Maybe the Royals Will Lose 100 Games After All

What's the Same: Near-suicidal hopelessness. Temple played 22 true freshmen last year, reputedly more than any team in the country, but oh my god, optimism does not remotely mix with this program. It was 14-80 in 14 seasons in the Big East, winless in its first season as a refugee; Al Golden may have achieved something special in his first season by winning any game at all. Temple's been outscored by an average of 33 points the last two years, and last year couldn't even muster two yards per carry, which is beyond pathetic even for Temple.

I would think it would be almost impossible to be so incredibly bad in so many areas, since teams would tend to not throw very much, for example, or you, the incompetent, would at least pick up a few yards and a garbage touchdown or two trying to catch up from five touchdowns back against the third string after halftime. But of the 13 non-special teams categories the NCAA tracks, Temple finished 100th or worst - that is, among the bottom 20 in the country - in ten of them:

• Rush Offense 118
• Total Offense 119
• Scoring Offense 116
• Rush Defense 119
• Pass Eff. Defense 106
• Total Defense 117
• Scoring Defense 118
• Turnover Margin 118
• Sacks 106
• Sacks Allowed 117