Temple University Athletics
Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Football Prepares For Friday Night Battle With Memphis
11.4.14 | Football
PHILADELPHIA – After Temple's soggy 20-10 victory over #21 East Carolina on Saturday, head coach Matt Rhule held his weekly press conference to discuss the Owls' Friday night battle with conference-foe Memphis.
The November 7 contest will be broadcast on ESPNU with a kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Those in the Philadelphia area can listen to the game on 1210 AM WPHT with Harry Donahue (play-by-play), Paul Palmer (analyst) and Harry Mayes (sidelines).
Below is Coach Rhule's opening statement:
"I appreciate everyone for coming today, thanks for covering us as always. We just got off the field, we had a good day out there and looking forward to playing Memphis. Obviously, coming off that game on Saturday, I thought it was a great day for Temple; great day for our university, for our players, and for our fans. We appreciate everyone for supporting us. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the people that were at the game, the students that were at the game; it was a cold day, it was a tough day to be out there, and we had a lot of students and Temple people who came out to support us and sat through that weather and we really appreciate it. We do the Fly-In when we walk in, and we're trying to teach the team it's not about the show, it's about the game and to focus, but we tried to take a moment to thank everyone that was out there standing in that weather and waiting for us, so we appreciate that as well.
Hopefully everyone was proud of the way we played. We defeated an extremely good team, a well-coached team; Coach Ruffin McNeill is the class of this conference and a guy that I look up to. I was really proud of our kids for going out and making play and finding a way to win.
With that, we turn our attention to Memphis, the team that's tied for first place in the conference, an outstanding team, and a really well-coached team; Coach Justin Fuente is a guy that I like to pattern myself after a little bit. He's been coaching a year longer than I have, but does a great job with them and that program. They are extremely talented, they are first in the conference in scoring offense, first in the conference in rushing offense, third in the conference in scoring defense, third in the conference in rushing defense. They beat you up on both sides of the ball; they're number one in kickoff returns, 14th in the country, they hurt us last year on kickoff returns.
There's a really good team coming to play here on Friday night and they're in first place for a reason. Our hands are going to be full, we're trying to get some guys healthy, trying to get ourselves prepared to play, and hopefully our kids will have their minds right, get their bodies as healthy as they can get them, and go out there and battle an outstanding team. Someone mentioned to me that we're underdogs and I can see why; they're a really talented team on both sides of the ball. But, we'll go out there and compete like we did on Saturday, put our best foot forward, and go play Temple football."
Game Notes | Conference Notes | Press Conference
The November 7 contest will be broadcast on ESPNU with a kickoff at 7:30 p.m. Those in the Philadelphia area can listen to the game on 1210 AM WPHT with Harry Donahue (play-by-play), Paul Palmer (analyst) and Harry Mayes (sidelines).
Below is Coach Rhule's opening statement:
"I appreciate everyone for coming today, thanks for covering us as always. We just got off the field, we had a good day out there and looking forward to playing Memphis. Obviously, coming off that game on Saturday, I thought it was a great day for Temple; great day for our university, for our players, and for our fans. We appreciate everyone for supporting us. I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the people that were at the game, the students that were at the game; it was a cold day, it was a tough day to be out there, and we had a lot of students and Temple people who came out to support us and sat through that weather and we really appreciate it. We do the Fly-In when we walk in, and we're trying to teach the team it's not about the show, it's about the game and to focus, but we tried to take a moment to thank everyone that was out there standing in that weather and waiting for us, so we appreciate that as well.
Hopefully everyone was proud of the way we played. We defeated an extremely good team, a well-coached team; Coach Ruffin McNeill is the class of this conference and a guy that I look up to. I was really proud of our kids for going out and making play and finding a way to win.
With that, we turn our attention to Memphis, the team that's tied for first place in the conference, an outstanding team, and a really well-coached team; Coach Justin Fuente is a guy that I like to pattern myself after a little bit. He's been coaching a year longer than I have, but does a great job with them and that program. They are extremely talented, they are first in the conference in scoring offense, first in the conference in rushing offense, third in the conference in scoring defense, third in the conference in rushing defense. They beat you up on both sides of the ball; they're number one in kickoff returns, 14th in the country, they hurt us last year on kickoff returns.
There's a really good team coming to play here on Friday night and they're in first place for a reason. Our hands are going to be full, we're trying to get some guys healthy, trying to get ourselves prepared to play, and hopefully our kids will have their minds right, get their bodies as healthy as they can get them, and go out there and battle an outstanding team. Someone mentioned to me that we're underdogs and I can see why; they're a really talented team on both sides of the ball. But, we'll go out there and compete like we did on Saturday, put our best foot forward, and go play Temple football."
Game Notes | Conference Notes | Press Conference
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