Temple University Athletics
Temple Football Opens Preseason Training Camp
8.4.07 | Football
Aug. 4, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - The Temple University football program opened its preseason training camp under second-year head coach Al Golden with its first practice Saturday afternoon. The Owls have scheduled 29 practices before they open their season on Friday evening (7:30 p.m.), August 31, versus Navy at Lincoln Financial Field.
"Light years different,' Golden said about this the start of this season as opposed to his first season in 2006. "Guys are in great shape. Guys made a commitment in the off-season program. We had no academic issues. We had no off-the-field issues to speak of. They made good decisions in terms of their team and their University and now we are all business and we have to continue to do that the rest of the season.
"The expectations are dramatically different. The kids understand what we are looking for which is excitng. We have more leaders out there. It is the first day of camp and we are probably going to have about 15 guys that lead our stretch and that is a tribute to them. They are members of what we call our Unity Council - guys who are leaders at their class so the paradigm has changed dramatically in just 18 months and I am excited about that."
Temple will open its inaugural MAC season with consecutive home games for the first time since 2002 when it hosts Navy before welcoming Buffalo on Saturday, September 8. The Owls also meet Northern Illinois (Oct. 6), Miami-Ohio (Oct. 20), Penn State (Nov. 10) and Kent State (Nov. 17) in Saturday contests at Lincoln Financial Field.
"Right now our focus is getting our team together and the primary objective of this training camp is that we have to become a player-driven team," Golden said. "The staff has got to be able to step back and the kids have got to be be able to take this team and program over and police themselves and govern themselves and hold each other accountable. If we do that we are going to have a chance to reach our potential this year."
The Temple Football "Three-Pack" partial season ticket plan - which includes the Penn State game, plus two Mid-American Conference games of your choice - will remain on sale. The Three-Pack guarantees the best seats to the game versus the Nittany Lions, and can be purchased for as low as $72. The Three-Pack can be purchased by calling the Temple Ticket Office at 215-204-8499 or by visiting www.owlstix.com.
Individual game tickets will be available via Ticketmaster at 215-336-2000, any Ticketmaster outlet, the Lincoln Financial Field Box Office, or by logging on to www.owlstix.com. Full and partial season tickets are available by calling the Temple Ticket Office at 215-204-8499 or by visiting www.owlstix.com.
