Rhule, Clawson excited for Temple-Wake Forest matchup in Military Bowl
Temple will play in a bowl game for the second consecutive season, this time in the Military Bowl on Dec. 27 at 3:30 p.m. against Wake Forest.
Playing in the Military Bowl means the Owls will return to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., where they beat Navy in Saturday’s American Athletic Conference championship game.
Temple head coach Matt Rhule and Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson spoke in a teleconference for the bowl Sunday night.
Getting Healthy
Both Clawson and Rhule talked about getting players healthy and ready to go for the Military Bowl. Wake Forest lost its starting sophomore quarterback, Kendall Hinton, to injury in the third game of the season. Clawson said they are pretty healthy outside of Hinton’s injury, but have some guys that will need some time off to get healthy.
“After the Boston College game, we were pretty banged up,” Clawson said. “These injuries are mostly ones that guys will be able to recover from quickly. Having a lot of time to prepare is the great thing about bowl games. That time allows you to get starters healthy and back to 100 percent.”
Rhule said sophomore running back Ryquell Armstead was still pretty beat up after Temple’s 34-10 win at Navy that gave the Owls the American championship. He said Armstead has a couple of injuries and other players like senior quarterback Phillip Walker and junior defensive lineman Jacob Martin battled through pain in the game.
Scouting Wake Forest
The Demon Deacons finished the regular season with a 6-6 record and were 3-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Deacons are the fourth-best scoring defense in the ACC, allowing an average of 21.8 points per game.
Wake Forest has three players with at least 500 rushing yards in quarterback John Wolford and running backs Matt Colburn and Cade Carney. The Demon Deacons only scored 19.2 points per game on offense this season and have a young offensive unit.
Clawson has ties within the Temple program and Rhule said he called Clawson when Clawson was at Bowling Green, inquiring about a coaching position. Clawson said he follows the Temple program because of his close friend Ed Foley, who is Temple’s tight ends and special teams coach. Foley was Clawson’s offensive coordinator at Fordham when Clawson was the head coach, and Clawson said the challenge against Temple is its defense.
“It is going to be tough going up against Temple’s defense,” Clawson said. “They are one of the top defenses in the country. When I coached at Bowling Green, whether it was head coach Steve Addazio or Al Golden, Temple always had a tough defense. They play a physical style of defense, are very athletic and have taken their defense to another level under [Rhule] and will be a big challenge for our young offensive team.”
Rhule said he hasn’t looked into Wake Forest and any film just yet, but said he has a lot of respect for Clawson.
Why Temple chose the Military Bowl
After Western Michigan claimed the spot in the Cotton Bowl for being the highest-ranked Group of 5 team, Temple thought the Military Bowl would be best for the program and its future.
“I think there are two reasons we chose to go back to Annapolis and to the Military Bowl,” said Rhule, whose Owls are 24th in the College Football Playoff rankings and 23rd in the latest AP Top 25 poll. “We wanted to play a Power 5 team and I think this will be a tremendous opportunity for our fans to come to the game after having a solid turnout at the AAC Championship in Annapolis. The game is right in our recruiting area and it gives people another opportunity to see how we play.”
After Rhule and Clawson took questions from the media, Military Bowl Executive Director Steve Beck talked about the bowl, his excitement for the teams competing and how important getting a ranked team like Temple was.
“With Temple winning and a lot of fans showing up for them this past weekend was electric,” Beck said. “I think Temple fans will be re-energized to come back down to Annapolis. We are happy to have a ranked team in our bowl and it means a lot. Having a quality ranked team in our bowl allows us to continue to gain recognition.”