Temple Football Announces New Helmet, Uniforms For 2007 Season

[BigEd76]

There's squares down the sides

[Sodboy13]

And Jell-O Pudding Pops on the sidelines, apparently.

[BlueSky]

That helmet gave me unpleasant flashbacks...

[KJTALBOT]

OT

I heard people say that programs like Illinois and Missouri are sleeping giants. With a potential fanbase as large as Philadelphia and playing in a beautiful stadium, the Temple Owls could be great.

I think the administration has been hampering the program for years. But look at what happened at Rutgers. With the right coach and a commitment from the top, Temple could rise up.

I predict they will dominate the MAC. Temple is the logical 12th team for the Big 11 IMO.

[arteiv]

OT

I heard people say that programs like Illinois and Missouri are sleeping giants. With a potential fanbase as large as Philadelphia and playing in a beautiful stadium, the Temple Owls could be great.

I think the administration has been hampering the program for years. But look at what happened at Rutgers. With the right coach and a commitment from the top, Temple could rise up.

I predict they will dominate the MAC. Temple is the logical 12th team for the Big 11 IMO.

Temple in the Big Ten. That's really kind of funny.

I really liked last season's Temple uniforms. The cherry red really popped and I liked the double white stripes on the shoulder which echoed the Temple T. These are just kind of dull.

[TenaciousG]

Major dowgrade. Why do all of the new adidas designs look like a 13 year old came up with them? Nike may be awful sometimes, but at least they do "classic" looking uniforms well.

[TFoA]

Major dowgrade. Why do all of the new adidas designs look like a 13 year old came up with them? Nike may be awful sometimes, but at least they do "classic" looking uniforms well.

Agreed. Nike gets alot of guff about their "FOOTERISTIC PIPEING TECKNOLOGYS (although VT & Miami's unis are a guilty pleasure of mine.)" but when they get it right, they get it absolutely right. This new change is a downgrade on all levels, from the helmet to the pants. Reminds me of a high school team's look...which somewhat fits them perfectly?

[powersurge]

And is it me or does the red look lighter?

Keep the jerseys maroon with plain white pants, plaster a sans serif capital 'T' on the helmet and call it a day.

[GFB]

There's squares down the sides

Is it just me or does Bill Cosby look like he's wearing the latest in Depends fashion?

[leedsunited]

Love it, love it, love it.

Simple, clean, classic.

[illwauk]

http://owlsports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/.../072507aaa.html

July 25, 2007

DETROIT, MI - The Temple football team will compete in new helmets and custom Adidas uniforms during the 2007 season, second-year head coach Al Golden announced today at the Mid-American Conference Media Day at Ford Field in Detroit. Cherry helmets will once again feature the text "TEMPLE," which adorned the Owls' helmets from 1972 to 1988.

"There are several reasons for the change," Golden said. "The first is for our current team to discover our tradition. The 2007 uniform brings us back to the most successful TEAM period in the history of Temple Football; a time that produced a 10-game winner and a final Top 20 ranking in both polls. The second reason is quite simply branding. When I was growing up in New Jersey, Temple's uniforms were unique. It was one of the most recognizable uniforms in the East, let alone the country. Somewhere along the way that got lost, so I wanted to bring it back. The last reason has to do with our overall football operation. Our goal is to be first in every endeavor that we believe impacts our football team. We now feel like we have the best uniform, not only in the MAC, but on the East Coast. We have our brand back and it is here to stay."

The jerseys will be solid cherry or white, with collar and sleeve trim in the opposite requisite color. The collars will be trimmed with diamonds to reference Temple founder Russell H. Conwell's "Acres of Diamonds" lecture. The Temple "T" will be featured at the "V" of the collar. As per Golden's directive last season, player names will not be on the jersey backs. The pants will resemble those worn during the Wayne Hardin Era from 1970 to 1982, featuring a white base with cherry blocks down the legs.

The Owls were picked to finish sixth in their inaugural season in the MAC East Division, in voting conducted by the MAC News Media Association. The Cherry and White did receive one first-place vote. Ohio (216 points) was picked to repeat in the East Division, followed by Kent State (203), Akron (171), Miami (163), Bowling Green (130), Temple (64) and Buffalo (61).

Western Michigan (175) edged Central Michigan (173) in the West Division. Toledo (138) was picked to finish third, followed by Ball State (134), Northern Illinois (90) and Eastern Michigan (46).

The 2007 season marks the Owls first campaign as a full football member of the MAC, after playing as an affiliate league member the past two years. With Golden at the helm, Temple signed the highest rated recruiting classes in the MAC in both 2006 and 2007. The Owls are slated to begin preseason practice on August 4.

Temple has six home games at Lincoln Financial Field in 2007. Full and partial season ticket packages are available by calling (215) 204-8499 or visiting www.owlstix.com. The only way to guarantee tickets for the much anticipated meeting with Penn State (Nov. 10) is to purchase a full or partial season ticket plan. Individual game tickets, other than PSU, are on sale via Ticketmaster at 215-336-2000 or www.ticketmaster.com.

I didn't know Bill Cosby was a member of the MAC News Association.

Feelin' the jerseys. Although Temple needs to drop down to 1-AA (FCS, whatever) or scrap football altogether.

[VitaminD]

OT

I heard people say that programs like Illinois and Missouri are sleeping giants. With a potential fanbase as large as Philadelphia and playing in a beautiful stadium, the Temple Owls could be great.

I think the administration has been hampering the program for years. But look at what happened at Rutgers. With the right coach and a commitment from the top, Temple could rise up.

I predict they will dominate the MAC. Temple is the logical 12th team for the Big 11 IMO.

No, the Owls can't be great, and they won't be great. Why? Read on...

1. The city of Philadelphia is home to 6 schools that play Division I sports. To say that Temple has a "potential fanbase as large as Philadelphia" is a flatout fallacy. Ask anyone who has family ties to Penn, St. Joe's, Villanova, LaSalle or Drexel. Just because they play here doesn't mean everyone's a fan. Factor in the HUGE number of Penn State grads and Rutgers grads living in the greater Philadelphia region, and Temple's market share gets smaller. Factor in the even larger number of people (like myself) who leave the area altogether for college and couldn't care one way or the other about Temple, and the market share drops even more.

2. The market has a glut of activities and sports, and college football - at least championship-caliber football - isn't one of them. Weekends in the fall are for rooting on the alma mater on Saturday and bleeding midnight green on Sunday. Fans seeking big-time college football make the trip to Happy Valley, or more recently, Piscataway. There's only so much football people can support, and Temple's trying to break into a saturated market.

3. The school itself is a damn near impossible sell. A commuter school situated on North Broad Street (not one of the neighborhoods the Chamber of Commerce routes bus tours through) lacks the facilities, the security, and the charm of other schools. Temple basketball rose to prominence almost entirely on the back of John Chaney, but he also recruited the kids no one else was willing to take a chance on. He built something impressive with minimal resources. Football would require even more revenue and more effort than the lifetime Chaney devoted to Temple. Trotting out Bill Cosby in his throwback jersey won't get kids to forego Penn State or Rutgers, let alone Texas and Southern Cal.

4. Temple joining the MAC exacerbates the natural rivalry between Philadelphia and... Toledo? Akron? If the geographic rivalries that Temple was afforded in the Big East (schools in Pittsburgh, Boston, Syracuse) couldn't do the trick, do you really think the casual Philadelphian's blood will boil because Miami of Ohio or Central Michigan is coming to town?

4a. Leaving the Big East was a downward move. Joining the MAC gives them somewhere to go. Joining the Big Ten would be a death sentence. Who are they going to beat out of those schools? Moreover, since Penn State gives the conference decent penetration into the attractive Philadelphia market, why does the Big Ten NEED Temple?

Temple's best move would be a trip down to I-AA, annual games with Penn, Villanova and LaSalle, and an end to the delusion that they can play I-A football.

As for the uniforms, big thumbs up. As much as they had finally found a decent set last year, these are nice. Bonus points for the Bruce Arians Era helmets (though the split T >>> atrocious owl, and is as good as the wordmark), the Champion numbers, and the blocks on the pants. At least they'll look good getting the snot kicked out of them...

[wman]

Lsat year's were better. These are ok, but not as good.

And let's stop about the Temple 'Glory Days'. Glory for Temple today is 2-9 and 3,000 rabid Owl fans filling 2 sections of the Linc.

[BBTV]

VD is 100% correct. Philadelphia-college fans are fans of their teams (either based on attendance or geography) and not necessarily of Philadelphia-college athletics as a whole. Perfect evidence of this was when St. Joe's was #1 - they didn't have a ton of support from Temple, Villanova, LaSalle, Penn, and Drexel fans (though nearly every non-affiliated Philadelphian jumped on the bandwagon.) For football it would be worse, because of the PSU, Rutgers, and Syracuse grads in the area. So a successful Temple team would have support from area residents who don't have allegiances to A.) a Big 5 (6) school, or B.) another football powerhouse (PSU, RU, SU, etc.) That's not a lot of support!

The other thing that is handcuffing their program is their insistence on playing at Lincoln Financial Field. If they want student interest, they need an ON CAMPUS STADIUM, not one that is 8 or 9 miles away (and 90% empty.) It is much easier for college kids to just wake up, throw on some sweats, and walk a block or two to the stadium then making them get dressed up and get on a train (or drive.) Build a 30k stadium on or near campus, give away tickets for a while, drop down to I-AA (or whatever it is called now) and then this program has a shot.

[h-lo]

still disappointed with the helmet

although al golden does have TU football on the come up!

[ferrousoxide66]

Helmet: major upgrade. Love the arched "Temple".

Alas, no one will see it, nor will anyone care. Such is Temple football.

[oldschoolvikings]

Am I missing something in those pics of last year's unis? The ones where, supposedly" "Nike got it right"? Why can't Nike, or just about anybody these days, do the UCLA-style shoulder loop correctly? LSU, UCLA, the Orangemen... the shoulder loops go about halfway... wait, I wish!... a third of the way around, and then awkwardly (and hiddeously!) simply cut off. I know we've talked about it before on here, but I guess it always catches me off guard. Like the Met's black hats, everytime I see it, its like I'm seeing it for the first time and I think "NASTY!... when did that happen?"