Temple is worse than a doormat. They are the dirt kicked off onto it. Need a confidence builder? Invite Temple to your stadium. Guaranteed to make your offense sharper and your defense tighter. Wisconsin’s offense already lathered up the week before with a shootout victory over Bowling Green. It wouldn’t be long before the 80,000 plus compacted into Camp Randall knew to relax and kick back. Quarterback John Stocco and tailback Brian Calhoun were relieved of their duties in the first half. Wisconsin hunted the Owls all afternoon and knocked out a 51-0 halftime lead causing everyone to wonder if this was Temple University or Temple High School.
The second half saw a continued use of second and third string players for Wisconsin. Still, the Badgers found the endzone a few more times. If it wasn’t for a couple decent Temple plays late in the fourth quarter, the Badgers would have held the Owls to negative yardage for the day. Still, Temple could only muster 45 total offensive yards. If negative points were possible, I’m sure the Owls would have found a way. Wisconsin finished the day with a 65-0 destruction of this feeble squad from Philadelphia.
And now a word on Temple: Tickets for all Badger home games were sold out through the Wisconsin ticket office before they even went on sale. Therefore, I had to go through Temple’s athletic office to acquire tickets for this contest. The receptionist on the other line seemed stunned that anyone would be calling to purchase Temple football tickets – particularly on the road – as if to suggest, who would waste two tanks of gas to see our team? In order to purchase the tickets, I had to pay an extra few bucks to become part of the Temple Athletic Fund. It wouldn’t be long before I would be inundated with mailers about Temple sports. I’m surprised they had a magazine – I figured it would be more like a pamphlet.
At the end of the season, I received an invitation to come to Temple’s football award banquet. Temple went 0-11 on the season and lost every game by similar margins as the Badger blowout. I found it funny. I mean, what awards would be given to an 0-11 team? Most colorful helmets? Cleanest jerseys? Nicest weather for home games? Poor Temple. We’ll keep a close eye on them next year when they go for the award of “Neatest handwriting in the playbook.”
