DeSean Jackson’s major moment, Evan Simon’s setting records, and West Chester needs a win
Here's how the former Eagles wideout orchestrated the first-ever HBCU game at the Linc, how Simon is turning heads in his second year, and our pick for the college football Game of the Week.
The realization gave DeSean Jackson goose bumps through the leather jacket he was wearing.
The former Eagles wide receiver will step back onto the turf at Lincoln Financial Field, but this time as a head coach when his Delaware State team hosts Norfolk State, coached by his ex-Eagles teammate Michael Vick, on Thursday night (7 p.m., ESPNU, tickets).
The game also will be the first time two historically Black colleges or universities will play at the Linc, something Jackson didn’t take for granted as he spoke during a pep rally on Wednesday morning at Delaware State, one where the cast and crew of ESPN’s First Take held a live taping.
Jackson described the meeting the “first time two elite teammates [who] played together are coaching against each other and being head coaches on their home field.” The football itself matters little, but that two HBCUs are getting exposure and are about to display not just the football, but the pageantry that it entails on prime time is something Jackson didn’t take for granted.
“It’s a blessing,” Jackson said on First Take, adding that he was the mastermind behind the idea of hosting this Hornets home game at the Linc. “We had to jump through some hurdles to make this game work but shoutout to [Eagles owner] Jeffrey Lurie, shoutout to [Delaware State president] Tony Allen, and everyone that was a part of this to make this happen.”
He said it …
“I just think college football, if you get a chance to see it in person, what a great thing to do.”
— Penn coach Ray Priore urging fans to check out the Quakers’ Friday night clash with Brown (3-3, 0-3 Ivy) at Franklin Field. Penn (4-2, 2-1) will be looking to rebound at home after a tough loss to Yale last Saturday that snapped a three-game winning streak and dropped the team to No. 2 in the Ivy League standings.
Turning heads, setting records
Temple has turned a number of people into believers that this team can become bowl eligible in K.C. Keeler’s first season as coach. But the story this week, isn’t Keeler, it’s senior quarterback Evan Simon. In last week’s overtime win against Tulsa, Simon set a record by becoming the first quarterback in Owls history to have three games with five or more passing touchdowns.
» READ MORE: Temple not shying away from being close to bowl eligibility: ‘We aren’t going to hide from it’
It’s is pretty remarkable for a team that struggled to put points on the board this time last season with the same starting quarterback.
So what changed? Maybe it’s that Simon has an air mattress in the team’s football facility and literally is sleeping there most nights just so he can watch game tape and, as he described it earlier this season, to be “closer to the football.”
Whatever it is, Simon is having a breakthrough year and is averaging 201.3 yards passing per game with an American Conference-leading 21 touchdowns and has yet to throw a pick.
(Here’s hoping we didn’t just jinx that.)
But perhaps more important, he’s led the Owls to being just one game away from bowl eligibility for the first time since 2019, a feat they could accomplish as soon as this weekend against East Carolina on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+) at the Linc.
» READ MORE: In Penn State’s game against No. 1 Ohio State, the team will ‘come out and fight’
The BIG number
20.5: That is how many points Penn State enters as an underdog against No. 1 Ohio State when it travels to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes on Saturday (noon, Fox29). You’d have to go back to the 2013 season to find the Nittany Lions as a 20-plus point ’dog, when there was a 24-point margin in a road game against Wisconsin.
Penn State won that game, 31-24. Could it shock the college football world again? Interim coach Terry Smith said it would go a long way to “run through the storm.”
“[My players] don’t have a choice [but to play with fight] if they’re going to play for me,” Smith said. “Things aren’t going our way right now, but the only way to get out of the storm is to run through the storm. And we’re going to run through the storm.”
Three questions
🏈 What is Villanova going to do with a bye week after winning its fifth game in a row and its 20th straight at home by beating up on Albany last week?
🏈 Will West Chester get a win at home against Bloomsburg on Saturday? Now having lost four straight and being outscored, 142-66, it’s safe to say the Rams are due.
🏈 Will the W train keep on rolling for Eastern? It looks that way for the Eagles, to whom we introduced you last week when they were 5-1. The Eagles have improved to 6-1 after beating Misericordia last week and head to Chester this weekend to take on 3-4 Widener on Saturday (noon).
Game of the week
No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 20 Texas (noon, 6ABC)
It was so hard for us to not pick watching Temple chase bowl eligibility, but you can flip back and forth with that one, which starts at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. This Vandy team is serious, and its defense makes the Commodores deserving to be in top 10 conversation — something we never thought we’d see — or say. However, Texas, which was the No. 1 team at the beginning of the year, still is in Top 25 conversation and a 2.5-point favorite at home.
Which, if you’re Vanderbilt, you have to take that as a little disrespect, no?
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