple's football team moving to the Big East for the 2012 season seems too good to be true. That doesn't mean it can't happen.
Or doesn't mean it won't happen.
I'll just believe it when I see it.
Tuesday a week ago, I posted that "Temple could be in the Big East tomorrow" meaning Wednesday.
(I meant this Wednesday. Just kidding.)
For what it's worth, Temple wide receiver C.J. Hammond posted "it's official" last night on his twitter account. Word must have spread quickly throughout the Edberg-Olsen Complex on Monday that the deal with the MAC was wrapped up.

Woodward and Bernstein have nothing on C.J. Hammond.

Nobody at Temple, not Steve Addazio, not Bill Bradshaw, is saying a word to the press but kids and social media being what they are, word sometimes gets out.
I don't think C.J. pulled that tweet out of thin air or anywhere else for that matter.
Here's what it looks like, though, from a number of good sources inside Temple:
The Big East held a straw vote a couple of weeks ago, designed to give Temple the "go-ahead" to get out of its MAC and A10 contracts. The "formal" vote, which is expected to be the same, comes this Wednesday (tomorrow).

It looks like Temple will join the Big East for football in 2012, but delay the Big East admission in basketball until 2013 to save $1 million and to avoid paying a "territory" fee to Villanova.
Temple will pay the MAC a total of $6 million, with $2.5 million to be advanced by the Big East (and made up by Temple in TV  funds later on).
When will the "official" announcement come?
Not soon enough, as far as I'm concerned.
Temple is running out of Wednesdays and tomorrows.

What, me worry?

What, me worry?
That's what Alfred E. Neuman used to say in Mad Magazine.
My old high school football coach, John Quinn, noticed me reading Mad Magazine once before a practice and said:
"Mad Magazine? Gibbs, you're too smart to read that crap."
(He was the only person ever to call me Gibbs. Most called me Gibby or Mike.)
"Geez, thanks, coach," I said, "but it's funny. Err, sometimes."
I've been thinking a lot about Alfred E. Neuman the last couple of  days.
What, me worry?
Well, yeah.

My head tells me not to worry, that this is a no-brainer, but my gut tells me I don't like this delay.
Why is this taking so long?
If Temple does not join the Big East, it will be Temple's call, not the Big East's.
Temple Board of Trustees Chairman Patrick J. O'Connor said as much in an interview on CSNPhilly.com posted on Tuesday.
So I'll be a lot more hissed off if this doesn't go through.
Temple would not be discussing all of this buyout stuff if the BE had not given them approval to do so. That said, if Temple backs out now because of a short-term large financial commitment, it will be the biggest athletic mistake the university ever made.
Maybe the biggest overall mistake the university ever made.
You can spend $150 million on a science lab, but that science lab won't bring the kind of return a $10 million investment on a Bowl Championship Series conference upgrade will.
The BCS train only stops once at Temple U. Station and a wise Owl better be there with the money in hand 10 minutes ahead of time.
The  ACC and Big 10 run on other tracks and the Big East train made this diversion because it needed to pick up some immediate help. It will not come back next year or the year after.
No BCS conference will.
That's important because the BCS schools will eventually break off from the non-BCS schools, the MACs and CUSAs of the world, and they will be left behind playing something resembling the old Division IAA football.
And no one will care about those teams.
Temple, by joining the Big East, will always have a seat at the BCS table.
Right now, it's about finding the fare money before getting on the platform. There is one scheduled stop and it's going to come in hours and days, not weeks and years. That train is not coming back.
Heck, even if you have to borrow it, you know that train is going to take you to a job where you can pay back the benefactor tenfold.
If you miss it, you'll kick yourself until you are a dead person. A homeless dead person who no one cares about.
So, yes, I'm worried because, as a contributor on this site who goes by the name Temple Os noted so succinctly and perceptively, it should not take the Temple Board of Trustees any longer to facilitate this deal than to say two letters:
O and K.
OK?
OK.

Just say YES to Big East

If Temple enters the BE, every home hoop game could have this kind of crowd.

Today was supposed to be  D-Day for Temple.
Decision Day. It's been canceled, but hopefully that's just to finalize exit contracts for the MAC and the A-10.
The item on the agenda of today's Board of Trustees conference call  was to be  "a discussion on athletics" but it is really much more than that.
It's a discussion on the future of the school and its nationwide image.
Temple has two great coaches in place of its two marquee sports programs, Steve Addazio and Fran Dunphy.
If you believe in these guys, and I do, then you know the Temple brand is in good hands.
You know they will make Temple a marquee name not only regionally but across the country.
Nothing would help these guys advance the brand better than a BCS conference affiliation.
As I see it, today's decision is, to use a sports term, a slam dunk.
Just say yes to the Big East.
I hated the Big East for years because it allowed a small private school to have the power to block Temple. A small private school afraid of competition. Contrast that to Temple, which sponsored a small private school, LaSalle, when it attempted to re-enter the Atlantic 10.  Temple, though, belongs in the Big East, with fellow like-minded Eastern institutions.
I'm on pins and needles waiting for the good news but because I'm a Temple fan I'm  used to bitter disappointment and I realize this could easily go the other way with our teams sentenced a lifetime of mediocrity in the MAC and A10.
In 2010, the Owls were the only 8-4 team in history who beat a BCS conference champion (BE) refused a bowl and that was a bitter day. That day would have never happened if the Owls were 8-4 in the Big East. Heck, the team they beat, UConn, was 8-4 and headed to the Fiesta Bowl.
ESPN basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb said the Owls  moved up to a deserving No. 2 seed in NCAA hoops a couple of years ago but instead got a No. 5 and a game against a 24-1 No. 12. (Gottlieb, by the way, is the best at what he does and should be doing the seeding.)
Another disappointing day.

Then I read an article that will appear in today's Inky that says Temple should turn down the BE.
Huh?
Turn it down for exactly what?
Are the representatives of the ACC and the Big 10 waiting outside the BOT's door?
No.
I hope the rest of the BOT doesn't read or put any credence in that guy's misguided and misinformed (he didn't even know it was an all-sports invite) opinion.
On a day the columnists should salute Temple's persistence, this is what we get?
The official call at 3  p.m. to discuss athletics has been canceled, but there is an executive committee call at 2 p.m. to discuss "contracts."
Hopefully, that will include getting out of the MAC contract.
Temple is running out of time to get this done and should be operating post-haste.

Temple could be in the BE tomorrow

O'Connor presides over important call.

Call it a coincidence or symbolism, but on Hump Day of Leap Day of Leap Year, Temple athletics is poised to make a Bob Beamon kind of leap and get over a hump that has seemed to block any progress for almost a decade.
If you don't remember the Olympic triple-jumper, think former Temple wide receiver Willie Marshall and his 37-inch vertical leap.
Hump Day/Leap Day/Leap Year 2012 could be the biggest day in the history of Temple sports thanks to some visionary leadership provided by Temple University Board of Trustees Chairman Patrick J. O'Connor.
Heck, I've always had a soft spot for  O'Connor.
Despite the fact that he graduated from Villanova, the Chairman of the Temple University Board of Trustees is a likeable guy and a loyal Owl. He happens to have the same last name as maiden name of my mother, who passed away on Jan. 14 of last year.
Plus, he's always proven to be a Temple guy at heart and knows the mission of the school and he's always moved the school forward and not backward or sideways.
The second reason is why I'm more convinced O'Connor will guide the Board of Trustees in the right direction in the most important conference call in the history of Temple University when they vote on accepting a Big East offer tomorrow.
According to this excellent story by Michael Bradley on CSNPhilly.com, O'Connor said that Steve Addazio and Fran Dunphy are great coaches and deserve a national stage at Temple.
They can't get that stage in the MAC or A-10.
While we sports fans know you don't get two better coaches than Daz or Dunph, it is nice to know that the guy at the very top feels the same way.
The Big East isn't perfect, but in the national college football game of musical chairs, once the music stops the Big East will be able to find a seat at the BCS table.
The MAC won't.
It's not personal.
It's business.
I think by the time a packed house sends the remarkable senior men's basketball class off at the Temple vs. UMass game (good tickets still available by clicking on the banner above this story but not for long), the day will take on a festive party atmosphere unlike anything at the school since the road hoop win over No. 1 Cincy in 2000 or the hoop win at North Carolina in 1988 that made the school No. 1 in the AP poll for 11 straight weeks.
Still, as big as those days were, hump day this week could be the best-ever because of the implications for the school's two major teams.
Imagine, if you will, Temple winning the Big East title in 2012. It's not a dream. Al Golden and Steve Addazio have built the talent level at Temple to compete in the upper tier RIGHT NOW. If all things break right (no Matty Brown injury, for instance), Temple could win this league right away.
Picture the kind of pub Temple would get on a national scale if that happens. No amount of money can buy that kind of advertising.
If the board accepts the Big East invitation, it will be the greatest day in the history of Temple sports and maybe one of the greatest days in university history as well.
I can't think of another opportunity in any endeavor to promote the Temple brand nationally than this provides. This will have positive implications for the school that goes well beyond the realm of sports.

The unofficial official announcement

"If this helps my old Temple guys, let's move the
South Florida game," Al Golden seems to be saying.

This week was the 50th anniversary of the John Glenn orbital space flight, the first by an American.
I'm too young to remember the TV broadcast of that re-entry, but I do remember the replay of what one of the ground crew guys said to Glenn after he successfully re-entered despite a heat shield that was about to burn up.
"Roger, John Glenn," the man said, "you've got a lot of guys on the ground here about to turn blue."
Well, I've been holding my breath for a few days and I'm about to turn blue waiting for another re-entry: Temple back to the Big East.
So is just about every fan who cares about Temple sports.

"Obviously I think Temple's a great fit for the Big East. I think clearly we began the process of establishing you can recruit, and there's so many great things that have occurred at Temple University. I think they're worthy of taking that next step."
_ Al Golden,
May 24th, 2011

One of the guys covering Miami (Fla.) football I've gotten to know after he asked me questions about Al Golden last fall provided a clue this morning.
"Mike, we had to move our game with South Florida to accomodate a Temple game on the Big East schedule," the man wrote in an email. "Good news for you guys. Congratulations. Al Golden can't say anything specific, but I assume he's happy."
That's about as official as it gets these days.
I looked on the internet over the last few hours and a half to get this information "sourced" and the best I could come up with was a report in the Tampa Tribune that confirmed the move and mentioned the Temple talks as a possible reason.
That, combined with calls to the Temple ticket office where the man answered "we're waiting on the Big East" for the schedule to be finalized indicates to be that Temple and the MAC must have reached a settlement of their $2.5 million exit fee and the two years' notice.
Those two pieces of the puzzle seem to fit nicely. You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to come to a conclusion based on that evidence.
Otherwise, it would not be logical to move games to accomodate a Big East schedule about to be released in a few days.
It's not the official announcement we've all been waiting for, but it will have to do for now.

TU to the BE: Money should be no object

If you can't see more Cherry in this photo than any other color, you need to
see an eye doctor immediately. Fortunately, I have 20/20 vision. So does Steve
Addazio, who also confirmed the numbers' breakdown.

Today's top stories on Yahoo sports

When I first heard what the holdup was on making today's "handshake" agreement with the Big East a written one to join as early as this football season, I could only think of one word:

"Huh?"

That was in response to this:

"Temple is waiting to see if it can pay the $2.5 million buyout to the MAC."

Money should be no object here, but I get the drift.

The university's annual funding from Harrisburg was cut by $38 million, so paying $2.5 million on top of that cut for its sports programs to change leagues might not be viewed as good PR move for the school.

Heck, I watched Temple TV (it is Channel 50 on my cable system) this morning and uni president Ann Weaver Hart was saying "there's going to be a lot of pain for everyone over the next year but we'll get through it."

I know all about pain.
If I have to go through another MAC season of forced Tuesday and Wednesday night home games and horrible road officiating, I'm going to have an ulcer.
I just decided I would be the greatest graduate in school history if I won the $60 million in the lottery tonight.
I would get into my beat-up, 125,000-mile 2004 Chevy Cavalier tomorrow morning, drive to Harrisburg and have one of those oversized checks deposited.

Most current BE fans are unaware that Temple
traveled 6,000 of its own fans to the New Mexico Bowl
or that 20,000 of the 23,000 in attendance at the 2009
Eagle Bank Bowl were Temple fans, but those
figures have been documented as true by both bowls.

Then I would get back into the Cavalier, drive back  across the state to Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, write out a check for $2.5 million and tell Temple AD Bill Bradshaw to wait a day or two so it can clear the bank.
I wouldn't even blink an eye.
Then the Temple Alumni Review would write an article about me with the simple headline: "Greatest Grad Ever."
I'd be the greatest grad ever because with my meager $2.5 million check, I'd faciilate a gold mine that would keep the school in the black long after I'm dead (which hopefully isn't for 30 or so more years).
Think about it.
Temple has a 70K stadium in the heart of Big East territory. Lincoln Financial Field is a veritable gold mine and Temple is sitting right on top of it.
To get to that gold, all Temple needs to do is become a more than competitive Big East team, which most football experts will tell you is true right now.
It has a Big East-ready football team now, with the best coaching staff in the Big East  and the only coaching staff with three of its top five positions filled with guys who have won national championships as key parts of Florida's staff.
Temple also has 15K students who will be living on campus for the next 30 years, who will become involved rabid alumni fans.

This is not your father or grandfather's Temple, once a commuter school.

Give them the same competitive team they have now and the stadium fills up, the Temple brand goes national and applications for admission mulitiply tenfold.

That's the kind of vision Temple needs now, whatever the cost.

Temple has a lot of grads with "want to" like me who have no "means to."

I still think money should be no object.

West Virginia got $20 million together to buy out its agreement with the Big East. Enough of that should go to Temple to cover the $2.5 million. Even if the MAC holds up Temple for the two years notice, the parties should reach a settlement. Temple should suggest that Villanova take its place in the MAC to give UMass a travel partner.

After all, Temple is doing the Big East a huge favor by filling in an empty schedule.

If, though, money is the reason Temple ends up in MAC hell forever (or even one more day), I will scream.

So will anybody who cares even a little bit about Temple sports.

Bradshaw, Hart headed to CUSA meeting

Conference USA

Big East

MAC

If you are a big fan of 1970s TV sitcoms like I am, you remember Sargent Schultz.
He was the Nazi who would say, "I know nothing. I hear nothing. I see nothing" when Colonel Hogan would break the prison camp rules on Hogan's Heroes.
Well, when it comes to Temple and the conference realignment situation,  Temple AD Bill Bradshaw makes Sargent Schultz look like a blabbermouth.

Bill Bradshaw

That's why I find Bradshaw's trip to Dallas today intriguing. I did not hear it from him, but from reliable people that both Bill and Temple president Ann Weaver Hart were on the same plane to Dallas today.
Since I don't think either is the other's type, I'm guessing it must be on official business only and not a tryst.
Just so happens the CUSA meeting is in Dallas today.
CUSA lost a valuable member in Memphis. It is looking to replace that value with value.
I can't think of a more valuable replacement than Temple.
Now I think the Big East is where Temple belongs. Most schools in the Big East are like Temple. Temple is in the East. I think Temple and the Big East were made for each other. I also think Cecily Tynan and I were made for each other but I can't convince her of that and, besides, she's married.
Temple isn't married to the MAC. It's sort of like a platonic friendship with no future.
Now that the Big East and Memphis are married, Temple has to move on from a platonic relationship and look to procreate its football legacy.
Maybe not.
There are only three reasons, as I see it, for Bradshaw and Hart to be in Dallas today:
1) Sign the papers for an all-sports membership;
2) Sign the papers for a football-only;
3) Hear what the CUSA has to offer.
It's a tough call because Cecily (err, the Big East) has been a big tease of late and thrown out feelers that she might be interested.
CUSA is a hot number, sort of like Amy Buckman but nowhere near as hot as Cecily.
MAC is Cathy Gandolfo.
Amy has made clear that she has the hots for me and the feeling is mutual.
Cathy is no more than a friend.
Do you hold out for the dream girl or go for Amy or get stuck with Cathy?
We should find out more in at least a couple of days.
For me, it's a 50/50 ball with Amy and Cecily. If Cecily doesn't make her move soon, I'm going with Amy. I'm sitting by the phone but I've got a limited time to wait and if she doesn't call, I'm outta here. I've waited long enough.
Cathy, we can still be friends.

Memphis and Temple by the numbers

In addition to 2-, 1- and 2-win seasons the past 3 years, Memphis adds this fan base to BE football.

Memphis-Temple by numbers:

TV market (Temple 4th, 2,993,370 households; Memphis 49th, 669,940)

Full-time students (Temple 39,386; Memphis 22,755)

2011 avg. football attendance (Temple 28,060; Memphis 20,078)

2011 football record (Temple 9-4; Memphis 2-10)

2010 football record (Temple 8-4; Memphis 1-11)

2009 football record (Temple 9-4; Memphis 2-10)

2011-12 current basketball record (Temple 17-5; Memphis 16-7)

2012 football recruiting rank (Temple 54th, 1st in MAC; Memphis 87th, 6th in CUSA)

If there's one famous quote that sums up Temple's long-running sad saga with the Big East, it might be something Damon Runyon once said: "The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet." Runyon's quote was in in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Big East these days. By adding Memphis to ostensibly replace West Virginia today, the Big East inadvertently might have set the charges to blow up its own house. The BE is neither swift nor strong, bereft of men of understanding and today's chance decision could prove its undoing. Memphis is the worst program in college football today and has been for the last three years. This story in the Memphis Commercial Appeal talks about the school's putrid attendance and provides a photo of an Oct. 15 game against East Carolina. Despite what it looks like, it was not an end zone photo.

Without a doubt, the smartest Owl
ever (Wayne Hardin) meets the
swiftest Owl ever (4.29 speedster
Travis Shelton) at a luncheon
on Monday.

Now, according to a report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by an excellent reporter named Paul Zeise, Pitt is saying, "Hey, if West Virginia can leave by 2012, so can we" and may petition for early admission to the ACC. Syracuse could soon follow.
Can you say implosion?
Hey, at this rate, Villanova might be the only team left.
From Temple's standpoint, chaos is good.
The more teams leave the BE, the better the chances that the Catholic Cartel's blocking of Temple fails in the next go around which could be as early as weeks and months and not years.
Does Temple want to even join this ship of fools?
Well, yeah.

College football is about the break off into the haves and have-nots and, no matter what you say about the current Big East group (even the leftovers), they are still part of the haves and probably will be.
Big East schools will have a seat at that dinner table.
Pressing their noses at the window looking in at the feast will be CUSA and MAC teams, unfortunately.
They won't even get scraps and, as a result, probably starve and die of hunger.
Temple could stay in the MAC, but who's to say what configuration college football will have for traditional MAC teams five years from now. I don't want Temple to be in that group to find out.
Implosion?
Bring it on.

Temple and the Big East in layman's terms

When I think of Temple's courtship of the Big East, I think of the classic romantic movie "Say Anything" starring John Cusack as Lloyd Dobbler and Iona Skye as Diane Court. John Mahoney is the overprotective and general sleazebag father.
In the iconic scene, Dobbler raises a boombox and plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" and Court eventually sees the two were meant to be together.
In the Temple football courting Big East version, playing the role of overprotective father and overall sleazebag is Villanova. Playing the role of the Mid-American Football Conference has been every other girl Dobbler has met up until that moment who paled in comparison to Court.
Temple was all set for a Big East invite in October until Villanova lobbied the other Catholic schools in that conference to keep Temple out.
In the movies, Temple's boombox moment would have been its football TV ratings (tops in the MAC and among the best in the nation, rising attendance figures in football and its world-class basketball program). Seeing all this potential in its backyard, the Big East would have rolled out of bed into Temple's arms.
Cut.
It's a wrap.
Applause.
In this Temple reality version of Say Anything, the dirty dad (Villanova) tells the daughter he'll cut her off if she's got anything to do with the new guy and she makes the incorrect decision of doing what her dad tells her to do and not following her heart.
She then goes all over the country looking for the perfect man, wishing she could find someone as perfect as the guy in her backyard with the boombox. She spents the rest of her life regretting that decision and withers off and dies. That pretty much sums up the Big East and Temple these days.
On Dec. 7, 2011, a day that will live in Big East infamy, the Big East traveled 3,000 miles to get the Temple of the West (Boise State) and a San Diego State football program that averages far less in attendance and TV ratings than the Owls do. Not to mention SMU and Houston, so we won't.
Temple has a world-class stadium, a football program that has averaged more than eight wins in each of the last three seasons, and is within easy driving distance of the original Big East footprint.
Sadly, the boombox moment appears to be over and this Big East girl does not want Temple. Time to move on to someone (Conference USA, perhaps) who will appreciate Temple and help the Owls realize their full potential. The other girls, the MAC, will understand.
If the Big East withers off and dies, and it will, that's their loss.

MAC Blogger Roundtable: Week 9

Graphic by Bull Run's Tim Riordan

If you were wondering why my post "Shallow Hal" remained up on the screen for a few days, it's because I'm just coming out of a 72-hour Chester Stewart-induced stupor.
On Saturday night, I just sat at the computer staring at the screen for 27 minutes (yeah, I checked the computer clock) after Temple's 13-10 loss to Bowling Green.

This was me after watching Chester  Stewart
take a sack on the game's final play Saturday.

I felt like the late Jack Buck.
I kept repeating to myself .... I ... can't ... believe ... what ... I ... just ... saw.
The perfect metaphor for the day was Stewart taking a sack on the game's final play. I went back and watched that play three times. It was obvious that he knew the guy was coming at him. He had only one choice: Throw the ball downfield and hope Rod Streater comes down with a miracle catch. Taking a sack wasn't an option.
Instead, he took a sack and the clock ran out.
Why did he take a sack?
Just another chapter in a book on situational unawareness that Chester could write about his four years at Temple.
I've been jarred back into reality by this week's deadline: MAC Blogger Roundtable, Week 9.
This week, it's our good internet friend (as opposed to real friend), Tim Riordan of the great Buffalo blog: Bull Run. You should take a look at his site. It's a beautiful thing. If I had only one-tenth of the html skills as Tim and my real friend, Dave Gerson, I'd be a happy man.
This week's questions:

1) Parity, a good thing or a bad thing. Outside of Toledo at the top and Akron, Kent, Miami, and Buffalo at the bottom every team has looked about equal. Is this a good thing for the conference or would it be better to have just four very prominent teams.
TFF: I'm a big fan of the NFL, so I love parity. Heck, I loved it when the Giants beat the unbeaten Patriots. That said, I'd love to see Temple go unbeaten just once before I pass on to the great unknown. I think it's a good thing for the conference, but a bad thing for my imaginary wallet (I don't have money to bet) since I've been taking a beating predicting MAC games.
2) Coaches Hot Seat. The Following MAC coaches are showing up on the ever popular coaches hot seat list. Pick one and tell us why is it or is not fair to have them there (disclaimer Clawson is on the list but I can't imagine why so I am leaving him off)

(12) Rob Ianello, Akron
(13) Jeff Quinn, Buffalo
(15) Dan Enos, Central Michigan

TFF: Enos doesn't deserve to be there. Central Michigan has done some good things.

3) Best new hire. Of the four(?) new coaches in the conference who, at this point, seems to be the best hire.

TFF: Steve Addazio. I love the guy. I love the way he competes. I love the staff he's put together. I love what he's done despite the fact that Golden's Achilles Heel was his inability to recruit a quarterback. I will go from loving him to liking him if he loses to Ohio. If he loses to Ohio and Miami, I will go from liking him to tolerating him. If he loses to Ohio, Miami and Army, I will go from tolerating him to loathing him.

4) Ron English is flying high and the EMU *EAGLES* might be going to their first Bowl if they take care of Business. Surely their Coach is going to start getting some looks from other programs (if you can win at EMU right!). Is Turner Gill's experience in Kansas a cautionary tale to schools who look for that one new up and coming coach? How many years of winning should a mid-major coach put forth before a big time program drops millions on them.
TFF: I would think a three-year sample is better than a one-year wonder. I think that's the way most BCS programs will approach it going forward. The fact that Ron English recruited Ryan Brumfield shows me he has a keen eye for talent.
5) We all know the MAC does not necessarily award Bowls to the best teams. In MAC contracted bowls the bowl committees, not the conferee, get to pick their representative. Assume the MAC is going to get four Bowls but there are five bowl eligible teams. Make a case for your team, or a team you think is likely to be that 5th wheel.
TFF: I think Temple's case was solidified by a 38-7 win at Maryland that could have EASILY been 45-0. Addazio took three knees on the Maryland 1 to end the game after putting his third-team defense in on the prior series, allowing Maryland to score. Addazio has been Mr. Nice Guy, maybe to his detriment. He's had three backup quarterbacks play in shutout wins without any of them throwing the ball. One of those guys is going to have to throw the ball soon.
6) It's looking more and more like either (a) Temple won't be going to the Big East or (b) there won't be a big east football space to even invite Temple. Is the MAC, even with UMass and Temple, a stable football conference for the next year or two?
TFF: I think the MAC is stable, with or without Temple or UMass. I don't think UMass is going anywhere.
7) Rank'em
Toledo
Temple
Western Michigan
Ohio
Northern Illinois
Eastern Michigan
Bowling Green
Central Michigan
Miami
Ball State
Buffalo
Kent State
Akron

What should Temple do?

You've heard the phrase by now so many times that you might recognize it by its four-letter abbreviation:
WWJD?
What Would Jesus Do?
It's a reminder of a moral imperative on how to do the right thing.

"What would I do, Fr. Peter?
 State your  case, but  I certainly would not run down Temple
University. As Donovan McNabb said to T.O,
 keep their name out of your mouth.
I say welcome TU in with open arms.
That's what I would do."

Nobody at Villanova consulted that checklist before trying to run down Temple University for the last week on a Big East conference call. At the time, according to reports in the New York Post and the Boston Globe, Temple appeared to be a shoe-in for all-sports membership. Three days later, Temple was an afterthought. It was not hard to see why. Rather than promote its own name, Villanova _ according to well-placed sources _ spent the better part of three days on the conference call running down Temple.
It lined up opposition for Temple for all sports membership, mostly from its fellow WWJD schools, like Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall and St. John's.  The WWJD schools said, basically: "Well, you are against them joining in all sports. We're against them joining in basketball. Why don't we just conspire to keep them out altogether."
Villanova: "Err, yeah, OK."
So Villanova destroyed about a 100-year relationship with a fellow city institution to keep its tenuous spot in a tenuous conference.
(There's no maybes there. Villanova declared War on Temple with this Pearl Harbor sneak attack and Temple, in its righteous might, will gain the inevitable triumph so help it God. Apologies to FDR.)
Speaking of God, can you imagine Jesus getting on the phone and saying, "Don't let those chumps associate with us."
No, he'd welcome them with open arms.
The more important question now is: What Should Temple Do?
Or WSTD?
I listened to a lot of possibilities in that area both pre- and post-game on Saturday, ranging from holding a press conference lambasting them to canceling this year's basketball game and next year's football game to suing Villanova and the Big East.
All interesting suggestions from good, well-meaning, people.
It's a tough call either way, but I say Temple is doing the right thing by staying quiet and working behind the scenes, which I've been assured that it is.
Put it this way.
The chances of Temple football finishing the regular season 10-2 currently is a better than 50/50 shot.
If that happens, Temple becomes a national story.
There's no conference in the country that would not want a 10-2 team coming off consecutive 9-3 and 8-4 seasons.
There's no conference in the country that would not want the fourth-largest TV market in the country that offers a team with demonstrated and documented TV ratings success over a three-year period.
WWJD?
Villanova failed that test over the last seven days and I don't think even confession absolves them of that sin.
WSTD?
Temple is passing it right now.