Temple vs. Pitt: Steve Addazio not calling Saturday a must-win

The Temple Owls have played pretty well thus far in their return to the Big East. Now, they'll get another challenge in the Pittsburgh Panthers at Heinz Field on Saturday afternoon.

Temple (3-3, 2-1) is trying to rebound from a tough 35-10 defeat at the hands of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, in which it gave up a 10-point advantage.

Still, head coach Steve Addazio is stressing simplicity instead of thinking about just how important this game is to the Owls' season, according to Philly.com.

"We can't afford to treat anything like it's a must-win," Owls coach Steve Addazio said Tuesday. "We're too young to handle that. We can't over- or undervalue it. We've just got to go out there and play the best game we can. That's kind of my mind-set."

This stretch of the schedule is particularly hard on Temple, with three of the next four affairs away from home starting with this Saturday's game. After playing Pittsburgh, the Owls will take on the No. 15 Louisville Cardinals before hosting the Cincinnati Bearcats and then going to West Point for a date with the Army Black Knights.

Addazio knows the lay of the land but expects his group to become stronger as the year goes on.

"When you get to this part of the season, it's a grind. That concerns me. What we're going through will . . . make us become a veteran team quicker. We're learning how to handle some stuff we have to weather. You look at it for what it is. We have to go get a win. There's some tremendous stuff out there to be had."