Temple Continues to Struggle in Bowl Games
Written by: David Asch
ANNAPOLIS — Temple’s football program has been on the rise since 2015 to the point where it is arguably in the best shape it has ever been in. Making this year’s Military Bowl, the first time the Owls made five consecutive bowl games. However, with a 55-13 loss to North Carolina, Temple has now lost four of those five bowl games.
Senior linebacker and single-digit captain Shaun Bradley is 1-3 in his bowl games at Temple but still hangs his head high on his career at the university.
“It’s been an honor and a blessing,” Bradley said. “Coming out of high school, I came here and fell in love with the people, coaches, players, brotherhood and the culture. I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”
Bradley finished the game with eight total tackles, third on Temple behind Benny Walls (12) and Chapelle Russell (nine). Bradley put a bow on his senior year by leading the team with 87 tackles for the season.
Rod Carey wasn’t with Temple for the previous four bowl games, but he is trying to find the positives for this season specifically.
“The further away we get from this moment, we’ll feel a lot better about [this season],” Carey said. “We already know it’s been successful. Certainly, we want to strive for more.”
Carey has never won a bowl game as a head coach, now 0-7 with Northern Illinois and Temple. His first bowl game was his biggest when #16 Northern Illinois lost to #13 Florida State 31-10 in the 2013 Orange Bowl.
Here are the results of Temple’s last five bowl games:
- 2015: Boca Raton Bowl vs. Toledo, lost 32-17
- 2016: Military Bowl vs. Wake Forest, lost 34-26
- 2017: Gasparilla Bowl vs. Florida International, won 28-3
- 2018: Independence Bowl vs. Duke, lost 56-27
- 2018: Military Bowl vs. North Carolina, lost 55-13
Temple finishes the 2019 season going 8-5, 2-1 vs. Power 5 Conferences and 1-1 vs. the ACC.
