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 is widely considered the greatest season in program history.
Schedule
Game summaries
Penn State
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
This was the Owls' first victory over Cincinnati since 1985.
At UMass
At Charlotte
Tulane
UCF
At East Carolina
This was the first game, and win, for a nationally ranked Owls team since 1979.
Notre Dame
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
At South Florida
Memphis
UConn
This win sealed the Owls' berth in the inaugural AAC Championship, their second division title in team history.
The American Championship vs. Houston
Boca Raton Bowl vs. Toledo
Awards and honors
National awards Defense Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior Chuck Bednarik Award - Winner Bronko Nagurski Trophy - Winner Lott IMPACT Trophy - Finalist Lombardi Award - Semi-Finalist
All Americans Consensus All-American Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior Phil Steele All American Team Dion Dawkins - OL - Junior - 4th Team
Conference awards Defense Tyler Matakevich - LB - Senior American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year - Winner
American Athletic Conference All-Conference Team
First Team Kyle Friend, C Matt Ioannidis, DL Eric Lofton, OL Tyler Matakevich, LB Nate D. Smith, DL Jahad Thomas, RB Alex Wells, FS
Second Team Dion Dawkins, OL Sean Chandler, DB
Other notable NFL players Haason Reddick, DL P. J. Walker, QB
Rankings
NFL Players
NFL Draft Combine
Three Temple players were invited to participate in the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine.
# Name POS HT WT Arms Hands 40 Bench Press Vert Jump Broad Jump 3 Cone Drill 20-yd Shuttle Ref#1 Tavon Young CB 5-9 183 lbs 30 5/8 9 1/8 4.46 9 34.5 in 118 in 6.80 3.93 #8 Tyler Matakevich LB 6-0 238 lbs 31 1/4 9 1/2 4.81 22 31.0 in 112 in 7.19 4.50 #9 Matt Ioannidis DL 6-3 299 lbs 5.03 32 28.0 in 108.0 in 7.78 4.71 † Top performer
2016 NFL draft
Following the season, the following members of the Temple football team were selected in the 2016 NFL draft.
# Player Round Pick Position NFL Club#1 Tavon Young 4 104 CB Baltimore Ravens#9 Matt Ioannidis 5 152 DL Washington Redskins#8 Tyler Matakevich 7 246 LB Pittsburgh Steelers
Undrafted Free Agents
In addition to the draft selections above, the following Temple players signed NFL contracts after the draft.
# Name POS HT WT NFL Club Ref#17 Brandon Shippen WR 5-11 191 lbs Dolphins #19 Robby Anderson WR 6-3 190 lbs Jets #75 Shahbaz Ahmed OL 6-3 285 lbs Falcons #79 Kyle Friend OL 6-2 305 lbs Jets
References