The Owls near the end of a historical season
Records show 8-2, but Temple sees much more than that
Temple University was a different kind of place to be on Saturday, September 5th when the Owls beat Penn State for the first time in 74 years. For the first time in a long time we were able to silence the roaring cheers of “We Are” and show the world how Temple Tough we really are.
As the season opener, it was a sign for how the rest of season would play out. The Temple Owls went on to beat Cincinnati, Massachusetts, Charlotte, Tulane, UCF and East Carolina. It was an undefeated season going into the Halloween game against Notre Dame.
As a senior, I can honestly say I’ve never seen so much Temple pride as I did this fall. Temple students love their school with or without a good football program. Now though, we had a reason to gather on a Saturday afternoon that meant more than just a tailgate.
Approaching Halloween, the excitement and pride was significant. After getting picked for College Game Day, campus seemed to transform. The Temple bookstore stocked on Game Day t-shirts immediately and the student tickets were sold out by the beginning of the week. My Facebook and Twitter pages were full of Temple pride posts and articles depicting this as “The Time to be a Temple Owl”.
The Notre Game was the end of our winning streak, but Temple didn’t take it as much of a letdown. Not only did the team show up, but the fans sold out Lincoln Financial Field making it a night that will be hard to forget.
The Owls ranked in at #22 after the Notre Dame game and held that spot after the win over SMU. Going into the game against South Florida, Temple had the opportunity to clinch the American Athletic Conference’s East Division.
Unfortunately, the 44-23 loss put Temple in a tough spot. These losses didn’t stop some serious talk on the future stadium being built on campus.
The Owls may not be undefeated anymore, but our record of 8-2 reflects what an incredible season this has been so far. It has been amazing to see Temple rise from the bottom and gain respect after every win. For the students, we could not be more proud of their success.
For the first time I stood in an actual line for tickets to a football game. For the first time students flocked to more than just K lot for the games. It certainly is a great time to be an Owl.
As the season progresses we have two more games to look forward to. This Saturday, November 21st against Memphis and Saturday, November 28th against UCONN. These games fall within Temple’s fall break, but I have feeling that students will be making the trip back to the Linc to see our owls to the end of what is our most memorable season.