Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/stor ... ument/1007

In the "rumor of the week" section, Ivan Maisel makes some comments about Temple's future regarding football. He never comes out and says it, but what I implied was that Temple is seriuosly considering dropping the football program. That seems pretty extreme, so maybe they might drop back to I-AA so they could play football in the Atlantic 10, the league they are in for all other sports.

Warthog:

Temple has assembled a committee to assess its athletic department. One of the main goals is to determine the viability of the football program.

Does "viability" mean they are considering dropping the program all together? That seems extreme to me when they could simply drop down to I-AA and compete with their A-10 brethren.

pretty impressive when we beat a team out of a football program

Temple says that they are recruiting JUCO kids to "win now" but it may be as true, that they must because decent 1A talent won't go near them. The rumor of dropping 1A football is enough to keep a lot of talent away, even if they are otherwise sold on the school and program.

I think maybe they should drop to 1AA just to catch their second wind. When your program is so bad, your own conference won't keep you, and doesn't trust your administrations ability to make a program better, you have serious issues. When a conference would rather consider disbanding, adding affiliate members, or taking lesser teams from other conferences, than simply keeping your team, you have issues. When Rutgers figures out how to win before you, ouch.

Of course, the MAC has Kent, but at least they've shown signs of life in the last 30 years. UB has at least shown a chance of being able to win a conference game or two.

I'd hate to see them go. But even Pacific figured there was a point to let go.

With our luck, watch Temple end up dropping to I-AA next year and we'll have another I-AA team on the schedule after finally ridding them on it at BG for awhile.

BGSU33: I doubt Temple will act that quickly.

NWLB: Wallace has basically admitted that he was able to entice some JUCOs based on a year or two of Big East exposure and the chance to play in an NFL stadium. He's also admitted that, when it comes to HS kids, he's extending offers to a lot of kids with few other options.

Warthog: Actually, there's a pretty strong voice that Temple should just chuck football entirely. Villanova and Delaware already offer strong D-IAA programs in the Philly area and you have to wonder what kind of traction another program would gain. I think the university is facing some very difficult financial decisions and dumping the program entirely might be best for the balance sheet.

Dropping football altogether would make Title IX compliance a vitual breeze.

Dang, if they dump football, I guess we are stuck looking for someone to fit in our schedule for next year. Maybe we could play Cheney, kinda for the side show attraction of it. It wouldn't be a matter of scoring 100 points, it would be could we score two hundred on them.

Flipper: Good point. Temple's a commuter school (only about 2,000 of the 30,000 students actually live on campus), so athletics are a tricky business.

Warthog: Like I said, I can't see them acting that quickly. I think they'll ride out 2005 before making a move.

Yeah, I know Temple wouldn't probably drop that quickly if it happened, I was saying that in a sarcastic voice. I will say this much, Temple has one heck of a schedule next year in football. Aside from traveling to BG, they've loaded up with four ACC teams as well as some others I can't remember. I'm sure they will take their lumps next season again, but they've got a lot of good teams on their 2005 schedule.

Being an independent allows them ultimate flexibility for scheduling of course, though you sometimes have to take what you can get later in year when everyone else is wrapped up in conference play.

They probably were hunting for some big paydays, too, since the Big East-related money will be gone for next year.