Temple: Franklin Field's other gridiron squad

At Franklin Field on Saturday, a huge red banner was draped over the retaining wall of the bleachers directly behind the east end zone.

Sandwiched between Temple's trademark "T" and the Big East Conference logo on the banner, there was printed in large, unmistakable capital letters, "HOME OF THE TEMPLE OWLS."

The claim was only a half-truth, and in the wake of what has recently transpired, it's doubtful that the irony was lost on any of the 19,751 in attendance late Saturday afternoon.

For the past several years, the Owls have split their home games, using Penn's Franklin Field as well as Veterans Stadium for higher-profile matchups.

But while the venerable facility at the corner of 33rd and South is one of the nation's most famous collegiate addresses, and the Vet is home to a successful NFL franchise, neither venue is satisfactory to the Big East for a simple reason.

Neither is the property of Temple University.

Because of this and a host of other reasons, the Big East decided in March to boot the Temple football program from the league. On Friday, however, an agreement was reached between the conference and Temple's board of trustees that will delay the Owls' departure from the Big East until 2004.

Still, Temple's days in the Big East are slowly drawing to a close.

And Saturday's game at Franklin Field was just another blemish for a team struggling to find respect and credibility.

The Owls were walloped by the Toledo Rockets, 33-7, in an ugly display of football that featured 32 penalties and eight turnovers.

The Owls lost two fumbles, tossed three interceptions and finished with a rushing total of negative-27 yards.

Temple's disastrous play cannot be attributed to the stadium, yet playing on Franklin Field is one of the reasons the program will be ousted from the conference.

The Big East, whose football members include traditional powerhouses such as Syracuse and Miami, wishes to sever its ties with a school that it feels does not adequately reflect its prestige.

Not having an on-campus stadium has led to declining attendance figures for Temple, and the Owls' overall poor play since their 1991 inception into the Big East also contributed to the league's decision.

To retain eight football teams in the conference, the University of Connecticut will join the Big East in 2005 to fill the void left by Temple's departure. UConn had already been a hallmark of that conference before the announced shift, while Temple's football team was the school's only Big East program.

Meanwhile, Temple will not be content to fade into the background of college football.

"Temple University remains fully committed to Division I-A football," the University's Board of Trustees Chairman Howard Gittis said in a press release.

"With the expected conference realignments in I-A football that will be occurring in 2005 and beyond, we are quite confident that Temple will continue to play in a very competitive I-A conference."

Appropriately enough, the Owls will next be in action at noon on Saturday when they play the team that will soon replace them in the Big East fraternity -- UConn.

And, appropriately enough, it will be a "home" game for Temple, played on what is perhaps the too-familiar turf of Franklin Field.

The banner will likely be back in place behind the east end zone, and its ironic reverberations will be even stronger.

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