PHILADELPHIA — When Temple football coach Bobby Wallace and Owls athletic director Bill Bradshaw paid a get-to-know-you visit to Mayor Street on Tuesday morning, they presented him with a Temple hat and a T-shirt that had the word “Coach” stenciled on it.
“I told him he could wear it and coach the team on Saturday,” said Wallace, who was meeting the mayor, a Temple alumnus, for the first time.
For the record, Street did not accept the offer. And who could blame him?
Street’s mandate to fix all the problems in the city are nothing when compared to the challenge that Wallace faces Saturday. That is when the 1-1 Owls will host the defending national champions Miami Hurricanes at Franklin Field in the Big East opener for both teams.
Yes, those Miami Hurricanes. The 2-0 Hurricanes. The No. 1-ranked-in-every-poll-there-is Hurricanes. The 24-victories-in-a-row Hurricanes.
“I’ve had people ask me if I’m scared,” said Temple defensive end Tyrone Ditzell, with a laugh.
Ditzell is not the type to be intimidated. But could you blame him if he was? The Owls are 1-10 all-time against Miami, claiming their only victory in 1930 when these players’ grandfathers were wearing leather helmets and lugging a round ball.
That year, Temple registered a 34-0 victory at an indoor game at the Atlantic City Convention Hall. In the five games the Owls and Hurricanes have played in Philadelphia since then, Miami has outscored Temple by 224-71.
Now that is scary.
“Every team in the nation wants to play the No. 1 team,” Owls center Donny Klein said.
That is what they said in Gainesville last Friday as the Florida Gators prepped for Saturday’s game with the Hurricanes. Miami won that game, 41-16, and Florida was ranked sixth in the nation then.
“There’s so much (national) exposure, and that challenge is there,” Klein said. “I’m excited. This is my last year, and that’s why I came to Temple. I came here to play against the best.”
Klein will certainly get his wish.
Miami racked up 508 yards of offense against Florida, and, while Gators quarterback Rex Grossman, a Heisman Trophy candidate, was sacked only once, he completed just 19 for 45 passes for 191 yards with two interceptions.
It was only the sixth time in 152 games, dating back to 1990, that a Florida quarterback did not throw a touchdown pass.
Look up the word “best” in the dictionary, and there is a picture of a Hurricane next to the word.
But the Owls are not afraid to think big.
“Miami’s (defensive) line is, bar none, the best in the nation — but they are beatable,” said Temple running back Tanardo Sharps, who rushed for 95 yards on 22 carries in the Owls’ 35-3 loss to visiting Oregon State on Thursday. “We’re not going to back down from them.”
Temple had that same goal last year when the Hurricanes won, 38-0, in Miami. The ‘Canes broke open the game with a couple of big plays in the third quarter after Temple hung around during a first half that ended with the Owls trailing by 14-0.
So, the chances of Temple winning may be long, but it is not impossible for them to do so.
Remember when Wallace guided Temple to a 28-24 road victory over No. 10 Virginia Tech in 1998, his first season with the Owls? That result went down as one of the biggest upsets in college-football history.
Can he do it again? And if he does, would the Temple campus withstand the uproar?
“When you play Miami, you realize that you’re just holding on,” Wallace said. “They can explode at any time.”
Wallace hopes that the Hurricanes come up with a dud on Saturday. And if they do, and if Wallace can somehow end the nation’s longest Division I winning streak, he may have Mayor Street coming to him with a job offer.