Santoliquito: For One Week In October, Philly Will Be Temple Town

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia has long been a town that's gravitated towards its pro teams. The Eagles, Phillies, Sixers and Flyers—probably in that order—have dominated the sports landscape for decades. Temple football was barely a blip. That's actually quite generous. The stark reality is that the Owls were nonexistent in the minds of most Philadelphia sports fans. It's the conditioning all Philly sports fans are indoctrinated by at an early age.

That changes next week.

Ask yourself this: In your lifetime, did you ever think in one season the Temple Owls would beat Penn State, be nationally ranked for the first time since 1979, start 7-0 for the first time in school history, likely visited by ESPN's GameDay and Lee Corso, and hosting Notre Dame on primetime network TV in a packed stadium on a Saturday night?

It's inconceivable. But it is reality.

The Owls will be at the epicenter of the college football universe—and for one week in October, Philadelphia will be Temple Town.

The Temple football program couldn't ask for a better perfect storm. The Eagles will be in their bye week, the Sixers and Flyers are just beginning their seasons and neither have roused any postseason expectations, and the Phillies may name their general manager, but none of those teams carries the national sports hammer as does Temple, which has been adopted throughout the country as lovable underdogs.

For one week, many sports fans in the area will be introduced to the Owls' affable head coach Matt Rhule, stars Tyler Matakevich, P.J. Walker, Jahad Thomas, Robby Anderson, Matt Ioannidis, Jarred Alwan, Kyle Friend, Nate D. Smith and Sean Chandler. They'll find out that the Owls are on the brink of a minor New Year's Day bowl game and currently sit atop the American Athletic Conference East Division with a 4-0 record. They'll discover a defense that's only given up 29 in the second half over the first seven games they played. That games Temple used to lose, like the scare the Owls survived Thursday night at East Carolina, are games that they are now winning.

Only two years ago, the program was 2-10 and in its usual malaise. Rhule inherited a program in a state of shambles, left there by former coach Steve Addazio, who used Temple to cash in for what he thought were greener pastures at Boston College, where he's gone 17-16 in three years and currently sits at 3-4 this season. The Eagles did go to two bowl games under Addazio (both losses), but the Eagles have never been nationally ranked in his brief time there.

In the time Rhule's been at Temple, the Owls have steadily climbed from 2-10, to 6-6 last year, to 7-0 this year and possibly a minor New Year's Day bowl. He's doing it with players that Addazio recruited, but Rhule has also improved the core of this team to a level where they can play for any top-25 program in the country.

The strange part is that nationally Temple seems to be more embraced than locally. The Delaware Valley seemingly still needs to be convinced about the winning Owls. That should change—at least for one week.