For the first time in 36 years Temple football is ranked.
The Owls on Sunday cracked the Top 25 at No. 22 after improving to 6-0 on Saturday night with a 30-16 win over the University of Central Florida.
Temple last appeared in the Top 25 in 1979, when it finished 10-2, 17th in the nation and beat California, 28-17, in the Garden State Bowl.
With six wins, TU is bowl eligible for the second consecutive season and fifth in the last seven seasons. It's also its first 6-0 start since 1974, and a win Thursday night at East Carolina would give it its first ever 7-0 start. It's the fourth time in school history TU has started 6-0, with 1935, 1945 and 1974 being the others.
Temple joins No. 18 Memphis (6-0) and No. 21 Houston (6-0) in the Top 25, giving the American Athletic Conference three nationally ranked teams for the first time in three-year-old conference.
After Saturday night's win, linebacker Tyler Matakevich said the Owls know ECU is "gunnin' for us," and the team's happy to be bowl eligible but still has work to do.
"To be in our situation we are now, we're not satisfied," he said. "We're only halfway through the season and we've got a long way to go and we've got a short week. We've just got to keep building because we've got something special in front of us and it's ours for the taking, but we can't let up at all."
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The Owls have six games remaining on the schedule, with an Oct. 31 showdown against No. 11 Notre Dame and a Nov. 21 meeting with No. 18 Memphis. Both games are at the Linc.
