A typical Temple football week begins Monday morning in North Philadelphia.

On an Astroturf field below elevated train tracks, the Owls take the field while coach Al Golden urges his players to finish every play.

It's just another practice at the corner of Diamond and North 11th Streets for the struggling 1-2 Owls.

But there is hope hiding behind that record. Both of the losses came by a combined five points, and Penn State coach Joe Paterno said this is the best Temple squad he will have faced in his career.

But just how does the best Temple team of Paterno's tenure stack up against a Lion squad that hasn't even felt an ounce of pressure this season?

The Owls haven't scored in either of the past two meetings with Penn State and didn't even cross midfield the last time they visited Happy Valley in 2006.

In fact, the program hasn't finished with a winning record since George H.W. Bush was in the White House. During the past half-century, the Owls have only recorded 15 winning seasons.

The program is so futile that the Big East kicked Temple out of the league in 2004.

What makes the Owls' winning troubles even more embarrassing is the area around their campus is one of the state's recruiting hotbeds. Eleven of Scout.com's top 50 Pennsylvania prospects for 2009 hail from the region. And so far, the Owls have not received a commitment, let alone much interest, from any of them.

Schools like Penn State, West Virginia and Rutgers pluck the best talent from southeastern Pennsylvania.

While Temple does play in one of the nicest stadiums in the country, Lincoln Financial Field, it's rarely half-filled for Owl home games.

It's a sterile environment for Temple home games and is meant for the NFL, not college.

And the program's other facilities, when compared to Temple's recruiting competition, are, at best, average.

The campus is landlocked by the city, so there's only so much space to build, which is why the team practices under the train lines.

On top of being landlocked, last year, according to Temple campus police records, there were 384 reported crimes, ranging from robbery and burglary to simple assault and murder, on and around the campus. So safety is also an issue for incoming recruits.

Besides the poor facilities and safety, Temple is lacking in another major area -- tradition.

The Owls' Web site features a section calling all letter winners. The program's history is so deplorable that Temple has to ask former players to come back to support their alma mater.

Trying to build the program on such a shaky foundation has been a problem for the last four coaches, none of whom have finished their Temple coaching career with a better than .250 winning percentage.

It's become a place where bright coaching prospects go to perish into anonymity, shrouded by the veil of Philadelphia's professional sports mentality.

But if we're to believe Paterno and Golden, with a couple of big plays, the program will finally be on the path to mediocre football.

Unfortunately for the Owls, that path won't keep them within 30 points of the Lions.