Toughness is an important factor for Temple football. Not many are tougher than senior defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis. In a 49-10 win over Tulane on Saturday, Ioannidis recorded six tackles and 1.5 sacks, which earned him a spot on The American weekly Honor Roll.The Temple defense limited the Green Wave to only eight first downs and 110 yards of total offense. The Owls award single digit numbers to the nine toughest players on the team and for the second year in a row Ioannidis has been awarded #9. He explains that toughness isn't about your physical appearance to the Owls but much more, "Toughness isn’t necessarily being the biggest guy or putting on a show, but it is doing the tough things that people don’t want to do."
It has been an honor and a privilege for Ioannidis to wear the number nine and he credits his consistency for getting to that point. "Consistency, it is one of my strongest assets. I am consistent day in and day out. It is easy to be with the defense we are on. You always have someone covering for you but I feel that I show up every day and I am the same." That work ethic is definitely visible on a Temple defense which leads The American and is ranked nationally in Total and Scoring Defense at 29th and 13th, respectively.
The Owl's defense has recieved national attention over the last two seasons but veteran Ioannidis doesn't let the spotlight effect him. "The only pressure we feel is coming from ourselves, and that is the pressure to be great, the pressure to be the best. I don’t care what people have to say about me and this defense...the only pressure is from each other."