Rhule proud of Temple's focus, performance in poor weather

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Temple's football team has won in various situations during its 4-0 start - as an underdog and as a favorite, by starting slowly and by ending quickly. But on Friday night, for the first time this season, the Owls were forced to compete in less-than-ideal weather conditions.

As the final score suggested, the Owls - 4-0 for the first time since starting 6-0 in 1974 - weren't affected by persistent rain during their 37-3 win over Charlotte at Jerry Richardson Stadium.

Each week, coach Matt Rhule is looking to find out something new about his team, and in this game he discovered the Owls can play hard and well in bad weather.

"They didn't have the look on their face like, 'What are we doing out there?' " Rhule said. "I think our team liked playing tonight, which is good and good to see in that kind of weather."

The player it appeared to affect most was quarterback P.J. Walker, but he was much more accurate than his final statistics indicated. Walker completed 11 of 23 passes for 116 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions, but he saw his teammates drop several balls.

Walker never showed any visible frustration when one of his passes was dropped.

"It's [on to the] next play," he said.

As the weather got worse, Temple seemed to get better. Leading just 10-3 at the half, the Owls put the game away with a 20-0 third quarter.

One reason Temple said it fared well in the soggy setting on the artificial turf was the preparation it had put in for situations like that.

"It wasn't that bad, honestly," Walker said. "We practiced in this weather, so going out there and being able to have a sort of dry ball, that is what you needed."

Except that many of the balls weren't "sort of dry."

"It was probably much harder to catch the football than to throw it," Walker said.

While the skill-position players are probably affected more by the wet weather, the linemen feel right at home.

"The weather wasn't too bad," center Kyle Friend said.

Friend and his fellow offensive linemen weren't too bad, either. One of the keys entering the game was to contain Charlotte's 6-foot-3, 294-pound nose guard, Larry Ogunjobi, who entered the game leading Conference USA with 7.5 tackles for loss.

Ogunjobi had three tackles and one tackle for loss against Temple, but he didn't have the type of dominant performance he had in earlier games.

"I think we did a good job communicating up front and knowing where we were going and doing," Friend said. "[Ogunjobi] had a good game and played pretty well."

Charlotte (2-3) entered the game tied for the Conference USA lead with 10 sacks, but it never got to Walker.

The Owls came home not only happy to earn another "W" but satisfied that they didn't let the adverse conditions bother them.

"It shows how much we have grown and how much of a team we are now," Walker said.

Owls land a QB. Montel Aaron, a dual-threat quarterback from Antelope High in Northern California, made an oral commitment Saturday to attend Temple. Aaron tweeted his decision and a person familiar with Temple's recruiting situation verified it.

The 6-foot-5, 198-pound Aaron doesn't have a high national profile, but Temple, according to a source, loves his athletic ability and believes he has a high upside.

mnarducci@phillynews.com

@sjnard