WASHINGTON - I have definitely noticed an increase in traffic on the blog on days when I've written about Temple football. Were I not going to be at Franklin Field this Saturday to cover Cornell-Penn for the Inquirer, I would be at the Linc for the Owls' last home game of the season against Kent State.

Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw told me yesterday that he expects around 20,000 fans to be in attendance. I'll be interested to see what the final number is, because it's a pretty big deal for Bradshaw's program.

But since I won't be there, I'll make it up to you with two more interviews with AP football poll voters: Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News and Barker Davis of the Washington Times.

Wolf has the Owls ranked 20th in his latest ballot. He told me by email that he thinks "they deserve respect after winning eight straight games and for the fact they have come so far as a program. They also beat Navy, a team that almost beat Ohio State, and Notre Dame."

While Wolf said that "the MAC receives little or no coverage in Southern California," he added that he has no problem "ranking a MAC team with an 8-2 record."

Davis does not have the Owls on his ballot, but as he was at yesterday's Temple-Georgetown game (he also covers the Hoyas), I was able to get his view.

He showed me the raw form of the ballot he sent in, which included a "Next 5" with his Top 15. The Owls were fourth in that "Next 5."

Davis had plenty of praise for the Owls' success this season, noting that "they had never even been on my radar before." But his main reason for not ranking them is the loss to Villanova.

"The 'Nova loss is a bad one," he said, because the Wildcats are in I-AA. "A loss to 'Nova is equivalent to two [I-A] losses."

Davis is certainly aware of the Wildcats' success this season. But he noted that he would have also held Michigan accountable for their famous loss to Appalachian State a few years back.

Like Wolf, Davis also gave Temple full credit for the win over Navy, even though the Midshipmen's starting quarterback, Ricky Dobbs, wasn't playing. But beyond that, Davis asked, "who are Temple's other quality wins?"

It is worth noting that Temple has not played Central Michigan, the only team in the MAC ranked higher in Sagarin than the Owls. But if Temple beats Kent State, the two teams will meet in the MAC title game.

That brings us us to this week's Crunchy Numbers.

Since I missed today's coaches luncheon, all the divisions together in this roundup. Most of the Division II and Division III seasons are over at this point anyway, with the notable exception of Delaware Valley.

Division I

21. Penn State (19)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 91/91 Indiana, 31-20
This week: 11/21 at No. 45 Michigan State, 3:30 p.m. (ABC)
Sagarin predicts: Penn State by 3 (81.01 to 74.70 and 3.06)

34. Rutgers (53)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 22/38 South Florida, 31-0
This week: 11/21 at No. 95 Syracuse, 3:30 p.m. (ESPN360.com)
Sagarin predicts: Rutgers by 11 (78.06 to 64.35 and 3)

43. Villanova (46)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 195/193 Towson, 49-7
This week: 11/21 vs. No. 116 Delaware, 3:30 p.m. (Comcast Network)
Sagarin predicts: Villanova by 19 (76.60 and 3.06 to 60.41)

61. Temple (65)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 134/138 Akron, 56-17
This week: 12/21 vs. No. 108 Kent State, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Temple by 13 (71.94 and 3.06 to 61.83)

116. Delaware (116)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 41/40 Navy, 35-18
This week: 11/21 at No. 43 Villanova, 3:30 p.m. (Comcast Network)
Sagarin predicts: Villanova by 19 (76.60 and 3.06 to 60.41)

122. Penn (137)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 157/150 Harvard, 17-7
This week: 11/21 vs. No. 220 Cornell, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Penn by 27 (59.19 and 3 to 35.53)

131. Lafayette (141)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 150/135 Holy Cross, 28-26
This week: 11/21 at No. 198 Lehigh, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN360.com, RCN-4 or RCN-8, WPBPH-60, WFMZ-69)
Sagarin predicts: Lafayette by 13 (56.68 to 40.63 and 3.06)

It's the 145th meeting of the Leopards and the Mountain Hawks/Engineers, which I believe is a record of some kind.

205. Delaware State (189)
Last week: Home loss vs. No. 169/174 Norfolk State, 21-16
This week: 11/21 vs. No. 238 Howard, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Delaware State by 15 (39.76 and 3 to 27.30)

198. Lehigh (214)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 199/196 Fordham, 35-28
This week: 11/21 vs. No. 131. Lafayette, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN360.com, RCN-4 or RCN-8, WBPH-60, WFMZ-69)
Sagarin predicts: Lafayette by 13 (56.68 to 40.63 and 3.06)

219. Princeton (228)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 190/188 Yale, 24-17
This week: 11/21 at No. 203 Dartmouth, 12:30 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Dartmouth by 8 (40.09 and 3 to 35.99)

230. Bucknell (237)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 160/158 Colgate, 29-14
This week: 11/21 vs. No. 135 Holy Cross, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Holy Cross by 22 (56.18 to 31.46 and 3)

Divisions II and III

West Chester
Season over

Delaware Valley
Last week: Road win vs. Widener, 28-16
This week: 11/21 vs. Susquehanna, 12:00 p.m. (NCAA Division III playoffs first round)

The winner gets Albright or Alfred in the second round. Not sure where the game would be played, but that first-round game is at Alfred. Delaware Valley beat Albright to win the MAC's automatic playoff bid.

Rowan
Last week: Home win vs. The College of New Jersey, 39-0
This week: Season over

Sometimes, karma can be a good thing. Congrats to the Profs for winning without Mike Hoffman and their other injured starters.

Ursinus
Last week: Road win vs. Dickinson, 35-32
This week: Season over

Widener
Last week: Home loss vs. Delaware Valley, 28-16
This week: Season over

Lincoln
Season over

Cheyney
Season over

View gallery

Georgetown 46, Temple 45: Inquirer | Daily News | Washington Post | Mike Wise | Washington Times

WASHINGTON - If you followed my live blog, you know that I was pretty well convinced that Ramone Moore should have taken the ball to the basket in the game's final minute instead of trying to dribble off some clock.

I thought that even more after the postgame press conferences. Barker Davis of the Washington Times noted that the only guy who could have stopped Moore from getting to the basket was Chris Wright, who had four fouls.

There was no way that Wright would have been able to get in position and set his feet, so it would almost certainly have been a blocking foul had there been contact.

You can certainly make a good case for dribbling off the clock. And it's not fair to argue with the benefit of hindsight, knowing that Moore only took off four seconds or so before being fouled.

Had Moore made the free throws, it would have been a three-point lead. But he missed the front end of the one-and-one, and that was it. Georgetown went the other way and Greg Monroe hit the game-winning layup with 6.5 seconds left.

Was there enough time for the Owls to run a different play than having Luis Guzman run into a double-team? Sure. But I'd argue that Moore's play was of greater significance.

Let me make clear something that I've said a number of times on here before: I've never played (or coached) organized basketball before. And I don't want to pile on Moore, because he's a sophomore and you know the next time he goes down the floor he'll make a better-informed decision.

But I was discussing the game at a bar in the neighborhood where I grew up with a guy who did play collegiately, and he said that there are some plays where the evidence is clear.

And as you'll see in the video below, Fran Dunphy didn't exactly give the endgame sequence a ringing endorsement.

The one good thing about the way the game ended is that it distracted us from a dreadful first 25 or so minutes. There was a brief stretch midway through the second half or so when both teams were moving the ball well, and you could see the tactical clash between Fran Dunphy's motion and John Thompson's interpretation of the Princeton offense.

I particularly remember a stretch of three or four Temple passes around the arc involving Ryan Brooks, Ramon Moore and I believe Craig Williams, and a play at the other end where Vaughn was running a classic high-post pass-out play with his back to the basket. But that was about it.

For the game, Temple shot 32.1% from the field (18-56), including 13.0% from three-point range (3-23) and 15-33 from two-point range (45.5%), and 46.2% from the free throw line (6-13). They pulled down 11 offensive and 26 defensive rebounds and tallied 12 assists, 10 turnovers, no blocks, seven steals and 15 fouls.

That adds up to 59 possessions and 0.757 points per possession.

Twelve assists on 18 made baskets isn't a bad ratio, but 18 made baskets speaks for itself.

Georgetown shot 35.7% from the field (15-42) including 16.7% from three-point range (3-18) and an even 50.0% from two-point range (12.24), and 13-19 from the free throw line (68.4%). The Hoyas pulled down five offensive and 31 defensive rebounds and tallied seven assists, 16 turnovers, one block, three steals and 18 fouls.

That adds up to 60 possessions and 0.754 points per possession.

In other words, the Hoyas took fewer field goal attempts, made fewer field goal attempts, pulled down fewer rebounds and committed more turnovers.

So why did Temple lose? I heard the answer on Twitter all afternoon: free throws. Georgetown got to the line more often and missed as many attempts from there as the Owls made.

It's not really worth giving out a Line of the Game from this thing. But it's noteworthy that Lavoy Alllen had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Greg Monroe had 11 points and nine rebounds. Chris Wright led all scorers with 15 points, six of which came from the free throw line.

The complete box score is here.

Longer excerpts of the postgame press conferences are in the audio player. I had some trouble with my recorder so I missed a few bits, but just about everything is there.

One piece that did not make the cut on the audio is Luis Guzman's explanation of the final play of the game, because there was a lot of feedback while he was talking. Here's a transcript:

He told me to push the ball, to push the ball down and if I'm open, just to go to the basket. I looked to my right and there was nobody aroud so I thought I had the chance to go straight to the basket. The guy was there before I got there.

I'll put up the week's Football Crunchy Numbers post at some point tomorrow, but after that I'm going dark for a few days. The last few days have been a lot of fun, but also pretty crazy.

I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I have.

Jack the Bulldog representing.

WASHINGTON - Greetings from the Verizon Center, where we're set for a game full of interesting matchups.

In the frontcourt, Lavoy Allen will get one of his toughest tests of the season from Greg Monroe. It will be a lot of fun to watch both of these skilled big men go to work under the basket.

In the backcourt Juan Fernandez and Ryan Brooks will face off against Austin Freeman and Chris Wright. The latter pair have been in the spotlight ever since they arrived at the Hilltop, having been high school stars in the D.C. area. But they also bore the brunt of the pressure after the Hoyas missed the NCAA Tournament last season.

Then there's the bench, and a duel that probably fascinates me more than the rest of you. But it's of consequence. This is the first time since John Thompson III left Princeton five years ago that he's matching wits with Fran Dunphy.

The two coaches had some great games in their Ivy League days. Their teams aren't as evenly matched now as they were then, but Dunphy probably knows Thompson's system better than anyone else.

To be honest, I never thought these two teams would play each other with Dunphy and Thompson in charge. There's nothing personal between them, but I just figured that they were fine going their separate ways.

Here we are, though, and I've heard there's at least a return game in Philadelphia planned for next season.

It's a happy hour tipoff as part of ESPN's 24-hour college basketball marathon. Georgetown is the better team, but I certainly think the game will be competitive. Can the Owls pull off the upset?

Let's find out.

Temple got 23 points in this week's AP football poll. That's the equivalent of 33rd place, higher than Georgia and Oklahoma among others.

Looking at the AP voters' ballots this week, I was struck by the two voters who ranked the Owls 20th: Scott Wolf of the Los Angeles Daily News and Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Fittipaldo has them ranked one spot above USC, while Wolf has Iowa 25th.

The full breakdown is as follows. The order is alphabetical by state, because that's how it listed on the AP's website:

Scott Wolf, Los Angeles Daily News: 20th (6 points)
Ray Ratto, San Francisco Chronicle: 23rd (3 points)
Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury News: 25th (1 point)
Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette (Iowa): 24th (2 points)
John Davis, Oxford Eagle (Miss.): 25th (1 point)
Keith Sargeant, Home News Tribune/Gannett (N.J.): 25th (1 point)
Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: 20th (6 points)
Travis Haney, Charleston Post and Courier (S.C.): 24th (2 points)
Eric Schmoldt, Casper Star-Tribune (Wyo.): 25th (1 point)

Temple also got 17 points in the coaches' poll and 47 points in the Harris poll, which has more voters. But we don't know who voted for the Owls in those polls, because the ballots aren't made public.

This isn't really a preseason version of the poll, because the season is already underway. And it's not really fair to call it a Week 1 poll, because there hasn't been a full week of games yet for all the teams.

So we're going to call this the Opening Week edition of the Schuylkill 16. The next edition of the rankings will appear here on Wednesday, Nov. 25. We'll call that Week 3, and go from there.

It's not easy to do a ranking at this point in the season because we have so little information to work from. But we have plenty of comments to make up for it.

We also have what I will politely call an outlier in the first-place voting. Make fun of him as you wish.

On a less light note, I've added a new feature this year that I'm calling the Progression. It's a bit math-heavy, but I think it's sort of interesting. It works something like this.

Theoretically, if every voter cast the exact same ballot, the progression of points (thus the title) would be a straight line. Multiply the number of voters times one for the first place team, times two for the second place team, and so forth.

The chart that you'll displays the progression of points from the ballots that were cast compared to that straight line. I think it's got some kind of official name, but I haven't taken a math class in a really long time. If you know, post something in the comments.

Finally, a special thanks to the many new voters out there. Tf you want to join the party, just email me. The more the merrier.

I'll be back at around 6:45 for live coverage of Drexel at St. Joe's from courtside at Hagan Arena. See you then.

1. Villanova, 29 points (26 first-place votes)
- "You can pencil in #1 for 'Nova all season long. There is no team in the area better than the Wildcats." (Mike Birnbaum)
- "Has a lot of pressure on them with the pre-season No. 1 pick in the Big East." (Ryan Wixted)
- "A lot of expectations this year, but they won't need another Final Four run to stay #1 in this poll.  This could be the only team in the S16 to make the tournament." (Nick Catrambone)

Agree or disagree?

- "If Villanova legitimately drops out of the top spot in this poll, I'll jump in the Schuylkill." (Neil Fanaroff)

And there's your pith of the week.

2. Temple, 84 points
- "Really curious to see how they handle the first couple of weeks. Ryan Brooks and Lavoy Allen are going to have to step up the scoring with the loss of Dionte Christmas." (Ryan Wixted)
- "Depending on how well Brooks and Allen take the lead Temple's season could go south. (Max Wheeling)
- "It's going to be fun getting to watch Juan Fernandez for a full season. Might be the most exciting player in the area." (Mike Birnbaum)

Shall we start handicapping the Geasey Award now?

- "Unfortunately for Fran and gang, Christmas only came for 4 years." (Fred David)

3. La Salle, 110 points
- "Aaric Murray could put La Salle back into the post-season this year." (Mike Birnbaum)
- "In my mind, the Explorers have the best shot at finishing second in the S-16 this year." (Josh Wheeling)
- "Dr. John has his best team yet at La Salle.  An at-large bid in the tourney is a stretch but it's a step in the right direction for the program." (Nick Catrambone)
- "Giannini's fingerprints are all over this team and he finally has the right pieces in place to make a run in the A-10." (Ryan Wixted)
- "La Salle will beat Villanova and return to the NCAA tournament." (Charlie Wohlrab)

That would be quite a result, wouldn't it? The teams meet Nov. 28 at the Pavilion.

4. Penn State, 112 points
- "Penn State could be a real sleeper in the Big Ten this year." (Terrence D.)
- "Wins in the Big Ten will be hard to come by this year, so a lot will have to go right for another 10-8 conference record." (Nick Catrambone)

5. Saint Joseph's, 154 points
- "It's going to be a rough year in a tough A-10 for the Hawks.  Govens and Williamson are a nice backcourt, but they'll need others to step up for St. Joe's to have a respectable season." (Nick Catrambone)
- "The loss of Nivins and Carr will lead to a significant drop off for St. Joseph's and lead to a fairly one-sided Holy War." (Max Wheeling)
- " I think they can make a run late and hang in a competitive A-10." (Ryan Wixted)

6. Rutgers, 185 points
- "I think they're trying to hide something from us: 10 straight home games against cupcakes to open the year.  Whatever success they have early will end in January, another year at the bottom of the Big East for the Scarlet Knights." (Nick Catrambone)

7. Drexel, 187 points

8. Penn, 235 points
- "Penn's margin of defeat for their two games this weekend might be 70. Just once I'd like to be the big dog opening the season against a cupcake." (Neil Fanaroff)
- "I can feel it in the air; this is the year for the Quakers!" (Fred David)

In basketball or women's lacrosse?

9. Rider, 248 points
- "I probably have Rider way too high, but I like that first place vote they got in the MAAC preseason poll." (Brian O'Neill)
- "Great non-conference challenges for Rider in November with trips to Mississippi State, Virginia, Kentucky, and Cancun. Talk about scheduling tough. I can't wait to work on my tan in Cancun!" (Steve Rudenstein)

A special welcome to Steve, who is the Broncs' radio broadcaster.

10. Princeton, 276 points

11. Delaware, 297 points

12. Lehigh, 299 points
- "Can someone explain the difference to me between Lehigh and Lafayette?  Is it the same school?  I've always been confused by this." (Terrence D.)

The one hosts Eagles training camp and the other hosts Crayola. Right?

13. Bucknell, 303 points
- "They might be the biggest team in the Patriot League, but I'm not sure if there's enough talent." (Nick Catrambone, who has clearly done his homework)

14. Lafayette, 369 points
- "The biggest question mark in the S16." (Nick Catrambone, again)

15. Monmouth, 389 points

16. Delaware State, 399 points

Let's start tonight by setting out the agenda for the rest of the week. After going to the football coaches' luncheon tomorrow, and I'll post the Spectacle of the Week poll and Top 10 chart on Thursday this week.

On Friday, you'll get the season's first edition of the Schuylkill 16 rankings. Then I'll head out to City Avenue for Drexel-St. Joe's, as the Hawks christen Hagan Arena with a good matchup.

I was at Hagan Arena this afternoon for St. Joe's media day, and you'll get that blog post later tonight. There will be a lengthy audio track of Phil Martelli talking to reporters and a photo gallery of the new gym.

After Friday night's game, I will head straight to 30th Street Station and get on a train bound for Boston. A few hours of sleep later, I'll head to Harvard Stadium to cover Penn's Ivy League football title showdown against the Crimson for the Inquirer.

I know that a couple of you have gotten on my case for writing about Penn a lot, but it's what I do and I've said that many times before. This game is particularly important, as a win would give the Quakers their first championship since 2003.

If that happens, we could be on course for the most successful season in local college football history. I can't remember ever seeing or reading about a year in which Penn, Villanova and Temple all won conference championships. That is a real possibility. I'd love to hear from the historians among you about whether anything like this has happened before.

It's important to note that the Penn-Harvard game will not be on television anywhere. So I will be liveblogging from the press box, and I would strongly encourage you to join me starting just before noon. I know a lot of Penn fans read this blog, so hopefully the word will get out.

Next Monday, I'll be courtside at the Pavilion as Penn and Villanova meet in the first Big 5 game of the season. Then on Tuesday, I'll be live-blogging from Washington as Temple faces Georgetown as part of ESPN's 24-hour college basketball marathon.

That game will start at 4 p.m., so be sure to check out the blog if you're stuck at your desk and can't get to a television.

I'll probably go dark for a few days after that. I might put up a post on Thursday or Friday, but the next live events will be on the 21st. I'll be covering the Penn-Cornell football game and the Penn-Delaware basketball game for the Inquirer, and there will be live coverage from Franklin Field.

I would do something for the basketball game, but since that's a 7 p.m. tipoff I'll have print deadlines to deal with. So there probably won't be a liveblog for that game.

That's the agenda for the next few weeks. The intersection of college football and basketball is always a crazy time, but it's also a lot of fun. And as you know, this blog is the best place to take it all in.

Now we get to the latest edition of Football Crunchy Numbers. This week's home advantage factor is 3.11 points.

19. Penn State (12)
Last week: Home loss vs. No. 19/12 Ohio State, 24-7
This week: 11/14 vs. No. 91 Indiana, 12:00 p.m. (Big Ten Network)
Sagarin predicts: Penn State by 20 (82.01 and 3.11 to 65.60)

46. Villanova (49)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 53/57 Richmond, 21-20
This week: 11/14 at No. 195 Towson, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Villanova by 31 (76.13 to 41.80 and 3.11)

53. Rutgers (55)
Last week: No game
This week: 11/12 vs. No. 22 South Florida, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sagarin predicts: South Florida by 3 (79.97 to 74.08 and 3.11)

65. Temple (61)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 145/140 Miami (Ohio), 34-32
This week: 11/13 at No. 134 Akron, 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sagarin predicts: Temple by 10 (70.94 to 57.36 and 3.11)

116. Delaware (114)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 151/154 Hofstra, 28-24
This week: 11/14 at No. 41 Navy, 3:30 p.m. (CBS College Sports)
Sagarin predicts: Delaware by 20 (77.21 and 3.11 to to 60.35)

137. Penn (135)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 225/228 Princeton, 42-7
This week: 11/14 at No. 157 Harvard, 12:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Penn by 1 (56.30 to 52.45 and 3.11)

141. Lafayette (141)
Last week: Home win vs. No. 163/160 Colgate, 56-49
This week: 11/14 at No. 150 Holy Cross, 12:30 p.m. (RCN-4 or RCN-8, WPBPH-60)
Sagarin predicts: Holy Cross by 1 (53.80 and 3.11 to 55.97)

189. Delaware State (185)
Last week: Road win vs. No. 227/229 Winston-Salem State, 24-21
This week: 11/14 vs. No. 169 Norfolk State, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Norfolk State by 2 (48.07 to 43.18 and 3.11)

214. Lehigh (214)
Last week: Home loss vs. No. 150/150 Holy Cross, 24-20
This week: 11/14 at No. 199 Fordham, 12:30 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Fordham by 7 (41.57 and 3.11 to 37.48)

228. Princeton (225)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 135/137 Penn, 42-7
This week: 11/14 vs. No. 190. Yale, 1:00 p.m. (YES Network)
Sagarin predicts: Yale by 8 (43.12 to 31.88 and 3.11)

237. Bucknell (236)
Last week: Road loss vs. No. 194/199 Fordham, 21-7
This week: 11/14 at No. 160 Colgate, 1:00 p.m.
Sagarin predicts: Colgate by 25 (50.57 and 3.11 to 28.89)

Temple held its men's basketball media day today, and I hopped on the Broad Street Line to pay a visit to Fran Dunphy and company.

(We pause here for dramatic effect, as I wasn't sure I'd be able to say that as of last night. If you had 12:05 a.m. this morning in the SEPTA strike pool, congratulations.)

It's been a while since we last heard from Dunphy, and he had plenty to say today. He was not restrained in stating that he doesn't think the Owls are where he wants them to be yet.

"Each team has a different personality each and every year," Dunphy said. "I still don't know what this team's personality is, and until we get into really tough games, I don't think you can predict that."

Dunphy named names as well.

"Mike Eric has done well, but he still has a ways to go to get to be a complete basketball player," he said. "Craig Williams is a talented guy, but he's not in as good shape as he needs to be [and] he doesn't work as hard as the game as he needs to. I can go all the way down the line if you want."

Dunphy continued before anyone could answer that, not that there would have been objections.

"Ramon Moore has got stretches of really good play and other stretches of inconsistency," he said. "I think that's probably the biggest thing you'll find in our team right now - we still have too many stretches of inconsistency."

Dunphy also talked about one of his top underclassmen, guard Andrew "Scootie" Randall.

"Some days, Scootie is right there" to get minutes, Dunphy says. "When Scootie throws the ball to the opposition, Scootie can't play for me. It's real simple."

Having said that, Dunphy also pointed out that his teams have improved over the course of the season each year he's been at Temple, and that has indeed been the case. This year's squad seems to have a lot of potential, from Ryan Brooks aand Lavoy Allen to highly-touted freshmen Khalif Wyatt and Rahlir Jefferson.

Dunphy said that Wyatt and Jefferson "played very well at Maryland the other day" in a scrimmage.

"They were the two brightest things that happened to us the other day - they both know the game," Dunphy said. "Khalif has the chance to be a very special offensive player, [but is] not nearly where he needs to be defensively yet. Rahir is getting better and better."

Dunphy then got to Allen, and said something that I found surprising. Or maybe I've been watching too many NFL coaches on TV lately.

"If Lavoy was a hard worker, we'd be in much better shape than we are, but he just gives you what he's got," Dunphy said. "He's our best basketball player, but we need him to get 15 points and 10, 11, 12 rebounds... It will be interesting to see what kind of commitment he has to that."

On Ryan Brooks: "He hasn't shot it particularly well right now - he's going to have to get his shots more and work five times harder than he ever has to get to be as effective as he's been over the last couple years."

But there was praise, too: "He's very low-maintenance, [a] hard-working guy, gets what's going on. He's a giver, not a taker, and you've got to have more givers than takers to be a successful basketball program."

There are plenty of talented teams in the A-10 this year, and if everything works out right Temple will be right there in the conversation. With a ferocious non-conference schedule that includes Georgetown and Kansas, it won't take us long to find out how high the Owls can fly.

About that date with the Jayhawks...

"Yeah, Kansas is pretty good," Dunphy said, and we all laughed. "If somebody was recording the top non-conference schedule this year, I think that we've got to be in the conversation."

We don't have any data for that yet. But in addition to Georgetown and Kansas, there's Siena, Virginia Tech, St. John's, Penn State, Villanova and Seton Hall.

The Wildcats are only ranked No. 5 in the nation. An easy game compared to Kansas, right?

"We're in the soup," Dunphy said.

Donald Hunt of the Philadelphia Tribune said the schedule is "John Chaney-like."

"It is. That son of a gun," Dunphy replied.

You can imagine the tone of the conversation pretty easily. And you can imagine how it sounded when Dunphy said this of his players:

"This is a spectacular life these kids have - not an easy life, but a spectacular life. You've really got to work at it and understand that every detail has to be covered. When all that happens, you're in pretty good shape."

And if it does?

"We hope that will be enough to get us to Atlantic City," Dunphy said. "Then hopefully we can get as fortunate as we got the last couple years."

I somehow don't think anyone is betting against that.

You can listen to Dunphy's remarks in full in the audio player below.

[ Listen with own player ]

(With a correction from the original version.)

Every once in a while I wonder whether anyone actually reads this blog. This weekend really made me think about it.

First, I was out Saturday night and some guy came up to me and said he recognized me and really likes the blog. I don't remember his name, but whoever you were, thanks.

Second, I wonder if my interview with Mike Hlas had some strange effect on college football karma. Iowa lost at home to Northwestern, and Temple went from one vote in last week's AP poll to seven in the ranking that came out tonight.

The Owls also got eight votes in the coaches' poll and 24 in the Harris poll. It's worth noting, though, that the Harris poll has 114 voters compared to the AP poll's 60 voters and the coaches' poll's 59 voters.

Mike Kern of the Daily News is a voter in the Harris poll. The Philadelphia area has no representatives in the AP poll, and as I mentioned last week Temple coach Al Golden votes in the coaches' poll.

There is a bug in the website that lists AP voters' ballots, so I was only able to confirm five of the writers who voted for Temple. But since there were only two missing, I think we can infer that those two also included the Owls.

The writers were:

- Scott Wolf, Los Angeles Daily News
- Ray Ratto, San Francisco Chronicle
- Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette (Iowa)
- Keith Sargeant, Home News Tribune (Middlesex County, N.J., and other Gannett papers in the state)
- Ray Fittipaldo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wolf and Sargeant ranked the Owls 24th; all the others ranked them 25th. The two 24th-place votes are worth two points each and the three 25th-place votes are worth one point, which is how Temple got seven points total.

(CORRECTION: I had originally written that I couldn't figure out how the Owls got to seven points. Commenter joeags pointed out where I screwed up, and I thank him for that.)

I found it quite interesting that 11 voters put Navy on their ballots, but not Temple. That surely has something to do with the Midshipmen's win at Notre Dame yesterday.

But as was noted by a bunch of people, the transitive theory is very much in play for Temple right now. The Owls beat Navy, which beat Notre Dame, which beat Washington, which beat USC.

Well, you can dream.

These are the voters who had Navy but not Temple on their ballots. Be polite to them, okay?

- Jay G. Tate, Montgomery Advertiser (Alabama)
- Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury-News
- Jake Schaller, Colorado Springs Gazette
- Brett McMurphy, AOL Fanhouse (based in Tampa, Florida)
- John Davis, Oxford Eagle (Mississippi)
- Dave Matter, Columbia Daily Tribune (Missouri)
- Sal Interdonato, Times Herald-Record (Middletown, N.Y.)
- Jeff Gravley, WRAL-TV (Raleigh, N.C.)
- Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN and WBNS-AM (Columbus, Ohio)
- Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News
- Bob Condotta, Seattle Times

I had originally planned to put this post together before the Temple-Miami game, but I had too much other stuff to do.

So this comes to you after Temple just barely survived the RedHawks by a 34-32 margin. When Miami took the lead with 2:36 to play, it looked like this whole thing would be moot.

But the Owls came back down the field and got a game-winning field goal, so you can read this post (and I can write it) with a clearer conscience.

On Wednesday night, just a few minutes before Game 6 of the World Series started, I spent a few minutes chatting on the phone with Cedar Rapids Gazette writer Mike Hlas. He's the AP college football poll voter who put Temple at No. 25 on his ballot. You can read his blog, The Hlog, here.

I had no idea what to expect coming in, except that I was only looking for a few quotes. I ended up getting much more than that, so I'm going to give you everything I have.

I asked Hlas about why he voted for the Owls and what kind of attention the MAC gets in Iowa. And since he covers the Hawkeyes every week, I couldn't help asking whether he thinks they'll go all the way to the BCS title game. It's good stuff.

Q. Why did you put the Owls on your ballot?

A. For one thing, it's been getting harder and harder to find teams after the top 15 that I think are deserving. There's a lot of 5-3's and 6-2's.

...

I know Temple's not a top 25 team. But I look at it as 25th place is one point -  it's not going to change anything. If I'm having a hard time finding 25 teams I like, why not give a vote to somebody who's on a roll and doing nice things, and get their name in others receiving votes?

...

A six-game winning streak is nice and Navy's a good team. I think [Temple] is one of the nicer stories in college football this year and who knows how long it's going to last. I kind of enjoyed putting their name out there.

Q. What kind of attention does MAC football get in Iowa?

A. There's none in Iowa. There's one [team] in Illinois and the concentration in Indiana and Ohio. But the Big Ten has a relationship with the MAC - I think every Big Ten school plays at least one MAC team a year. Iowa has been playing MAC teams for a long time, though not this year.

...

There's a respect for MAC football here because Western Michigan came into Iowa City in 2007 and beat Iowa, and kept them from going to a bowl game that year with a really nice team. And nobody's really hidden anymore when they're having ggames on espn every night of the week.

The MAC always has been and will be a lower-level FBS conference, but it certainly has two or three really nice teams every year. I would include Central Michigan in that group, which beat Michigan State - that carries a lot of water. And so it's respected, but it's not held in high esteem.

Q. What do you make of Iowa? Are they really that good?

A. They've got a lot of - I wouldn't say critics, but doubters, and understandably. They've done such a high-wire act in so many games. But if you look at the schedule and you compare it to just about anybody, I think they've been rated the seventh hardest schedule in the country.*

And the places where they've won: at Penn State - nobody else has laid a glove on at Penn State this year. They've won at Wisconsin, which I think has a really good team. And they won at Michigan State, which they'd never done under [Kirk] Ferentz.

They haven't had any let-ups in the schedule since six weeks ago. When you play that kind of competition week after week, I think it lends itself to some jams you're going to have to get out of. Jams that maybe a Boise State or a Cincinnati has been able to avoid this year with their schedules.

Q. Do you think there is any chance that if Iowa runs the table, they could get beaten to a spot in the BCS title game by a one-loss runner-up in the SEC title game?

A. It depends on the team. I could see it, but the thing is that Iowa's strength of schedule is so high - I think they're second overall in the computer rankings that the BCS uses.* Their strength of schedule is going to be so good if they win out that I wonder, if they were to go 12-0, if an SEC champion has one loss, if Iowa wouldn't slip above it.

* - Hlas is correct that Iowa is ranked No. 2 in the computer rankings composite, but I can't find any data to back up his strength of schedule claim. Having said that, Iowa's schedule is No. 2 in Jeff Anderson and Chris Hester's computer rankings, which are used in the BCS formula.

Temple was also the subject of a lengthy discussion between Ivan Maisel and Beano Cook on Wednesday's ESPN.com college football podcast. You can listen to it here.

Let's close the week with a Spectacle of the Week poll and a Top 10 Chart. There are quite a few good games this weekend, and we'll put Villanova at Richmond in the mix with the I-A slate.

I think my vote is for Alabama-LSU, but I have a hunch that many of you will vote for Ohio State-Penn State.

As for the chart, check out the Sagarin ratings. I'm fascinated by Oregon's jump over Alabama into the No. 2 spot, as well as TCU's move up to No. 5. Think about the teams that are in Sagarin's Top 10 that are not in the others.

I'm not covering any games this weekend, so my next blog post will probably be on Monday. Believe it or not, college basketball season starts a week from today, when Drexel visits St. Joe's to christen Hagan Arena.

Are any of us ready?

Poll: What's the Spectacle of the Week? (215 votes)