Temple University Athletics
Owls to Battle Bowling Green In Annual Homecoming Contest Presented By Verizon
10.23.06 | Football
Oct. 23, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
PHILADELPHIA - Temple, under the direction of first-year head coach Al Golden, hosts Bowling Green, under the leadership of fourth-year coach Gregg Brandon at Lincoln Financial Field Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the Owls' annual homecoming game presented by Verizon. Temple employs a multiple offense and a 3-4 defense. Bowling Green utilizes a one-back offense and a 4-3 defense. The game is the Owls' third home contest of the season thus far and their fifth of six games against MAC opponents. The Cherry and White is in its second season as an affiliate MAC member and joins the league as a full football member in 2007.
Prior to the game, in an 11 a.m. ceremony in the stadium's Red Zone Lounge, Jane Ann Cantwell (women's swimming), Beverly Grove (lacrosse, field hockey), Gary Hardin (golf), Bill Mendek (baseball), Kevin Ross (football), Bill Roth (men's gymnastics) and Santee Ruffin (men's track) will be inducted into the Temple University Athletic Hall of Fame. The new inductees will be introduced at halftime. The game will not be televised. The radio broadcast will air on WPHT 1210 AM, with Harry Donahue handling the play-by-play and Rhea Hughes serving as the analyst. Live radio audio, via Yahoo Sports, and live Gametracker stats are available on the Temple Athletics web site, www.owlsports.com. Live video with home radio audio can be viewed at www.mac-sports.com via the All-MACcess! package.
Temple has played 20 true freshmen thus far this season, the most in Div. I-A. Thirty-six Owls have seen their first collegiate action this season, including five redshirt freshmen. In total, 67 different players have competed. Of those 67, 45 have two or more additional seasons of eligibility remaining after the 2006 campaign.
Temple (0-8) is coming off a 43-21 loss at Northern Illinois (5-3) last Saturday afternoon in its sixth road game in eight contests. Redshirt sophomore WR Travis Shelton caught seven passes for 204 yards in just his second game of the season after being redshirted in 2005. It marked the second most receiving yards in a game in school history after Van Johnson's 214 yards at Pittsburgh in 1996 and just the second 200-plus yard performance for an Owl receiver. Shelton also grabbed two scoring aerials, was on the receiving end of a successful two-point conversion, and had 113 yards on four kickoff returns. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native generated 311 all-purpose yards. Shelton's performance came on the heels of his record setting performance versus Clemson a week earlier (Oct. 12), when he posted a school-record 205 return yards on five kickoffs. The last Temple player to catch two TDs in a game was WR Phil Goodman versus Boston College in 2003.
Temple redshirt sophomore QB Adam DiMichele also played strong, completing 20 of 29 passes for a career-high 322 yards and three TDs, including a pair of scoring tosses to Shelton and one to true freshman TE Steve Maneri. The 322 passing yards was the eighth-highest in a game in Temple history and the most ever for a first-year QB. The three scoring aerials marked the most since Walter Washington passed for a trio versus Pittsburgh in 2004, which was also the last time a TU signal caller topped the 300-yard mark.
Defensively, the Owls held Heisman Trophy candidate Garrett Wolfe, who entered the game as the nation's leading rusher with a 195.4 yards-per-game average, to just 45 yards on 17 attempts. Temple started three true freshmen - DT Andre Neblett, NT Terrance Banks and ROLB Brian Sanford - on its defensive front. Senior SS Chris Page and sophomore FS Richard Sheppard, making his first career start, both had a career and game high 11 total tackles.
Bowling Green (4-4, 3-3) is coming off a 31-14 loss at Central Michigan (5-3, 5-0) last Thursday evening. CMU freshman QB Dan LeFevour threw two fourth-quarter TD passes and the Chippewas blocked a field goal in the final stanza to earn the win. The Falcons rank 19th nationally in rushing offense, averaging 186.25 yards on the ground per game. Redshirt freshman WR Freddie Barnes, who also serves as BGSU's No. 2 QB, ranks 17th nationally in scoring, averaging 8.25 points-per-game.
