"Can you describe the feeling of the plane ride home from Philly last year after a crushing loss?"

"It was awful -- that's the best description..."

Its Tuesday, and that means Brandon presser day. As always, uninformed, ignorant, wise ass remarks are in orange.

QUOTING HEAD COACH Gregg Brandon
On the call that went against Temple in the Connecticut game:
"That was a tough one for the Owls but they hung in there. They are playing hard, they looked like a different team (against UConn) than they did against Buffalo. I would anticipate that the team that played UConn will be the one that shows up here. They were running the football, playing snap to whistle and playing the way you're supposed to play."

Well, you have to figure Connecticut isn't very good this year. They've beaten Maine and Duke, but Phil Steele had them only beating Syracuse in the Big East. And, the Owls lost to Buffalo and Navy, and their unfortunate win over BG last year remains the only positive part result for them.

How excited are you to finally have a home game?
"Well, it's great to get a home game especially against a team that beat us last year and ended their losing streak. Our guys have a lot to play for for the first the home game. It's a MAC game now; Temple is in the conference. It's an ESPN (regional) game, a noon start, dedicating the Sebo Center ... there are a lot of positive things going on right now with this football team. Hopefully, we can build on that, get a W and keep it going."

Yes, indeed. There are lots of positive things. In the 5-game MAC division format, even one less can be deadly. Let's not make it Saturday.

Can you describe the feeling of the plane ride home from Philly last year after a crushing loss?
"It was awful -- that's the best description. But, that was last year, this is this year."

Amen, brutha. Sometimes Coach gives the feeling that losses don't bother him. I don't think its true.

Do you feel like the kids are more excited than perhaps they normally are before a game because they want to get revenge?
"It's to early to tell, it's Monday. We had a good practice last night, and they were fired up. I think as the week goes on as momentum builds, I think we will see that."

(Travis) Shelton gave you guys some problems in last year's game.

"He is a good return guy and an offensive weapon. They're playing him at some tailback; he's just fast and as a return man he has great vision. We didn't have the speed on the unit that we have now. Hopefully, that will show up Saturday and we can keep him under wraps."

Well, kickoff coverage is our last remaining sore point on special teams. Let's make sure we cover this dude.

Looking back at the offensive line in the second half against Michigan State, has it been a challenge for them at all? Last year, they were run blocking so much and there wasn't much passing. Now, they have to change their schemes a little bit. Does that change anything for them?
"No, I don't think so. I think it is harder to run block than it is to pass protect. We worked hard on the running game last year simply because that's who we needed to be. Pass protection has been something that we've always prided ourselves on, protecting the quarterback and pass blocking with those guys. I think it is has been more difficult than when we were running the ball last year. The guys complain to me more that they want to run more. (Kory) Lichtensteiger is always giving me the shot, 'Let's run it, let's run it.' He just likes to knock guys around. That's the nature of offensive linemen."

This is interesting.

What has changed with Temple? They haven't won many games over three years, but are they making progress? Are they still bringing in junior college kids?
"They're bringing in a significant amount of junior college kids; they're getting some transfers, recruiting some freshman. He's working on building the program. They have some athletes, we saw that last year. I watched the UConn game both on TV and the tape copy. They are running around -- we've got to block them, we got to tackle because if we don't they can do some damage. They have good speed and when they are playing hard they can play with people. They have demonstrated that, I think."

They always say that. They are running around--I assume that's a compliment. Anyway, they shouldn't be able to play with us...again.

With the extra week have you done anything with your team or your playbook? Have you put in anything that you didn't have in there before?
"No, we basically tried to get well. We didn't want to beat the kids up in the bye-week, because we played two pretty physical teams. We will still practice a lot of our stuff, just keeping it sharp. We've worked on some kick off and kick off returns because we've struggled in those areas. Hopefully you will see the improvement in those two phases on Saturday. We are definitely going to have to be good on kickoffs."

See, what did I say earlier. By the way, why isn't even one of the questions about the health of the team? Corey? Hello?

Are you at all worried about have the bye-week this early in the season?
"It would be nice to have a bye-week that first week in November, but it's just the way it goes. I think sometimes you get into a rhythm and flow and you get used to it and a bye-week can be disruptive, but this time around it was needed."

Coach is never happy with the bye week.

Now that Temple is in the MAC, just the East Division standings determine who win the East. Does that make a game like this so much more important?
"Yes, I think a MAC East game, those are the ones that we have targeted all along. If we can win our MAC East games, win the crossovers we'll go to a Bowl. That's the big thing we have been talking about ever since I have been here; we need to win the right games and this is one of those 'right games'."

Yeah, it makes it more important than last year. Sheeesh.