tc215

Mike Gibson is pretty much the worst (creepy too). Here's some local (Philadelphia) game coverage from a credible new source: Video previewFriday write-up in the Philadelphia InquirerFacts and figuresJahad Thomas profileTemple recruiting

Notre DameCincinnatiPenn StateUSF/ECU (toss-up since ECU has completely gone of the rails these past two games)

Oh?

There's an oldhead part of the fanbase that waxes nostalgically about the Wayne Hardin, Bruce Arians (yeah, he used to coach Temple) days but 20 years of suck kind of wiped any sort of memory of those teams. It's a completely different university today and while there are nods to that past era of non-sucking, you might as well be talking about Pop Warner from the 1930s (another former Temple HC) with most younger (sub-40s) fans. I'm a 2000 graduate and for me, there weren't any good ol' days. Just lots of blowouts to the Miamis and VTs of the world. I'd say a relevant comparison would be post-BE expulsion, seeing teams like Pitt and Rutgers move on to greener pastures. In our worst days these would be competitive games if not Temple wins. Especially Rutgers - seeing them in the big money Big Ten stings.

Does USF have a better win than Penn State or at Cincinnati? I looked at 5 seasons. Apologies for not including that one year out of the past 8 where Cincinnati was miserable. Nah, we sucked when we were tossed from the BE and deserved the boot. You're right, though - it's cyclical. Honestly, I feel like USF this year is pretty similar to 2014 Temple. Solid defense. Inconsistent offense. Playing the league's better teams close but losing (see 3 and 8 point Temple losses to Memphis and Cincinnati last year). A .500 team that's still a year away but improving.

Half-orc (link in image): And his teammates aren't half-bad (link in image):

Penn State's losses have all been to ranked teams, while they've also beaten three above-.500 teams and a Maryland team that beat USF. Cincinnati will be decided soon. Keep in mind, their loss to Temple was at home. Over the past five seasons, Cincinnati has lost 5 home games, to: 2011: a ranked West Virginia team that won 10 games and went to the Orange Bowl2012: a ranked Rutgers team that won 9 games2013: a ranked Louisville team that won 12 games2014: a ranked Memphis team that won 10 games2015: TempleBesides a 2 TD loss at 7-2 BYU, Cincinnati has lost by 7 at Memphis and 3 at Houston. Cincinnati is pretty good.

This plus big, fast dudes (Temple has them) will be tough to beat.

Sounds right to me.

Fourth or fifth best team, to be honest.

That's a reasonable assessment from a USF perspective. The Temple counter-argument would be that these are two similar teams with Temple's superior defense (particularly a better run defense), marginally better passing game, more consistent kicker and overall experience being the difference.

Fair point - should've addressed the comment prior to yours.

This overabundance of confidence is built upon wins over UConn and ECU, right? And a 7-point home loss to Memphis?

Y'all lost to all three, so...

Except for the fact that Penn State has actually beaten some teams with winning records (3 to be exact), in addition to a Maryland team that USF lost to by 18. USF's best win would be @ECU, correct? Or maybe @UConn? I think we can put either win on par with Penn State beating a 5-4 Illinois team 39-0. (ugh, I can't believe I'm sticking up for Penn State) I'm happy this is a meaningful game in mid-November with conference title implications, but let's be real - USF will be the 4th best team Temple has faced this season, arguably 5th had ECU not gone off a cliff these past two weeks (after Temple beat them by 10).

Curious what USF win you would compare to Temple +8 at Cincinnati or Temple +17 vs Penn State.