Temple Savors Well Earned Bye Week

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Temple Owls have played a lot of football already this season and now they get a chance to take a break.

The Owls are on the bye, which comes as they are playing their best football of the season.

Temple is 7-3 (5-1 in the AAC) and on a four-game winning streak. The most recent victory came last Friday when the Owls went on the road and dismissed UConn in business-like fashion, 21-0.

"I thought it was a nice team performance," Temple head coach Matt Rhule tells KYW Newsradio. "Our passing game got us going early. We were able to control the clock and run the ball for 200-some yards after that. I thought our defense was fantastic and it really came from all positions. We stopped the run early, got after the quarterback. We were down to some back-up kids in the secondary and they played tremendously good football, really proud of them. And I thought our special teams were great."

Listen to the entire interview with Temple's Matt Rhule:

Temple was incredibly balanced in the win, rushing for 216 yards while passing for 215. On defense, they held the Huskies for eight first downs and 160 yards of total offense.

Now when things are going well, sometimes teams would prefer to just keep on playing, but Rhule is welcoming this week off.

"You know I think we needed this bye," Rhule says. "I would tell you this was as long a 14 weeks, four weeks of training camp and then ten games, it was as long and as daunting as we've been around. So many kids were banged up, were hurt, were sore, and they just kept going out there. And they just kept playing. So they've earned this. I'm sure we'll find a way to pick up where we left off, these kids are so competitive. But right now, they just need a little bit of time to recover and get their bodies healthy for the stretch run."

The job is pretty simple for the Owls from here on out. They have two games left in the regular season, win them both and for the second straight year they will win the conference's East Division and head to the AAC title game.

"We were in this position last year," Rhule says. "We needed to win the last two games. If we lost, we were out, if we won, we were in. So we've been there before. It really is about just making sure that we play our best football, making sure that we are prepared for these games down the stretch, making sure that we don't take anything for granted or get distracted. Focus on the only thing that matters, which is our preparation and the way we play. Because they've done it before, I think they believe in that now, they understand that that's how you win when it's important, just concentrating on yourself and the way that you play."

The Owls return from the bye to visit Tulane on Saturday, November 19th.