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Of all the Vince Vaughn movie titles the Temple football team could have used for a 2016 slogan, the final choice unveiled on Wednesday was “Unfinished Business,” and it was probably the best choice for a couple of reasons.
Unfinished is acceptance of the notion that the 3-4 finish of 2015 was unacceptable, and admitting the problem is the first step to solving it. A lot of the problem was the result of a knock-down drag-out game against Notre Dame, but a team that trains as hard as Temple should have been able to physically respond from that, something which the Owls have to fix going forward.
There are other issues that need to be fixed, preferably by the mid-April spring game. The team needs to find a better method to contain dual-threat quarterbacks. Nobody contained Houston quarterback Greg Ward, but even a mediocre Maryland team contained South Florida’s Quinton Flowers; Temple will have to study what Maryland did in their win and try to copy that against all other dual-threat quarterbacks.
The inefficient offense also needs help. Having to look to the sideline before getting every play in the final quarter of the Houston game for the AAC championship robbed Temple of needed time. It has to be ditched for a more streamlined approach when trailing in the final quarter of games.
The business part of the slogan is a reminder that bowl games are going to have to be business trips. The fun in bowl games is lifting that trophy at the end, not the bowling, kayaking or beach volleyball that the Owls overdosed on at the Boca Raton Bowl. Temple fans who stayed at the Toledo hotel were reporting fewer such side trips made by the Rockets. Perhaps not coincidentally, Toledo won the game 32-17.
The 2015 slogan “Leave No Doubt” served this past team well because it was an original one borne out of a heartfelt speech by departing senior Kenny Harper a year ago, when the team wasn’t picked for a bowl despite qualifying. Harper’s message to his teammates was “leave no doubt” by finishing with such a good record that bowls would have no choice but to pick the Owls. That part of Harper’s speech stuck and was the 2015 rallying cry.
This year’s “Unfinished Business” is recycled by a number of teams that came prior. Recycling saves energy, though, and the Owls certainly ran out of that at the end of the season, so maybe this slogan will help sustain them through what they hope will be a longer season in 2016.
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