It might not make up for the Phillies handing over their World Series crown to the Yankees on Wednesday night, but Philadelphia has something new to cheer about.
And surprise, surprise it's Temple football!
After the Owls opened the season by blowing a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in a 27-24 loss at home to FCS Villanova, who would have thought that Temple could put together a seven-game winning streak and lead the Mid-American Conference's East Division with a perfect 5-0 record?
Remember . . . this is a program that got booted out of the Big East five years ago. Left to fend for themselves as an independent, selling themselves as a rent-a-victim, the Owls went 0-11 in 2005.
Then came Al Golden (pictured), a former Penn State tight end and assistant coach, who had most recently spent five seasons as Virginia's successful defensive coordinator. There was nowhere to go but up . . . or sideways.
His first Owl team won one game in 2006. But Golden slowly but surely turned Temple from laughingstock to legit, going 4-8 in 2007 and 5-7 last season.
Maybe he should be Penn State's "coach in waiting." If the Nittany Lions are looking for somebody to stick around for, say, half as long as Joe Paterno, the 40-year-old Golden might be their best bet in a year or two.
Thursday night's 34-32 victory over Miami of Ohio assured the Owls of their first winning season since 1990 and they appear to be headed to their first bowl game since 1979.
The fact that Temple squandered a 31-13 lead and needed an 18-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to down the RedHawks, who came into the contest with a 1-8 record, won't impress anybody. However, it does make sense to mention that the Owls lost three games last year on the final play and still won five games, the most the school has won in nearly two decades.
Now that the Owls know how to close games out -- their 27-24 victory over Navy on Halloween was also a knee-knocker -- maybe Brad Lidge should go across the street and jot down some notes.
