MARMOT BOCA RATON BOWL
TEMPLE OWLS vs. TOLEDO ROCKETS
Tuesday, Dec. 22
7 p.m. ET
FAU Stadium (29,419/Natural Grass)
Boca Raton, Fla.
#MarmotBocaBowl
Television
ESPN -
WATCH LIVE
Allen Bestwick, Dan Hawkins and Tiffany Greene
National Radio
ESPN Radio
Dave Lamont, John Congemi
and Brett McMurphy
Sirius 80; XM 80
Temple Radio
WPEN-FM 97.5 (flagship)
THE GAME
The Marmot Boca Raton Bowl will be played for the second time in 2015 as Temple and Toledo meet at FAU Stadium … The American Athletic Conference is slated to send an eligible team to the Boca Raton Bowl in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019 … Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference are also scheduled to participate in the bowl four times during the six-year cycle … The Boca Raton Bowl is one of 13 bowl games owned and operated by ESPN Events … The game will be the 11th meeting between Temple and Toledo in a series that dates to 1962 … Toledo holds a 7-3 series lead … The last meeting was a 36-13 Toledo victory in Philadelphia during the 2011 season, when the Owls were members of the MAC.
BOCA RATON BOWL HISTORY (0-0)
12-23-14 Marshall 52, Northern Illinois 23
24/24 TEMPLE
10-3, 7-1 American
Head Coach
Matt Rhule (Penn State ’97)
16-19, third season
NOTES
Temple is making its fifth appearance in a bowl game … The Owls are 2-2 all-time in bowl games, most recently defeating Wyoming in the 2011 New Mexico Bowl … The Owls went 7-1 in American Athletic Conference play to win the East Division title before falling to Houston in the league’s first championship game … Temple has held its opponent without a touchdown three times this season and has held four opponents without an offensive touchdown … Temple has been ranked in seven of the last eight national polls … Temple has outscored its opponents in the third quarter, 119-32 … The Owls are led by LB Tyler Matakevich, who is the 2015 Bronko Nagurski Award and Chuck Bednarik Award winner as the national defensive player of the year … Matakevich is a first-team All-America choice by the Associated Press, the Walter Camp Foundation and the FWAA … Matakevich has 126 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 14.0 tackles for loss and five interceptions and is the NCAA’s active career leader in total tackles (480) … Matakevich became the seventh player in NCAA FBS history to register four seasons with 100 or more stops and is the only player in the nation this season to lead his team in tackles in every game … RB Jahad Thomas, a first-team all-conference selection, has rushed for 1,257 yards and 17 touchdowns and is ranked third in The American at 96.7 yards per game … QB P.J. Walker has completed 222 of 390 passes (56.9 percent) for 2,736 yards and 19 touchdowns with seven interceptions … WR Robby Anderson has a team-high 64 catches for 873 yards and seven touchdowns … OG Eric Lofton and C Kyle Friend were both first-team all-conference choices on the offensive line … Matakevich was one of four first-team all-conference selections on defense for Temple, along with DT Matt Ioannidis, DE Nate D. Smith and S Alex Wells … The Owls had a league-leading seven first-team selections.
2015 RESULTS
September
5 Penn State W 27-10
12 at Cincinnati * W 34-26
19 at Massachusetts W 25-23
October
2 at Charlotte W 37-3
10 Tulane * W 49-10
17 UCF * W 30-16
22 at East Carolina * W 24-14
31 Notre Dame L 20-24
November
6 at SMU * W 60-40
14 at USF * L 23-44
21 Memphis * W 31-12
28 UConn * W 27-3
December
5 at Houston ^ L 13-24
22 vs. Toledo 7 p.m.
* American Athletic Conference game
^ American Athletic Conference Championship
rv/- TOLEDO
9-2, 6-2 MAC
Head Coach
Jason Candle (Mount Union ’03)
0-0, first season
NOTES
Toledo is making its 15th appearances in a bowl game and has reached the postseason for the fifth time in the last six years … Toledo is 10-4 all-time in bowl games, including a 63-44 win against Arkansas State in the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl … Toledo won its first seven games of the 2015 season and was ranked as high as No. 18 in the USA Today poll … The Rockets’ two losses were both five-point setbacks in conference play … Toledo finished 6-2 in the Mid-American Conference and tied with Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Central Michigan for the MAC’s West Division title … Head coach Matt Campbell left to take a similar position at Iowa State, leaving Jason Candle to make his head coaching debut in the Boca Raton Bowl … Candle had been an assistant at Toledo for seven years, including the last four as offensive coordinator … The Rockets are 12-2 in their last 14 games, dating to last season … Toledo has won at least nine games four times in the last five years … Toledo led the MAC in scoring defense (21.1 ppg) and rushing offense (213.2 ypg) in the regular season … The Rockets have allowed only four sacks this season in 382 passing attempts … QB Phillip Ely leads a balanced offensive unit … Ely has completed 206 of 375 passes (54.9 percent) for 2,680 yards and 21 touchdowns with 10 interceptions … RB Kareem Hunt and RB Terry Swanson have combined for 1,764 yards and 17 touchdowns … Hunt has averaged 111.8 rushing yards per game, which leads the MAC … Hunt and Swanson were both chosen as second-team All-MAC selections … WR Corey Jones leads the team with 52 receptions, while WR Cody Thompson has a team-high 706 receiving yards … DE Orion Jones has a team-high 6.0 sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss and was a first-team All-MAC choice … CB Cheatham Norris and OT Storm Norton were both first-team All-MAC picks as well.
2015 RESULTS
September
12 at Arkansas W 16-12
19 Iowa State W 2ot 30-23
26 Arkansas State W 37-7
October
3 at Ball State * W 24-10
10 Kent State * W 38-7
17 Eastern Michigan * W 63-20
24 at Massachusetts * W 51-35
November
3 Northern Illinois * L 27-32
10 at Central Michigan * W 28-23
17 at Bowling Green * W 44-28
27 Western Michigan * L 30-35
December
22 vs. Temple 7 p.m.
* Mid-American Conference game