DiMichele Down

It doesn’t seem just that such bad news could come out of Temple’s third straight win Saturday.

But, it was a little tougher to smile over Temple’s 24-17 victory over Miami of Ohio remembering that starting quarterback and redshirt junior Adam DiMichele broke his leg in the second quarter. Eight games into the season, and our quarterback is done for the season.

But, for the first time in a long time, eight games into the season and Temple isn’t yet done. With our second win in the East Division of the Mid-American Conference, Temple now has as many division wins as any of its six division competitors. Eight games into the season and Temple is in division contention.

There was a lot riding on Saturday’s game at Lincoln Financial Field, and the Owls came through in sterling fashion. Our third straight victory marked the first time that feat had been accomplished since 1990, which, coincidentally, was the
last time Temple football had a winning season.

All is well and good, but when a stretcher was brought onto the field for number 13, there wasn’t a lot of excitement coming from the 21,000 in attendance. It was reported that DiMichele underwent successful surgery to repair a fracture of his left tibia Sunday.

He has another year of eligibility, but there are at least four games left this season. And, goodness, we were really
starting to like him. He played tough. He looked strong. He was a leader.

After beginning the season with three losses – two tough fights overlooked by a 42-7 thumping by Buffalo – fan criticism was unsurprisingly harsh. The Temple News received several letters critiquing the football team – something we often see – and published one that seemed heartfelt yet decidedly bleak.

DiMichele felt he needed to respond. As a leader. He wrote an impassioned response to the letter’s author, a response that found its way on our blog. He wrote about humility, accountability, professionalism.
We believed.

On Saturday, we knew we could beat Miami of Ohio, then a division co-leader, because DiMichele was lining up with us. These are the stories, the games, the leaders that make a program. That build a program that needs building. When DiMichele went down, sophomore Vaughn Charlton moved in without hesitation. After looking nervous, Charlton managed a 61-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Bruce Francis that made us ooh.

Head coach Al Golden told usto believe in Charlton. Golden hasn’t led us wrong, yet. Still, it isn’t the last we’ve heard of DiMichele, to be sure.