2015 Temple Owls football team


The 2015 Temple Owls football team represented Temple University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Owls were led by third-year head coach Matt Rhule and played their home games at Lincoln Financial Field. They were members of the East Division of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 10–4, 7–1 in American Athletic play to finish as champions of the East Division. They represented the East Division in the American Athletic Championship Game where they lost to Houston. They were invited to the Boca Raton Bowl where they lost to Toledo.
The season was highlighted by the first win against Penn State since 1941, their first ever 7–0 start, and their first AP Poll and Coaches Poll ranking since 1979, and was considered a breakout season for the program.

Schedule

Game summaries

Penn State

Overall recordLast meetingResult
3–39–12014PSU, 30–13

This was the Owls' first victory over Penn State since 1941. The announced crowd at Lincoln Financial Field was 69,176 Saturday, a record for a Temple home game. After the Nittany Lions scored 10 points in the first quarter, Temple responded with 27 unanswered points. Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg was sacked 10 times, with Temple linebacker Tyler Matakevich recording three sacks. This game was Temple's first victory over a Big Ten team since a 1990 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, as the Owls snapped a 31-game losing streak in the series to the Nittany Lions.

at Cincinnati

Overall recordLast meetingResult
9–7–12014CIN, 14–6

This was the Owls' first victory over Cincinnati since 1985.

at Massachusetts

at Charlotte

Tulane

Overall recordLast meetingResult
1–12014TEM, 10–3

UCF

Overall recordLast meetingResult
0–22014UCF, 34–14

at East Carolina

Overall recordLast meetingResult
4–82014TEM, 20–10

This was the first game, and win, for a nationally ranked Owls team since 1979.

Notre Dame

Overall recordLast meetingResult
0–12013ND, 28–6

This was the first time ESPN's College GameDay visited a Temple home game. Set up at Independence Mall, the broadcast attracted more than 10,000 fans.

at SMU

Overall recordLast meetingResult
0–1–22013SMU, 59–49

at South Florida

Overall recordLast meetingResult
1–02012TEM, 37–28

Memphis

Overall recordLast meetingResult
1–12014MEM, 16–13

UConn

Overall recordLast meetingResult
10–52014TEM, 36–10

This win sealed the Owl's berth in the inaugural AAC Championship, their second division title in team history.

The American Championship vs. Houston

Overall recordLast meetingResult
0–42014HOU, 31–10

Boca Raton Bowl vs. Toledo

Overall recordLast meetingResult
3–72011TOL, 36–13

Awards and honors

National Awards

Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior
Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior
Dion Dawkins - OL - Junior - 4th Team

Conference Awards

Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior
Kyle Friend, C
Matt Ioannidis, DL
Eric Lofton, OL
Tyler Matakevich, LB
Nate D. Smith, DL
Jahad Thomas, RB
Alex Wells, FS
Dion Dawkins, OL
Sean Chandler, DB
Haason Reddick, DL

Rankings

NFL Players

NFL Draft Combine

Three Temple players were invited to participate in the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine.
#NamePOSHTWTArmsHands40Bench PressVert JumpBroad Jump3 Cone Drill20-yd ShuttleRef
#1Tavon YoungCB5-9183 lbs30 5/89 1/84.46934.5 in118 in6.803.93
#8Tyler MatakevichLB6-0238 lbs31 1/49 1/24.812231.0 in112 in7.194.50
#9Matt IoannidisDL6-3299 lbs5.033228.0 in108.0 in7.784.71

† Top performer

2016 NFL Draft

Following the season, the following members of the Temple football team were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft.
#PlayerRoundPickPositionNFL Club
#1Tavon Young4104CBBaltimore Ravens
#9Matt Ioannidis5152DLWashington Redskins
#8Tyler Matakevich7246LBPittsburgh Steelers

Undrafted Free Agents

In addition to the draft selections above, the following Temple players signed NFL contracts after the draft.
#NamePOSHTWTNFL ClubRef
#17Brandon ShippenWR5-11191 lbsDolphins
#19Robby AndersonWR6-3190 lbsJets
#75Shahbaz AhmedOL6-3285 lbsFalcons
#79Kyle FriendOL6-2305 lbsJets