Boston College defeated the Temple Owls on November 20, 2004 by a 34-17 decision. The loss was a fitting way for Temple to wrap up a dismal tenure in the Big East. Following the game Temple was removed form the Big East as a football-only member and stranded as an independent for two seasons before accepting an invitation to join the MAC in football.
The Big East and Temple broke up on some bitter terms, but time may have healed the wounds over the past seven years.
Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com reports that the Big East and Temple are currently in negotiations to welcome the university back to the conference, this time as an all-sports member. MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher confirmed that Temple is discussing membership in the Big East, but Temple representatives have declined to comment. According to one source to CBSSports.com Temple is set to join the Big East in 2012, effectively replacing West Virginia on the schedule with Boise State unable to make the change to a new conference so soon.
With Temple in the Big East in 2012, supposing that does indeed happen (nothing official just yet), the conference will maintain their eight-team membership before multiple changes take place in 2013. Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, Memphis, SMU and Central Florida will join the Big East in 2013, with Pittsburgh and Syracuse expected to leave for the ACC, and West Virginia already gone to the Big 12. Navy is scheduled to join the Big East in 2015.
More importantly, the Big East will have a football program in the Philadelphia market (again), one of the largest in the nation (fourth) and on the east coast. The Big East will have full-league members associated with New York (1st in market area), Philadelphia (4th), Dallas-Ft. Worth (5th) and Houston (10th). The problem the Big East will have, as well as Temple, is selling college football in the Philadelphia market. Perhaps a more even playing field for Temple football and the rest of the conference will help with that (no more Miami and Virginia Tech dominance to go up against), but the same obstacles will continue to be there for Temple and the Big East.
Philadelphia is a pro-sports town, which leaves college football in the shadows on a routine basis if the Philadelphia Phillies are making a playoff run and the Philadelphia Eagles are in season. There are college football fans of course, but the fan base is divided between Temple and Villanova, as well as Penn but even those three struggle to compete for ratings against Penn State and even Notre Dame.
Things are different this time around though. Temple is not the same Temple that was in the Big East before. This is a program that has taken great strides in becoming a legitimate football program, and it has been working gradually. A move to the Big East should help the Owls program take the next steps.
Kevin McGuire is a national college football writer for Examiner.com and the host of the No 2-Minute Warning podcast. He can be reached at cfbexaminer@gmail.com.
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