Archive: December, 2009
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Greetings from courtside at McGonigle Hall, where I'm watching Temple's women's team play No. 8 Duke quite close - it's tied at 35 just over three minutes into the second half.
But the big news this afternoon is coming from Villanova, where freshman center Mouphtaou Yarou has been cleared to "resume all basketball activities" by physicians. Yarou was diagnosed with Hepatitis B last month and hasn't played since before the Wildcats' trip to Puerto Rico on November 19.
The timing couldn't have been much better, as 'Nova begins Big East play on Saturday. And it's not just any opener - the Wildcats will visit a Marquette team that is far better than its No. 12 ranking in the preseason conference poll.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
UCLA 30, Temple 21: Kevin Tatum | Notebook | Phil Sheridan | Mike Kern | Rich Hofmann | Notre Damus
National coverage: L.A. Times | T.J. Simers | L.A. Daily News | Notebook | Jill Painter | Washington Post | Washington Times | Dick Heller | Associated Press
WASHINGTON - It didn't really dawn on me until right as I was walking into RFK Stadium that after the game, I'd be hearing in person from Rick Neuheisel. Of course I knew he's UCLA's coach, but BCS-conference football is a distant thing to many of us.
It's not even like seeing Jim Calhoun or Ben Howland on the dais at the NCAA Tournament. Somehow, college basketball coaches seem less removed from our sphere - well, maybe not John Calipari or Roy Williams, but many of them.
So I couldn't possibly tell you if Neuheisel really meant it when he heaped praise on how far Temple has come after the Bruins beat the Owls in the EagleBank Bowl. We do know Neuheisel's history, after all.
But I can't help thinking that yesterday represented something quite significant. It wasn't just that Temple was in a bowl game for the first time in 30 years. It was that UCLA genuinely took this game and their opponent as seriously as they would any other.
Many of you have followed Temple football far longer and far more closely than I have. So you know better than I ever could the degree to which the Owls have been somewhere between irrelevant and a laughingstock for years.
Now, though, they are neither. Their relevance was proven by the fact that both the Inquirer and Daily News sent columnists here yesterday, and their rise in the college football ranks was proven by UCLA's second-half comeback.
Yes, you read that right. That's not to excuse Temple's problems in the second half, from Vaughn Charlton's poor throws to a questionable play-call or two.
But when the Owls went up 21-7, the Bruins could easily have decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Instead, they adjusted to Temple's gameplan, took the Owls' running backs seriously and turned the momentum around.
I am sure that the way the game ended stings for many of you, with the safety coming after the goal-line interception that put UCLA up for the first time. And I could have come up with an analysis of Bernard Pierce's injury and the decision to start Vaughn Charlton over Chester Stewart at quarterback.
But I'd like to think this day was about more than that. I'm not going to call it a disappointment, and I'm not going to call it the Froze Bowl.
(Though I will call out UCLA loudly for not sending its band to the game. That put a huge dent in the atmosphere, and I heard throughout the afternoon from UCLA fans who said the same thing. Yeah, it would have cost money, but it's a bowl game. Spend it.)
I'd rather call yesterday a step forward for Temple. Al Golden seems to have put Temple football on a path towards not only being stronger, but being sustainable when he inevitably moves on.
Heck, if a quality high school running back in the Philadelphia area picks Temple over another school because of what Bernard Pierce did this year, that will be a great success in and of itself. Do that a few times and the Owls will really be on to something.
And I'll say this, too, about the Temple fans who traveled to the game. The noise when Steve Manieri scored the game's first touchdown was as loud as I've ever heard after any soccer goal I've seen at RFK Stadium.
I hope that when you've had a chance to defrost and settle down, you'll also look at this day as not being just about the present. It was a step towards the future, and I don't think you'd have to look through cherry-colored glasses to see things that way.
There are two videos for you to check out from the game. One is highlights of the postgame press conferences, and the other is a video from the fans' pregame tailgate parties. I hope you enjoy them.
I'll be back on New Year's Day with the latest Schuylkill 16 as we head into a monster weekend of college basketball.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Pregame coverage
From the Inquirer and Daily News
Bruins face Owls with recruiting edge by Kevin Tatum
After 30-year wait, Temple booster gets with with today's bowl game by Mike Kern
Hardin reminisces about Temple's last bowl game by Mike Kern
UCLA-Temple breakdown by Mike Kern
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Having gone through my top college football games of the calendar year, I figure it's only right to do a football list. I'm sure you won't like this one much either. And I made it harder for myself by picking only seven games instead of ten.
Why seven? For two reasons. First, there aren't as many football games in a year as there are basketball games. And second, it allows me to say I picked a touchdown's worth of matchups and an extra point at the end.
(Which should give you a pretty big hint about what's at the top.)
Also unlike the basketball list, I'm leaving Penn State out this time. That's in large part because the Nittany Lions lost their two biggest games of the season, and the Rose Bowl was a really long time ago. Yes, it took place in this calendar year, but Penn State lost that game too.
So here's the list. You may fire when ready.
7. October 3: Ursinus 55, Gettysburg 50
I could have put a number of other games in this slot, especially Penn's overtime win at Brown and Villanova's playoff semifinal against William & Mary.
But if you'd told me on the morning of October 7 that an Ursinus football result would bring out the commenters, I'd have called you crazy.
It turns out that Bears quarterback Justin Decristofaro is the crazy one, as we learned at that day's local college footbal coaches luncheon.
Four days before the weekly confab, Decristofaro threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns in the Bears' win. The Jenkintown native and Father Judge grad also ran for 70 yards and another score.
The Bears didn't punt at all in the game, made 35 first downs and totaled 624 yards of offense. Gettysburg punted once, made 29 first downs and totaled 694 yards.
That kind of performance is worth a spot on this list.
6. October 17: Villanova 21, Richmond 20
We knew for most of the season that Villanova was more than just pretty good. But the Wildcats' trip to No. 1-ranked Richmond was their biggest test of the regular season.
The Spiders had a 20-13 lead with 1:06 remaining in their Homecoming game, and were on the verge of getting revenge for Villanova's win on the Main Line a year earlier.
But on 4th and 11, Brandyn Harvey made a spectacular catch at the eight-yard line of a Chris Whitney pass that appeared to be overthrown, and ran to the end zone for a touchdown.
After Nick Yako's extra point gave 'Nova the lead, Richmond had one last chance to get the win. But Andrew Howard missed a 35-yard field goal with five seconds left and the Wildcats ran off winners.
It might not have been divine intervention, but it was definitely a signature win.
5. October 31: Temple 27, Navy 24
Nobody will remember that Midshipmen quarterback Ricky Dobbs didn't play. They will remember that the Owls got a vote in the AP Top 25 poll because of this win.
It was Temple's sixth straight win in a streak of nine, and it made the Owls bowl-eligible. It was also another performance by sensational freshman running back Bernard Pierce. The Glen Mills native capped off a 267-yard haul by scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 41-yard dash with 1:32 left in the game.
A week later, Navy beat Notre Dame in South Bend. Dobbs played in that game, but it still made Temple's win look even better. And it put the Owls' loss to Villanova even farther in the rear-view mirror. Speaking of which...
4. September 3: Villanova 27, Temple 24
This game has to be here, doesn't it? At the time, we weren't even sure it was an upset. Temple had the edge in size, but Villanova's triple-option did just enough to outfox the Owls' defense.
And when Nick Yako kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired, the Villanova contingent at Lincoln Financial Field erupted as if they'd just won a Big 5 game.
The Temple side of the stadium was silent. But who knew on that night where the Owls would go from there?
3. November 14: Penn 17, Harvard 7
When Al Bagnoli's Quakers were at their peak at the beginning of this decade, they were defined by two things: a gunslinging offense and a swagger built on winning three Ivy League titles in four years.
After their 2003 championship, though, the wheels came off. Kyle Ambrogi's suicide was followed by Derek Zoch's kicking follies, and each loss seemed to compound the others.
Slowly, though, this year's Penn squad built up its confidence. Not to the level where it had been, but it was still noticeable. It paid off when the Quakers won at Brown, snapping a five-year losing streak to the Bears and a six-year drought without an overtime victory.
Then came the biggest challenge of all: a trip to Harvard Stadium to play the reigning champion Crimson for the Ivy League title. Both teams were undefeated in conference play, but the home side knew how to get over the top.
The visitors, however, had an ace up their sleeve. Zach Heller, Jake Lewko and the nation's stingiest defense wrought havoc on Harvard's offensive line, sacking Crimson quarterback Collier Winters three times. Penn quarterback Kyle Olson threw for a touchdown pass and ran for another, and the Quakers finally returned to the top of the mountain.
2. December 18: Villanova 23, Montana 21
For all its athletic success, Villanova hasn't won that many national championships. This was its biggest since the biggest one of all in 1985.
Does it mean 'Nova will become a football school? No, but winning the title gave two people some much-deserved time in the spotlight.
Andy Talley has been on the Main Line for 24 years now, and has slowly built the Wildcats into a I-AA powerhouse. Matt Szczur is a tremendous athlete and a person of impressively high character, as we learned when he announced he would be donating his bone marrow in January to save a younmg girl's life.
Now we hear from a loud segment of Wildcats fans who want Talley's program to join the rest of Villanova's teams in the Big East. But the CAA strikes me as exactly the right place to be.
That's not just because Villanova didn't come close to selling out its playoff games. Playing in the CAA gives the Wildcats a fair share of local and national attention, but without having to spend the absurd amounts of money it takes to swim in the BCS sea.
To be even more blunt about it, you get attention by winning games - especially in a region that focuses much more on professional sports. Philadelphia's college football teams generated more buzz and got more coverage than ever this year because they won.
Would that be the case if Villanova and/or Temple played in the Big East? I doubt it. There's too much history for me to think it would be that easy for either program to achieve quick success in a BCS conference.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
As Temple's football team prepares to play in its first bowl game in 30 years, I thought I'd take a look back into the archives at how the Inquirer covered the Owls' win over California in the 1979 Garden State Bowl.
The game took place on Saturday, December 16, at Giants Stadium. The Daily News didn't publish on Sundays back then either, so I only included stories from the Sunday Inquirer of December 17.
I was pretty surprised to find that one of the three writers who covered the game was Gail Shister, who went on to write a renowned television column. She was in the sports department at the time, though, and joined the legendary late columnist Frank Dolson in the press box along with Danny Robbins.
You can see pictures of the printed pages as scanned from microfilm above. It's an interesting perspective on how big the Owls' success was back then, and how the nation viewed football in this part of the country.
Click on the links below to read the stories.
Temple wins one for the East by Danny Robbins
Brotherly love - Temple's big intangible by Gail Shister
A fan club emerges by Frank Dolson
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
Over the next few days, you're going to see all kinds of year-in-review lists here on Philly.com. I'm getting the ball rolling with what I think were the top 10 college basketball games of the year involving local teams.
I didn't attend all of them, but I did write about all of them here on the blog. I'm sure you'll disagree with some (maybe all) of my picks, and I hope you'll share your thoughts in the comments.
As I put this list together, a thought kept coming back to me. There are people out there - we know who they are - who claim that various places in the country represent the heart of college basketball. Some say it's Indianapolis, others Dayton, and plenty of loudmouths think it's the Tobacco Road triangle.
Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com
With typos corrected (twice). Argh.
Before you head off for Christmas, here's an appetizer to set up your weekend feasting. It's the first Crunchy Numbers of the basketball season.
This year, I'm going to do the Schuylkill 16 NCAA Tournament teamsheet compilation each week in addition to the City Six rankings table. The teamsheets come from Basketball State, and if you don't have a subscription I'd strongly encourage you to get one.
As usual, the rankings table has the City Six teams and the teamsheet table has the Schuylkill 16. I'll also do a second teamsheet table each week featuring other teams of interest from across the country.
I'd like to keep that table to 16 teams too, but if there's a team you want to see let me know and I'll try to find space for it.
In the rankings table, RPI data comes from Stats Inc. (which we host here on Philly.com) and strength-of-schedule data comes from Ken Pomeroy. All data is as of December 22.
City Six rankings table
|
Team
|
Record
|
Conf.
|
Big
5
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Drexel
|
6-6
|
1-0
|
1-2
|
169
|
125
|
151
|
179
|
134
|
|
La
Salle
|
7-4
|
0-0
|
0-1
|
127
|
67
|
101
|
140
|
78
|
|
Penn
|
0-7
|
0-0
|
0-1
|
321
|
345
|
335
|
332
|
237
|
|
St.
Joseph's
|
4-6
|
0-0
|
0-1
|
161
|
106
|
158
|
133
|
72
|
|
Temple
|
9-2
|
0-0
|
1-0
|
21
|
3
|
12
|
27
|
57
|
| Villanova |
10-1
|
0-0
|
3-1
|
34
|
10
|
11
|
31
|
162
|
Schuylkill 16 NCAA Tournament teamsheets
|
Team
|
Top
50 wins
|
201+
losses
|
Avg.
win
|
Avg.
loss
|
|
0
|
2
|
321
|
141
|
|
|
0
|
2
|
235
|
150
|
|
| Delaware St. |
0
|
3
|
75
|
196
|
|
0
|
0
|
222
|
76
|
|
|
0
|
0
|
236
|
37
|
|
| Lafayette |
0
|
1
|
286
|
137
|
|
0
|
2
|
295
|
96
|
|
|
0
|
3
|
310
|
187
|
|
|
0
|
4
|
n/a
|
212
|
|
| Penn State |
0
|
0
|
263
|
97
|
| Princeton |
0
|
0
|
242
|
114
|
| Rider |
0
|
1
|
230
|
141
|
| Rutgers |
0
|
0
|
229
|
86
|
| St. Joseph's |
0
|
0
|
160
|
51
|
| Temple |
3
|
0
|
142
|
27
|
| Villanova |
2
|
0
|
156
|
14
|
Selected other teams
|
Team
|
Top
50 wins
|
201+
losses
|
Avg.
win
|
Avg.
loss
|
| Syracuse |
2
|
0
|
168
|
n/a
|
|
3
|
0
|
141
|
n/a
|
|
|
2
|
0
|
156
|
79
|
|
|
0
|
0
|
179
|
12
|
|
|
0
|
0
|
160
|
58
|
|
|
1
|
0
|
154
|
33
|
|
| Harvard |
1
|
0
|
169
|
58
|
| Kentucky |
2
|
0
|
159
|
n/a
|
| Duke |
5
|
0
|
89
|
25
|
| North Carolina |
1
|
0
|
167
|
n/a
|
| Kansas |
1
|
0
|
295
|
143
|
| Texas |
3
|
0
|
140
|
n/a
|
| Purdue |
1
|
0
|
146
|
n/a
|
| Michigan St. |
1
|
0
|
198
|
47
|
| Butler |
2
|
0
|
174
|
61
|
| Gonzaga |
1
|
0
|
147
|
55
|