Temple preparing for another road test

THE ONLY OTHER time Temple lost this year, against Navy on Sept. 6, it had the following week off before getting to play FCS Delaware State at home.

Now the situation is different.

The Owls (4-2, 2-1 American Athletic), who got beat 31-10 at Houston (4-3, 2-1) on Friday night, have to go right back on the road against a Central Florida (4-2, 2-0) team that's on a four-game winning streak and in two seasons has yet to lose in this conference (10-0).

"The way we lost was not the way we want to play," Temple coach Matt Rhule said. "We want to make sure that doesn't happen again this week. That was the first time in a long while when we had a game with something on the line. It was a new challenge for us. We stumbled a little. We didn't handle the moment the way we all thought we would. We'll get that same challenge again.

"Are we going to be the team you saw Friday night, or will we be the team you've seen at other times?"

It's a fair and appropriate question.

Nobody expected the Owls to go from 2-10 to 10-2. But when you start 4-1, no matter who you were playing, perspectives can change. Everyone knew the schedule was going to get harder. After this, the Owls will host 18th-ranked East Carolina (5-1, 2-0). It appears the only gimme they have left might be Tulane (2-5, 1-2). But that's not until Dec. 6. They'll have plenty of opportunities to prove their worth before then. They don't figure to lose them all, or win them all. But, however the rest of the way unfolds, they at least want to play like a team that's getting better and is headed in the proper direction.

The response is up to them.

"They have no choice but to move on," Rhule said. "They quickly have to get the taste out of their mouths and be ready. That's my job."

They had a chance to draw even with Houston early in the third quarter, but quarterback P.J. Walker fumbled the ball away at the goal line on first down. It still was a one-possession game late in the same period when the Cougars, with the help of two turnovers, scored two touchdowns in less than a minute.

Rhule said some stuff that went wrong was "reminiscent" of 2013.

Last November at the Linc, the 1-8 Owls nearly knocked off No. 15 UCF, which would go on to beat Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl. But as often happened to the Owls, the Knights got a TD with 1:06 left to tie then won it with a short field goal at the buzzer. Long passes were big parts of each drive, which both began at the UCF 30.

"That was a really tough loss," said junior defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis, who's third on the team with 29 tackles. "That's not one you forget. At the same time, even though we may have hard feelings about last year, we can't go into this thinking anything different than any conference game.

"It's in the past, and I'm not really sure it has anything to do with now. It's a new year. We're in the core of our season, the heart of our conference. We have to play great every week. We're trying to stay consistent. Obviously after a loss things tighten up a little bit. It's about how we play. We prepare like we expect championship results.

"It would have been great to win that game. It would be great to win them all. It doesn't mean any game is more important than any other. At the end of the day it's a conference game. We need to win those."

When the first goal is to just get bowl eligible for the first time in three seasons, you need to win as many as possible.

"Our whole team didn't do what they were trained to do," Rhule said. "We didn't look like the team from Vanderbilt [opening 37-7 road win]. Then you're coming out of camp, you're brainwashed. Now all of a sudden you have some success, guys are starting to go, 'OK, this move worked, even though that's not what I'm supposed to do.' As coaches you're guilty of that, man. Because you're either coaching it or allowing it.

"You're giving them a little more freedom to play, then wham, you get hit in the face by Houston. You say, 'OK, wait a minute. This isn't our brand. We're not following our process.' They have to recognize we can't beat ourselves. It starts with me."

The first of their remaining six stages awaits.