2015 Temple Owls football team

The 2015 Temple Owls football team represented Temple University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Owls were led by third-year head coach Matt Rhule and played their home games at Lincoln Financial Field. They were members of the East Division of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 10–4, 7–1 in American Athletic play to finish as champions of the East Division. They represented the East Division in the American Athletic Championship Game where they lost to Houston. They were invited to the Boca Raton Bowl where they lost to Toledo.

2015 Temple Owls football
The American East Division champion
American Athletic Championship Game, L 13–24 vs. Houston
Boca Raton Bowl, L 17–32 vs. Toledo
Conference	American Athletic Conference
	Eastern Division
2015 record	10–4 (7–1 The American)
Head coach	Matt Rhule (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Marcus Satterfield (3rd season)
Defensive coordinator	Phil Snow (3rd season)
Home stadium	Lincoln Financial Field (Capacity: 68,532)

2015 American Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Temple x		7	–	1					10	–	4
South Florida		6	–	2					8	–	5
Cincinnati		4	–	4					7	–	6
UConn		4	–	4					6	–	7
East Carolina		3	–	5					5	–	7
UCF		0	–	8					0	–	12
West Division
No. 8 Houston xy$		7	–	1					13	–	1
No. 18 Navy x		7	–	1					11	–	2
Memphis		5	–	3					9	–	4
Tulsa		3	–	5					6	–	7
Tulane		1	–	7					3	–	9
SMU		1	–	7					2	–	10
Championship: Houston 24, Temple 13
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant As of December 31, 2015; Rankings from AP Poll

The season was highlighted by the first win against Penn State since 1941, their first ever 7–0 start, and their first AP Poll and Coaches Poll ranking since 1979, and was considered a breakout season for the program.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	3:30 p.m.	Penn State*		Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	ESPN	W 27–10	69,176
September 12	8:00 p.m.	at Cincinnati		Nippert Stadium Cincinnati, OH	ESPNews	W 34–26	38,112
September 19	3:00 p.m.	at UMass*		Gillette Stadium Foxborough, MA	ESPN3	W 25–23	10,141
October 2	7:00 p.m.	at Charlotte*		Jerry Richardson Stadium Charlotte, NC	CBSSN	W 37–3	13,105
October 10	12:00 p.m.	Tulane		Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	ESPNU	W 49–10	35,179
October 17	7:30 p.m.	UCF		Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	CBSSN	W 30–16	31,372
October 22	7:00 p.m.	at East Carolina	No. 22	Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium Greenville, NC	ESPN2	W 24–14	39,417
October 31	8:00 p.m.	No. 9 Notre Dame*	No. 21	Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA (College GameDay)	ABC	L 20–24	69,280
November 6	8:00 p.m.	at SMU	No. 23	Gerald J. Ford Stadium Dallas, TX	ESPN2	W 60–40	17,232
November 14	7:00 p.m.	at South Florida	No. 21	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL	CBSSN	L 23–44	28,393
November 21	12:00 p.m.	Memphis		Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	ESPNU	W 31–12	31,708
November 28	7:00 p.m.	UConn	No. 25	Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	ESPNU	W 27–3	28,236
December 5	12:00 p.m.	at No. 17 Houston	No. 20	TDECU Stadium Houston, TX (The American Championship)	ABC	L 13–24	35,721
December 22	7:00 p.m.	vs. Toledo*	No. 24	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL (Boca Raton Bowl)	ESPN	L 17–32	25,908
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Schedule Source:[1]

Game summaries

Penn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Nittany Lions	10	0	0	0	10
Owls	0	7	10	10	27

This was the Owls' first victory over Penn State since 1941.[2] The announced crowd at Lincoln Financial Field was 69,176 Saturday, a record for a Temple home game.[3] After the Nittany Lions scored 10 points in the first quarter, Temple responded with 27 unanswered points. Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg was sacked 10 times, with Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich recording three sacks.[4] This game was Temple's first victory over a Big Ten team since a 1990 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, as the Owls snapped a 31-game losing streak in the series to the Nittany Lions.[5]

at Cincinnati

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	3	7	21	3	34
Bearcats	0	6	6	14	26

This was the Owls' first victory over Cincinnati since 1985.[6]

at UMass

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	7	10	3	5	25
Minutemen	0	17	0	6	23

at Charlotte

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	3	7	20	7	37
49ers	0	3	0	0	3

Tulane

	1	2	3	4	Total
Green Wave	3	7	0	0	10
Owls	7	14	21	7	49

UCF

	1	2	3	4	Total
Knights	3	10	3	0	16
Owls	7	7	0	16	30

at East Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
#22 Owls	3	7	0	14	24
Pirates	0	14	0	0	14

This was the first game, and win, for a nationally ranked Owls team since 1979.

Notre Dame

	1	2	3	4	Total
#9 Fighting Irish	7	7	3	7	24
#21 Owls	7	3	0	10	20

This was the first time ESPN's College GameDay visited a Temple home game. Set up at Independence Mall, the broadcast attracted more than 10,000 fans.

at SMU

	1	2	3	4	Total
#23 Owls	14	7	17	22	60
Mustangs	0	17	7	16	40

at South Florida

	1	2	3	4	Total
#21 Owls	7	3	10	3	23
Bulls	7	24	3	10	44

Memphis

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	3	6	3	0	12
Owls	0	14	0	17	31

UConn

	1	2	3	4	Total
Huskies	0	0	0	3	3
#25 Owls	7	3	10	7	27

This win sealed the Owl's berth in the inaugural AAC Championship, their second division title in team history.

The American Championship vs. Houston

	1	2	3	4	Total
#20 Owls	0	3	7	3	13
#17 Cougars	7	10	7	0	24

Boca Raton Bowl vs. Toledo

	1	2	3	4	Total
#24 Owls	3	0	6	8	17
Rockets	0	12	0	20	32

Awards and honors

National Awards

• Defense

Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior [7]

• Chuck Bednarik Award - Winner
• Bronko Nagurski Trophy - Winner
• Lott IMPACT Trophy - Finalist
• Rotary Lombardi Award - Semi-Finalist

All Americans

• Consensus All-American

Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior

• Phil Steele All American Team

Dion Dawkins - OL - Junior - 4th Team

Conference Awards

• Defense

Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior

• American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year - Winner

American Athletic Conference All-Conference Team

• First Team

Kyle Friend, C
Matt Ioannidis, DL
Eric Lofton, OL
Tyler Matakevich, LB
Nate D. Smith, DL
Jahad Thomas, RB
Alex Wells, FS

• Second Team

Dion Dawkins, OL
Sean Chandler, DB

• Honorable Mention

Haason Reddick, DL
[8]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	21	23	21	RV	25	20	24	RV
Coaches	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	24	22	23	21	RV	24	21	24	RV
CFP	Not released									22	22	NR	25	22	24	Not released

NFL Players

NFL Draft Combine

Three Temple players were invited to participate in the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine.

#	Name	POS	HT	WT	Arms	Hands	40	Bench Press	Vert Jump	Broad Jump	3 Cone Drill	20-yd Shuttle	Ref
#1	Tavon Young	CB	5-9	183 lbs	30 5/8	9 1/8	4.46	9	34.5 in	118 in	6.80	3.93	[9]
#8	Tyler Matakevich	LB	6-0	238 lbs	31 1/4	9 1/2	4.81	22	31.0 in	112 in	7.19	4.50	[9]
#9	Matt Ioannidis	DL	6-3	299 lbs			5.03	32	28.0 in	108.0 in	7.78	4.71	[9]

† Top performer

2016 NFL Draft

Following the season, the following members of the Temple football team were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft.

#	Player	Round	Pick	Position	NFL Club
#1	Tavon Young	4	104	CB	Baltimore Ravens
#9	Matt Ioannidis	5	152	DL	Washington Redskins
#8	Tyler Matakevich	7	246	LB	Pittsburgh Steelers

[10]

Undrafted Free Agents

In addition to the draft selections above, the following Temple players signed NFL contracts after the draft.

#	Name	POS	HT	WT	NFL Club	Ref
#17	Brandon Shippen	WR	5-11	191 lbs	Dolphins	[11]
#19	Robby Anderson	WR	6-3	190 lbs	Jets	[12]
#75	Shahbaz Ahmed	OL	6-3	285 lbs	Falcons	[13]
#79	Kyle Friend	OL	6-2	305 lbs	Jets	[14]

References

1. "2015 Temple Owls Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
2. Snyder, Audrey (September 5, 2015). "Temple Beats Penn State for First Time Since 1941". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
3. "Rapid Reaction: Temple 27, Penn State 10 (No, seriously, the score is correct)".
4. "Temple Makes History: Beats Penn State For First Time Since 1941".
5. "Penn State vs. Temple - Game Recap - September 5, 2015 - ESPN". ESPN.com.
6. Goheen, Kevin (September 13, 2015). "Temple Beats Cincinnati for First Time Since 1985". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
7. "Temple University Athletics". owlsports.com.
8. "Ten Football Players Selected in Football's All-Conference Honors".
9. "2016 NFL Combine Results - Historical NFL Scouting Combine Data". nflcombineresults.com.
10. "2016 NFL Draft". Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
11. "Dolphins undrafted rookies include Canes WR Scott, Temple WR Shippen - The Daily Dolphin".
12. "New York Jets: Robby Anderson".
13. "Atlanta Falcons: Shahbaz Ahmed". Archived from the original on 2016-05-18.
14. "New York Jets: Kyle Friend". Archived from the original on 2016-05-18.