Temple Releases 2016 Football Schedule
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Who would have thought a year ago that anyone would get excited about Temple releasing its football schedule?
Then again, who could have imagined the Owls playing Notre Dame on national TV and having GameDay visit Philadelphia because of their success.
Temple, which finished 10-4 overall last year and 7-1 to win the Eastern Division of the American Athletic Conference, released its 2016 football schedule today.
The Owls will be on national TV twice, at Memphis on Thursday, Oct. 6 and hosting Southern Florida, the only AAC team to beat the Owls during the regular season, on Friday, October 21 USF ESPN.
Temple will play seven home games and have five road games. The Owls have a bye week on Nov. 12.
It's a very favorable schedule for Temple. The Owls' four non-league opponents (Army, Stony Brook, Penn State and Charlotte) were a combined 16-31 last year. The only team with a winning record was Penn State (7-6), which Temple crushed in 2015's season opener, 27-10, beating the Nittany Lions for the first time since 1941.
Temple will open the year with four consecutive non-conference games before beginning defense of its American Athletic East Division Championship in conference play. The season will kick-off with two home games at Lincoln Financial Field - Saturday, September 3, the Owls take on Army followed by a first-ever meeting with Stony Brook on the 10th. The Owls take a trip to State College, Pa., for a battle with in-state rival Penn State on September 17, before returning for Homecoming Weekend on Saturday, September 24 against Charlotte.
Conference play begins on Oct. 1 when Temple hosts SMU. This will be the fifth meeting with the Mustangs, but the first in Philadelphia.
The critical part of Temple's season could be back-to-back home games in late October, including a Friday night Oct. 21 game against USF, followed by a Saturday game hosting Cincinnati.
The home schedule ends with a matchup against East Carolina on Nov. 26.
For the second straight year, the conference will hold a conference championship game between the two division winners. The game will be hosted by the team with the best AAC record on Saturday, December 3.
Nine of the Owls games will be played on Saturday. Besides the South Florida matchup, the others not on Saturday are Thursday Oct. 6 at Memphis and Friday, Nov. 4 at Connecticut.
Temple 2016 Schedule
Saturday, September 3 ARMY
Saturday, September 10 STONY BROOK
Saturday, September 17 @Penn State
Saturday, September 24 CHARLOTTE [HC]
Saturday, October 1 SMU
Thursday, October 6 @Memphis - (ESPN)
Saturday, October 15@UCF
Friday, October 21 USF - (ESPN)
Saturday, October 29 CINCINNATI
Friday, November 4 @UConn - (ESPN2)
Saturday, November 12 BYE
Saturday, November 19 @Tulane
Saturday, November 26 EAST CAROLINA
Saturday, December 3 American Athletic Conference Championship - (ABC/ESPN)