Don't be fooled. Temple football is not making progress -- at least any worth mentioning.
The rising Mid-American Conference football contender won more games in the last two years than it won total in the previous five.
But this year is the 30th anniversary of Temple's last bowl bid -- a 28-17 win in the Garden State Bowl. And that came 45 years after its first ever bowl.
Two bowls in 110 years of football, and year No. 111 started off with a loss to Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Villanova two weeks ago.
Temple would probably be better off moving down to the FCS.
As it is now, the Owls are building toward competing in the MAC, a conference with just three bowl tie-ins, the "best" being the newly named Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
How does coach Al Golden pitch that to recruits? I'd imagine he'd seal the deal with Crazy Bread.
Actually, not everything about Temple's football program is cheap. It just seems that way.
Moving into the Philadelphia Eagles' spacious Lincoln Financial Field looks nice, but last year's average attendance was 15,582, which ranked 113th of 119 FBS schools. Lincoln Financial Field has a capacity of 68,532.
That'd be like having 23,000 fans pack Beaver Stadium.
FCS schools like Appalachian State, Montana, Delaware and Jackson State all recorded higher attendance numbers than the Owls last season.
Temple needs a reality check. It's one of the worst Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in the country, meaning it should be one of the best FCS teams.
Golden will say his team is on the cusp of being a MAC power. Last year, six of Temple's seven losses were by a combined 28 points. Three of those losses came on the final play of the game.
Really, what's the benefit of being a MAC power when there's a comparable level of football that plays for a shot at a national title and has a playoff system with more media exposure?
Moving down to the FCS wouldn't kill the chance to play the Nittany Lions considering they're in the habit of scheduling FCS opponents anyhow.
Real progress would mean winning meaningful games, and being a bottom-of-the-barrel FBS team makes that impossible.
Nate Mink is a junior majoring in journalism and a football reporter for The Daily Collegian. His e-mail address is npm5025@psu.edu
