Temple seeks game at Hawaii in December
Temple college sports - basketball, football and more - covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey.
Temple seeks game at Hawaii in December
Keith Pompey, Inquirer Staff Writer
A Termple source confirmed a Honolulu Star Advertiser report that the Owls are trying to schedule a football game with Hawaii at Aloha Stadium in December.
After rejoining the Big East in March, Temple (3-3) was left with only 11 games on this season's schedule. The Owls have been attempting to schedule a 12th opponent that would make it easier to get the six wins needed to become bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season.
Under Temple's current 11-game schedule, it would have to win three of its remaining five games to reach six victories.
Reached Wednesday morning, Owl athletic director Bill Bradshaw said his policy is to not talk about scheduling that's pending. However, he did acknowledge that something is going on.
"One of the challenges we had in joining the Big East was going from eight conference games to seven," Bradshaw said. "And we worked diligently to schedule a 12th game."
Temple was a football-only member of the Mid-American Conference during the previous five seasons.
"It's very far from a done deal," Warriors acting athletic director Rockne Frietas told The Star Advertiser. "We're going through the due diligence."
Hawaii, a Mountain West member, received clearance from its conference for use of the stadium. The Warriors are waiting for the NCAA's clearance.
If the game does go through, the Temple source said it would be played on Dec. 8.
The Warriors (1-5) have a 12-game schedule that ends against South Alabama on Dec. 1. Hawaii and teams that play Hawaii are allowed to participate in 13 regular-season games, one above the normal limit.
Pad the schedule with a 1-5 team to get to a 6-6 record. That does not deserve a bowl game.— P Even- No, reward your players with a trip to Hawaii because they may not even make a bowl game... clown— Mikey Fresh
- Agreed. This should serve as their defacto bowl game. Aside from the extra practice, how does playing in NYC in Dec (pinstipe bowl) or Charlotte/Birmingham qualify as a "reward"? Those games are a net loss for the school $ wise, and bring nothing with regard to exposure or wowing recruits.
- P Even Acts like every other college football team on the planet doesnt do the same thing.— templefan617
- Great idea all the way around. Dozens of 6-6 teams have played in Bowl games in recent years. But even if 6-6 doesn't get Temple in a bowl game this is a great way to increase program morale and help recruiting. For thr record I believe the Owls will win 6 without the Hawaii game.— ameadie
- 6-6 would get Temple a bowl as the Big East has 6 guaranteed bowl tie-ins (a BCS berth plus Beef 'O' Bradys, Belk, Russell Athletic, New Era Pinstripe, and BBVA Compass). Temple is definitely finishing ahead of UConn and USF (who they own tiebreakers against) so they'll finish 6th in the BE at worst.— hhkal
- they need to beat army, hawaii, and either pitt or syracuse. very doable but it's a young team and anything can happen.— bobbyd24
- Three bowls in four years...not bad. Hopefully, Temple will beat Pitt, Army and Syracuse. . If they expect to beat Pitt, Temple will have to play four quarters, something they have yet to do. They didn't show up in the first half against Maryland or UConn. They were run over in the second half last week. Coyer play has left a lot to be desired and the pass defense has been awful. Addazios offense has been very predictable...run on first and second downs...pass on third. This is likely the last game Temple and Pitt willlay for some time. GO TEMPLE— Harvey Matloff
- Anyway to promote the team across the country is a plus. You can can always tell recruits we will travel across the country and have a chance to play in bowl games. Makes sense to me. (all teams do this)— avoidpitt
- Great move shows the school cares about football. For the people who think like P Even . Hawaii and bowl game in december open up with ND.— Kerz
- P Even- For what it's worth Hawaii has lost to USC, Nevada, and BYU among their 5 losses. Not many teams outside the top 50 teams in FBS can beat these teams, not to mention two of those were road losses. I'm not saying this makes Hawaii elite competition or anything but you cannot use the old "pad their schedule with a 1-5 team" excuse because frankly this isn't even the worst team in the Mountain West. Perhaps as other big-name schools continue to see Temple take on different opponents across the country we will begin to get more recognition both from recruits and from other schools.— jevans
- I'd go to Hawaii in December. It's a great time because rates are good between Thanksgiving and Christmas.— damnels
- Getting 6 wins and going to whatever made-up.com bowl is nothing to brag about when your in a "BCS" conference.— FatEagle
- Great idea, excite the players and the fans to travel to Hawaii in December...nothing wrong with that.— Bob112
- Hawaii is beautiful and the fans and players will love it....and it sure beats going to Montana for a football game in December...LOL— Bob112
Pompey is a native Philadelphian and a University of Pittsburgh graduate. Follow him on Twitter @pompeysgridlock. Reach Keith at kpompey@phillynews.com.
