#24 Football to Face Toledo in Marmot Boca Raton Bowl

PHILADELPHIA - The #24 Temple Owls (10-3) will meet the Toledo Rockets (9-2) in the Marmot Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday, December 22, 2015. The game will be held at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla., and will air on ESPN with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.

Temple, bowl eligible for the fifth time in seven seasons, will play in its first bowl game since 2011 when it defeated Wyoming, 37-15, in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. The Owls won the American Athletic Conference East Division in 2015 with a 7-1 conference record, but lost, 24-13, to the #17 Houston Cougars in the inaugural American Championship Game.

"I couldn't be prouder of this team." said head coach Matt Rhule. "With everything they have been through, our players have earned the right to play in an outstanding bowl game against a tremendous opponent."

In just his third season, Rhule brought Temple to new heights this season. The 10 wins tie for the most in school history, a 7-0 start was the program's best ever, and a signature opening day win against Penn State was the first over the in-state rivals in 74 years. All those things led to Temple being ranked in the Top 25 for a total of six weeks, including a stretch of four straight – a first for the Temple football program.

The spotlight shined bright on the 2015 Temple Owls who played in 12 nationally televised games and eight prime time contests. ESPN's College GameDay came to Philadelphia for a showdown of ranked teams when the #22 Owls hosted the #9 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Accolades were numerous as a conference-high seven players earned first team All-American Athletic Conference honors with a total of 10 players garnering recognition. Senior linebacker Tyler Matakevich was the conference defensive player of the year and is a finalist for the Nagurski, Bednarik, Lott IMPACT, and Senior CLASS awards.

Toledo spent five weeks in the Top 25 this season reaching a high of #19. They started the season with an impressive victory over #18 Arkansas, 16-12. However, at 9-1 with a spot in the MAC Championship game on the line, the Rockets lost, 35-30, to Western Michigan. Following that game, head coach Matt Campbell resigned to take the head coaching job at Iowa State and associate head coach/offensive coordinator Jason Candle was promoted to head coach. The Rockets will be playing in their fifth bowl in the last six years.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

For ticket information, please call 215-204-8499 or go to www.owlstix.com.

(all rankings listed are from the Associated Press)

Matt Rhule Press Conference | Visit Bowl Game Central

Temple University Athletics

#24 Football to Face Toledo in Marmot Boca Raton Bowl

Players Mentioned

Tyler Matakevich

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