The Temple Owls finally found out who they’ll be facing in Dec. 29th’s EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C.: the UCLA Bruins, who clinched a spot with Navy’s defeat of Army over the weekend.
The Owls haven’t played in a postseason bowl since 1979. They’ll face a Bruins teams that went 6-6 in the regular season. Interesting to note is that before UCLA hired current coach Rick Neuheisel in December 2007, Temple head coach Al Golden actually interviewed for the vacant position before withdrawing his name from consideration.
Temple has a realistic shot of winning this game. UCLA doesn’t possess a potent offense, so the Owls should be able to keep it close. The Bruins do have a talented defense, though, so expect points to be scarce in this affair. Still, Temple couldn’t have asked for a more beatable opponent as it continues to build its football program back to respectability.
Monday, December 14, 2009 at 12:03 am by Raj Sethi
The Temple Owls know that they’ll be playing in the EagleBank Bowl on Dec. 29. What they don’t know is who they’ll be facing.
The Owls must await this weekend’s game between Army and Navy in Philadelphia to determine who they’ll see in two weeks in Washington D.C. at RFK Stadium. If Army (5-6) wins, they become bowl eligible and they’ll go up against the Owls; if Navy wins, the Owls will take on the UCLA Bruins out of the Pac-10.
Temple started the season on a rough note, dropping their first two games to in-state opponents. An alarming opening game loss to Div. I-AA Villanova foreshadowed what would come Week 2, when the Owls travelled to Penn State for a ritual sacrifice. They were bludgeoned by the Nittany Lions, 31-6.
But the Owls rebounded incredibly, rolling to nine straight wins after the loss to Penn State to jump to the top of the MAC East.
They squeaked out wins against Navy and Miami (OH) late in the season, but also hammered teams like Akron 56-17 and Kent State 47-13.
A 35-17 loss to Ohio on the Saturday after Thanksgiving took some wind out of the Owls’ sails, but they still knew that they’d find a place in a bowl.
Now, they’re simply waiting to find out who they need to prepare for.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 9:15 pm by bryan
