Temple Wraps Up Regular Season At Tulsa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Temple Owls will wrap up their regular season on Saturday when they travel to Oklahoma to visit the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes in American Athletic Conference play.

The Owls are 5-6 (3-4 AAC) and need a win against the Golden Hurricane to become bowl eligible. Last time out on Saturday, the Owls got hammered at home by undefeated UCF, 45-19. Temple committed five turnovers in the loss.

"We had the lead twice in the first and second quarters," Temple head coach Geoff Collins tells KYW Newsradio, "And then we had three drives where we turned the ball over inside, I think the 25, and the score kind of got out of hand. But really proud of our kids, the way they kept fighting, they kept playing hard the whole game."

A victory on Saturday would be the 32nd for a group of seniors who have already tied the program record for wins by a class.

"I love these kids," he says. "I think it's obvious, the kids know it, we tell them every day. It's a small senior class, but it's a group of guys that really led the way the whole year, even through some times, some games that we wish we could've had back, some close losses. They kept the team together, kept fighting, kept teaching the young guys, who are the bulk of our roster, how to play Temple football the right way. Every single practice, every single day, they gave their all for this program."

Tulsa is just 2-9 (1-6 AAC) but five of their losses have come by seven points or fewer.

"If you just watch the film and don't look at the record," Collins says, "you see that they are a quality team, both sides of the ball, sound on special teams."

Tulsa can run the football as they average 241.2 yards a game on the ground. However, the Golden Hurricane really struggle to stop the run as teams roll up 271.5 rushing yards a contest against them.

Temple and Tulsa last played back on October 11th, 2014. The Owls won at the Linc, 35-24.

Saturday's game will kick off at 4:00pm.