No one really wants to talk about it.

The Temple Owls are bad. Not mediocre, below average or even tolerable. The Owls have never been that team that had a breakout year, never had a season in which that perennial loser becomes that lovable underdog for whom everyone roots.

Nope, the Owls never emerged from the depths of the Big East. And, well, it doesn’t look like they are ever going to.

With this, their final season in the Big East, already underway and losses of 70-16 to Bowling Green, 45-17 to Toledo and 44-14 to Virginia under their belts, the Owls aren’t facing the same old question: What is wrong with these birds? The real question now is where are they migrating to?

Since 1991, Temple has been a member of the Big East, and in those 13 seasons it has never managed better than a tie for fifth, which it did in 1997. In fact, the abysmal birds have won three games in conference only two times and have gone winless on six different occasions. But they were still a member of a major conference. Now, Temple is leaving the Big East – more by force than by choice.

‘You lose that bowl eligibility and you lose the TV exposure,’ Temple Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw said.

Originally slated to get the boot from the conference after last season, the Owls were given the opportunity to stay one more year because of the departures of Miami and Virginia Tech.

Temple’s 2005 schedule has 11 games (a 12th is pending). The Owls have lined up five Atlantic Coast Conference teams. Temple will play at home seven times and will leave Lincoln Financial Field for just four games.

Temple will play host to Miami and North Carolina State and will visit Virginia and Arizona State. The independent Owls hope to average 15,000 in home attendance, Bradshaw said.

‘Next year might be a little ambitious,’ Bradshaw said, ‘but scheduling some of the best Division I-A opponents from BCS conferences is a priority being in Philadelphia.’

Then there is always the priority of bringing in recruits who can compete. Next year, Temple will have to compete with a slate of competition better than the one that had been downing Temple for a decade.

Coach Bobby Wallace will face the task of dealing with the departure.

‘The biggest effect is that this has changed our recruiting philosophy,’ Wallace said. ‘We have started recruiting more junior college (players) from all over the country. It is tougher to get a high school kid when you can’t tell him (what conference) we are going to be playing.’

Wallace is in his seventh year at Temple. The former head man at I-AA North Alabama (82 victories in 10 years) knows that his team is going to lose more than just the shared revenue from the Big East.

‘It’s tough to be an independent,’ Wallace said. ‘We definitely need to make some decisions and find a home for us.’

It was a bittersweet win in Storrs, Conn., last Thursday night. The Huskies beat Pittsburgh, 29-17, for their first Big East win, improving to 4-1 (1-1 Big East). The win came with accolades for linebacker Alfred Fincher and kicker Matt Nuzie, who were named Big East Players of the Week for their defense and special teams play, respectively.

The win and the awards came at a price, though. Senior Tyler King, the anchor for the Husky defensive line, broke his leg in the Pitt game and had surgery last Friday. Team officials say that King – who has more than 150 career tackles – will be out a minimum of six weeks.

‘I feel bad for Tyler because he was playing very good football for us,’ UConn head coach Randy Edsall said. ‘But we have other guys, guys who are going to have to step up. The expectation is that someone is going to go in there and do as well or better.’

Two guys whose spots won’t be filled anytime soon – health permitting – are Fincher and Nuzie. With quarterback Dan Orlovsky (1,390 yards, 10 touchdowns through five games) gaining much of the notoriety surrounding UConn’s team, few have taken notice of the Huskies’ top players in the other phases of the game.

Nuzie has connected on nine of 12 field goal attempts, including a season-long 49-yarder in the Pitt game.

‘That field goal before halftime was real big,’ Edsall said. ‘It gave our offense some much-needed confidence.’

Fincher is the middle linebacker on a Husky defense currently tops in the Big East, limiting opposing offenses to 269 yards a game, as well as stifling its opponents in allowing less than 100 yards rushing per contest (99.2).

‘The first time I met Alfred during the recruiting process he sat in my office and I knew he was a leader,’ Edsall said. ‘He just has that knack about him, that he is a very determined, very proud person. He is as much a part of our success as anybody.’

Fincher tied a career high with 17 tackles and a forced fumble in the win. The 240-pound senior is leading the Big East with 56 tackles.

When asked to describe the way his leader plays, Edsall kept it short.

‘Relentless, all out on every play,’ he said.

Rushing yards Kay-Jay Harris had in West Virginia’s 19-13 loss to Virginia Tech. Harris had 549 yards on the ground and six rushing scores in his team’s first four games. Those 22 yards came on just seven carries.

Published on October 5, 2004 at 12:00 pm