Temple's football opener moved to Sept. 2

As OwlScoop.com first reported Friday, Temple's 2021 football season opener at Rutgers has been moved to Thursday, Sept. 2 after it was originally set to be played Saturday, Sept. 4.

The release issued by Temple Monday morning said the scheduling change was mutually agreed upon by both programs.

Temple and Rutgers were set to play last fall at Lincoln Financial Field before the COVID-19 pandemic limited the Owls to a conference-only schedule that ultimately included just seven games.

Rutgers owns a 21-15 all-time series lead among the former Big East foes, with the last matchup coming in 2013, a 23-20 Scarlet Knights win at High Point Solutions Stadium in Matt Rhule's first season as Temple's head coach. Rutgers was a member of the American Athletic Conference that year before moving along to the Big Ten in 2014.

The 2021 season opener at Rutgers will be a highly-anticipated one with several storylines. Three former Temple players - defensive tackle Ifeanyi Maijeh, offensive lineman David Nwaogwugwu and cornerback Christian Braswell - landed at Rutgers during the offseason via the NCAA's transfer portal, and former Owls assistant coach Fran Brown is the secondary coach on Greg Schiano's Rutgers staff.

And for Temple, the Sept. 2 season opener will mark the debut of several notable transfer portal additions, including new starting quarterback D'wan Mathis (Georgia), running backs Iverson Clement (Florida) and Ra'Von Bonner (Illinois), wide receiver Amad Anderson (Purdue), cornerback Keyshawn Paul (UConn) and defensive end Will Rodgers (Washington State.)