It seems that the season can’t get here any faster. With so much to be excited about with Temple’s rise in the national outlook of college football, the opportunity to finally be ranked this season is not out of their realm, and with a long shot Heisman candidate in Bernard Pierce, the 2010 season has the possibility of being, arguably, the best single season in Temple football history. With that said, Temple must come out victorious against their weaker opponents, and that will quickly occur in the opening game when the Owls face Villanova at the Lincoln Financial Field. Though the game is over 10 days away, it’s never too early to take a look at Temple’s opponent come week one.
Redemption
After a heartbreaking 27-24 loss at Villanova to open the 2009 season, the Owls have plenty of motivation heading into this seasons opener. There is no reason that every single player on the Temple roster should not be fired up for this one. It’s also worth noting that Temple used then-freshman running back Bernard Pierce sparingly, which had they realized the potential of Pierce heading into the opener, then Temple would most likely have come out on top against the Wildcats.
An opening day win over Nova is a must if Temple plans on crashing the top 25 at any point this season.
Pierce’s Heisman campaign begins
Like I mentioned, he is a long shot at capturing the hardware come seasons end, but that’s no reason to be down on the possibility. The first step in his campaign will be to run all over the Nova defense, something that he wasn’t able to do last season because of limited touches.
Villanova lost their two top defensive linemen in Tim Kukucka and Phil Matusz, which means they will have an inexperienced line heading into the opener. Their biggest strength on D lies in their secondary, where they return 4 of their 5 starters (since they play a 3-3-5 style defense). However, this shouldn’t halt Pierce’s hopes of running all day on their defense.
Nova’s Offense vs. Temple’s Defense
The Wildcats’ Zone-Read Option scheme gives the quarterback the opportunity to either hand it off, or to pull it back in and run it himself, which makes for a difficult challenge for opposing defenses. The Wildcats are led by quarterback Chris Whitney, who set the school record for most rushing yards by a quarterback with 983 yards in 2009. His ability to break off a run at any moment will give Temple the task of applying some sort of QB spy in most situations.
However, if Temple can get pressure from their defensive line, they will eliminate the inside run, and force Whitney to scramble around the backfield and make an accurate pass on the run, which is no easy task.
Redemption
After a heartbreaking 27-24 loss at Villanova to open the 2009 season, the Owls have plenty of motivation heading into this seasons opener. There is no reason that every single player on the Temple roster should not be fired up for this one. It’s also worth noting that Temple used then-freshman running back Bernard Pierce sparingly, which had they realized the potential of Pierce heading into the opener, then Temple would most likely have come out on top against the Wildcats.
An opening day win over Nova is a must if Temple plans on crashing the top 25 at any point this season.
Pierce’s Heisman campaign begins
Like I mentioned, he is a long shot at capturing the hardware come seasons end, but that’s no reason to be down on the possibility. The first step in his campaign will be to run all over the Nova defense, something that he wasn’t able to do last season because of limited touches.
Villanova lost their two top defensive linemen in Tim Kukucka and Phil Matusz, which means they will have an inexperienced line heading into the opener. Their biggest strength on D lies in their secondary, where they return 4 of their 5 starters (since they play a 3-3-5 style defense). However, this shouldn’t halt Pierce’s hopes of running all day on their defense.
Nova’s Offense vs. Temple’s Defense
The Wildcats’ Zone-Read Option scheme gives the quarterback the opportunity to either hand it off, or to pull it back in and run it himself, which makes for a difficult challenge for opposing defenses. The Wildcats are led by quarterback Chris Whitney, who set the school record for most rushing yards by a quarterback with 983 yards in 2009. His ability to break off a run at any moment will give Temple the task of applying some sort of QB spy in most situations.
However, if Temple can get pressure from their defensive line, they will eliminate the inside run, and force Whitney to scramble around the backfield and make an accurate pass on the run, which is no easy task.
Stay tuned for a further breakdown of the Temple-Villanova game the day before, which will include a Q&A with a Nova blogger, as well as our predicitions for the game!
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