Temple University Athletics
Temple Set To Kick-Off 2007 Season Friday Night Versus Navy
8.27.07 | Football
Aug. 27, 2007
Navy Game Notes
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PHILADELPHIA - Temple, under the direction of second-year head coach Al Golden, kicks off its 2007 season by hosting Navy Friday night (7:30 p.m.). It marks the first college football night game at Lincoln Financial Field. The Midshipmen are a very familiar foe for the Owls as Temple ended its 2006 campaign against Navy at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Friday's game will be televised by ESPNU, with Beth Mowins handling play-by-play and David Diaz-Infante serving as color analyst. The Owls' radio broadcast will air on WYSP 94.1 FM with Harry Donahue calling the play-by-play and Steve Joachim providing color analysis. Live gametracker stats and audio streaming will be available on the Temple Athletics website, www.owlsports.com.
The Owls return eight starters on offense and seven on defense from their 43 returnees with game day experience. After playing the most true freshmen (22) in the nation in `06, Temple will again have a young squad.. The Owls feature 16 true freshmen on their depth chart with six holding down starting roles heading into the opener. Temple has just two scholarship seniors on its roster, the fewest of any school in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Redshirt junior Adam DiMichele won a closely-contested battle with sophomore Vaughn Charlton at quarterback. Named the starting signal-caller on August 23, DiMichele started nine games in `06 - his first season as an Owl - completing 135 of 220 passes for 1,518 yards and 10 touchdowns. Rimington Trophy candidate redshirt junior center Alex Derenthal, last year's team MVP, will be delivering the ball into DiMichele's hands.
The Cherry and White defense will be spearheaded by redshirt junior defensive end Leyon Azubuike and sophomore cornerback Anthony Ferla. The two join DiMichele and Derenthal as team captains with redshirt senior Abioye Oyeyemi captaining the special teams.
Redshirt junior Travis Shelton, a preseason First Team All-America kick-returner, is back. Shelton averaged a NCAA- best 196.7 all-purpose yards despite playing in just six games.
Navy, under the direction of sixth-year head coach Paul Johnson, returns 26 lettermen, including nine starters from last year's team that posted a 9-4 record. The Midshipmen defeated the Owls, 42-6, on Nov. 18, 2006 and ended their campaign with a 25-24 loss to Boston College in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Utilizing the spread offense, Navy led the nation in rushing offense, averaging 327 yards per game. The team's top two running backs, seniors Adam Ballard (792 yards, 3 TDs) and Reggie Campbell (706 yards, 5 TDS) return as does junior quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who rushed for 507 yards and a team-high 10 TDs.
Navy leads the series, which began in 1988, 4-3. The teams will meet in each of the following two seasons.
