After practice Tuesday, Temple sounded confident as it attempts to clinch the American Athletic Conference East Division title. If Temple beats Memphis (8-2, 4-2) on Saturday and wins its season finale against visiting Connecticut (5-5, 3-3), it will clinch.
Yet Temple (8-2, 5-1 AAC) doesn't appear to be close to the same team that last played at the Linc in the Notre Dame game. After that game, coach Matt Rhule talked about the physical pounding that Temple took against the Fighting Irish.
Since then the Owls have won, 60-40, at SMU and lost, 44-23, at South Florida.
None of the players would buy the theory that the Owls haven't recovered physically or mentally from the Notre Dame game, but Rhule did make an interesting observation when asked about it Tuesday.
"Any time you lose, you have to get the edge back and I am not sure as a team we have the same edge," Rhule said. He added that it isn't the case for all the players, citing quarterback P.J. Walker as an example.
"P.J. played great against Notre Dame and has taken off since then," Rhule said.
Walker was 18 of 25 for 268 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions against SMU and a deceptive 20 of 48 for 259 yards with one touchdown and one interception against USF. The Owls dropped a number of catchable passes. Meanwhile, Walker's leadership continues to grow.
"I am not concerned at all" about the situation, Walker said. "We play our best when our backs are against the wall."
Right now their backs are holding up the wall. With two wins by USF (6-4, 4-2) and a loss by Temple, the Bulls would clinch the title.
Temple had that same shell-shocked look after both the SMU and USF games that had not been seen this season. "We got beat at our game," defensive lineman Nate D. Smith said.
Their game happens to be tougher and more physical and to wear an opponent down. In the last two games, Temple, especially the defense, was dragging in the fourth quarter.
"It had nothing to do with Notre Dame," Smith said. "We have gotten over it."
Evidence suggests otherwise.
"I disagree that we haven't recovered from Notre Dame," linebacker Tyler Matakevich said. "Guys just have to get going in the right direction."
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