The Temple Owls defeated the Wyoming Cowboys 34-15 for their first bowl win since 1979. It was the 31st win for the senior class, which is the most for a class in school history. Owls coach Steve Addazio said that yesterday's emphatic win was a signal that Temple "is here to stay."
"Great future for Temple. Temple's here to stay." said Addazio. "Temple is a program that is on the rise ask we'll continue to battle and compete and represent our university in a first class matter."
Defensive MVP Tahir Whitehead says the bowl win is a culmination of everything they've worked on the last four years.
"It feels great. Coming into college, that was my goal. I wanted to be in and compete in bowl games and championships. Being though we missed the MAC Championship this year, this bowl game was considered our championship. So we came out with a chip on our shoulder and we came out with the victory."
QB Chris Coyer was named the offensive MVP, which he admits is not something that anyone would have predicted earlier this season.
"Well, it's definitely been an interesting ride throughout this year," said Coyer. "Starting the year, coaching staff thought maybe I wasn't quite ready for the opportunity for a starting job. And as the year went on, I feel like I showed the coaches in practice more that I was ready to take on a starting role. Thankfully these past three or four games I got a chance and took it and capitalized on it."
While Addazio did hail the win as a signal that that Temple has a great future, he did caution that they can't assume they've arrived just yet.
"There's a lot of tiers that go into the building of a program. One season of winning doesn't mean that you've arrived. We've experienced more of those learning curves along the way as has Bernard and other players on our team. It's a process and we're still on that journey right now, but we're making great steps moving forward."