Owls picked last in Big East poll
Temple college sports - basketball, football and more - covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey.
Owls picked last in Big East poll
Keith Pompey, Inquirer Staff Writer
NEWPORT, R.I. – It’s official.
Temple has been picked to finish last in the Big East Conference in the conference’s preseason media poll.
Louisville received 24 of a possible 28 first-place votes en route to being tabbed the favorite to win the eight-team conference.
South Florida (four first-place votes) is projected to finish second, followed in the top five by Rutgers, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Connecticut and Syracuse are picked to finish sixth and seventh.
What’s interesting about the voting is the lack of respect for newcomer Temple. The Owls are coming off their best three-season stretch in school history. They capped last season with a 37-15 victory over Wyoming in the New Mexico Bowl.
But perhaps in the eyes of many of the voters, the fact that Temple returns just eight full-time starters from a 9-4 squad is hard to overlook.
The Owls are making their second go-round in the conference for football after spending the past five seasons as a football-only member of the Mid-American Conference.
Temple Football: Right Back Where We Belong!— AreaMan- Most of the voters feel that the Big East is much tougher than the MAC. That's only partially true. All of the MAC bowl teams from last year could compete in the Big East. Temple is ready. They will get 6 wins with three of them being Big East wins. Temple is headed to a bowl game again.— Byron
Pompey is a native Philadelphian and a University of Pittsburgh graduate. Follow him on Twitter @pompeysgridlock. Reach Keith at kpompey@phillynews.com.
