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College Roundup: Villanova Loses, Temple Bias, Marmot Boca Raton Bowl on December 22

By Kyle Scott

Published: Dec 9th, 2015 · 10:17 AM EST

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I feel like I have to do this since commenters keep begging for it:

 

Villanova

Yes, they got waxed by number 7 Oklahoma Monday night, on a military base, in Pearl Harbor, with awful lighting, a strange start time, and a weird vibe in the gym (at least that’s how it came across on TV what with stopping to honor vets after every TV timeout*). They shot 4-for-32 from three-point range. Oklahoma shot lights out. That kind of discrepancy will lose most games.

That said, I’d be remiss not to point out that this felt like a Villanova tournament loss– good team from power conference, neutral court, weird lighting-vibe, and a stubbornness to not do anything but jack up threes on a night (day? whatever time it was over there) where they’re clearly not falling. Shoot ’em up, sleep in the streets, is Jay’s motto. With the talented guards he typically has, the percentages are often in Villanova’s favor. About 15% of the time they’re not, and the Wildcats have to find other ways to win. They do this with defense and (some) skilled interior players against inferior teams. Against teams from power conferences with similar or better four- and five-star talent… well, sleep in the streets.

Whatever the case, Nova will still be a top 10 team most of the season, they’ll probably win their by-far city-best conference (again), they’ll slaughter the Big 5 (again), and they’ll be a top-4 seed in March (again).

*Deservedly so. But for basketball purposes, it was odd.

 

Temple bias

Lots of criticism about the lopsided coverage toward Villanova. Fair. But consider CB the sort of FOX News of Philly college sports coverage. Fair and balanced? No, not really. But almost necessary given the absurd Temple leanings of the rest of the Philly media. I’m still waiting for CSN to grant perennial top 10 Villanova a pre-game show. And, oh, did you know ESPN’s College Gameday is in Philly again this week? Did you know they’re broadcasting from XFINITY LIVE!, Comcast’s catch-all local venue for sports nonsensory? Did you know there’s a massive game at the Linc between Army and Navy, a celebration of the men and women who, during this time of uncertainty in our foreign policy, will be the ones tasked with carrying out whatever dastardly but necessary deeds our next president concocts? Oh, you didn’t know? It’s almost as if… the College Gameday thing hasn’t gotten as much play – leading local news broadcasts, dominating CSN and talk radio – as it did when the show was here for the Temple-Notre Dame game. Funny how that works. It’s almost as if… everyone in local sports media went to Temple and is so outrageously biased towards anything North Broad that anything else college-related doesn’t even exist.

 

Marmot Boca Raton Bowl, on December 22

You know, on Saturday, I didn’t watch the Temple game (I was picking out backsplashes and flooring for my new house), but I did ask Siri the score while I went to pick up an Anthony’s Coal Fired pizza later in the day. Temple lost to Houston, 24-13. Oof. So much for the dream season. Their second loss! Wait, WHAT?! Their third loss? They lost to South Florida, too, in the throes of the Notre Dame hangover? I honestly had no idea!

Sooooooo this supposedly incredible American Athletic Conference program in the midst of a dream season was really only the third best team in its conference and dropped three of its last six and will be home from its bowl game in time to do some last-minute shopping and enjoy Christmas Eve dinner? OOF. And now all of a sudden Matt Rhule is staying? I. Can’t. Imagine. Why. It’s almost like his stock has dropped harder than Chipotle’s over the past six weeks.

Still, I figured there’s no way I’m lucky Temple’s unlucky enough to get some bullshit pre-Christmas bowl with a hilarious name, right?

Well, that escalated quickly.

 

Stadium

From 6 ABC:

Temple University may not get its much-longed for football stadium in North Philadelphia. The school’s board of trustees tabled a vote on whether to build the Owls their own arena.

Temple’s board of trustees was expected to discuss plans for a proposed football stadium in North Philadelphia on Tuesday. However, that discussion was shelved after word got out that Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney is against the idea of building a Temple football stadium in North Philadelphia.

Kenney says Temple would likely not feel the need to build its own stadium if the Eagles made Lincoln financial Field an equitable home field for the Owls.

Mayor Elect is right. Temple can’t fill its beautiful basketball arena, let alone the Linc for most football games. What makes them think they’ll fill any size football stadium on North Broad? This is a horrible idea. Temple argues it will be more than just a football stadium and that they’ll add nice retail locations (what?), which will do great until non-Temple shoppers realize they’re at 16th and Norris. Even Temple workers rallied against the knee-jerk decision to build a stadium all because of one 10-3 mediocre+ season. Yes, let’s construct a $100 million building that will be used 10 times per year in non-commercially viable part of the city. That’s a way to spend money. Oh by the way, your tuition went up 22% this year. Come on, Temple. Get real.

 

Villanova photos from Jay Wright’s glorious Twitter