And now starting at quarterback for your Temple Owls … enter any name here.
That has been the common theme for this year’s Temple football team. The starting quarterbacks have switched from senior Devin Scott, who started the first two games, to freshman Mike McGann who started the last two games, to senior backup Mac Devito, who has seen action in almost every game this year.
Coach Bobby Wallace seemed to have it figured out. He went with McGann the last two games, trying to give the tall and talented high school recruit from St. Joe’s Prep playing time at the college level.
But in last weeks’ 33-10 loss at Boston College, McGann suffered a sprained right thumb. Wallace said Tuesday that McGann will probably start Saturday.
If McGann can not play, the ball would probably be handed to opening-game-starter-turned-third-string Senior Devin Scott.
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Ticket money to go to relief fund Half of all ticket revenue from Saturday’s football game will go to the disaster relief effort. By Temple News Staff Temple will donate half of all ticket sales for Saturday’s football game against Rutgers to the disaster relief effort. As a part of the Firefighter’s union “Fill the Helmet” campaign, half of the money from the ticket sales will go to helping the families of firefighters killed in the World Trade Center attack. “Whether here at home or on the front line at ‘Ground Zero’ in New York City, Philadelphia’s police and fire fighters are true heroes,” Athletic Director Dave O’Brien said. “Temple has close links with many of these fine men and women. We are proud to salute them, and we are proud to be their partners in raising money for their fallen comrades.” Temple has planned a salute to local police and firefighters during the game. The firefighters will also appear with Temple cheerleaders and students at Friday’s Homecoming Pep Rally at Liberty Place. The firefighters will be collecting donations outside of Veterans’ Stadium before Saturday’s game. |
Scott did start the only game that this team has won, he was 11 for 15, throwing for 118 yards and a touchdown, winning 45-26.
But the win came against Navy, a team that is 0-4 and has lost their games by a combined 177-72 score, including a 70-7 embarrasment by Georgia Tech.
“If [McGann] can’t go [Tuesday] and for sure [Wednesday] and practice completely 100 percent tomorrow, he won’t start,” Wallace said. “I don’t know who would. I would have to make that decision later if that’s the case, but I have a feeling he’ll be fine. He looked fine this morning.”
Quarterback is not the only worry facing the team; getting healthy is the biggest issue.
At one time in the Boston College game, three-fourths of the talented defensive line was sitting on the sideline injured. Senior defensive end Raheem Brock participated in only one play in the game and sat out the rest with a hamstring injury.
Senior defensive tackle Russell Newman left the game with a bruised nerve in his leg, his status for the Rutgers game is uncertain.
“All we can do is keep working, keeping the people healthy is really not in my hands,” Wallace said. “Got to work to get better and got to stay healthy.”
Defensive end Raheem Brock is expected back on Saturday.
Temple is also shorthanded on the offensive line because of injuries. Starting strong, guard Donny Klein is playing with torn cartilage and may require season-ending surgery. Other lineman are injured, shifting positions, or are starting in their first games, like junior college transfer Anthony Bolden did against B.C.
The injured defense did the best they could at B.C. holding the Eagles to a field goal until a late safety against Temple in the second quarter. Then came two consecutive drives that produced touchdowns for B.C., ending any chance that Temple had to win the game.
But holding a great runner like William Green in check for most of the game until was impressive.
“We just play with the hope that our offense is coming around, and they are,” junior defensive tackle Dan Klecko said. “They are just hitting some bumps right now and they are going to start gelling and eventually it is going to happen and when it does we are going to take off.”
One of the bumps that they encountered during the B.C. game was the bad field position situation that they were given. Temple’s offense was constantly starting inside there 20. Their offense needs to turn it around, while the defense keeps playing solid.
There was some improvement in the running game, where Tarnardo Sharps ran for a season high 80 yards.
“We ran the football better, then the last two games, [and we were] so close to just breaking some of those,” Wallace said.
If Temple can get the running game started, who knows, maybe this season can be turned around, and it can be called a season of progress.
Football Notes:
SUMAN RETURNS
Senior linebacker Taylor Suman will return Saturday after sitting out the past few games for violating unspecified team rules.
“He’ll play real well, he’ll play like he always does,” Wallace said. “He’s been very excited about playing and I think he’s very remorseful for what happened. I think he’s expressed that to his teammates and [we’re] glad to have him back.”
MONKEES AFTER THE GAME
The Monkees, originally scheduled to perform after Temple’s game against UConn, which was postponed, will perform after Saturday’s game.
The UConn game, which has been rescheduled for Nov. 24, was cancelled in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
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