USF Football First Look: USF vs. Temple

USF dips back into Big East play this weekend, facing the Temple Owls on the road as they try to break a three-game losing streak and regain a little bit of positive momentum before next week's midseason bye.

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GAME: South Florida Bulls (2-3, 0-1 Big East) at Temple Owls (1-2, 0-0 Big East)
WHERE: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
DATE/TIME: Saturday, October 6, noon Eastern
TV/RADIO: Big East Network (Channel 28 in the Tampa Bay area); 98.7 (FM) The Fan
TICKETS: Plentiful to say the least.

USF and Temple have never meet in football. There was a pretty awesome basketball meeting back in March, though.

Here's your first look at the Owls.

CONFERENCE: Big East (15th year overall). You hear a lot of jokes about conferences needing to kick out their dead weight, like on Twitter with #BootDePaul. But the Big East actually did it to Temple back in 2004. The Owls were football-only members, but they were completely uncompetitive on the field and their fan support was almost nonexistent. Al Golden helped resuscitate the program (at least on the field - their fan support is still tepid at best) and earlier this year, they were invited back to the Big East, this time as an all-sports member. This is Temple's first Big East game since being voted off the island.
WEB SITE: OwlSports.com
2012 SEASON: Temple has only played three games this year, and since they transferred from the MAC to the Big East very late in the game, they only have 11 games overall instead of the usual 12. The Owls knocked off cross-town rival Villanova 41-10, in what must have been an extremely bitter game for Wildcats fans. But they lost 36-27 at home to Maryland after falling way behind at halftime, then dropped a 24-13 decision at Penn State.
SB NATION BLOG: Temple is the only Big East football team without one. However, Owlsblog has you covered for all your Temple needs.

OTHER NEWS OUTLETS: Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News, and maybe Action News? They are the Delaware Valley's leading news program.

COACH: Steve Addazio, 2nd season, 10-6. Addazio is probably most familiar as the offensive coordinator who helped drive Urban Meyer completely insane at Florida.

KEY OFFENSIVE PLAYERS: Temple is a very heavy run team, so the main offensive threats are running back Matt Brown and quarterback Chris Coyer, who has almost as many rushing attempts (43) as passing attempts (55) thus far. Boston College transfer Montel Harris, who received a waiver to become eligible right away, has joined the running back rotation, but only has 15 carries so far.

KEY DEFENSIVE PLAYERS: Levi Brown appeared on a few all-Big East preseason ballots at defensive tackle, but has just eight tackles so far. Justin Gildea is a standout at safety, while outside linebacker Olaniyi Adewole has 20 tackles, three TFLs, a sack, and two fumble recoveries already this year.