Black Friday Game Plan: Watching Temple-Ohio for the Mac East Title

There are three ways to watch the Temple at Ohio game for the MAC East title on Friday (nationally televised at 11 a.m. on ESPU).

One—the most preferable from my point of view—is to be there in Athens, Ohio, giving support the Temple team playing perhaps the most important game in school history.
That might prove problematic for a great majority of Owl fans who have neither the cash nor the time to get there and back. For example, the cheapest fare we could find was $577 round-trip.

You have to have some pretty steep pockets for that kind of coin.

I don't count myself among that group, unfortunately, and that leaves options Nos. 2 and 3.

So I have to settle for a different Black Friday Game Plan.

(All I'll say about Temple's game plan is this: Rush the quarterback relentlessly on defense to force turnovers and use the run to set up the play-action pass on offense, spreading the big plays around evenly to Delano Green, Evan Rodriguez, Joey Jones, Matt Brown, Michael Campbell, James Nixon and Jason Harper.

Do that and Ohio coach's Frank Solich's head will be spinning like Linda Blair's in the Exorcist. It's that simple, but I trust Temple coach Al Golden and assistants Matt Rhule and Mark D'Onofrio have already figured that out.)

So that's the game plan for the team in a neat Temple nutshell. I'll continue to expand on the game plan for us fans below.

Two, I thought about watching from home, but pacing the floor and screaming at the television alone is not my idea of having fun.

Going to a department store and fighting the Black Friday crowds for a spot in front of the TV in the Electronics Department is also out.

So I'm leaning toward a third option: Finding a place to hopefully celebrate the Owls' first football championship of any kind in my lifetime with my fellow Owl fans. Ideally, the best place would be on campus but that's shut down tighter than a drum when the kids are on break.

Fortunately, there are plenty of Temple-friendly establishments around where you can find Temple people at 11 a.m. on a Friday morning.

Forget shopping on Black Friday—I'm spending a large chunk of it bird-watching.

Birds, as in Temple Owls.

I imagine a lot of men in the Philadelphia area will be doing the same thing, saying, "Honey, I'd love to be shopping with you, but Temple is on a nine-game winning streak and I'm going to watch the game with the buds."

And the Millers and the Coorses as well.