TCY Dynasty: Passing Yardage Challenge

[larrymcg421]

Despite the huge upset over Notre Dame (they finished the year ranked 9th), this was definitely a disappointing year. Due to Rayburn's injury we regressed in yardage totals quite a bit and it probably cost us a bowl game.

2009 Summary for Temple
   
Record: 4-7
Rank: 96
   
Temple                  Team      Rank  
Rushes                  136       125         
Rushing Yards           -136      125         
Yards Per Carry         -1.00     125         
Pass Attempts           613       1           
Completions             358       1           
Passing Yards           4557      1           
Yards Per Attempt       7.43      43          
3rd Down Conversions    33.0      81          
Points Per Game         27.4      36 (T)      
Turnovers               33        121 (T)     
Turnover Margin         -17       124         
   
Opponents               Team      Rank  
Rushes                  417       90 (T)      
Rushing Yards           1796      108         
Yards Per Carry         4.30      111         
Pass Attempts           316       38 (T)      
Completions             202       97 (T)      
Passing Yards           2893      114         
Yards Per Attempt       9.15      124         
3rd Down Conversions    32.3      38 (T)      
Points Per Game         44.2      125         
Turnovers               16        105 (T)     
   
Primary Formation: Run and Shoot Formation
   
Week  Team  Versus        Oppnt  
1     17    EMIC (110)    38      
2     55    CFLA (100)    24      
3     38    at NAVY (65)  31      
4     32    CMIC (14)     63      
5     17    WVIR (7)      87      
7     30    NOTR (6)      24      
9     14    at CONN (82)  40      
10    24    PITT (86)     38      
11    36    at BOSC (59)  39      
12    7     at SYRA (22)  75      
13    32    RUTG (107)    28      
   
Passing             Pos   Att   Comp  Yards Y/Att TD    Int  
13 Rayburn          QB    272   162   2122  7.80  18    8       
1 Bates             QB    182   98    1254  6.89  10    11      
17 McNeill          QB    156   96    1162  7.44  6     8       
Team                ---   613   358   4557  7.43  34    27      
   
Rushing             Pos   Att   Yards Y/Att TD    Stff  YdLst  
13 Rayburn          QB    35    -81   -2.31 0     23    131     
17 McNeill          QB    30    -88   -2.93 0     23    110     
1 Bates             QB    29    -120  -4.13 0     24    133     
Team                ---   136   -136  -1.00 2     81    396     
   
Receiving           Pos   Targ  Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC   TD  
80 Butler           WR    160   90    1254  13.9  531   15      
88 Forbes           WR    119   73    898   12.3  362   6       
81 Copeland         WR    108   57    959   16.8  384   5       
85 Van Lanen        WR    67    38    501   13.1  189   3       
31 Brown            RB    48    31    240   7.7   154   2       
9 Worzella          WR    47    25    342   13.6  128   2       
28 Willis           RB    35    25    192   7.6   150   1       
82 Tolar            TE    16    10    84    8.4   21    0       
Team                ---   613   358   4557  12.7  1921  34      
   
Defense             Pos   Tack  Asst  Sack  TFL   Ints  Defn  
29 Houston          S     58    25    0.0   8     1     4       
44 Woods            ILB   50    19    5.0   9     0     7       
42 Bromley          OLB   45    10    3.5   5     1     0       
90 Terrell          DE    43    19    9.0   13    0     2       
93 Alcott           OLB   42    15    2.0   7     2     0       
52 Suto             OLB   33    13    9.0   10    3     0       
22 Gaddis           CB    32    8     0.0   1     1     1       
25 Aiton            S     32    15    0.0   0     2     4
92 Harper           DE    30    10    3.0   6     0     0       
41 Banks            ILB   27    3     1.0   3     0     1       
36 Copenhauer       CB    25    10    0.0   0     0     2       
39 Page             S     19    9     0.0   2     1     1       
76 Malcolm          DT    18    9     2.0   3     0     0       
94 Groh             DT    17    6     2.0   6     0     1       
21 Daily            CB    13    4     0.0   1     0     3       
78 Holloman         DE    12    3     2.0   4     0     0       
56 Burns            OLB   12    10    1.0   3     0     1       
Team                ---   637   208   45.0  89    12    29

[larrymcg421]

WR Dana Butler

National Top Offensive Freshman
National Freshman Team
Big East Top Offensive Player
Big East Top Offensive Freshman
All-Big East 1st Team


QB JJ Rayburn

All-Big East 1st Team


WR Grant Forbes

All-Big East 2nd Team


WR Calvin Copeland

All-Big East 2nd Team


DE Shane Terrell

All-Big East 2nd Team

[larrymcg421]

Definitely our best recruiting class to date. We get our QB of the future, not to mention plenty of depth on the line and at WR.

  Player                  Pos   HT   WT   ST   NRank ByPos  StRank ByPos
Fields, Zach              QB    6-5  213  NJ   26    4      1      1        
Sellers, Tom              G     6-4  279  MN   68    5      3      1        
Kirk, Jimmy               C     6-2  254  NH   102   9      1      1        
Ostrander, Maurice        T     6-5  253  MI   106   12     3      2        
Shantz, Rich              RB    5-9  183  NY   148   10     8      2        
Welch, Walter             WR    5-11 178  NY   165   7      10     2        
Erickson, Tracy           G     6-4  283  TX   166   17     12     2        
Boland, Willie            WR    6-2  192  MI   209   12     7      1        
Millner, Bryan            G     6-5  289  FL   243   24     18     2        
**Keeney, Ronald          T     6-5  290  NJ   605   39     19     4        
$$Rivera, Phil            S     5-11 174  NC   ---   ---    49     5        
##Bryant, Lionel          OLB   6-0  206  FL   ---   ---    ---    11       
$$Ballard, Earl           DE    6-3  244  NY   ---   ---    ---    7        
##Jennings, Dan           DT    6-6  266  IL   ---   ---    94     6        
##Anthony, Johnnie        DT    6-1  243  TX   ---   ---    ---    9        
##Andersen, James         CB    5-11 171  VA   ---   ---    68     8 

[larrymcg421]

Heisman Winner: QB Luke Woodson, Notre Dame (4257 yards, 48 TD, 13 INT) - Nevermind that he choked against us by fumbling in OT.
National Championship: Texas 32, Southern Cal 7

   
  School                Record  Conf  Comp  Poll  Loss  Sched Total Rank  
Texas                   13-0    B12   1.00  1.00  0.00  0.36  2.36  1       
UCLA                    11-1    P10   2.50  4.00  1.00  0.96  8.46  2       
Stanford                11-1    P10   2.25  7.50  1.00  0.88  11.63 3       
Wisconsin               11-1    B10   4.00  3.00  1.00  4.56  12.56 4       
Michigan                10-2    B10   8.75  2.00  2.00  3.24  15.99 5       
Southern California     9-3     P10   9.25  5.00  3.00  0.12  17.37 6       
Georgia Tech            10-2    ACC   4.75  11.00 2.00  0.76  18.51 7       
Illinois                10-2    B10   5.75  9.50  2.00  1.60  18.85 8       
Notre Dame              10-2    IND   9.75  6.00  2.00  2.32  20.07 9       
West Virginia           10-2    BEA   9.75  9.00  2.00  4.60  25.35 10      
Nebraska                9-4     B12   11.50 11.00 4.00  0.20  26.70 11      
Auburn                  10-3    SEC   17.25 9.50  3.00  2.00  31.75 12      
Tulane                  10-2    CUS   13.50 12.50 2.00  3.76  31.76 13      
Maryland                9-3     ACC   10.00 17.50 3.00  1.68  32.18 14      
Carroll College         10-2    BSK   13.25 18.00 2.00  2.12  35.37 15      
Virginia Tech           9-3     ACC   14.00 18.00 3.00  1.24  36.24 16      
Central Michigan        10-2    MDF   17.00 14.00 2.00  5.00  38.00 17      
Georgia                 10-3    SEC   16.75 17.00 3.00  1.88  38.63 18      
Florida                 9-3     SEC   17.00 15.50 3.00  4.24  39.74 19      
Clemson                 9-3     ACC   17.00 20.00 3.00  2.84  42.84 20      
Mississippi             9-3     SEC   22.25 20.00 3.00  3.68  48.93 21      
Syracuse                8-4     BEA   27.00 23.50 4.00  1.40  55.90 22      
Texas A&M               8-4     B12   23.00 28.50 4.00  0.56  56.06 23      
Texas Christian         8-4     CUS   31.50 22.50 4.00  1.80  59.80 24      
Houston                 8-4     CUS   21.50 31.50 4.00  3.56  60.56 25 

[larrymcg421]

Graduating Seniors:

QB JJ Rayburn (#3 Overall, #1 QB)

Rayburn was our superstar that finally took us to the next level. Despite throwing a ton of picks in his first two years, he still showed nice improvement and came away with a huge junior season where he threw for 5061 yards and 37 TD's. For this, he was the runner-up in Heisman balloting. He was off to a strong senior season, but his career was ended at midseason in the middle of a huge upset over Notre Dame. Finished career with 56.9% completion, 14166 yards, 99 TD, 95 INT

Honors: National Freshman Team (2006), Big East Top Offensive Freshman (2006), All-Big East 2nd Team (2007), Big East Conference MVP (2008), Big East Top Offensive Player (2008), All-Big East 1st Team (2008), All-Big East 1st Team (2009)

RB BJ Brown (Unranked)

Yeah, it's not fun to be an RB in our system, but BJ was just thankful to get a scholarship. He actually was a pretty good receiver in the limited time he got to play, finishing his career with 78 catches for 658 yards and 6 TD.

WR Michael Douthett (Unranked)

Desperation recruit that never really filled out. Had 59 catches for 734 yards and 9 TD in his freshman year, but only caught 18 passes over the next three years.

WR Dustin Worzella (#170 Overall, #10 WR)

Our first big time WR recruit. Despite strong freshman and sophomore years, injury problems plagued him the next two years and he has to be considered a disappointment. Still finished career with 205 catches, 2721 yards, and 19 TD.

Honors: National Freshman Team (2006), All-Big East 1st Team (2007)

G Marshall Ross (#159 Overall, #18 G)

A huge disappointment here. Started 10 games as a freshman, allowing 14 sacks. Didn't start another game in his entire career.

[Poli]

Preferred walk ons for defense? So are you recruiting smart kids for the defense, just not offering the scholarship?

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

Preferred walk ons for defense? So are you recruiting smart kids for the defense, just not offering the scholarship?

Exactly, but not insanely smart. I'm still trying to get guys that can manage to find the field. Basically I go for the highest rated guys with SAT's 1200+ that don't have any offers.

[larrymcg421]

Offseason notes:

*Academics haven't changed. We're still ranked 8th and top 10 in everything.

*We've moved up in the preseason rankings to 84th overall and 5th in the Big East.

*Roster Strengths: QB (78th), WR (8th), C (76th), G (7th), T (71st). again, these are a bit misleading because many of my guys are green and they will be getting good development during the season.

*Rivals.com says we have the #1 recruiting class in the nation!

[larrymcg421]

Here are your 2010 Temple Owls. Welcome to the Zach Fields era.

   
  Player                #    Pos  Elig  Current Estimate  Future Estimate  
McNeill, Cornelius      17   QB   Sr*   37                64                  
Fields, Zach            7    QB   Fr    29                99                  
Murray, Al              3    QB*  So    0                 19                  
Willis, Brad            28   RB   Jr    74                92                  
Shantz, Rich            34   RB   Fr    32                99                  
Campbell, Pete          30   RB*  Sr    14                14                  
Bowman, Louie           24   RB*  Sr*   7                 19                  
Murray, Hunter          43   FB*  Fr    8                 21                  
Dawson, Lawrence        45   FB*  So    7                 7                   
Carriger, Harold        83   TE*  Sr    19                55                  
Allen, Cris             86   TE*  Sr    14                24                  
Wagner, Larry           82   TE*  Fr    8                 8                   
Butler, Dana            80   WR   So    78                97                  
Copeland, Calvin        81   WR   Jr    65                85                  
Forbes, Grant           88   WR   Sr    64                75                  
Van Lanen, Alfred       85   WR   Jr    53                91                  
Neal, J.R.              2    WR   Jr    40                80                  
Boland, Willie          87   WR   Fr    38                92                  
Welch, Walter           4    WR   Fr    33                69                  
Grinnell, Jamie         51   C    So    37                67                  
Montgomery, Steven      59   C    Jr    22                51                  
Kirk, Jimmy             58   C    Fr    8                 75                  
Brummitt, Marc          77   G    Sr*   82                82                  
McGee, Melvin           66   G    Jr*   62                75                  
Badillo, Blaine         68   G    Jr*   42                91                  
Reid, Bernard           74   G    So    30                84                  
Sellers, Tom            67   G    Fr    22                58                  
Reid, Sammie            79   G    Sr*   21                63                  
Erickson, Tracy         63   G    Fr    16                72                  
Millner, Bryan          62   G    Fr    14                77                  
Sweeney, Floyd          75   T    So    39                76                  
Vaughn, Melvin          60   T    So    37                76                  
Hughes, Calvin          64   T    Jr    34                75                  
Franz, Courtney         61   T    Jr    31                63                  
May, Ted                70   T    Sr    25                60                  
Keeney, Ronald          69   T    Fr    14                68                  
Ostrander, Maurice      65   T    Fr    6                 76                  
Stickney, Mark          15   P*   Jr*   28                42                  
Cushman, Bernie         6    P*   Sr*   5                 29                  
Glover, Craig           12   K    So    88                88                  
Burgess, Ted            14   K*   Sr    11                15                  
Terrell, Shane          90   DE*  Sr    46                77                  
Holloman, Jared         78   DE*  Sr    16                52                  
Robb, Curtis            73   DE*  Jr    10                53                  
Blades, Quinn           99   DE*  So    4                 52                  
Besmer, Luke            71   DE*  So*   3                 34                  
Ballard, Earl           92   DE*  Fr    2                 54                  
Bishop, Nate            96   DT*  Sr*   24                24                  
Clancy, Johnny          97   DT*  Sr    19                32                  
Malcolm, Henry          76   DT*  Jr    19                21                  
Jennings, Dan           94   DT*  Fr    9                 60                  
Jizmejian, Percy        72   DT*  So*   7                 13                  
Anthony, Johnnie        98   DT*  Fr    4                 55                  
Carlson, Levon          91   DT*  So*   1                 39                  
Woods, Anthony          44   ILB* Sr    37                40                  
Banks, Ted              41   ILB* Sr    27                27                  
Bush, Pat               47   ILB* Jr    10                24                  
Hamrahi, Lamar          53   ILB* So    8                 29                  
Suto, Calvin            52   OLB* Sr    28                28                  
Hammond, Harold         95   OLB* Sr    20                46                  
Bryant, Lionel          40   OLB* Fr    10                50                  
Burns, Gerald           56   OLB* So    9                 57                  
Gaddis, Charles         22   CB*  Sr    32                47                  
Daily, Roderick         21   CB*  Jr    23                48                  
Lynch, Wink             49   CB*  So    22                45                  
Maxwell, Jeremy         46   CB*  Jr    16                34                  
Andersen, James         31   CB*  Fr    12                28                  
Beisner, Walter         37   CB*  So    10                51                  
Aiton, Ralph            25   S*   Jr    34                68                  
Riley, Quinn            20   S*   So    24                35                  
Rivera, Phil            35   S*   Fr    18                57                  
Griffith, Doug          26   S*   Sr    15                47                  
Ford, Gerald            27   S*   So    7                 48                  

[larrymcg421]

Week 1 is a bye

Week 2

Navy (0-0) at Temple (0-0)

The Zach Fields era begins a little shaky as he gives up a 15 yard sack on his second play and finds himself with a 3rd and 30 on his very first series. Navy quickly takes advantage to make the first score, but that's when Fields rose up. Two consecutive TD drives to close the quarter put us up 14-7. The game went back and forth as neither defense had a solution. Two TD's right before the half gave us a 28-17 lead and a two possession advantage. Navy kept scoring to make it close, but Fields would march right down the field. He comes away from his debut with 561 yards and 5 TD's and a 42-40 victory.

Final Score: Temple 42, Navy 40

Zach Fields 46-70-561-5-3
Dana Butler 14-183-1
Grant Forbes 10-160-1
Calvin Copeland 7-75-1
Alfred Van Lanen 6-57-1

Race to 6000 Update:

Current Avg. per game: 561.00
Last season average: 414.3
Avg. needed (without Bowl): 545.45
Avg. needed (with Bowl): 500.00

[Crim]

That's promising.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Crim

That's promising.

Yep, and Fields is still very green. It'll be amazing to see what he can do when he maxes out his bars.

[larrymcg421]

Week 3

Bah, a bunch of defensive players asking for a scholarship. Aren't you guys late for class?

Temple (1-0) at Central Florida (0-1)

The offense is mostly firing on all cylinders right now. There are a couple of problems, though. Fields threw a couple of costly picks that were returned for TD's and kept Central Florida in the game. Also, the offensive coordinator somehow slipped in a couple runs for Brad Willis, who had 47 yards rushing and 2 TD in the game. What a travesty! Still, Fields had another nice game with 426 yards passing and 4 TD's and we won 49-46. That yardage total needs to get a bit higher if we're to hit 6000, though.

Final Score: Temple 49, Central Florida 46

Zach Fields 36-55-426-4-2 (82-125-987-9-5)
Calvin Copeland 11-158-0 (18-233-1)
Dana Butler 9-97-1 (23-280-2)
Grant Forbes 6-76-1 (16-236-2)
Alfred Van Lanen 6-62-2 (12-119-3)

Race to 6000 Update:

Fields Current Avg.: 493.5
Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Remaining Avg. Needed (without Bowl): 557.0
Remaining Avg. Needed (with Bowl): 501.3

[larrymcg421]

Week 4

Temple (2-0) at Central Michigan (1-0)

Not a bad start. Fields throws a TD pass to Copeland 5 minutes into the game to tie the score at 7. Unfortunately, that would be his only TD pass of the day. Central Michigan gave him fits all afternoon and he was replaced by McNeill at halftime (not happy about this, I had Fields set to 9 playing time). Meanwhile, our walk-ons had no hope against the Central Michigan offense.

Final Score: Central Michigan 52, Temple 14

Zach Fields 12-32-115-1-2 (94-157-1102-10-7)
Dana Butler 5-58-0 (28-338-2)
Grant Forbes 4-49-1 (20-285-3)
Alfred Van Lanen 3-41-0 (15-160-3)
Calvin Copeland 2-19-1 (20-252-2)

Race to 6000 Update:

Fields Current Avg: 367.3
Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Remaining Avg. Needed (without Bowl): 612.3
Remaining Avg. Needed (with Bowl): 544.2

[larrymcg421]

Week 5

Temple (2-1) at #10 Syracuse (2-0)

Fields rebounds a bit and actually keeps this game competitive until the 4th quarter. We actually led 14-7 at one point, but Syracuse was just too strong. Fields put up decent numbers considering he was sacked 8 times, but we're falling well behind the 6000 pace. Probably not gonna happen this year.

Final Score: Syracuse 52, Temple 17

Zach Fields 32-43-415-2-2 (126-200-1517-12-9)
Dana Butler 9-161-1 (37-499-3)
Grant Forbes 5-68-0 (25-353-3)
Alfred Van Lanen 4-45-0 (19-205-3)
Calvin Copeland 4-41-0 (24-293-2)

Race to 6000 Update:

Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Fields Current Avg: 379.3
Remaining Avg. Needed (without Bowl): 640.4
Remaining Avg. Needed (with Bowl): 560.4

[larrymcg421]

Week 6 is a bye.

No recruiting news yet.

Week 7

Rutgers (2-2) at Temple (2-2)

Rutgers sucks in this universe, and that's a problem for us. Fields has no problem moving the ball, but the dogs get called off at halftime and our yardage total suffers.

Final Score: Temple 42, Rutgers 13

Zach Fields 34-53-395-6-1 (160-253-1912-18-10)
Dana Butler 7-89-4 (44-588-7)
Grant Forbes 7-71-0 (32-424-3)
Alfred Van Lanen 5-89-0 (24-294-3)
Calvin Copeland 8-85-2 (32-378-4)

Race to 6000 Update:

Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Fields Current Avg: 382.4
Remaining Avg. Needed (without Bowl): 681.3
Remaining Avg. Needed (with Bowl): 584.0

[larrymcg421]

Week 8

Really struggling in recruiting as we still have no commits.

Temple (3-2) at Boston College (3-2)

BC races out an easy 21-0 lead and we have no chance in this one. Stupid AI replaces Fields at halftime, so we fall even further behind our goal. Doesn't even look like we'll do as good as last year at this point, although last year's average is cumulative and this year i'm just focusing on Fields numbers.

Final Score: Boston College 48, Temple 17

Zach Fields 15-31-245-1-4 (175-284-2157-19-14)
Dana Butler 9-103-0 (53-691-7)
Grant Forbes 9-145-0 (41-569-3)
Alfred Van Lanen 3-42-0 (27-336-3)
Calvin Copeland 3-55-2 (35-433-6)

Race to 6000 Update: (changed this a bit since the remainign avg.
numbers were getting out of hand)

Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Fields Current Avg: 382.4
Current Pace (without Bowl): 4206
Current Pace (with Bowl): 4589

[larrymcg421]

Week 9

Only recruit I've landed so far is a QB, which is the position I need the least. The guy is the #534 player in the nation and will serve primarily as a backup. Still got 9 offers out there for the line and WR's.

Temple (3-3) at Pittsburgh (2-4)

Exciting game where neither team managed more than one scoring drive in a row. Pittsburgh took a 35-31 lead with 54 seconds left, but they left way too much time on the clock. Fields completed a 42 yard pass to Copeland. Then with 23 seconds left, he found Grant forbes for a 33 yard TD pass and the win. This keeps our bowl hopes alive.

Final Score: Temple 38, Pittsburgh 35

Zach Fields 47-62-551-5-0 (222-346-2708-24-14)
Grant Forbes 12-181-2 (53-750-5)
Dana Butler 10-109-1 (63-800-8)
Calvin Copeland 8-119-1 (43-552-7)
Alfred Van Lanen 8-78-0 (35-414-3)

Race to 6000 Update:

Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Fields Current Avg: 386.9
Current Pace (without Bowl): 4257
Current Pace (with Bowl): 4644

[larrymcg421]

Week 10

Got a commitment from the #18 WR in the nation. Gonna need to find a stud WR next year, as the guys I've been getting are mostly solid #2 guys.

Temple (4-3) at Connecticut (1-6)

With 4 games left, we need two wins to qualify for a bowl. Two of those four games are against top 10 teams, so this one is a must win. Fields has another huge game, avoiding a pick for the 2nd week in a row. It looked like our defense had blown the game by giving up a 90 yard TD run early in the 4th quarter. however, Fields led us to 11 points in the final 3 minutes, and his TD pass to freshman Walter Welch in OT proved to be the winning score. Fields has 1098 yards and 10 TD's in the past two games.

Final Score: Temple 41, Connecticut 38

Zach Fields 44-64-547-5-0 (266-410-3255-29-14)
Grant Forbes 11-151-0 (64-901-5)
Dana Butler 9-132-1 (72-932-9)
Calvin Copeland 8-115-1 (51-667-8)
Van Lanen is out for 5 weeks, so I'll stop tracking him.

Race to 6000 Update:

Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Fields Current Avg: 406.9
Current Pace (without Bowl): 4476
Current Pace (with Bowl): 4883

[RPI-Fan]

Butler is on pace for a MONSTER season (108-1400-14) and he's only a sophomore.

In two years he could very well win the Heisman (2,000 receiving yards, 20 TD's????)

[larrymcg421]

Week 11 - Bye

Lost every target at Guard. Definitely the worst recruiting season in recent memory. Offered a scholarship to best Guard left, the #69 in the nation. Still only two commitments.

Week 12

Finally picked up a great recruit. The #12 Tackle in the nation decides to sign with us. Waiting back on four more offers that are out before I go after the walk-ons. Their pansy Heisman winner from last year is out for the season.

#1 Notre Dame (8-0) at Temple (5-3)

Revenge matchup. We ended Notre Dame's national title hopes last year, and now they are once again undefeated going into the matchup. Fields opens the game by running for a 6 yard TD. 8 seconds letter, we return an INT 73 yards for a TD. 2 minutes later, Fields finds freshman Willie Boland for a 19 yard TD. Scoring slows down, but early in the 2nd quarter Fields finds Dana Butler for a 14 yard TD. Scoreboard read: Temple 28, Notre Dame 0. My Temple Owls looking good in the 2nd quarter! Unfortunately, the Irish score 17 straight to close the half and the lead is down to 28-17. A FG gives us a 31-17 lead, but that would be our last score of the game. Three scoring drives from Notre Dame gave them a 34-31 lead. We cannot convert a 1st down in the 3rd quarter, ending drives with several 4trh and 1 situations, but the coach punts it away, even with only 2:28 left. What a heartbreaking defeat.

Final Score: Notre Dame 34, Temple 31

Zach Fields 38-63-419-2-1 (304-473-3674-31-15)
Grant Forbes 9-100-0 (73-1001-5)
Dana Butler 9-127-1 (81-1059)
Calvin Copeland 7-74-0 (58-741-8)

Race to 6000 Update:

Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Fields Current Avg: 408.2
Current Pace (without Bowl): 4490
Current Pace (with Bowl): 4898

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Butler is on pace for a MONSTER season (108-1400-14) and he's only a sophomore.

In two years he could very well win the Heisman (2,000 receiving yards, 20 TD's????)

That would be great to see, but if he has that kind of season then Fields will probably beat him for the Heisman. Also remember, Forbes had a sophomore season with 114 catches, 1610 yards and 14 TD's, but has since regressed a bit. Butler is definitely a special player, though. I've kept him (and Forbes) out of the #1 WR slot to get them better matchups and it seems to have helped.

[larrymcg421]

Week 13

Finally land some recruits. #12 Tackle in the nation signs with us. Also nabbed a #52 Tackle and the #69 Guard, both for depth purposes. Still have offers out to two top 5 Centers.

#14 West Virginia (7-2) at Temple (5-4)

We get off to another great start against a top notch team. Fields connects with Butler on a 74 yard TD pass to open the game and two more TD passes give us a 21-7 lead. West Virginia would score twice more in the half, but Fields 4th TD pass gives us a 28-17 halftime lead. Unfortunately, once again we collapse against a superior team. West Virginia would score on three consecutive TD drives before we could get on the board again. We made it close, but the Mountaineers iced the game with a 4 yard TD pass late int he 4th quarter.

Final Score: West Virginia 47, Temple 35

Zach Fields 31-49-478-5-1 (335-522-4152-36-16)
Dana Butler 10-191-1 (91-1250-11)
Grant Forbes 9-150-1 (82-1151-6)
Calvin Copeland 6-80-1 (64-821-9)

Race to 6000 Update:

Last Season Avg.: 414.3
Fields Current Avg: 415.2
Current Pace (without Bowl): 4567
Current Pace (with Bowl): 4972

Still an outside shot at 5000 if we can get to a bowl game, but we have to win our final game to qualify.

[larrymcg421]

Week 14

Landed both the #2 and #5 Centers in the country, somewhat saving this recruiting class.

Temple (5-5) at Eastern Michigan (1-9)

All we need was a win over lousy Eastern Michigan to qualify for a bowl. Fields immediately got a TD on the first drive, but after that he struggled and turned in one of the worst performances of the season. WR's Dana Butler and Grant Forbes (playing in his last career game) would turn in valiant performances, combining for 336 of Fields' 378 passing yards on the day. Unfortunately, ther 4 INT's thrown by Fields put us into too deep a hole and we would not recover.

Final Score: Eastern Michigan 37, Temple 24

Zach Fields 30-57-378-2-4 (365-579-4530-38-20)
Dana Butler 11-161-3 (102-1411-14)
Grant Forbes 12-175-0 (94-1326-6)
Calvin Copeland 0-0-0 (64-821-9) - Injured early in the game.

Missed the 6000 mark by quite a bit, but Fields is still pretty green so I expect him to be able to challenge it in the next few seasons.

[larrymcg421]

Despite the three consecutive losses at the end, this was still our best season yet. As our guys continue to develop, we look to get even better in the coming years abnd hopefully a bowl game is on the horizon.

Record: 5-6
Rank: 77
   
Temple                  Team      Rank  
Rushes                  147       125         
Rushing Yards           -30       125         
Yards Per Carry         0.0-20    125         
Pass Attempts           629       1           
Completions             398       1           
Passing Yards           4912      1           
Yards Per Attempt       7.80      38          
3rd Down Conversions    31.3      79          
Points Per Game         31.8      25          
Turnovers               28        101 (T)     
Turnover Margin         -5        81 (T)      
   
Opponents               Team      Rank  
Rushes                  371       33 (T)      
Rushing Yards           1817      111         
Yards Per Carry         4.89      123 (T)     
Pass Attempts           337       57 (T)      
Completions             215       110         
Passing Yards           3244      125         
Yards Per Attempt       9.62      125         
3rd Down Conversions    43.1      119         
Points Per Game         40.1      123         
Turnovers               23        43 (T)      
   
Primary Formation: Run and Shoot Formation
   
Week  Team  Versus        Oppnt  
2     42    NAVY (73)     40      
3     49    at CFLA (123) 46      
4     14    at CMIC (11)  52      
5     17    SYRA (12)     52      
7     42    RUTG (110)    13      
8     17    at BOSC (40)  48      
9     38    at PITT (98)  35      
10    41    at CONN (117) 38      
12    31    NOTR (2)      34      
13    35    WVIR (7)      47      
14    24    at EMIC (112) 37      
   
Passing             Pos   Att   Comp  Yards Y/Att TD    Int  
7 Fields            QB    579   365   4530  7.82  38    20      
17 McNeill          QB    50    33    382   7.64  3     1       
Team                ---   629   398   4912  7.80  41    21      
   
Rushing             Pos   Att   Yards Y/Att TD    Stff  YdLst  
7 Fields            QB    94    -214  -2.27 1     61    379     
28 Willis           RB    34    185   5.44  3     7     8       
Team                ---   147   -30   -0.20 4     76    430     
   
Receiving           Pos   Targ  Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC   TD  
80 Butler           WR    162   102   1411  13.8  494   14      
88 Forbes           WR    132   94    1326  14.1  443   6       
81 Copeland         WR    95    64    821   12.8  271   9       
28 Willis           RB    82    53    435   8.2   269   4       
87 Boland           WR    66    30    364   12.1  113   3       
85 Van Lanen        WR    54    35    414   11.8  152   3       
4 Welch             WR    16    9     78    8.6   53    2       
Team                ---   629   398   4912  12.3  1829  41      
   
Defense             Pos   Tack  Asst  Sack  TFL   Ints  Defn  
44 Woods            ILB   58    20    3.5   10    1     6       
95 Hammond          OLB   57    18    3.5   9     1     1       
56 Burns            OLB   57    21    1.5   9     0     2       
25 Aiton            S     52    10    0.0   2     3     5       
90 Terrell          DE    35    13    4.5   8     0     0       
52 Suto             OLB   30    16    1.0   3     0     4       
22 Gaddis           CB    30    11    0.0   4     1     1       
35 Rivera           S     30    13    0.0   1     1     1       
21 Daily            CB    26    9     0.0   2     2     3       
41 Banks            ILB   20    10    1.5   2     0     1       
49 Lynch            CB    20    6     1.0   4     0     4 
76 Malcolm          DT    17    4     3.0   5     1     0       
73 Robb             DE    16    9     3.5   6     0     1       
94 Jennings         DT    15    8     2.0   4     0     1       
92 Ballard          DE    12    3     0.0   1     0     0       
78 Holloman         DE    11    3     1.5   3     0     0       
20 Riley            S     11    12    0.0   4     0     1       
Team                ---   613   202   30.0  84    11    32

[larrymcg421]

Here's our ugly recruiting class...

  Player                  Pos   HT   WT   ST   NRank ByPos  StRank ByPos
Beavers, Preston          C     6-2  261  NY   14    2      3      1        
Roberts, Daniel           C     6-4  274  NJ   45    5      1      1        
Frederick, Greg           T     6-6  290  TN   65    12     3      1        
Niles, Orlando            WR    5-11 176  MD   297   18     8      1        
Cox, Jake                 T     6-5  270  NH   345   52     2      1        
**Muirbrook, Jon          QB    6-3  194  WI   534   45     18     1        
Rivera, Clyde             G     6-5  275  PA   732   69     43     4        
##Samuels, Irving         OLB   6-4  216  GA   ---   ---    43     3        
##Bernard, Steve          TE    6-3  209  AL   ---   86     34     2        
##Chitwood, Jeffrey       S     5-8  178  WA   ---   ---    52     8        
##Connell, Kelvin         CB    5-10 163  FL   ---   ---    ---    6        
##Ocasio, Roosevelt       P     5-9  158  LA   ---   71     31     2        
##Garrett, Dixon          DE    6-4  239  UT   ---   ---    23     4        
##Peterson, Cornelius     ILB   6-2  212  TX   ---   ---    ---    12       
##Gerhart, Grady          DT    6-5  242  IL   ---   ---    ---    7        

[larrymcg421]

Heisman Winner: QB Hardy Baxter, Eastern Michigan (262-387-3685-42-12)
National Championship: Virginia Tech 34, UCLA 10

  School                Record  Conf  Comp  Poll  Loss  Sched Total Rank  
Virginia Tech           12-0    ACC   1.50  1.00  0.00  1.48  3.98  1       
Florida                 12-1    SEC   1.25  4.00  1.00  0.16  6.41  2       
UCLA                    11-1    P10   3.75  2.50  1.00  1.84  9.09  3       
Ohio State              10-2    B10   4.25  7.50  2.00  0.12  13.87 4       
Notre Dame              11-1    IND   8.25  2.50  1.00  3.60  15.35 5       
Michigan                9-3     B10   6.75  6.00  3.00  0.20  15.95 6       
Texas                   10-3    B12   6.00  8.00  3.00  0.48  17.48 7       
West Virginia           10-2    BEA   8.25  8.50  2.00  1.88  20.63 8       
North Texas             11-1    SUN   8.25  7.50  1.00  3.92  20.67 9       
Syracuse                10-2    BEA   8.00  12.00 2.00  1.56  23.56 10      
Southern California     9-3     P10   17.50 7.50  3.00  1.12  29.12 11      
Wisconsin               9-3     B10   12.25 13.50 3.00  1.36  30.11 12      
Florida State           9-3     ACC   9.75  18.00 3.00  0.40  31.15 13      
Penn State              9-3     B10   8.50  19.50 3.00  1.52  32.52 14      
Illinois                9-3     B10   13.00 15.50 3.00  1.44  32.94 15      
Washington              10-2    P10   17.25 14.00 2.00  3.48  36.73 16      
Kansas State            9-3     B12   14.75 20.00 3.00  1.20  38.95 17      
Boise State             10-2    WAC   17.50 16.00 2.00  3.64  39.14 18      
Alabama                 9-3     SEC   13.25 22.50 3.00  0.88  39.63 19      
Central Michigan        11-2    MDF   24.25 11.00 2.00  4.84  42.09 20      
Utah                    9-3     MWE   20.75 20.50 3.00  3.04  47.29 21      
Nebraska                8-4     B12   29.75 16.00 4.00  2.28  52.03 22      
Georgia Tech            8-4     ACC   24.25 25.00 4.00  2.16  55.41 23      
Minnesota               8-4     B10   17.75 34.00 4.00  2.12  57.87 24      
Auburn                  8-5     SEC   28.75 25.00 5.00  0.04  58.79 25

[larrymcg421]

Graduating seniors:

We actually only have one graduating scholarship player this year...

WR Grant Forbes (#120 Overall, #8 WR)

A future Temple (and maybe overall) Hall of Famer, Forbes was our first real standout receiver. After an impressive freshman year, he exploded as a sophomore with 114 catches for 1610 yards and 14 TD's, earning him National All-American honors. He tailed off a bit in his junior year with the arrival of freshman Dana Butler. He improved for a terrific senior season and leaves Temple with a career total of 351 catches, 4730 yards, and 30 TD's.

Awards: Big East Top Offensive Freshman (2007), National All-American (2008), All-Big East 1st Team (2008), All-Big East 2nd Team (2009), All-Big East 2nd Team (2010)

[larrymcg421]

Forgot to do the complete list of awards our guys won this year...

QB Zach Fields

National Top Offensive Freshman
National All-Freshman Team
Big East Conference MVP
Big East Top Offensive Player
Big East Top Offensive Freshamn
All-Big East 1st Team


WR Dana Butler

National All-American 2nd Team (he got screwed)
All-Big East 1st Team


WR Grant Forbes

All-Big East 2nd Team (also screwed)



ILB Anthony Woods

All-Big East 2nd Team

[larrymcg421]

Offseason Notes:

*We have moved up to 7th in Overall Academic Rep and are now #1 in 7 subjects.

*Roster Strengths looking good this year: QB (14th), RB (11th, heh), WR (1st), C (46th), G (2nd), T (40th), K (4th)

*We are now 76th in the preseason rankings and 4th (for the first time) in the Big East.

*After pulling in the #1 recruiting class in 2009, we come away with the #39 class in 2010. Hopefully we can rectify that this year.

[larrymcg421]

Here's how I've fared throughout the years...

Year  Team                  Record Post Rank Perf Acad Recr TV   Tick Don  Score  
2010  Temple                5-6    No   79   70   85   100  26   56   66   67     
2009  Temple                4-7    No   83   74   86   100  33   57   74   71     
2008  Temple                3-8    No   104  69   91   100  75   48   38   68     
2007  Temple                2-9    No   115  37   88   100  40   52   1    48     
2006  Temple                2-9    No   114  1    85   100  5    46   12   34     
2005  Temple                4-7    No   85   74   80   100  74   55   75   74     
2004  Temple                1-10   No   119  0    75   99   24   58   0    34     

[larrymcg421]

And here are your 2011 Temple Owls. Fields showed trmendous improvement in the offseason and the receiver corps is ridiculously talented.

  Player                #    Pos  Elig  Current Estimate  Future Estimate  
Fields, Zach            7    QB   So    64                99                  
McNeill, Cornelius      17   QB   Sr    33                64                  
Muirbrook, Jon          10   QB   Fr    13                64                  
Murray, Al              3    QB*  Jr*   1                 19                  
Willis, Brad            28   RB   Sr    75                92                  
Shantz, Rich            34   RB   So    38                99                  
Bowman, Louie           24   RB*  Sr    7                 19                  
Dawson, Lawrence        45   FB*  Jr    8                 8                   
Murray, Hunter          43   FB*  So    8                 21                  
Donaldson, Marlon       33   FB*  Fr    5                 29                  
Bernard, Steve          91   TE*  Fr    21                36                  
Farmer, Casey           88   TE*  Fr    13                32                  
Wagner, Larry           82   TE*  So    8                 8                   
Butler, Dana            80   WR   Jr    90                97                  
Copeland, Calvin        81   WR   Sr    88                88                  
Van Lanen, Alfred       85   WR   Sr    66                91                  
Boland, Willie          87   WR   So    54                92                  
Welch, Walter           4    WR   So    46                69                  
Neal, J.R.              2    WR   Sr    45                80                  
Niles, Orlando          5    WR   Fr    36                66                  
Grinnell, Jamie         51   C    Jr    52                67                  
Beavers, Preston        55   C    Fr    33                71                  
Montgomery, Steven      59   C    Sr    33                51                  
Kirk, Jimmy             58   C    So*   31                75                  
Roberts, Daniel         54   C    Fr    26                91                  
McGee, Melvin           66   G    Sr*   84                84                  
Brummitt, Marc          77   G    Sr    83                83                  
Badillo, Blaine         68   G    Sr*   46                91                  
Reid, Bernard           74   G    Jr    41                84                  
Sellers, Tom            67   G    So*   36                58                  
Erickson, Tracy         63   G    So*   32                72                  
Reid, Sammie            79   G    Sr    31                63                  
Rivera, Clyde           78   G    Fr    21                48                  
Millner, Bryan          62   G    So*   20                77                  
Sweeney, Floyd          75   T    Jr    58                76                  
Franz, Courtney         61   T    Sr    36                63                  
Vaughn, Melvin          60   T    Jr    35                76                  
Hughes, Calvin          64   T    Sr    28                75                  
Keeney, Ronald          69   T    So*   27                68                  
May, Ted                70   T    Sr    27                60                  
Ostrander, Maurice      65   T    So*   20                76                  
Frederick, Greg         71   T    Fr    14                79                  
Cox, Jake               95   T    Fr    13                85                  
Stickney, Mark          15   P*   Sr*   28                42                  
Ocasio, Roosevelt       1    P*   Fr    16                63                  
Cushman, Bernie         6    P*   Sr    5                 29                  
Glover, Craig           12   K    Jr    86                86                  
Embree, Kurt            8    K*   Fr    0                 0                   
Robb, Curtis            73   DE*  Sr    19                54                  
Ballard, Earl           92   DE*  So    12                54                  
Blades, Quinn           99   DE*  Jr    9                 53                  
Garrett, Dixon          90   DE*  Fr    7                 9                   
Malcolm, Henry          76   DT*  Sr    25                25                  
Bishop, Nate            96   DT*  Sr    24                24                  
Jennings, Dan           94   DT*  So    13                61                  
Anthony, Johnnie        98   DT*  So    8                 55                  
Jizmejian, Percy        72   DT*  Jr*   7                 13                  
Gerhart, Grady          97   DT*  Fr    1                 31                  
Bush, Pat               47   ILB* Sr    11                24                  
Hamrahi, Lamar          53   ILB* Jr    7                 29                  
Peterson, Cornelius     41   ILB* Fr    0                 54                  
Burns, Gerald           56   OLB* Jr    18                58                  
Bryant, Lionel          40   OLB* So    12                51                  
Samuels, Irving         52   OLB* Fr    10                67                  
Narvaez, Cory           44   OLB* Fr    7                 7                   
Lynch, Wink             49   CB*  Jr    28                46                  
Daily, Roderick         21   CB*  Sr    24                49                  
Maxwell, Jeremy         46   CB*  Sr    23                33                  
Andersen, James         31   CB*  So    18                27                  
Connell, Kelvin         30   CB*  Fr    18                29                  
Beisner, Walter         37   CB*  Jr    13                52                  
Aiton, Ralph            25   S*   Sr    46                68                  
Rivera, Phil            35   S*   So    27                58                  
Riley, Quinn            20   S*   Jr    25                35
Ford, Gerald            27   S*   Jr    12                48                  
Chitwood, Jeffrey       42   S*   Fr    11                17                  

[larrymcg421]

Week 1

South Florida (0-0) at Temple (0-0)

Not the way I wanted to start the season. Fields throws a pick on his 2nd play from scrimmage and things wouldn't get any better from there. South Florida took advantage of our weakness at Center and Tackle and sacked Fields 9 times on the afternoon. Fields would throw two more picks on the day and could only muster 257 yards passing.

South Florida 47, Temple 24

Zach Fields 21-39-257-2-3
Dana Butler 7-73-1
Calvin Copeland 4-76-1
Alfred Van Lanen 5-69-0
Willie Boland 4-50-0

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 257.0
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 2827
Current Pace (with bowl): 3084

[larrymcg421]

Week 2

#19 Navy (1-0) at Temple (0-1)

A week 1 victory over Ball State was enough to get Navy a #19 ranking. May have been the biggest joke of a ranking ever. An Int return and three Fields TD passes makes it 28-0 in the 1st quarter. Unfortunately for pusposes of the dynasty, Navy played too bad. Even against my awful defense, they could not move the ball. This meant Zach Fields was benched at halftime when he already had over 300 yards.

Temple 56, Navy 13

Zach Fields 26-36-334-5-1 (47-75-591-7-4)
Dana Butler 9-152-3 (16-225-4)
Calvin Copeland 9-116-2 (13-192-3)
Alfred Van Lanen 7-104-1 (12-173-1)
Walter Welch 5-112-1 (6-130-2)

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 295.5
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 3251
Current Pace (with bowl): 3546

[larrymcg421]

Week 3

Central Florida (1-0) at Temple (1-1)

The yardage just doesn't seem to be that easy to come by this year. Fields has a big day against the Golden Knights, but it's not nearly enough if we're going to reach our goal. The surprising thing is how good our defense has played so far. This one was almost a defensive struggle.

Temple 27, Central Florida 17

Zach Fields 33-53-412-3-0 (80-128-1003-10-4)
Dana Butler 6-77-1 (22-302-5)
Calvin Copeland 9-111-1 (22-303-4)
Alfred Van Lanen 8-77-1 (20-250-2)
Willie Boland 6-107-0 (12-179-0)

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 334.3
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 3677
Current Pace (with bowl): 4012

[larrymcg421]

Week 4

Temple (2-1) at Nevada (1-0)

Two Fields TD passes would give us the early lead, but he got careless int he 2nd quarter and started throwing to the other team. Nevada quickly tied it up before a late TD run (glaring at the OC) gave us a 21-14 lead at the half. Early in the 3rd, Nevada woulc quickly tie it, but that was all she wrote. Fields finds Butler and Copeland for TD's and we pile on some late points for a runaway victory. Fields has his best yardage output of the season, but also threw 4 picks in the process.

Temple 52, Nevada 24


Zach Fields 39-55-503-5-4 (119-183-1506-15-8)
Dana Butler 9-158-1 (31-460-6)
Calvin Copeland 12-133-1 (34-436-5)
Alfred Van Lanen 5-98-2 (25-345-4)
Willie Boland 6-76-1 (18-255-1)


Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 376.5
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4142
Current Pace (with bowl): 4518

[larrymcg421]

Week 5

Temple (3-1) at Pittsburgh (2-1)

Pretty slow start this week, as Fields doesn't get his first TD pass until 5 minutes remain in the half. The halftime score was a 10-10 tie. However, Fields blew through Pittsburgh in the 3rd quarter with three TD passes, two of them to Calvin Copeland. The defense plays good enough again and Pitt would only add a meaningless late score to the tally. This win brings us to 4-1, only two wins away from bowl eligibility.

Temple 38, Pittsburgh 17

Zach Fields 36-55-496-4-2 (155-238-2002-19-10)
Dana Butler 12-189-0 (43-649-6)
Calvin Copeland 6-123-2 (40-559-7)
Alfred Van Lanen 7-77-1 (32-425-5)
Willie Boland 4-54-0 (22-309-1)

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 400.0
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4400
Current Pace (with bowl): 4800

[larrymcg421]

Week 7 (after a bye)

Temple (4-1) at Connecticut (1-3)

Connecticut kept it close early thanks to the running of RB Matthew Lester, who had 140 yards in the game. However, their offense just could not match up with Fields who threw another 4 TD passes to lead us to yet another victory and our best start ever. The toughest part of our schedule is coming up (Notre Dame, Syracuse, West Virginia, Boston College). It will be interesting to see how Fields does against the bigger schools.

Temple 41, Connecticut 21

Zach Fields 34-51-419-4-0 (189-289-2421-23-10)
Dana Butler 10-114-2 (53-763-8)
Calvin Copeland 4-47-0 (44-606-7)
Alfred Van Lanen 11-143-1 (43-568-6)
Willie Boland 5-70-0 (27-379-1)


Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 403.5
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4439
Current Pace (with bowl): 4842

[larrymcg421]

Week 8

Temple (5-1) at #17 Notre Dame (4-2)

Notre Dame has become one of our most intense rivalries due to the exciting games the last couple years. This would not be one of the memorable ones. Fields struggled all day, throwing 5 picks and only managing 2 TD's. Notre Dame raced out to an easy 35-14 halftime lead and we were never able to threaten.

Notre Dame 56, Temple 28

Zach Fields 27-53-370-2-5 (216-342-2791-25-15)
Dana Butler 11-162-1 (64-925-9)
Calvin Copeland 3-56-0 (47-662-7)
Alfred Van Lanen 3-51-0 (46-619-6)
Willie Boland 4-62-0 (31-441-1)


Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 398.7
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4386
Current Pace (with bowl): 4784

[larrymcg421]

#10 Syracuse (5-1) at Temple (5-2)

A 4 yard TD pass from Fields to RB Brad Willis made it a 7-7 tie early in the 2nd quarter. Unfortunately, that was the end of all hope for us. Syracuse would score 28 consecutive points to put the game away. We added some late meaningless scores to make it look closer than it was.

Syracuse 38, Temple 21

Zach Fields 35-53-399-2-2 (251-395-3190-27-17)
Dana Butler 8-103-0 (72-1028-9)
Calvin Copeland 7-95-0 (54-757-7)
Alfred Van Lanen 4-29-0 (50-648-6)
Willie Boland 4-55-0 (35-496-1)
Walter Welch 3-71-1 (13-245-4)


Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 398.8
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4387
Current Pace (with bowl): 4786

We have to win one of our final three games for bowl consideration.

[larrymcg421]

#2 West Virginia (6-0) at Temple (5-3)

It started out so promising. We took an early 10-6 lead and by halftime it was a 13-13 tie. Dana Butler was having a dominating game to keep us in it. Unfortunately, Fields became a pick machine again and threw 3 of them in the 2nd half. Our defense, which had played fairly well, finally broke under the pressure and gave up 19 4th quarter points.

West Virginia 39, Temple 21

Zach Fields 26-53-342-2-3 (277-448-3532-29-20)
Dana Butler 11-191-2 (83-1219-11)
Calvin Copeland 4-46-0 (58-803-7)
Willie Boland 2-17-0 (37-513-1)
Walter Welch 3-39-0 (16-284-4)

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 392.4
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4316
Current Pace (with bowl): 4709

At this rate, Butler may indeed be a Heisman candidate. He leads the nation in receptions and yards, and no one else is even close.

[larrymcg421]

Rutgers (2-6) at Temple (5-4)

We jumped out to a 21-7 lead thanks to two Zach Fields TD passes to RB Brad Willis. That turned out to be the deciding factor, as Rutgers matched every score through the rest of the game, but could get no closer because Fields came back to answer every one of their scores. He put together easily his best game of the season with 587 yards and 5 TD's, and 4 receivers went over 100 yards on the day. This win qualifies us for bowl consideration, but it might take a win next week to actually put us in a Bowl Game.

Temple 53, Rutgers 39

Zach Fields 47-65-587-5-2 (324-513-4119-34-22)
Dana Butler 10-103-1 (93-1322-12)
Calvin Copeland 9-137-0 (67-940-7)
Willie Boland 9-144-0 (46-657-1)
Brad Willis 12-119-3 (61-473-6)

*Bad news for Calvin Copeland. He will miss next week's game due a strained hamstring. His status for the bowl (if there is one) is in doubt, which may prevent the senior WR from crossing the 1000 yard mark for the only time in his career.

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 411.9
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4531
Current Pace (with bowl): 4943
Finally passed last season's average. I was still expecting alot more out of this season.

[larrymcg421]

Week 13

Temple (6-4) at Boston College (7-3)

The game opens predictably with a wild first quarter in which both teams score twice for a 14-14 tie. Boston College takes control with two TD's in the 2nd quarter but a FG before the half keeps the Owls in it. Unfortunately, our offense starts sputtering again and Boston College breaks the game wide open in the 2nd half. Fields had one of his weakest games of the season and the Eagles go on to slaughter us.

Boston College 63, Temple 24

Zach Fields 27-53-279-3-4 (351-566-4398-37-26)
Dana Butler 10-116-2 (103-1438-14)
Alfred Van Lanen 4-24-0 (55-682-6)
Willie Boland 4-56-0 (50-713-1)
Brad Willis 3-25-0 (64-498-6)

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 399.8
Last season Avg: 411.8
Current Pace (without bowl): 4398
Current Pace (with bowl): 4798

Looks like we will get our first bowl game. We will be playing Central Michigan in the Minor Bowl Tier. They beat us 52-14 last year. Hopefully we can exact some revenge.

[larrymcg421]

Unrequited Love Bowl

Temple (6-5) vs. #20 Central Michigan (9-3)

Our first bowl game gets off to a rough start as a Fields pass is intercepted and returned for a TD just two minutes into the game. Fields would rebound and throw two more TD passes in the first half, but the defense really struggled in this one, unable to do anything with CMU's rushing attack, and we were down 21-14 at the half. The wheels fell off int he 2nd half as CMU QB Hardy Baxter ran 76 yards for a TD, then followed that up with a 2 yard TD run and then a 6 yard TD pass. Fields finally got on the board again early in the 4th but it was too late. Very disappointing finish to a disappointing season overall.

Central Michigan 56, Temple 28

Zach Fields 29-43-371-4-4 (380-609-4769-41-30)
Dana Butler 7-98-2 (110-1536-16)
Calvin Copeland 10-118-2 (77-1058-9)
Alfred Van Lanen 7-96-0 (62-778-6)
Willie Boland 4-55-0 (54-768-1)

Race to 6000:

Well, we surpassed last year's total, but needed the extra game to do it. I really thought we'd do better this season, but Fields just threw too many picks, which is odd considering his Avoid Int rating is 100. We did make progress by getting to a bowl game for the first time. Onle one more year left for Dana Butler, so hopefully we can make the most of it.

[larrymcg421]

2011 Summary for Temple
   
Record: 6-6
Rank: 67
   
Temple                  Team      Rank  
Rushes                  182       125         
Rushing Yards           293       123         
Yards Per Carry         1.60      123         
Pass Attempts           644       1           
Completions             402       1           
Passing Yards           5131      1           
Yards Per Attempt       7.96      29          
3rd Down Conversions    36.2      45          
Points Per Game         34.4      13          
Turnovers               35        123 (T)     
Turnover Margin         -11       106 (T)     
   
Opponents               Team      Rank  
Rushes                  405       73 (T)      
Rushing Yards           1744      104         
Yards Per Carry         4.30      111         
Pass Attempts           393       114         
Completions             222       118         
Passing Yards           3238      125         
Yards Per Attempt       8.23      111 (T)     
3rd Down Conversions    40.1      105         
Points Per Game         35.8      117         
Turnovers               24        28 (T)      
   
Primary Formation: Run and Shoot Formation
   
Week  Team  Versus        Oppnt  
1     24    SFLA (105)    47      
2     56    NAVY (48)     13      
3     27    CFLA (93)     17      
4     52    at NEVA (102) 24      
5     38    at PITT (76)  17      
7     41    at CONN (120) 21      
8     28    at NOTR (12)  56      
9     21    SYRA (19)     38      
10    21    WVIR (3)      39      
12    53    RUTG (113)    39      
13    24    at BOSC (41)  63      
16    28    vs CMIC (17)  56      
   
Passing             Pos   Att   Comp  Yards Y/Att TD    Int  
7 Fields            QB    609   380   4769  7.83  41    30      
17 McNeill          QB    35    22    362   10.34 3     2       
Team                ---   644   402   5131  7.96  44    32      
   
Rushing             Pos   Att   Yards Y/Att TD    Stff  YdLst  
7 Fields            QB    106   -139  -1.31 1     66    373     
28 Willis           RB    57    406   7.12  5     12    17      
Team                ---   182   293   1.60  6     88    419     
   
Receiving           Pos   Targ  Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC   TD  
80 Butler           WR    178   110   1536  13.9  636   16      
81 Copeland         WR    116   77    1058  13.7  444   9       
85 Van Lanen        WR    95    62    778   12.5  318   6       
28 Willis           RB    91    66    523   7.9   393   6       
87 Boland           WR    90    54    768   14.2  260   1       
4 Welch             WR    48    23    363   15.7  136   5       
2 Neal              WR    18    8     93    11.6  34    1       
Team                ---   644   402   5131  12.7  2221  44      
   
Defense             Pos   Tack  Asst  Sack  TFL   Ints  Defn  
56 Burns            OLB   73    20    2.0   10    1     6       
52 Samuels          OLB   60    27    7.0   11    4     2       
25 Aiton            S     57    19    0.0   4     1     11      
47 Bush             ILB   48    18    5.0   8     1     3       
35 Rivera           S     46    20    0.0   2     3     8       
21 Daily            CB    30    6     0.0   0     0     4       
76 Malcolm          DT    29    13    3.5   7     0     0       
40 Bryant           OLB   29    11    1.5   5     1     2       
20 Riley            S     27    4     0.0   2     1     0       
49 Lynch            CB    25    8     0.0   1     0     9
46 Maxwell          CB    22    9     0.0   2     4     5       
92 Ballard          DE    18    7     0.5   3     0     0       
98 Anthony          DT    18    7     2.5   4     0     0       
73 Robb             DE    17    9     6.5   8     0     0       
99 Blades           DE    15    6     8.5   10    0     1       
96 Bishop           DT    14    2     2.0   4     0     0       
Team                ---   657   198   42.0  88    18    52

[larrymcg421]

2011 Awards

QB Zach Fields

Heisman voting (2nd)
2nd Team All-American
Big East Conference MVP
Big East Top Offensive Player
1st Team All-Big East


WR Dana Butler

Heisman voting (5th)
1st Team All-American
1st Team All-Big East


WR Calvin Copeland

1st Team All-Big East


OLB Irving Samuels

National All-Freshman Team
Big East Top Defensive Freshman

[larrymcg421]

Heisman Trophy Winner: Hardy Baxter, Central Michigan (64.5% completion, 4235 yards, 45 TD, 12 INT, 295 yards rushing, 5 TD)

Quick note on this guy: He's destroyed us for the past three years, so I'm glad to see him go. Also, he's the real deal. My scout has him rated 99/100 so these weren't fluke numbers he just put up against weak competition. He finished his career with 15268 yards passing and 152 TD's.

National Championship Game: Michigan 31, West Virginia 6

Top 25:

  School                Record  Conf  Comp  Poll  Loss  Sched Total Rank  
Michigan                11-1    B10   1.25  1.00  1.00  0.68  3.93  1       
West Virginia           11-1    BEA   2.75  3.50  1.00  2.20  9.45  2       
Southern California     10-2    P10   3.75  3.50  2.00  0.84  10.09 3       
Texas                   12-1    B12   4.75  2.00  1.00  2.88  10.63 4       
Alabama                 12-1    SEC   6.75  5.00  1.00  1.04  13.79 5       
Georgia                 11-2    SEC   4.00  9.50  2.00  0.48  15.98 6       
Virginia Tech           10-2    ACC   5.75  8.00  2.00  2.44  18.19 7       
Miami of Florida        10-2    ACC   10.75 7.50  2.00  1.44  21.69 8       
Texas Christian         11-1    CUS   10.25 6.50  1.00  4.72  22.47 9       
Notre Dame              9-3     IND   8.75  12.50 3.00  0.96  25.21 10      
UCLA                    9-3     P10   13.50 11.50 3.00  0.44  28.44 11      
Ohio State              9-3     B10   12.00 12.00 3.00  1.88  28.88 12      
Penn State              9-3     B10   8.25  18.50 3.00  0.12  29.87 13      
Bowling Green           10-2    MDF   11.25 15.00 2.00  4.76  33.01 14      
Nebraska                10-3    B12   20.50 8.50  3.00  2.92  34.92 15      
Illinois                9-3     B10   21.00 16.00 3.00  1.48  41.48 16      
Syracuse                9-3     BEA   17.75 19.00 3.00  2.28  42.03 17      
Fresno State            10-1    WAC   25.50 15.00 1.00  5.00  46.50 18      
Minnesota               9-3     B10   21.00 21.50 3.00  1.96  47.46 19      
Central Michigan        10-3    MDF   23.25 18.50 3.00  4.52  49.27 20      
Tulane                  9-3     CUS   22.50 22.50 3.00  3.24  51.24 21      
Oregon                  9-3     P10   18.00 27.50 3.00  3.08  51.58 22      
Georgia Tech            8-4     ACC   14.75 30.50 4.00  2.80  52.05 23      
UNLV                    10-2    MWE   27.75 19.00 2.00  3.88  52.63 24      
Stanford                9-3     P10   21.75 24.50 3.00  3.48  52.73 25     

[larrymcg421]

A much better recruiting year as we land the #1 Tackle and #3 Center, along with top notch Guard, Wide Receiver, and Kicker. Unfortunately, we could only land one WR, and this could be very problematic next season as we lose three senior WR's. This will leave us with only 5 scholarship WR's on the whole roster. Recruiting depth at this position will be essential next year.

  Player                  Pos   HT   WT   ST   NRank ByPos  StRank ByPos
Farmer, Dexter            T     6-2  267  PA   28    1      4      1        
Crawford, Andrew          C     6-3  277  IL   45    3      3      1        
Berry, Nathan             G     6-3  262  OH   84    16     6      1        
Marischen, Rickey         WR    5-10 161  CA   180   11     23     1        
Hill, T.J.                K     5-11 174  PA   323   8      12     2        
**Harris, Mercury         T     6-3  249  NY   379   34     24     5        
$$Kelley, Andy            OLB   6-1  198  NY   ---   ---    ---    8        
##Madison, Carl           CB    5-8  160  OH   ---   ---    79     10       
##Wolfe, Don              TE    6-4  237  OK   ---   98     18     1        
##Scherer, Bill           DE    6-5  248  AZ   ---   ---    38     1        
##Monroe, Richard         S     6-0  184  NC   ---   ---    54     7        
##Raymond, Donnell        ILB   6-2  214  MN   ---   ---    28     2        
##Sanford, Aaron          OLB   6-2  218  WA   ---   ---    50     5        
##DeVito, Joel            CB    6-0  168  TX   ---   ---    ---    11       
##O'Neal, Nate            DT    6-4  245  NY   ---   ---    ---    12       
##Winslett, Sean          FB    5-11 206  MT   ---   94     35     1

[larrymcg421]

Offseason Notes:

*Academic rep is at 7th. Probably won't see any more movement on this front.

*Roster strengths this year: QB (4th), WR (7th), C (20th), G (5th), T (12th). No reason we shouldn't be able to put up tons of yardage.

*We get our highest preseason ranking yet at #59 and we are picked to finish 4th in the Big East. Also, our Team Prestige has slowly improved to a 67.

*This will be the senior season for standout WR Dana Butler, who has amassed an amazing 302 receptions and 4201 yards over his first 3 seasons. I don't have anyone good enough to play decoy this year, so Dana will have to do it against the best CB's this time around.

[larrymcg421]

Week 1

Nevada (0-0) at Temple (0-0)

A great start to the game as Zach Fields throws two TD passes in the first 5 minutes of the game. He slowed down a bit after that, but Nevada still had no answer for our offense and they couldn't even figure out our weak defense. They were held to 314 total yards and one field goal while Fields would throw two more TD passes on the day as we rolled through an easy victory.

Final Score: Temple 38, Nevada 3

Zach Fields 32-46-445-4-1
Dana Butler 10-129-1
Walter Welch 9-180-1
Willie Boland 6-86-2

Race to 6000:

Current Avg: 445
Last season Avg: 397.4
Current Pace (without bowl): 4895
Current Pace (with bowl): 5340