This is all new territory for these Temple Owls.
Unbeaten into mid-October and facing mounting expectations, the 2015 Temple squad hasn’t always shown the best response to its newfound pressure. That’s particularly been the case early in games this season.
So when head coach Matt Rhule pulled his team aside before heading into the locker room after a sloppy first half against lowly Central Florida on Saturday night, he just wanted to remind his players to enjoy this new level of tension that comes with success.
“I wanted them to just seize the moment, take in the moment,” Rhule said after the Owls' 30-16 comeback win over UCF at Lincoln Financial Field (see Instant Replay). “Sometimes when we play at home we just get so caught up in everything. When we’re on the road there is kind of a little bit more bunker mentality. I told them look around, look at the sky, look at the stadium. This is amazing.
“Our guys are kind of fragile at times. The crowd was booing them. The other team is cheering. When you’re getting booed, that’s a good thing. It means you’re a good team that’s not playing well. They don’t feel sorry for you.”
No one is going to take pity on this version of Temple. And once the Owls stopped feeling sorry for themselves, it was a completely different game.
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Temple was able to overcome another mistake-filled effort to rally for the win and to remain undefeated. Jahad Thomas, who rushed for a career-high 199 yards and three touchdowns, had the go-ahead score early in the fourth quarter.
The victory moved the Owls to 6-0 (3-0 American Athletic Conference) and made them bowl eligible for the second consecutive season.
“I just told our guys I’m really happy to be 6-0,” Rhule said. “[This is] for the guys that went 2-10, for the guys that didn’t go to a bowl game, for the guys who stuck with us, for the guys that didn’t quit, for the guys who worked and worked and worked, for the guys who lost that game two years ago to this team on that catch and didn’t get a chance to go to a bowl game. To know that they’re 6-0, to know that they’re bowl eligible, I’m really, really proud of them. I’m really happy for them.”
That heartbreaking 39-36 loss to UCF two seasons ago stuck with the Temple players, especially those on defense. That unit gave up 657 total yards to eventual first-round pick QB Blake Bortles and the Knights that day.
Things have certainly changed in two years, as Temple’s stout defense held UCF (0-7, 0-3 AAC) to just 67 yards on the ground and 67 in the air for a grand total of 134 on Saturday night.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game because I kept telling everybody all week we were in their situation two years ago and we knew how good we were,” said linebacker Tyler Matakevich, whose eight stops pushed him across the 400-tackle mark for his career. “I’m just so excited we came out with the W today. It was a great team effort.”
Even with that smothering defense all game, Temple still found itself trailing 16-14 entering the fourth quarter. That’s when a team that had three lost fumbles on the night — including two muffed punts — surprisingly got a special teams play to swing the momentum.
Defensive back Sean Chandler, who had just muffed the previous punt, fielded one deep in Temple territory and avoided the wave of bodies to hit the sideline for a 65-yard return to the UCF 21-yard line. Two plays later, Thomas found daylight off right tackle for a touchdown.
“I thought Champ (Sean Chandler) showed amazing resolve to fumble that punt and then come right back and return the next one and change the game,” Rhule explained. “Those are the kind of guys that we have on this team.”
Perhaps no player embodies that resolve more than Thomas. Lost on the depth chart on defense a season ago before making the switch over to offense, the tailback gave Temple a taste of what he could do to close out 2014. Now a junior and with a bulkier frame to consistently run through the tackles, he is carrying the load on offense for the Owls, with 756 yards rushing and 11 total TDs so far this year.
“Coming into camp, I had an emphasis and my coach made an emphasis to put a few pounds. I put on about 10 pounds over the summer coming in from last year and I think that helped me out a lot,” Thomas said. “I’m able to break more tackles and be more of a physical runner.”
“We knew in the spring that he was taking another step,” Rhule said. “I don’t think we realized how physical he would run the ball. We thought he was more of a scat guy who could catch screen passes. He’s surprising everyone but in a good way.”
Still undefeated and already bowl eligible, Temple knows it isn’t about to surprise anyone remaining on its schedule.
“We’ve got a short week ahead of us and I know ECU is gunnin’ for us,” Matakevich said of Temple’s Thursday night matchup with East Carolina. “To be bowl eligible this early, that’s always our goal. But to be in our situation we are now, we’re not satisfied. We’re only halfway through the season and we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got a short week.
“We’ve just got to keep building because we’ve got something special in front of us and it’s ours for the taking, but we can’t let up at all.”