Editor's Note: Dick Weiss, a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, has covered college sports in Philadelphia and New York for more than 40 years. He will be providing regular commentary for the American Athletic Conference during the 2014-15 season.
PHILADELPHIA -- Temple changed the dynamic of the American Athletic Conference football race here Saturday, stunning East Carolina, 20-10, in a game that was partly played in a cold, driving rainstorm at Lincoln Financial Field.
There are two ways to look at Owls' first victory over a ranked team since 1998, which was when Temple -- 0-26 in Big East road games to that point -- ruined 14th-ranked Virginia Tech's homecoming in Blacksburg, Virginia.
On one hand, although Earl Carolina – ranked No. 23 by the College Football Playoff committee – has played a challenging nonleague schedule, its second loss of the season will make it more difficult for the Pirates to secure a spot in a New Year’s bowl game.
On the other hand, it should turn the rest of The American's regular season into a wildly entertaining free-for-all.
The American's first championship team, UCF, was 12-1 and finished 10th in last season's final AP poll after cruising by Big 12 champion Baylor in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl. But the Knights needed a spectacular one-handed diving catch by J.J.Worton for a touchdown in the final minute of regulation to force overtime and rally past by a young Temple team, 39-36, here last November.
This time, the older and wiser Owls never let East Carolina, which ripped North Carolina for 70 points in September and was averaging 39.6 points and 566.9 yards total offense, generate any sustained momentum with its normally high-powered, no-huddle offense. The Pirates outgained Temple, 432 yards to 135, but were hurt by uncharacteristic mistakes and whistled for 12 penalties for 120 yards.
Temple's opportunistic defense forced five fumbles, returning the first for a 63-yard touchdown by cornerback Tavon Young. The Owls blocked a field goal, limited East Carolina's prolific quarterback Shane Carden -- who had thrown for more than 400 yards in four of his previous five games -- to just 217 yards passing, and never gave up a big play in man or zone coverage.
"It was tough to throw it in the first half," Carden admitted. "The weather was pretty bad, but it was bad for them, too. We just shot ourselves in the foot with it."
Temple's win, combined with UConn's 37-29 victory against UCF Saturday in Strorrs, has created a grand chaos. East Carolina (6-2) Houston (5-3), UCF (5-3), Memphis (5-3) and Cincinnati (5-3) are all tied for first place in the American with 3-1 records. Temple (5-3 overall) is 3-2.
Almost every league game for the next month will have an impact on the final standings and bowl pairings.
“You look at a lot of conferences and you kind of say, “These four teams are going to win the league,” Owls coach Matt Rhule said.
"In our conference, there are so many teams that can beat you, you have to respect them all, week in and week out.
“We're a young team. I think a game like this shows we can play with anybody, but we can also lose to anybody.”
Temple needs one more win to become bowl eligible. The Owls’ first shot at achieving that goal comes Friday at the Linc when they play a much improved Memphis team, which has been competitive in losses against both UCLA and Ole Miss.
Rhule is not ready to talk about making a run at an American title yet.
“I'm going to be obsessed with Memphis all week,'' he said. “I just have to make sure the last two weeks don't happen and this week happens again.”
Rhule has been the head coach here for two years, but he understands what it takes to rekindle a culture of winning at this huge urban university, serving as an assistant and then a coordinator at Temple from 2006 through 2011, playing a vital role when Al Golden turned the program around before leaving for Miami.
The 39-year-old Rhule wants to be here. He spent a year as an assistant with the NFL Giants in 2012, but he never sold his house. He was a natural choice for the job when Steve Addazio left after two years for Boston Collge.because he believes in the potential of the program. “I started off the season quoting Lou Katz (the late Temple benefactor), ‘If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will.’”
Rhule’s defense came back to life in a big way after back-to-back road losses in which the Owls gave up 36 points to Houston and 34 to UCF.
“We got on the plane after the UCF game and I think a lot of us were shellshocked,'' Rhule said. "(Hall of Fame basketball) Coach (John) Chaney came in one time and talked to us about how to win at Temple. He told us, 'You have to be tough. T-u-f-f. John Chaney tough'
"Coach (Wayne) Hardin (who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame) called me this week and we made a decision as a staff to get back to who we are. Try to play good defense, special teams, run the football.
“I couldn't be happier for our team. This is something they'll have the rest of their lives For me, it was all about relief. My dad came down on the sidelines and with five seconds left, he gave me the thumbs up. I told him to be quiet. I wasn't going to get excited until the end of the game.''
Temple played mistake free football against a good team, effectively slowing the game down, using the clock offensively and pressuring Carden defensively. The Owls are finally learning how to win, learning how to make their defensive aggressiveness work in their favor.
"Against UCF, we were down two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and we recovered two fumbles. We just kept preaching to the kids, when you try to force fumbles you make fumbles. When you play with confidence, it's about just taking the guy down. You hit them a little extra hard.''
One player who has completely bought into Rhule's philosophy has been middle linebacker Tyler Matakevich, a 6-1, 235 pound junior who had 16 solo tackles against East Carolina and never came out of the game, even playing on the punt team. Defensive end Praise Martin-Oguike, who disrupted Carden's rhythm the entire game, also had a big day finishing with 1.5 sacks, 3.5 tackles for a loss and two forced fumbles.
“This is unbelievable,'' Matakevich said. "Coach told us from the very beginning, this has got to be a defensive game and we're going to have to step up. And everybody rose to the occasion.''
When Golden was head coach here, he developed a tradition of having his players sing the Frank Sinatra hit, "High Hopes " after big wins. Rhule made sure his team continued that tradition after his biggest win as a head coach.
The choir sounded good to him.