ECAC Names Temple 2015 ECAC FBS Team of the Year

PHILADELPHIA - The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) announced the ECAC Football Teams of the Year, to be presented at the Eastern College Football Awards Banquet, hosted by the ECAC at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Temple University will receive the 2015 ECAC Football Bowl Subdivision Team of the Year Award. Previously, the ECAC announced Temple's Matt Rhule as the Coach of the Year and Tyler Matakevich as the Defensive Player of the Year.

The Owls began their outstanding season with a school record 7-0 start en route to a 10-4 ledger. The 10 wins tied for the most in school history. At 10-2 in the regular season and 7-1 in the conference, the Owls won the American Athletic Conference East Division and played in the AAC's first-ever championship game. The season was filled with historical moments starting with a 27-10 victory over Penn State, the first victory for Temple over its in-state rival in 74 years. Following that opening day win, Temple received votes in the Associated Press Top 25 every week of the season and eventually cracked the Top 25 for the first time since 1979. Temple also finished the season ranked #24 in the College Football Playoff Poll.

Collectively, the 2015 Owls re-wrote the school record book and the honors individually were plentiful. Head coach Matt Rhule won the Maxwell Award's Tri-State Coach of the year and was a semifinalist for the George Munger and Eddie Robinson Awards, given to the nation's most outstanding coach. Temple boasted ten players on the all-conference team and had 26 players with their college degrees before kickoff of the Boca Raton Bowl – only Alabama had more among 2015 bowl teams.

No individual was recognized as much as Matakevich who claimed two prestigious national awards – the Chuck Bednarik Award and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy – for defensive player of the year. He was also a consensus All-America, the first defensive player to earn first-team All-America honors in Temple history, and the first at any position to earn the nod since Paul Palmer in 1986

2015 ECAC Football Teams of the Year
Division I Football Bowl Subdivision – Temple University
Division I Football Championship Subdivision – Fordham University
Division II – Newberry College
Division III – Johns Hopkins University

2015 Division I Major Award Winners
Football Bowl Subdivision:
• Offensive Player of the Year – Keenan Reynolds, United States Naval Academy
• Defensive Player of the Year – Tyler Matakevitch, Temple University
• Rookie of the Year – Saquon Barkley, Penn State University
• Coach of the Year – Matt Rhule, Temple University

ABOUT THE ECAC
In the 76 years since its inception, the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) has emerged as the nation's largest Conference. The ECAC has grown considerably from its charter membership of 58, boasting over 300 member schools in Divisions I, II and III, ranging in location from Maine to Georgia, and westerly to Missouri. In the 2015-16 academic year, the ECAC will host nearly 100 championships in 32 men's and women's sports as the sponsors of over 5,800 varsity teams and 111,000 male and female athletes. For more information, visit www.ecacsports.com.

Temple University Athletics

ECAC Names Temple 2015 ECAC FBS Team of the Year

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