Rhule knows his 4-1 Temple team isn't resting on its laurels

TEMPLE HAS WON four of its first five games, for only the second time since 1979. Last year, the Owls lost their first six, en route to a 2-10 season, in Matt Rhule's head-coaching debut.

So how's it feel?

"That's hard for me to say, because I wish we were 5-0," Rhule said yesterday.

Good answer.

Last week, he correctly said his Owls hadn't done anything yet, because the teams they'd beaten had one win each. On Saturday, they rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Tulsa, another one-win team. Still, it was the first time they'd come from behind to win in 2 years. So that's another step.

Friday night, they'll be at Houston (3-3, 1-1 American). Temple is 2-0 in the American. The only other AAC teams that don't have a conference loss are Central Florida (3-2, 1-0) and 18th-ranked East Carolina (5-1, 2-0), which just happen to be Temple's next two opponents.

"When you have a record that shows some success and shows some improvement, I think it lets the kids know that their work is paying off to a degree," Rhule said. "They're in control of their record. It's not like this nebulus thing just happened to us . . . If we don't play well, we'll lose.

"So they can move forward saying, 'OK, now we want to be really good.' We have to prepare at a higher level. That's what I want, for us to build a program that's solid and not inconsistent. You can't talk about, hey, we're excited to be 4-1, right? We need to talk about, hey, why are we 4-1? Because we're doing these things. If we want to be 5-1, we'd better do all these things, plus a little more each week. That's where hopefully we can go. Houston knows how to play, too."

The Owls lost to Houston in South Philly early last season, 22-13. Houston just won at Memphis (3-3, 1-1), after losing at home to UCF, when it was stopped on the goal line late.

The last time the Owls were 4-1, 4 years ago, they got to 8-2 before losing their last two. For whatever reason, they were one of two bowl-eligible teams that didn't get a postseason invitation. Rhule was part of that as an assistant on Al Golden's staff.

"I think, after what they went through last year, they just appreciate and understand the process," Rhule said. "We haven't even talked about [bowls]. They lost to Houston last year. When they turn the tape on, they know those players. They know how good they are. I got the sense coming out of last week that the minute I said Houston in the locker room, we were pretty locked in.

"With 18- to 22-year-olds, you always fight that battle. We fight the battle as coaches, as well. You have to ground yourself. What are we doing today?

"We just played four freshman corners in a Division I football game against the 30th-ranked passing offense in the country, and won the game. So I was proud of them."

The season won't stop if they win this one. Neither will it come to an end if they don't. The upcoming stretch obviously will reveal much more about this particular group. Yet the most relevant reality is, the overall appears to have a future. For the time being, it remains far from a finished product, regardless of the bottom line. The Owls are still very young. They probably won't go 11-1. But they don't have too many games left in which, on paper, they don't have a chance to at least be competitive. And that's already a long way from losing to Fordham and Idaho back-to-back.

"I know they're excited to play Houston, but are they going to stay true to the process and the details?" asked Rhule, whose team has won its last three on the road. "What was fun about last year was, as we lost, the kids were like, 'What do we need to do?' They kept buying in more and more. When you have success, are you going to stay vigilant? Even as coaches, are we going to stay the same or start doing something different? We know how you win. They hear me say that it's [one thing]. Then I put on Chip Kelly, saying it's a process. Then they shake their head. Yeah, it makes sense. Jimbo Fisher, Nick Saban, they're all saying the same thing. It gives them perspective.

"It's exciting to be underdogs again. It's more fun. Get on a plane, go down there, people don't think we're going to beat them. They beat us last year. That's why we coach. You want kids to have these moments. They're going to have to respond.

"Every time we go out to play, we're showcasing who we are. If we go out and don't play our brand, that's not a step. Even if we win. People want to see who and what we are. The biggest thing is the kids find out who they are. This is why they came to Temple. We don't ask them to do all this work to shrink down from the competition. We want this opportunity. They didn't back down last year. Now it's time to go show that we really are better."