Rhule: Temple 'Ecstatic' To Be Heading To Boca Raton Bowl
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — At least one football team in Philadelphia will reach the postseason. The Temple Owls will be rewarded for their 10-3 season and a top-25 ranking with an invite to play Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 22 at Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, Florida.
This marks the first time Temple will be going to a bowl game since 2011, when the Owls defeated Wyoming in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The Owls won the American Athletic Conference East Division with a 7-1 conference record, before losing to Houston, 24-13, to the No. 17 Houston Cougars.
The Owls 10 victories this season match a season-best for victories in a season since 1979. Their season-opening victory over Penn State marks the first time the Owls beat the Nittany Lions in 74 years. Temple was ranked in the Top 25 for six weeks this year, including another program record four-straight weeks.
"We're ecstatic to receive a bowl bid to the Boca Raton Bowl to play against a Toledo team that was ranked for much of this year," Temple coach Matt Rhule said. "We think it's a fitting end for our guys. We're hopeful to finish in the year in the Top 25 and we're excited that we're still in the Top 25. I think for a year in which we were picked to finish third in the East, to finish the year as Eastern champions with 11 wins, never done before in Temple football history, with a bowl win, is our goal.
"This is a tremendous group of seniors, and what they've done is historic, beating Penn State to the amount of games that they've won. We want to send them off in the right note. We wanted to win the (conference championship). We had our chances to win the game and we didn't do it. That doesn't take away from what we've done. When you have a chance to do something historic, when no one has won 11 games before that gets the kids excited. People still have ranked in the Top 25, that shows that they still have respect for our team. We want to finish this as one of the top 25 teams in the country."
