Thanks to its move to the Big East earlier this year, Temple was left with just 11 games on its 2012 schedule, one below the norm.
Less than a month and a half before the regular season grinds to a halt, the Owls are still searching for that elusive 12th game. As it turns out, though, they may be on the verge of finding a last-minute partner.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Tuesday that Hawaii has been approached by the Owls in regards to playing an early-December game against the Warriors at Aloha Stadium. A Temple source confirmed to the Philadelphia Inquirer that there have been conversations about a game that, if it were to come to fruition, would be played Dec. 8.
UH would only confirm that there have been talks between the two institutions.
“It’s very far from a done deal,” acting athletic director Rockne Freitas told the Star-Advertiser. “We’re going through the due diligence.”
While the Warriors already have 12 games scheduled, an NCAA bylaw permits Hawaii -- and anyone who plays Hawaii on the islands -- to play 13 games a season. The school has already received clearance from the Mountain West for the additional game, although they’ve yet to get a thumbs-up from the NCAA.
For its part, the Owls are looking at the postseason as reason to fill the hole in its schedule.
Sitting at 3-3 on the season, the Owls would need to win three of its last five games to become bowl eligible. Those remaining contests consist of home games against 5-1 Cincinnati and Syracuse as well as road trips to Pittsburgh, No. 16 Louisville and Army. Getting three wins out of that grouping would be highly unlikely, although two would certainly be plausible, making a game against one-win Hawaii all the more appealing.
Temple would not directly address their attempts to add a 12th game against Hawaii.
“One of the challenges we had in joining the Big East was going from eight conference games to seven,” AD Bill Bradshaw told the Inquirer. “And we worked diligently to schedule a 12th game.”